Sometime ago I was at my daughter’s keeping my grandson company while Sarah, Don and Dan worked in the flower beds. The day was full of humidity that even sitting in the shade made you sweat.

As I carried water to the amateur gardeners I had a moment of deja vu. I was taken back to a time when I was a girl of elementary age. My dad and my brothers were in the barn unloading a wagon full of hay. Too busy to leave their job I would carry fresh homemade lemonade to them.

I remembered how my mom would wash and slice fresh lemons and put them in a kettle. She would put a cup or so of sugar on top of them and with an old fashioned potato masher she would squeeze the juice from the lemons. Once she was done she added water and ice. This was such a treat during the summer months especially for my dad and brothers who dealt with unloading bales of hay and placing them in the hay mound until the mound was so high it almost touched the barn roof.

I love these kinds of memories from my childhood. It seems I remember the hot, sultry summers the most.