Rick Patrick
Columnist
As if anyone needed any kind of reminder, it’s summertime here in North Central Florida. That means the weather is hot and humid. I remember one summer, I was fortunate to spend about six weeks in beautiful Tucson, Ariz. Afternoon temperatures there would frequently hit well over 100 degrees. However, as we jokingly said, “it was a dry heat.” Mind you, 105 degrees is hot, no matter the humidity, but it was not as uncomfortable as our lovely 98 degrees, along with 80 percent humidity.
I remember going to swimming lessons at the city pool back in my old home town of Perry, Fla. The lessons would begin around nine or 10 in the morning, if my memory serves me correctly. I also remember that, at that early hour, the water was quite cold. But that same cold water felt really good once the afternoon temperatures rose.
Another fond summertime memory from my youth was time spent at Mama Patrick and Papa’s in Greenville. There was always something interesting to see and do. I would sometimes go with Papa to Sherrod’s Lumber Company across the road from where they lived. Papa worked there weighing trucks as they brought loads of logs into the sawmill. He taught me how to record the weights in order to keep track of how much wood each truck brought in. I always had a sense of accomplishment while I “helped.” There were also many hours spent picking blackberries around their land. The real reward for the buckets of blackberries would be a homemade “blackberry doobie,” as Mama Patrick called it. For those who may not know what a blackberry doobie is, it’s very similar to a blackberry cobbler or pie. It tends to pair very well with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. Then, there were the wonderful stories Papa would tell. Papa was a natural storyteller. I would give anything now to have a recording of some of the stories he would tell. I remember one story of a summer that was “so hot that a field of corn started popping. A rooster saw it, thought it was snowing and froze to death.”
This past week, we have had a large inflatable water slide here at the newspaper in order to entertain the youngsters who frequent the office here when they are not in school. It has been a wonderful sound to hear their shouts and laughter. I can’t help but smile at the idea they are building memories of summertime that may serve them when they are much older, just as mine serve me.
So, as we brave these hot summertime days, smile and thank the Good Lord above for air conditioning. Don’t worry, October is coming, along with cooler temperatures, here on the Sunny Side.
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