Now that it is summer here the street frequently fills with the tune “Turkey In the Straw” coming from an ice cream truck trolling the neighborhood looking for kids with money in their pockets and time on their hands. Although I get tired of the jingle which keeps playing in my head long after the truck has turned the corner, it does take me back to 1958.

That summer my mother, siblings and I went to New York State to visit all the “East Coast” relatives. At my cousins’ house I was introduced to the marvel of the Good Humor man. In Oregon we lived in a neighborhood without any commercial development, and the only food on a truck was from Jasper the greengrocer. I was astonished at the chance to buy ice cream outside my cousins’ house. I settled on a Toasted Almond Bar. Nothing had ever tasted so wonderful.

I never had the chance to buy from the Good Humor truck again. As an adult I discovered Good Humor bars in the ice cream section of the grocery store. I tried a Toasted Almond. Apparently most of the thrill came from buying one aged at 11 in New York. The packaged one left me cold. (pun intended.)