Sunday, October 22, 2017

BLOGAVERSARY -- MEMORIES -- INDIAN SUMMER

BLOGAVERSARY

Eleven years ago this week this blog was unintentionally launched onto the Internet.  Frantically searching into the wee morning hours, I was unable to find Blogger directions for removing that content I had been writing experimentally.   I couldn’t phone friend or family at that hour either for help.  I understood so little about digital technology then as I was still teaching myself how to use a computer which I had acquired for the first time earlier that year.   I panicked at the thought my words were irretrievably “out there”, which I’ve long since realized hardly mattered at all.  But, given my Internet naivety I reconciled myself there was nothing I could do but continue with the blog to save face, so to speak. 


AUTUMN MEMORIES

Writing for my blog, coincided with a major life change following my husband’s sudden death earlier that year.   Natural reminiscences prompted by his loss, my gradual aging-related recollections with the increasing passing of family and friends, has often stimulated my thoughts to reflecting on my feelings and life experiences. Often when I’ve sat down to write a blog post I’ve gotten side-tracked with some of those tangential tales.

So, I began writing those stories as they emerged, but in no particular sequence.  I’ve recounted a few, or portions of them, here, but the rest I consider personal, to be more appropriately appreciated for sharing with my adult children and, likely their children one day.   One fond memory, in abbreviated form here, often comes to mind when I think of fall -- and especially Indian Summer.  


INDIAN SUMMER

October, or autumn, has also happened to be my favorite time of year.   Living many years in a Great Lakes State we were treated to fall’s magnificent leaves colors of golden yellow, shades of flaming reds to rust and rich browns embracing the trees before gently falling to the ground in preparation for winter’s snows.   I looked forward to those years when late in the season we’d experience a period of cold temperatures or frost, then unexpectedly a brief episode of unseasonably warm, dry and calm weather would suddenly intrude ….. Indian Summer arrived…..as has this memory in subsequent years.

I had ended a relationship the previous year and a lengthy period followed before I began to notice in the Spring the presence of a nearby resident to whom I had previously never paid any attention, when he and his parents had moved there from out of state many months earlier.  I now became aware of this handsome young man who had a light olive complexion, short dark hair slightly receding at the temples, that said to me he was older, possibly close in age to my 23 years. 

He had a physical build one would expect to see today on someone who regularly did body building, though his 5' 11" trim muscular stature was just natural.  Few men engaged in exercise workouts then that I knew, as many do today, nor had he, I later learned.    I didn’t really date that much and didn’t really think of him as the type I expected to date. 
   
I was quite pleased though when almost simultaneously with my awareness of him, he phoned me for the first time.  That spring and summer we enjoyed each others company in as many fun activities as were available in the small town environment where I was living then.   I remember the increased rush of feelings I felt on those occasions when he began periodically coming to transact business where I worked instead of where he previously had gone, though we had no direct contact in the business place.   

We sometimes played penny ante poker with my parents.  He was clearly gambling card savvy, generally winning, and my strong suit of bluffing seemed not to work with him.   There were afternoons and evenings swimming at a large spring fed lake nestled in the hills outside of town.   Sometimes, we just walked together, talking or in silence, holding hands, sauntering past stores on the few short blocks of the downtown main street, only a short distance from where we each lived. Sometimes we visited the one popular darkened interior atmospheric watering hole, or further up the street there was the attraction of the local Isaly's ice cream store – which, coincidentally, has returned to the marketplace this year.

Television (black and white only, as color came years later) was becoming accessible with cable installations enabling more people to receive broadcast signals from the distant stations.  Their reception had previously been unavailable due to topography interference.  I don’t recall that we watched any TV, however.    Little did I know, though it had always been in the back of my mind, that before the next year ended I would be employed at one of those commercial television stations -- in spite of the fact Public Broadcasting was what initially interested me most. 

High Fidelity was being enhanced to stereophonic sound on our long playing (LP) vinyl records for the music we enjoyed.   Occasionally we went to the local movie theater.  Then there was the annual County Fair with those colorful “Dancing Waters”, rides including a Ferris Wheel, Tilt-O-Wheel, the fun wandering among the various animal barns, treating ourselves to the fast food only available at traveling fairs and carnivals. 

We experienced the always surreal to me Indian Summer that year after the summer turned into fall.   I remember those occasions when we lost track of time as conversation and our friendship took a more serious turn.   I think this may have alarmed both of us, since we each had quite different plans for our lives.  Just as suddenly as we had started dating, we stopped.  I had mixed feelings, but neither of us reached out to the other.  

Indian Summer inexplicably signaled the finality of more than just the season after a very special spring and summer.   There have been times over the years when I've wondered what became of my bronzed young friend.  I do know that though we would not have been a good long term match, fall seasons that have an Indian Summer are very special to me.

Here’s Sarah Vaughn’s rendition of a favorite “Indian Summer” jazz melody:    


30 comments:

  1. All my life I've envied people like you - people who remember so much of what has happened during their lives. Nice story! Thanks for sharing.
    Cop Car

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    1. You’ve had so many interesting experiences from what little I’ve read on your blog, seems like you recall what’s most significant to you.

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  2. Happy Blog Birthday! I hadn't realized that you started out as a widow blogger. Has the name of our blog always been the same, or did you change it along the way?

    Love your summer romance memories. I think most of us can relate.

