Exceptional

Looking back at boyhood summers

Summer Remembrances

by RodG

Summer Fun Contest Winner 

A summer spent on Grampa's lake for me would always end too soon. When Dad arrived to take me home I knew my aching heart would break. From early June to Labor Day I lived with Grampa, just us two. His three-room house with screened-in porch to me seemed like a Swiss chalet. He had a dock, a green canoe, a sloping lawn and gravel beach. There were two dogs I really loved, a mutt named Sal, a Lab called Lou. By seven I had paddled to a shady cove, made my first cast. For lunch we ate the trout I caught. Filleted them all, froze most, fried two. Then Grampa whistled both dogs in and on the porch we all took naps. He liked a hammock, me a cot, the dogs slept on an old bearskin. At two we all awoke bright-eyed. While Grampa rocked and read his books, the dogs barked loudly as I swam or scrutinized the flies I tied. I think I loved the evenings best, the call of loons, a white-faced moon, six jillion stars that blinked at me, the lake all quiet, now at rest. Although those summers seemed too short, I'll long remember that canoe, those trophy fish that went uncaught, the afternoons when naps were sport.

Writing Prompt Write a poem about your favorite summertime activity

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