Fun Times On Hot Summer Nights

Across the Fence #507

Hot summer nights, filled with blinking fireflies, brings back memories of summers long ago when our limited rural world became a wonderful playground for us after the sun went down.

Summertime for farm kids wasn’t filled with baseball games, swimming lessons, or going away to summer camps. Our days were filled with work and chores from the time we were old enough to carry a pail, feed animals, and wield a hoe in the tobacco field and garden. Farm kids learned early in life how to work. We didn’t have a choice. It was the only life we knew and all our friends had to work too, so it was the norm for us.

Feeding chickens: Sandra, David, and Howard (holding rooster)

But after the evening chores and milking were done, it was time to relax. We often sat outside on the lawn under the big maple trees. We’d sprawl out in the cool grass while Ma, Dad, and Grandma Inga sat at an old picnic table or on lawn chairs. It was cooler outside than in the house on hot, humid days, and that’s where we experienced the magic of summer evenings.

If there was a breeze, the sound of the windmill creaking and groaning was background noise. As darkness descended around us, the fireflies came alive, their blinking lights punctuating the darkness. We always had to capture a few in mason jars with air holes punched in the lids to let air in. Then we had our own lanterns as they lit up the jar. The cricket symphony soon joined the creaking of the windmill, and a frog chorus could be heard somewhere off in the distance in the direction of the pond. The doves in the cupola of the barn added their soft cooing to the night sounds as they settled in for the evening. It was a soothing, relaxing mixture of sounds.

Arden, David, and our father, Hans Sherpe

We’d lie back in the cool grass and gaze into the star-filled sky. I wondered if anyone else was out there someplace looking back at us and wondering the same thing. The mystery of the night sky fascinated me then and still does. Today we have a lot more answers about the mind-boggling size of the universe, but there are still so many unanswered questions. We still don’t know if someone is out there looking back at us from the 100-200 billion, far-off galaxies in the universe, but I’d bet we’re not alone. As we gazed at the sky in those days, hoping to spot a UFO, an occasional bat would go darting across the night sky in search of bugs and mosquitoes for supper. They weren’t extraterrestrial, but they were still a bit unsettling to us.

Summer evenings were also fun when we had company from neighbors or relatives, and when we had our monthly 4-H meetings. There was always time for some evening fun after the meeting and eating was done. While our parents sat around and visited, we headed outside to play in the dark.

There were always games of tag and hide and seek. We had lots of places to hide if you weren’t afraid of finding some dark, secluded area, where chances were, they’d never find you. One person was chosen to be “it” and a base was selected, usually a tree, where the “it” person would stand with their eyes closed and count to 50 out loud. Then they’d announce, “Here I come, ready or not.” Meanwhile everyone had scurried off into the dark in search of a hiding place. Sometimes people would hide together. That was always more fun if it was a girl you liked. When the “it” person found someone, they would run back to the base tree and if they beat the person who had been hiding, that person was out. This went on until everyone had been found or until the person who was “it” had found all the people he/she could. Then they called out, “Olly, olly oxen free,” and all those who hadn’t been found would emerge from their hiding places in the dark. Depending on the rules of the day, the first person or last person found was “it” for the next game.

I’ve read about another version of hide and seek called “Sardines.” We had never heard of that when I was young. That’s too bad, because it sounds like it would have been interesting. In this version, the person who is “it” does the hiding and everyone else counts to 50 and then they all try to find the person who is hiding. When a seeker finds the person hiding, they join them in the hiding place. Each person who finds them also hides with them, until they become packed in like a bunch of sardines, hence the name of the game. The last person to find the sardines is “it” for the next game. Now, doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than hiding alone in the dark?

Country kids had to work, but we also had fun, especially on hot summer nights, whether we were relaxing in the cool grass, listening to the night sounds and searching the stars, or playing hide and seek in the darkness of a country night with our friends.

Just one more thing. Who’s up for a game of “Sardines” with me? 

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