The beach is my happy place, as another blogger (thanks Dave) recently reminded me. It’s one of the only places where I truly relax. The other is my swing under the trees. Both involve books. So why is it August and I haven’t even been to the beach yet? Because getting there requires a hot-but-not-sweltering, blue-sky-but-no-clouds kind of day, with a bit of a cool breeze, low humidity and no wildfire smoke. No I’m not asking for too much…that is the way the summers used to be!
The other reason I don’t go to the beach very often is that it is thirty minutes away, and involves packing up a whole carload of beach paraphernalia – beach umbrella, beach towels, beach chairs, cooler for drinks and snacks, (sandwiches, chips for salt, fruit for potassium), a thermos of coffee, suntan lotion, (face and body and lips), books (preferably murder mysteries in large print for easier reading in the sun), sunglasses, straw hat, beach cover-up, flip-flops for the sand, those scuba diving shoes if it’s rocky, and lots of water for hydration…..and then there’s the cell phone, camera (for closeups of sailboats), keys and some money for the chip truck. It’s like packing for a wilderness trip, so it becomes a whole day’s outing, as there’s no point in loading up all that stuff for just an hour or two. I envy my friends who live a couple of blocks from the beach and ride their bikes down for an after-dinner swim, carrying nothing but a small towel to sit on the sand. (I live near a river, but there is no beach or public access to it, and the water is so deep and cold and the current so swift, it would carry a non-swimmer like me away.)
So, let’s return to the beach days of my childhood, when someone else (my poor mother) organized all that stuff and in the glow of nostalgia it was always sunny and perfect beach weather. (I don’t recall it ever raining then, so there was probably a law against it, like in the lyrics of Camelot.) As my dad had a dairy farm, family vacations were few and far between, but Sundays at the beach were a constant every summer Sunday of my childhood.
Before church (another constant, as you could go to hell if you missed mass) my mother would put a chicken and some potatoes in the oven in one of those big blue roasting pans, and after mass the pan would be loaded into the trunk of our Chevrolet, (because everyone drove a Chevrolet – see song lyrics below), with a big Thermos of orange Freshie or Kool-aid. We would change out of our church clothes, into our bathing suits and shorts, and eagerly anticipate the 45minute drive to the beach through the countryside. I can still smell the roast chicken, and hear the ice cubes clinking away in the Thermos. We always went to the same beach in a small resort town along Lake Huron because there used to be a dance pavilion there when my parents were dating. It was smaller and narrower but less crowded than the city beach, but more importantly the roadside was lined with trees and bushes so there was shade for when the sun got too hot.
But first lunch in the adjacent park, at a picnic table under the tall trees. My mom was happy when KFC came to town, because then we picked up a bucket of fried chicken, which we all liked except for my dad who preferred the home cooked meal. Does anyone remember the plastic piggy bank of Colonel Sanders – when it was full of change that would be our picnic money. As you could not go into the water until an hour after you ate – lest you get a leg cramp and drown, (one of those unwritten rules of the 60’s) we played in the park on the swings after lunch, and explored the ruins of the abandoned dance pavilion. All that was left was some remnants of the stone dance floor and the concession stand. Still you could imagine it in all its grandeur, dancing under the stars to the big bands.
To get to the beach you had to descend a steep sandy bank, but as the car was parked above right along the road, it wasn’t a chore to carry all the beach stuff down. (not like the city beach where you might have to lug the stuff for miles from the far parking lot if it was crowded). I remember beach blankets as being wool and scratchy, but I see there is a striped one in my old pictures, and some striped beach towels too, but mostly I remember old bathroom ones. There were aluminum web lawn chairs for the adults, but no sign of a beach umbrella. They probably hadn’t been invented yet, but you could retreat to the shade of the trees, which my dad promptly did, falling asleep on the blanket, leaving my mother on water patrol duty to watch us four kids. Does anyone remember the distinctive chemical smell of Coppertone – SFP8 and their early slogan – Tan, Don’t Burn – with the little girl with the tan line.
It was great fun to go in the water to cool off, and sandy underfoot once you got past the shore rocks. You could ride the waves if it was windy. But if the waves were too big we weren’t allowed to go in too far.
It was also fun to build sand castles with plastic pails and to bury your siblings…..and get buried yourself! The sand was damp and cool and you could easily spent an hour digging a hole deep enough to get to China.
