From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”  ~William Shakespeare

In the depths of an icy snowy winter I love to imagine summer in Minnesota. I see kids playing on a sandy beach, throwing balls for their pet dogs to retrieve and return, hopefully, building sand castles, splashing in the shallow water, running and laughing while parents relax in the sunshine warmth of a perfect June day at the beach.

This weekend that dream came true. We enjoyed seeing our grandkids playing with a group of children, six years old and as young as babies, at a friend’s beach…no fighting, no tantrums, no crying. The day with kids and grandparents relaxing in the sunshine was a perfect summer day on the water!

Sunday was a summer day I dream about all winter long. Boats were bouncing through the waves, radio music blaring at full blast. Neighbors were grilling and a few were shooting off firecrackers, practicing their skills for the upcoming Fourth of July celebration. On Big Island in Minnetonka, friends from way back in school days gathered with their young families to celebrate a TOP TEN weather day. Four-year-old Max Margaret, Lydia and Penny were building sand castles; two-year-old Scout had a constant grin on his chubby face as he drove a miniature green John Deere tractor; and Charli and Henry were splashing in the water with the six year olds. Baby Cynthia intently observed the older kids she will soon join at the beach. All the children were laughing with joy at being with friends while parents and grandparents watched and chatted nearby,

Only two more months to enjoy those lazy, hazy, crazy days and nights of bright stars and golden moonlight in the summer. Already, days are beginning to blur. School and busy fall schedules loom on the horizon. So much to do; so little time left to enjoy summer pleasures.

Before school reconvenes just after Labor Day, many families plan a few days of a family vacation. Some plan trips to Yellowstone or the Black Hills; others brave Florida heat waves to see Mickey Mouse and Epcot. A few with more cash plan trips to sunny California to find movie stars or to NYC to see Broadway shows. Most of us stick closer to home.

There’s still time to drive up north, to Duluth or the Boundary Waters, for a few days of “getting away” to fish, swim and relax in the good old summertime. Nothing fancy for many of us Minnesotans, just simple and cheap…probably camping and cooking over a bonfire or fighting mice and mosquitoes at a log cabin on one of our 10,000 lakes.

When Dad was a sheriff way back in the 50s and early 60s, he was on duty 24/7. That meant that our family vacation consisted of driving up north for a few days to a very small, one-room cabin where Mom would hang a sheet or blanket to separate the parents’ bedroom from the kids. My sister Barbie and I shared a lumpy bed where we rolled to the center indentation of the mattress; then the fighting began. We were separated by eight years. What do a little tyke and a budding teenager have in common? Nothing! Discord took us into young adulthood before we enjoyed each other’s company. Now we don’t get to see enough of each other.

The lake we landed on for our little vacation was way, way up north. We stayed in a log cabin near the Minnesota-Canadian border. We didn’t cross the border into Canada with its handsome Mounted Police in red uniforms riding horses. Remember, back then, the paved roads into Canada from Minnesota went only as far as Kenora. That was the end of civilization; once we hit Canada, that wall of tall trees meant total wilderness with bear, coyotes and wolves. Too much for Mom and me!

Our lake destination had only a number for a name. Folks had so many waterways up there they didn’t bother finding some catchy name for their lakes like Pelican, Sunfish, Linka or Mud Lake. Fishing at one of those many lakes in northern Minnesota with long poles and slimy worms threaded on sharp metal hooks was totally boring for me. I just wanted to be swimming at the beach, playing tennis or throwing a ball ante, ante over the log cabin on the courthouse lawn with my pals back home. Bats, sticky flies and mosquitoes invaded our cabin, and the spongy lake bottom was black mud filled with blood suckers that crawled between my toes and had to be pulled off and squished. YUCK!

Dad would rent an old wooden boat to go fishing. He’d sit on the water, pretending to fish, but really he was simply relaxing away from everybody and every noise, with his ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth. Meanwhile, back at the tiny cabin, Mom would cook, wash dishes, hang wet swimsuits and damp clothes on an outside line and try to find something for her girls to do. What a vacation for a woman of the Fifties!

Who could relax in an uncomfortable wooden boat on a sticky, hot day on the water? Dad wasn’t a swimmer, and the fish weren’t biting. If Dad caught a Sunny, it had to be scaled, cleaned and cooked for supper. The best part of vacation for us kids was toasting marshmallows over a campfire and filling a graham cracker sandwich with the sticky marshmallows and melting Hershey bar chocolate.

I wonder how many packs of Lucky Strikes Dad smoked on those long days of family togetherness? Mom, Dad, Barbie and I were totally ready to get home after a few days away from our regular routines, comfortable beds, familiar meat and potato meals and friends. Enough of the wilderness! Get back to civilization!

There’s only two short months of summer left for sunning on the dock, picnicking, boating and just being lazy. If you’re going to take a summer vacation, now’s the time to do it. School and cooler weather arrive in September. Enjoy summer’s short season right now!

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.