Yesterday it rained both during the day and last night with a bit of space between them. I could hear the drops hitting the metal top of the barbecue, one of my favorite sounds. Today will also be wet with a high in the 60’s. I do love summer rain.

I used to love to ride my bike through puddles. If I saw any puddle, big or small, I’d aim. When I hit the water, I’d take my feet off the pedals and raise my legs up on each side. My bike would sort of surf through the water which rose up in waves on each side, my Red Sea moment. Sometimes I’d hydroplane and hope my bike would stay afloat. It always did.

I don’t remember how old I was when we got our first TV. We had one as long as I can remember. Our first set was huge, a giant console cabinet with a tiny screen behind two cabinet doors which took up a whole corner of the living room. It was best watched sitting on the rug on the floor in front of it. We had an antenna, rabbit ears, which got local stations. My father wrapped aluminum foil around each ear thinking it got better reception that way. We used to take turns getting up to the change the channel. On weekdays, we’d watch TV in the late afternoons before supper and for a little time before bed. Our best watch times were Saturday mornings when every show was a kid’s show. One of my TV milestones was the first time I stayed up long enough for the channels to go off the air to the stirring sound of The Star Spangled Banner which was then followed by the Indian-head test pattern and the sound of snow.

I remember the record player which played only 45’s. It was small. It had a chunky round spindle on which you loaded the records and which automatically dropped the next record. I never had one; instead, I’d put in the hole of the 45 one of those plastic adapters so the record could play on a regular size spindle, like on a hi-fi. I had a good collection of 45’s. When I was young, they were cheap to buy, and I could buy the song I loved instead of a whole album. Later, though, I always bought the albums. I still have many of my records, and I still play them.

Today I have a concert.

This entry was posted on July 30, 2026 at 2:50 am and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.