The Belle, here. It's coffee chat day. So what'll you have? A vanilla latte? Hot Earl Gray? Some nice hot cocoa or perfectly spiced chai?
Pull up a chair, and let's chat about (from the conversation starter website)...
What is the one thing you miss about being a kid?
Time to read!!!! I buried myself in books and the library was my saving grace, my personal weekly goal. It was about a mile and a half from our house so I had to walk the distance on Saturday with an older brother or sister who most likely had better plans for Saturdays...
ReplyDeleteSo then I would sneak up there, pretending I was going with others.
And sometimes I would go after school, but the rules back then were you were supposed to go straight home from school, two blocks away. But then I would be two blocks farther from the library, but those school safety patrols were tough back in the day, LOL! I was a total bookworm.
:)
Which is why writing beautiful books for Love Inspired just over-the-top delights me now. Big grin here, and I brought pumpkin spice syrup and that delightful black cherry syrup for the cafe larder. A black cherry mocha???? Hot or iced?
Oh.
To die for!
Me too, Ruthy! I used to walk block and blocks to the library and fill my arm up with books and walk back again. I was a latchkey kid so no one noticed that I wasn't home right after school! And think of the exercise! Aerobic and weight-lifting combined.
DeleteAnd hey -- I made your fruit cobbler on the weekend. YUM! The topping is completely out of this world! I made it with apples, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Divine!
Kav, that does sound heavenly!
DeleteRuthy, I guess I should be very thankful for the Book Mobile that came to our neighborhood! I loved getting on there. It had nice, cool air conditioning!! I remember that best. That, and the smell of the books. :)
DeleteMissy, I remember seeing TV footage of bookmobiles. What a hoot, a library on wheels!
DeleteOur village needs a new library. Really. Truly. But the village has no space for a library. It's small and cramped space wise. Mostly because it is so small. The village, not the library.
But we need a bigger library. And they don't want to move it out of the village, even though our town has TONS of space. And owns a huge, sprawling park, historical museum, playgrounds, playing fields, etc... But the village doesn't want the library to move there. I think of all the kids that could get more out of the library if it had more space...
Oy.
I love libraries!
Did I ever tell you about the girl I befriended ONLY because she had the entire Nancy Drew collection?
DeleteNot one of my better moments, but what can I say, the library didn't have them and my parents refused to buy me books because I read them too fast. Okay - to give due credit, they did buy me the Happy Hollisters in book club.
LOL, Mary! We'll try not to judge you. :)
DeleteThanks, Missy. Load off my mind.
DeleteBut I bet you're only saying that cause it was about books. :)
I miss not being responsible for much - someone else was in charge of things
ReplyDeleteSusanna
Oh, that's a good one, Susanna. I often feel that way!
DeleteI'm a little control-freakish so I like being in charge. I get to BOSS PEOPLE around.
DeleteI'm so into that!
I'll take a hot cocoa, please, with extra cocoa!
ReplyDeleteWhat I miss about being a kid? Oh, the freedom. We had a several block area that included an undeveloped field/wooded area and the school yard where we could play with friends or alone - and I did for hours every day (at least, it seemed like hours!). It was safe, other moms were around to keep the kids civilized, no one worried about "after school activities" or keeping clothes clean, and the only restriction was to be home when the street lights came on - unless we had special permission to play a game of hide and seek after dark. Now THAT was fun!
And reading! The bookmobile stopped at our neighborhood school on Monday afternoons, and I'd always check out the maximum number allowed - 5. I learned to choose thicker ones so they'd last until next Monday :). In the summer, my favorite place to read was perched the the crotch of a tree.
Ruthy, I can just see you sneaking off to the library on a Saturday afternoon...
When I was older, I'd ride my bike to the main library downtown, about 5 miles away. The ride there was easy - downhill all the way. The ride home? Not so much.
Jan, we had wonderful summers in our neighborhood, too. We had a neighborhood pool that I pretty much lived at. Then hanging out at night, playing hide-and-go-seek and kick the can.
DeleteThose were great times! Oh, and I loved reading in our mimosa tree!
Double-Dutch at recess. Did anyone play that? They don't seem to do that any more in our playgrounds up here. And roaming wild acting out my favourite books which usually meant I was a supersleuth of some kind. If I tried that now I'd be arrested for stalking. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe did that, Kav! I wasn't ever very good at it. But I sure had fun trying. :)
DeleteWe also wrote our own plays and acted them out. Then made our parents watch in our own outdoor theater. LOL
Oh, we did plays too! And I loved jumping rope but I wasn't good at doubles. I'm not coordinated and I always messed the other person up.
DeleteI still carry GUILT over that. Very Mary Connealy of me, LOL!
I miss living so close to the beach. Long lazy summer days (even if I do have that pale Irish skin that burns and peels and burns and peels REPEAT).
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine growing up near the beach. How wonderful! Although I did the same thing at the pool. Pale skin and freckles. Baby oil with iodine. All day in the hot Kentucky sun. My friends called my repeatedly blistered nose hamburger meat!
DeleteOoh, maybe that's too gross to mention in a cafe! LOL
I love living near water. We had 14 years along the shores of Lake Ontario before we bought the farm. Downside: Really small lots and close proximity.
DeleteUp side?
A lot of homes were summer homes so the winters were quiet.
Downside:
The winters were quiet.
The springs were COLD because Lake Ontario is 56 miles across and doesn't warm up quickly. It's a whole different micro-climate, but so beautiful summer and fall.
Upside: Took kids to beach all the time.
Downside: Constantly fighting sunburn like you guys.
But I love our big open spaces and big trees up here on the farm. It's so pretty. When the house isn't falling in around me.
Ruthy, what's a village?? I'm serious. Is it one portion of your town? I would tend to think of it as a really small town. But you mentioned the larger town space.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm confused! Not hard to do, mind you. :)
See, this is different North to South...
DeleteThe state is split up into counties.
Each county may have towns or cities.
Within towns (like mine) there might be villages, more densely populated areas (really cute, small towns like Jamison, NY in the Men of Allegany County series or Grasse Bend in the North Country series, and how about that for SHAMELESSLY plugging my work, right????) So the village is often centered in the town, or near center, and farm land and/or industry branch off from the village.
Some towns and villages work very well together. Others compete.
I've never understood that, but that's how it rolls up here. Which makes the towns sound snarky so in my books THEY ARE NEVER SNARKY ALMOST because that's just plain silly.
Thanks for the lesson, Ruthy! We have counties and then cities/town within. But no villages that I know of. :)
DeleteI miss being so carefree. Now there are things I HAVE to do and people who rely on me. I also miss snow and summers at the lake. Sigh. Oh to be a kid again. That is, knowing what I know now, of course.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Mindy. Then, we just wanted to grow up and be independent! :)
Delete