Summertime Memories

My grandparents lived on a farm out in the country in the mid-Willamette valley in Oregon. For a couple of years, starting when I was about 13, while my mom went back to school, we lived on the farm in my great grandparents' old house. 

The summers I spent there are some of the strongest memories I have to this day. I don't think I knew how much I loved being on the farm. I loved wandering around. I'd visit the old playhouse that my mother had played in when she was younger. I'd swing on the tire swing. On hot days, the cool barn was the place to go. Upstairs in the barn was a built-in trampoline my grandpa had built for his three daughters. When I wrote the fourth book of the Charmed Life series (Hannah's Bright Star), the barn she has on her farm is just like this one I knew well growing up. 

Here's that old barn, built around 1929, as it looked the last time I saw it five years ago or so.

Some afternoons, my grandma and I would go bike riding on back country roads, collecting pop cans and bottles from the ditch as we went along.

When strawberries were in season, I would ride the bus to the fields and pick berries. I soon learned that picking berries all day made for one very, very long day. At least for a 13-year old. I talked my grandma into picking me up at lunch time some days. Those were the best afternoons, because we'd go back to her house, have lunch, and watch soap operas for a couple of hours. (Thanks to me and my obsession with Luke and Laura, my grandma got hooked on General Hospital and continued to watch it for many, many years to come, usually before her afternoon nap).

I made $75.00 picking berries that summer. My grandpa had promised to match whatever I earned, so I finally had enough money to buy myself the dog I'd always wanted - a purebred cocker spaniel. I named him Lucky.

I miss my grandma and grandpa. I miss wandering around that old farm. I miss my sweet dog, Lucky.

But I still have summertime, along with the lazy days and fun times and sweet fruit it brings. Thank God, I still have summertime.