TheBanyanTree: In the Good Old Summertime

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I used to play “In the Good Old Summertime” on the piano.  It conjures up an
image of a girl in the early 20th century sitting at an upright piano with
all the windows open on a summer evening playing for friends and neighbors
gathered on the porch.

Well, I have a spinet piano that only gets played by my grandsons.  It’s
been years since my fingers have tickled the ivories and years since I
played “In the Good Old Summertime,” so I don’t dare think of an image of me
sitting at my spinet piano with the windows open to serenade my neighbors
who all have their air conditioning running at full blast.  Thank goodness
the whirrs from the air conditioners would drown out all the misplaced notes
as my fingers would fumble around looking for the right keys.

Whether or not I’m playing the piano, summer marches on.  With July half
gone, the summer intensity is picking up.

It’s fair season in Minnesota.  The counties are beginning to have their
fairs, which will lead up the big state fair at the end of August.  We went
to our Ramsey County fair yesterday.  It was a perfect day, with a hazy sun
and comfortable temperatures.

We passed a rock climbing wall when we entered the fair.  I asked the older
grandson if he wanted to climb it.  He looked it over for a moment and said
he would do it when he was six.  OK, no problem.

Then we went to look at the animals.  They had cows and calves, a baby
buffalo, ducks, turtles, bunnies, and a llama.  The kids could feed the
animals, and the older grandson made the tour of the tent with cups of food
in hand.  The younger one doesn’t like animals.  He’s never liked animals.
It’s all he can do to tolerate my dogs, and that took a long time before he
would come into my house without screaming hysterically about the dogs
sniffing him.

After several minutes of coaxing, Asher finally got him to touch a few of
the animals.  He tried to get him to feed the animals, but the little one
wouldn’t have any of that, so we gave his cups of food to the older one.

We wandered around and looked at the exhibits.  The kids were particularly
fascinated with someone’s Pez collection, which won first prize.  There were
Pez dispensers of every kind, and since the little grandson is so fond of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right now, he was excited to see the Pez
dispensers with Michelangelo, Leonardo, etc.

We walked back by the rock climbing wall and the older one told me he would
like to try to climb it.  So his mother paid $4, the older one was put in a
harness, and off he went.  He knew where to put his hands and feet as he
moved up the wall.  The rock wall guy asked if he had ever done this before,
but no, the older grandson is a natural climber, he was climbing my
retaining walls in the garden before he could walk.  He got up to the top
and rang the bell, and then zipped down by bouncing off the wall, kind of
like Spiderman.  We gave him a round of applause and he just beamed.

We left the kids to their carnival rides.  Ray and I played a few games of
bingo and the we left the fair for our trip to the big city of Minneapolis.

It’s the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest.  We ate barbequed pork sandwiches
and drank lemonade on Peavey Plaza before the concert.  The Plaza was jammed
with people of all ages, from very formal dress to very casual dress,
sipping on wine and beer, while a jazz band played in front of the fountain.

The sun was setting behind the buildings surround the Plaza and the air was
cooling off just a little bit when we went into the Hall for the concert.
The selections were from a Minneapolis Symphony concert 100 years ago, about
the time my girl was playing her piano for her guests.  It began with “Pomp
and Circumstance” and ended with the dramatic and very rousing “1812
Overture.”

After the concert, Ray and I wandered out to the Plaza, where the grills
were still fired up, the wine was still flowing, and a jazz band now
comprised of Orchestra members was playing.  We topped off the evening with
butter pecan ice cream cones.

We took the long and winding way home along the Mississippi River listening
to the Grateful Dead, believe or not, on my CD player.  Well, the Grateful
Dead was a summertime band, too, representing a different kind of summer
fun.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
Be a star!

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family.
~Buddha