Summer in the Sixties

 The school year around here is just about done...which leads me to the question: How did you keep busy as a kid during the summer?

Growing up on Staten Island in the 1960s, we didn't have a lot of "organized" activities. Not being sports-oriented, things like Little League were of no interest to me. But there was a "day camp" run by the local public school, where we played softball and kickball, and indoor games like knock-hockey and ping pong and pool. There were even some classes in art.

The camp ended at 4 PM on weekdays and didn't meet at all on the weekend. During those times, we'd meet up with neighbors for pick-up games (sometimes in the school yard, sometimes in the big empty lot behind my house), or just play at imaginary stuff in the backyard--cowboys and Indians (not PC these days), or dig in the dirt and play at construction. I had a seemingly indestructible Tonka pick-up truck that lasted for at least seven or eight years, including being left out in the rain quite often.

We'd ride bikes, of course--although I didn't really master a two-wheeler until I was about 12 years old. And sidewalk games--hop scotch and box ball most frequently.

What were your summers like when you were in grade school?

Remembering My Youth

 How much do you remember of your childhood? As I get older, I find that certain details fade. Certainly, I still remember the layout of the house I grew up in and the neighborhood (the fact that I left that area only about 20 years ago and frequently visited until earlier this year probably helps), but other things have become fuzzy...like the names of the friends I played with.

Some are still clear but others remain just "the family that lived across the street and two doors down." The names of neighbors who didn't have children are even more harder to recall. My immediate next-door neighbors I still can name...but the ones a few doors away or across the street are merely blurry faces without names in my memory.

Weirdly, though, I still vividly recall other parts of my childhood--the Saturday morning shows we watched, and even the schedule they aired on, as an example. The theme songs of those programs and others I haven't seen in decades. The daytime soap operas my mother watched (she was strictly a CBS network fan): The Brighter Day, Search for Tomorrow, and As the World Turns.

Why are some things so crystal clear and others just dimly recalled?