I don't see many people sitting in the shade of a tree these days. I think air conditioning and television changed tree sitting and many other things too.
When I was young, and I have to admit that was before we had air conditioning, we did a lot of sitting and relaxing under the maple trees in our yard after milking was done in the evening. It was a family time, when Ma Dad, Grandma Inga, and us kids all relaxed together. The adults sat at the picnic table or on lawn chairs. Us kids usually sprawled out on the cool grass. The dogs and a few barn cats were a part of the gathering too.
There was always a breeze blowing across the prairie, even on the hottest summer day. It may have been a hot breeze, but it was better than nothing. Even with all the doors and windows open, the heat inside the house became almost unbearable on hot, humid, summer days. The heat from the wood cook stove added to the misery. I don't know how my mother did it. At the time, I never gave it a second thought, but now when I look back, I really appreciate all the struggles she and all the housewives went through in the summer heat.
Now, even with air conditioning, people will say, "It's too hot to cook, lets go out to eat." Very seldom did we ever eat out. If we did, it was a trip to the root beer stand for a hotdog and root beer. That was a real treat for everyone. You got served in your car. A carhop would take your order and return with the food on a tray that fit on your car window. It's hard to find a place like that any more. I guess you could call root beer stands the first fast food restaurants.
But I’m sailing up another fjord here. Lets return to the shade of that maple tree. I mentioned last week that I never see June Bugs any more. That’s where I remember watching them swarming around the yard light when it got dark… thousands of them. They also covered the gravel driveway at times, and would be squished if a car drove over them.
The air was also alive with activity as daylight faded and the stars started appearing. It wasn’t unusual for bats to swoop through the air and dive bomb us at times. My mother didn’t care for them. She was afraid they would land in our hair or bite us. Fireflies, also referred to as Lightning Bugs, were also a part of our evenings. I’m still fascinated with how they can “light up.” I guess without TV, those evening activities were our entertainment.
Sometimes there would be conversations under the tree about what had gone on that day; how the crops were doing, what had to be done the next day, what news Dad had heard while at the feed mill, or some news Ma had heard while talking to her mother or one of my aunts on our party line phone. It was under that tree, at the end of the day, that the family talked to each other after a busy day. Sometimes we just sat or lay back in the grass and watched the activity around us in the evening air. We also listened to all the sounds that seemed to be amplified as darkness set in. I remember the creaking of the windmill, pigeons softly cooing in the cupola of the barn, the rustling of the leaves in the tree above us as the birds settled down for the night, and cats near the barn fighting over the last of the milk that was their allotment for the evening.
Evenings under the tree were not without discomforts. The mosquitoes also liked those evening hours and could make life miserable, especially after a period of wet weather. Flies and other winged insects also liked to hang around in the coolness of the shade. Those flies were real pests in the house. They always found a way inside. If you’re my age or older, you should remember those fly ribbons hanging in the house. We even had one over the kitchen table. Thinking back, that wasn’t the most appetizing during meals, when flies caught in the ribbon made frantic buzzing noises as we were eating. But like the lack of air conditioning and TV, it was a part of our life and we never thought it shouldn’t be hanging there.
Life seemed simple, good, and complete at times like that, with the family all gathered together. We didn’t miss air conditioning because we had never experienced it. This was how life was supposed to be in the summer. It was often hot and humid, and you endured it as best you could. I think the summer days seem even hotter now because many of us are used to working and living in air conditioned buildings. When we do venture outside, we notice the heat that much more.
I know most of us wouldn’t care to go back to those days. In retrospect, they seem pretty primitive by today’s standards. But sometimes, I remember how peaceful those evenings were, lying under that old maple tree, listening, observing, and contemplating the world around me… and I miss them.
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