Quote:
Originally Posted by tis
I sure do, always putting the mail in the slots, sometimes stopping to wait on a customer if Bob Pigott wasn't there! What memories. We always loved to take the boat up to Ernie's for a coke or candy bar.
|
Back in the 50's we spent our summers in Green's Basin like we do now. Back then there wasn't a road to the cottage so we traveled back and forth to the mainland by boat. We learned how to drive the boat when we were very young. One time my brother and I were out in the boat when the motor fell off. My mother reminds me of what I said. I yelled "Mommy- Scotty ( my brother's name) lost the motor. I am not sure how we got to shore, but I do remember that we didn't get in trouble since my late father put all the motors on the boats. I remember that one of our motors was a green Mercury. We also had cows at the end of the basin that would stand in water. Can you imagine what people would say now if that happened! There were also cabins that were rented out during the summer. The coattages had red row boats. We always enjoyed seeing the renters having a good time in the row boats. Also one time my sister was casting off the dock (we called it a wharf back then) when she got the fishhook caught in her head. Our boat was on the mainland so my mother didn't know what to do. She was alone her aunt and 3 kids- with no running water or electricity etc. She looked across the lake and she saw a couple of guys on the mainland. She yelled to them to bring the boat over which they did. It turned out they were on the mainland because they were updating a topographic map of the lake. I even think they brought my sister with my mom to the local doctor in Moultonborough. I believe his name was Dr. Rasip ( spelled incorrectly). The doctor took the fishhook out and my sister was fine. We spent endless days swimming and reading comics in the hammock on the porch. We had 3 gas lights in the house and we didn't have any lights at all up in the bedrooms. We used flashlights. I spent many nights trying to kill all the mosquitoes that would swarm into the cottage because the screens were never air tight. At night I would read by flashlight or listen to my transistor radio. Life was simple, but not easy. Back then we took our baths in the lake as we only had a hand pump in the house. There were times when the lake was very cold, but we went in to clean up. The outhouse wasn't much fun either. The memories though are so wonderful. Children today often do not have a clue what life was like without TV, computers, microwaves, etc. We played a lot of cards and the family always spent time together.