September 7, 2021
When I was a child I spent many summers undergoing plastic surgery for my cleft lip and palate. As I healed I couldn't play sports or go swimming. But I have some special non surgical memories of wonderful weeks spent in Stone Harbor, N.J.
My Auntie Ruth had a cottage down the shore (that's how we say it up there). It was a small, cute cottage with a beautiful screened porch overlooking the bay. We weren't too far from the Yacht Club and on Sundays there would be sailboat races that were fun to watch. It seemed that the adults got to sleep on the porch and I was envious. Since then I've always wanted to live in houses with a screened porch.
In the kitchen, instead of a refrigerator there was an ice box and the ice man would deliver a big block of ice - how often I don't remember. This was back in the 1940s. Looking back I can't imagine how they kept perishables safely. But we never got sick. The ice box looked something like this.
I spent many hours on the dock. Small stairs led down into the bay. I used to be scared that one of the relatives of the crabs we caught and ate was going to bite my toes. I didn't like swimming in the bay much but it was nice to cool off.
Me on the dock
Later when I was a teenager we moved to Florida and I felt at home. It was like being down the shore with my soul at the beach.
Thank you for reading.
7 comments:
what a gift, to have a family place on the beach! i hope it has weathered the recent storms and is still being loved. i'm with you ... there's nothing like sand and water to fill a soul.
This sounds so idyllic! This idea of an ice box is so amazing to me, I recently learnt that there was a thing called ice warehouses!
Salt water is the cure for so many things.
Unknown, the dock is gone and I think they closed in the porch. We went by back in 1990. I wish I'd knocked on the door to talk to the people.
Tamara, I wonder how they knew how cold the ice box temperature was. Hopefully with a thermometer. I don't remember them going shopping though but they had to. Yes the ice was stored in an ice house.
Even the smell of salt water is curative for me Blazing Moon.
Oh wow, this was such a beautiful memory trip! Lovely. I can picture your aunt's cottage. And I also have the beach in my soul. Thanks for this story.
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