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Clover Lane

Home » Blog » Summer Memories

Summer Memories

by Sarah Turner Clover Lane, Family Life

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(me (I think?), at the neighbor’s pool)

Growing up, we were lucky enough to have the nicest backyard neighbors.  Dr. and Mrs. Pastorelle (not sure of the spelling) were their names and they kept up a beautiful piece of property.  They had swans in their  pond that was surrounded by weeping willows, a pool and pool room and tennis courts.  

The pool room had an area that was sectioned off with those long hanging beads-it was a virtual jungle that had parrots and other birds flying around.  How awesome (and 70’s-ish) is that?

 In the basement of the main house, they had a Pepsi machine -I’m sure they had a complete bar setup also, a sort of billiards room, but all I remember is Pepsi on tap. We were only inside maybe once or twice…back then it was “kids play outside” ALL the time and we had great fun with their grandchildren and other neighbors.  All I need to go back to those summer days as a kid is a whiff of chlorine, mixed with a smell of a cigarette (I think she smoked?), and just a sip of ice cold Pepsi-it’s a combination I just love (really, as much as I hate the smell of cigarettes in every other circumstance and never drink pop) only for the rush of memories.  We played and swam for years and years and years there, even after the property changed hands.

PS.  I love the vintage wind up swing in the back ground and the baby seat…which I am pretty sure doubled as a car seat. Gasp!

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June 13, 2012 · 22 Comments

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  1. vera says

    June 13, 2012 at 5:46 am

    Woah! You had a car seat? Lucky you… I came home from the hospital in a moses basket on the floorboard of the car 🙂

    I love this post – it kind of makes me want to time-warp back to my grandparents' neighbors' pool!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    June 13, 2012 at 7:13 am

    Beautiful memories. I live how chunky your baby thighs were…I'm a sucker for rolls on babies.

    Reply
  3. Magnolia Verandah says

    June 13, 2012 at 7:38 am

    How times have changed – how safety conscious we are now. Baby seats and swimming pool fencing will never be the same.

    Reply
  4. Love Being A Nonny says

    June 13, 2012 at 10:13 am

    Raised my three with a wind-up swing and an infant seat that DID NOT vibrate! 🙂 LOVE this picture and walk down memory lane……

    Reply
  5. Jo says

    June 13, 2012 at 10:31 am

    It's amazing how smells trigger memories!
    Hope you have a great summer

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    June 13, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    Love that their is another kid in that wind up swing. I am sure there were kids all over and the little ones rotated between things. Great memories!

    Reply
  7. Melanie Gillespie says

    June 13, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    Sweet memories. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    June 13, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    it is amazing how "unsafe" most things were back in the day and yet somehow we all survived!

    isn't it crazy how a smell can bring back such a random memory? happens to me all the time.

    Reply
  9. Kim says

    June 13, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    I think EVERYONE smoked in the 70's!
    I am sure we did not have car seats! too funny!

    Reply
  10. Mama Sue says

    June 13, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    I was born in 1960 and pretty sure my mom held me in the front seat with no seat belt. Shocking! I think that picture looks a lot like Patrick!

    Reply
  11. luvnmy10 says

    June 13, 2012 at 4:24 pm

    What kind and generous neighbors to open up their fun yard to the neighbor kiddos. I love people like that!

    Reply
  12. Andy says

    June 13, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    So sweet! I love it. I also had one of those little seats as a baby. I am now a CPS (car seat) technician and instructor. I use a similar picture of myself in trainings for law enforcement. Times do change. But happy babies do not.

    Reply
  13. Shari says

    June 13, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Great picture and great memories.

    Pretty sure I came home from hospital laying on the front seat somewhere. I have clear memories of sitting on my dad's lap (when I was older obviously)helping him drive the car. Yikes.

    Reply
  14. Jenny says

    June 13, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    Sarah! I love that you share your memories like this! I find it quite humorous that the swing and the carrier are similar, if not exact(minus the color),to the ones my mother in law has that she used with all three of her sons! She also has a walker that is round and would be outlawed today! HAHA My two oldest kids were fortunate to use the walker for a while, total safety hazard but they could fly in that thing! awesome! 🙂

    Reply
  15. Meagan Kenney says

    June 13, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    As soon as I saw that picture I thought….that looked like the seat I was brought home in the hospital in! What a scary thought, huh? My husband was brought home in a moses basket placed on the floor. Holy moly!

    Reply
  16. Jodi says

    June 13, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    I think I was even over there during some of our summer visits. Through your backyard, house on right?

    Reply
  17. Erin says

    June 13, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    Such a cool picture. 🙂 I've had so much fun catching up on your posts this afternoon Sarah! Love all of your everyday pictures. I was laughing at your anti-disney post. I've missed having season passes so bad I can't stand it! 🙂 I love that place, but part of why I love it is that we are so close we can go for just half a day and leave if it's too busy. We know the ins and outs now to know when to go and when NOT to go too. That helps with the line situation! But I agree that the kids don't need disney to have fun. Ellie's favorite part of our trip to Maui last spring was eating at Hard Rock Cafe! HA! She talks about it all the time. How cool the restaurant was and how good the food tasted. We were in Maui for crying out loud! Kid's don't need much to impress them – that's for sure.

    I hope you're hanging in there this summer! I think about you all the time and hope you're resting enough. I know how hard summer and a pregnancy can be and combined…well…that's just not fun. But I'm sure excited to see if that baby is a boy or girl!

    Reply
  18. Jessica says

    June 14, 2012 at 4:44 am

    I love walking down memory lane. Old pictures are the best! Thanks for sharing that memory!

    Reply
  19. TAB says

    June 14, 2012 at 10:49 am

    Awesome memories!

    Reply
  20. marlowe says

    June 15, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    Love that cheap plastic "car seat". Once the new ones came out, I hauled a garage sale cabbage patch doll around in my mothers old one 🙂

    Those were great carefree days!

    Reply
  21. Mary says

    June 15, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    I LOVED this post and the picture. So many funny things to think about – – that is not a 5 point harness; I am pretty sure you weren't wearing sunscreen; that diving board in the background- major safety risk; no pool fence; the ashtray on the table; the stick in your hand ('not suitable for children under the age of 6')? Do you think sometimes that modern parents are too uptight or should we be grateful that there is so much knowledge these days about keeping kids safe.

    Reply
  22. Mrs. Farmer says

    July 6, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    My favorite childhood memory involves Pepsi and cigarettes, too! Daddy would come home from working second shift and I would go out in the kitchen and sit on his lap while he drank a big glass of iced Pepsi and smoked his Winston reds…love that memory!

    Reply

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