At my feet is the round lawn sprinkler that would soon be linked to the hose. It looks as if I am demanding that my mother attach it right now so I could play. Now that summer is suggesting that it may just possibly arrive in New England, I am remembering the joys of running through the sprinkler.
In Western Oregon, there was never a lack of water, so we could play in the sprinklers as long as we wanted. One of them went around in a circle, and we could chase it. Another threw out a large arc and you could duck under the water for fun. For some reason, we never had one of those little wading pools, so we contented ourselves with sprinklers. No one I knew had an above ground pool, though one very wealthy neighbor had a full in ground pool with bathhouse. The water was never heated, however. In fact I don’t remember ever encountering a heated swimming pool until I was an adult.
A second badge of honor besides skinned knees as a kid was what we called “summer feet.” My siblings and I had a contest each summer to see who could get the toughest bottoms on our feet. We spent all summer barefoot, and it was important not to wince when stepping on a rock or twig. Eventually we would demonstrate our achievement by walking up our gravel driveway.
When they say kids can make up their own fun, I think of sprinklers and summer feet.
Saved By Words 
For me, part of summer was being stained green from the grass so that even a bath didn’t get the color off.
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I forgot about the green knees. You are right.
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Thanks for the memories of sprinklers and “summer feet.” It makes me remember starting out dry and squeamish and then becoming soggy and a bit muddy, maybe even shivering a bit if the temperature dipped, and having to be forced to give up the day’s “magic,” to come indoors and get cleaned and dried (-our fingertips and toes would be pale and wrinkly) and fed😊.
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Wrinkly for sure. I think I spent all summer banged up, mosquito bitten and wrinkled.
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what fun 🙂 Till my marriage every summer vacations my brother and I spent with our cousins in my maternal grandparents’ home.
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What joy in the summer for your family.
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What fun memories Elizabeth!
We had a stretched canvas over a metal frame wading pool made by my grandfather. We had such fun!
Jennifer
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How great. My dad dug a hole and lined it with concrete when I was very little to use to wade in.
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Lovely & special men in our little less 😀
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