I'm lying on the grass looking up at the blue sky. White fluffy clouds float by, birds noisily swoop down to tease the dog or splash for a moment in the birdbath. A lawnmower whirrs in the distance and an occasional airplane flies lazily overhead. The sounds of summer are all around me.

There are a few new sounds now, In 1997, such as the recorded track of a hurdy-gurdy coming from an ice cream truck tempting children up one street and down another, or the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM of the bass beat blasting from a car stereo, but the lazy airplane, the lawnmower a few houses down the block and birds chirping in the bushes take me back to my childhood summers of the 1940's and '50's under the massive willow tree in our front yard.

I'd lie on our green, earthy-smelling lawn. My dad watered often in the summer months, and the earth was always a little damp under the thick mossy grass. Tiny, light blue flowers with minuscule golden stamens were blooming all over the lawn. Mother had let the ground-cover spread throughout the lawn because it looked so pretty. I'd lie on the shady grass under the towering willow tree for hours, looking up at the sky. I remember it being a clearer, more vivid blue then. I'd look for pictures in the fluffy white clouds floating across the deep blue canvas overhead. Sheep were always up there to be spotted fairly easily, but at times I'd see faces--Abe Lincoln, George Washington or maybe Dagwood or Blondie from the Sunday funny papers. Many times Goofy or Pluto or Mickey Mouse would appear along with Donald Duck or Felix the cat. Some days my mother would take a few minutes out from her housework and join me on the lawn, and we'd look for pictures together. She was so good that she could find whole scenes and faces of family members! After we watched the clouds for awhile we'd roll on our stomachs and look for four leaf clover in the grass. She was good at that too, and usually found at least one.

Sometimes I'd squint my eyes and see what I was convinced were germs that only I could spot because of my unusually sharp vision. I was certain I could pick out round staphylococcus, spirals of spirilla, wavy streptococci and little pairs of bacilli floating in the sky above me! I had memorized the types and shapes from the old Dr. Chase medical book that I loved to look at. It wasn't until years later that I found out my 'germs' were really just floaters in my eyes, and everyone had them!

Some days, double-winged airplanes flew overhead and I'd watch as they did tricks in the sky. They'd roll over and over, then fly straight up and turn over backwards, turning off their engines as they fell quickly towards the ground, starting up again just as I was sure they wouldn't have time to come out of their nose- dive. They'd soar upward again and repeat their stunts. Occasionally, a configuration of military bombers roared overhead. These noisy planes scared me. I thought they might drop bombs like I'd seen in the newsreels at the movies.

Many times when I was lying there watching the activity in the sky and listening to the familiar summer sounds around me, I'd hear a siren off in the distance. The fire department was about a mile away and when a fire call came, the warning siren blew. Two or three minutes later the fire trucks would take off, and I could hear them coming up the hill closer and closer, their sirens getting louder with each block. I was scared to death of the fire trucks and sirens, so I'd run in the house when I heard them coming. My mother told me a trick to do so I wouldn't be so afraid. She said to put my fingers in my ears and sing loudly, 'The firemen are going to help someone, the firemen are going to help someone...' over and over. I'd try this, but somehow I'd always be able to hear the trucks screaming around the corner a block up the road. Fortunately, most of the time they'd turn there, and seldom came past our house.

On warm, sunny, summer days, my friend Luana, who lived across the street, and I would ride our bicycles to the swimming pool. It was quite a long hot ride, but mostly downhill, going. As we neared the pool, the loud voices of noisy, splashing swimmers greeted us and we could hardly wait to hit the water ourselves. We'd have our suits on under our clothes so we could jump out of our things in the dressing room, cram them into the baskets, fasten the safety pin with our basket number to our swimming suits and run down the path to the pool. The pool was always very crowded, and we'd start looking for our friends right away, but all the girls looked alike in the water with their white swimming caps and solid-colored one piece suits, so sometimes it took awhile to find everyone. After we all found each other we'd gather in one corner of the pool and swim and play around for most of the afternoon. When it was time for Luana and I to get out, we'd dress quickly and ride to the drugstore a couple of blocks away to get ice cream or a soda before we started home. We dreaded the trip back because it was mostly all uphill, and it was the hottest part of the day.

During the hot days of summer, Mother would usually plan for us to eat dinner outdoors. We had a wonderful large patio under a second huge willow tree in the back yard. The area was made of flagstone and it included a massive stone fireplace and cooking area. There was a long, wooden picnic table with four benches, a round metal table with matching chairs and several large wooden lawn chairs with high backs and very wide arms to hold dinner plates and glasses, and the furniture was arranged on the patio in a very picturesque setting. My dad gave all the patio furniture a new coat of paint each year, and each year my mother would pick a different color. I remember years of light green, dark green, white or brown furniture. The patio was surrounded by flower beds with tall plantings and shrubs and little stone paths leading in, making the area a private, outdoor living room. Sometimes my parents would entertain the camellia club, and the yard would be overflowing with people. It was especially fun after dark with a crackling fire in the fireplace and the sounds of laughter and voices floating through the air, mixed with an occasional hoot, croak or chirp from the night life hidden in the bushes or around the pond.

My grandmother lived next door and she also had a wonderful outdoor living area and fireplace. Sometimes the picnics would be over there with family or groups of her friends. There were never any children for me to play with, but I enjoyed hiding in the shadows watching the grown-up activities around me.

The fourth of July was always an exceptionally exciting day for me. I could hardly wait until it was dark enough for my dad to begin his wonderful fireworks display. Each year there were always a group of friends and relatives gathered in our back field to watch the spectacular show. All kinds of fireworks were legal then, and we had every kind of Roman candle, sky rocket, firecracker and sparkler that were available. Most of the things were shot high into the sky on a wooden trough-like launcher that my dad had made years earlier. He was the only one allowed near the fireworks, and there was always a running hose near the launcher. I learned many lessons about safety from him at an early age. I remember the fireworks lasting far into the night each fourth of July. My dad must have bought a huge amount of fireworks each year, he liked them as much as I did! Now, whenever I hear the 'WHOOSH' of fireworks being launched high into the sky, I think of those exciting bright nights out in the field behind our greenhouse.

The sounds of summer days and nights haven't changed. I'm just in new surroundings now, and there are a few new sounds of the times that have been added, sometimes drowning out the good old ones unless you listen and pay close attention. Then, every so often, an old familiar sound can be heard, and when that happens, it never fails to bring back the memories of the summers of my childhood.

© DOREEN BRADLEY SATTER 1997-2009