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    1. Yes, my blog is relatively unchanged, title and subtitle the same, also the same unimaginative header the content of such which I hadn’t even gotten around to thinking about. The subtitle was different sized print, but somewhere along the line Blogger arbitrarily reduced it to just simple type.

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  3. What a romantic interlude. It was almost too perfect. Still a nice thing to reminisce on a warm Indian summer evening. :-)

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    1. The experience was quite unique and unexpected for me that I came to appreciate even more in retrospect, but isn’t that true of much of what happens in our lives.

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  4. What a sweet, intriguing story. I'm not sure I like the way it ended, but you feel it was right that you didn't 'end up together', so I shall accept that as well. VERY well told, though!

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    1. Actually, there was one more occasion when we got together the following summer which was special, too, but I thought this shorter version sufficed.

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  5. Happy Blogaversary. You have been at this quite a while.
    What a sweet, well told story that made me smile as old familiar items kept cropping up. Haven't heard the name Isalys in 60 years. I do remember their ice cream.
    Have you tried to Google him? Think I would.

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    1. Actually I did, but didn’t spend a lot of effort on it. Couldn’t recall his parents name but don’t they would have remained in that town long, or that he would have either. I think I prefer the memory, including our subsequent meeting the next summer, that I didn’t include in the interest of brevity, to knowing the subsequent reality.

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  6. A bittersweet romance--one that you can still look back on and remember with fondness, it seems. It's good that you have the insight as to whether you'd have been a successful match. Now you can just enjoy the memory as it is, for what it was.

    And Isaly's ice cream! It's back, by the way, in lots of stores here in NE Ohio, anyway. I always loved their raspberry ripple when I was a child, and I loved how they served their ice cream pressed into towering wedges in the cones.

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    1. Given that a long term permanent relationship had never been on my to do list, I can say our friendship did cause me to warm to the idea. Glad to read someone else remembers Isaly’s ice cream. Think it’s mostly back in that part of the country.

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  7. How remiss of me, failing to recognize your Blogaversary. Happy, happy!

    Just because a relationship is recognized as non-viable doesn't mean we don't enjoy the remembrance of them. I would guess that most of us have at least one such remembrance.
    Cop Car
    P.S. I have grown to really, really dislike reCAPTCHA. I used to think that CAPTCHA was bad!

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    1. Thanx — most years I forget my blogaversary, too, and often unintentionally miss that of others. Yeah, I hate using CAPTCHA of any kind but we can thank spammers and trolls for our need to use them. The latest is a commenter who responds in English, then leaves a cute little foreign language link above his name that goes out to undesirable site. He’s apparently unaware of how easy it is now to quickly translate any language.

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  8. I did smile at the nature of your blog-start. I was somewhat more intentional, but it says something that the title of my first post was, "Dazed and Confused." Next April, I'll have been at it for ten years, so at least I don't need to worry any longer that I'll run out of things to write about.

    One thing I noticed and appreciated in this post was your comment that, "I’ve recounted a few, or portions of [the stories] here, but the rest I consider personal..." On my own About page, I included a quotation from Georgia O'Keefe: "Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant… It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest." One of my bets when I started blogging was that it would be possible to be personal without slipping into confessional. I have a few whiz-bang stories I could tell, but won't, and it's always nice to be reminded, as you've suggested here, that reticence can also be an acceptable stance toward the blogosphere.

    As for Indian Summer? Like so much in life, it's an interlude: a temptation to believe that time can be reversed. But it can't: reason enough, sometimes, to stick with the memories.

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    1. When I first visited your blog I recall reading that O’Keefe quote which resonated with me, so genuinely appreciate your comment here now. The title of your first post most appropriate as that state lasted for me longer than I thought as I eventually realized in retrospect.

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  9. Thank you for sharing these memories. Life is always teaching us something.

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    1. We just have to observe and listen to learn — can be easier said than done.

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  10. Good that you realised the relationship wouldn't have worked in the long term, rather than persisting with it with disastrous results later on. But clearly it was a sweet experience while it lasted, one that prompts fond memories.

    Eleven years? That's just a few months more than me.

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    1. That awareness does often take time to recognize.

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  11. I find it amazing and wonderful that we can remember, often in detail, these sorts of times, so sweet and touching, but often can't remember what we did three days ago. LOL

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  12. Very interesting story about that man. I, too, wonder what happened to him.

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  13. Ah, sweet memories. You love to blog, as do I, and so much of it contains our memories of years gone by. I think it helps to keep us young at heart and that, in turn, helps to keep us healthy. Keep on blogging !

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    1. Interesting to me how memories long forgotten emerge so many years later, often leading to even more recollections.

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  14. I started writing my blog when I had to spend full time at home to care for my partially invalid wife. I started the present one on my own domain in June 2008 and the blog has covered a lot of ground since then including the death of my wife and father to who also I had to give care at home.

    It has been a great way to be in touch with myself as well as many blogger friends. I wouldn't be able to stop blogging now.

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    1. Sorry to hear of all your losses. Caregiving can present many challenges. Glad that blogging proved to be helpful to you through those times as others have said has been true for them. Can be beneficial in so many ways as support, socialization, being in touch with self as you say, exploring the world, and entertainment I would agree.

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  15. Such a nice reminiscence. Just what I was in the mood for today.

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  16. Glad my reminiscience connected with your mood.

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