“Cakes, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Bullfrogs”
I’ve always loved this time of year. As a kid growing up in a small country town upstate, it meant the last day of school and the beginning of what felt like endless summer. When I was too young for a summer job, but too old for a baby sitter, this was a time of magical freedom. There were plenty of places for me and my friends to explore. Wonderful spots for picnics and under a bridge near my home there was a place to find bullfrogs. There was never a really compelling reason to want to find them, but it seemed important to know they were there.
The best part was the annual church bake sale held on the lawn next to the Episcopal Church. All the ladies of Greenville, no matter what their faith, brought their best masterpieces. Cakes and pies to make your mouth water and there was Ella Powell’s incomparable baked beans that have never been equaled and those frosted chocolate cookies that sold in an instant. These were farm women whose lives were hard but shared their treasured dishes and guarded those recipes like gold. Best of all was Mr.Ingalls home made vanilla ice cream. He had an old fashioned ice cream churn that took forever to make and we only got a tiny taste when he finished, but it seemed like a mighty prize. This was such a simple time and in the post war American country we thought we were rich. After all, it was summer, we had some mighty fine cooks and bakers in our county and on that day we all came together in a fellowship of sharing and joy. I loved watching the women gathered with their wares sharing laughter and camaraderie and maybe a little gossip.
I often wonder if these innocent times exist anymore or have my memories been shaded by rose colored glasses. I’m trying to hold on to the sweetness of it even though the times have become more brittle and less innocent. I feel like I can get through the tough times as long as I can remember those good times. We should never let the joy of fellowship and the gift of innocence leave us. I want to hold on to that joy of the first day of summer and home made vanilla ice cream. These memories are the things that helped me be the person I became. Through the really hard times, these are the gifts that He has given us, gifts of love and memories to sustain us, bullfrogs and all.
Lenore