After awhile my dad would wake up, and go for a swim, (he could swim a bit, but we could not as we never had swimming lessons) and then play with us for a bit. A bag of chips would come out, and some Freshie from the thermos. But all too soon it would be time to go home, where he would have to do the chores and milk the cows. As he often worked two jobs, no wonder he fell asleep on the blanket on his one day off. We would usually leave by 5pm, everyone washing their sandy feet off in a beach pail, so as not get sand in the car, another rule of the sixties before there were car washes with vacuums.
Sunday suppers would be casual – leftovers and sometimes bacon and cheese melts which were my favorite. Sunday nights were always Walt Disney, and Bonanza if I could stay up that late. I would usually in bed early, tired out from being in the sun all day.
I was always sad when the Labor day weekend came and it was time to wave goodbye to the beach.
Looking back at these old pictures I can make a few observations. I had a nice collection of bathing suits, but my mother had good taste and children’s clothes were cheap then. Oh how I wish it was so easy to find one today! Second, I used to tan when I was a kid, judging from my brown arms and legs in the first picture. I grew up on a farm so we were outside a lot and I don’t remember burning, but maybe the sun was less intense back then? But when I was a teenager I was always the one with the sunburn which peeled and never turned into a tan. Certainly the summers seem to be hotter now and the UV index higher. There are still families at the beach, but perhaps not as many now that more people have pools, or know people who have pools, and splash pads are so popular. I fail to see the fun in a splash pad but I suppose it’s better than nothing…and there’s no sand to drag into the house. Third, camera quality has really really improved. And fourth, my mother took us to Pierre, her French hairdresser which explains the short haircuts and why I have a thing about too short bangs to this day!
So last week we had 3 nice beach days in a row, and as the summer was slipping away, I decided to go to the city beach on the holiday Monday. It was actually a bit cool with a north wind so I didn’t go in the water. I sat under my beach umbrella and finished a book – The Guilt Trip (3 couples go to Portugal for a destination wedding, one person ends up dead), a perfect beach read. It was crowded being a holiday, but nice, so I went back the next day too when it wasn’t so crowded. (one of the perks of being retired is you can go to the beach any day you want). I read another beach book – Things to Do When It’s Raining – set in the Thousand Islands. It was hot, so I went in the lake 3 times – the water was warm and perfect, refreshing but not shocking like it can be sometimes when you first go in until you get used to it.
There was lots of sand, and it was clean, unlike a few years ago when there was only a narrow strip of dirty beach from the lake levels being so high. Now they are too low, and even the groynes are buried under the sand. I finished another book, but was so absorbed in it, I did not realize the sun had shifted and my feet were now exposed from under the umbrella.
And no, I was not trying to match my skin to my nail polish. By Tuesday night I realized my feet were burnt.
It was my own fault, and I should have known better. Although I had put sunscreen on my face that morning, it only works if you apply it, and I didn’t. I felt I was safe under the umbrella and just going back and forth to the water had limited exposure. I hate sunscreen. I’ve yet to find one that isn’t sticky or greasy, especially the waterproof ones. You have to scrub numerous times to get them off, and then scrub the bathtub out too. I’d rather cover up, but I didn’t. Blame it on the book, or the medication I was on, as I think it could have been a photosensitivity reaction (like an exaggerated sunburn) as my feet weren’t exposed that long.
So seven days of pain and misery, and I’m just now reaching the itchy peeling stage. Repeated trips to pharmacy to buy Solarcaine/Lidocaine spray, Aloe Gel, bandaids for the worst parts. Feet and ankles so swollen I could not wear socks or shoes for a whole week. (I wore moccasin slippers to the hairdressers on Friday.) It reminded me of my teenage years, the chills and blisters and miserable Noxzema nights, before I got sun-savvy.
Not sure if I will get back to the beach again this year but if I do I’ll be wearing socks. Luckily, socks and sandals are supposedly back in style.
Were you a beach baby, or did you prefer a pool?
thehomeplaceweb 
I have loved reading this! My father farmed too and really resented time taken off to drive to the coast (it took a whole day, leaving the farm at 2 a.m. and reaching my grandparents’ home in the early evening) and spending about ten days there when he would rather have been ploughing and planting. We thus didn’t go every year. I recall the tin of sandwiches and the pies my mother would make for our journey – no roadside stops in the 1950s and -60s – as well as the biscuits my granny would make for our beach picnics. Lime ice-creams in a cone … it all comes back to me 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Anne! I’m glad it triggered some happy memories for you. Those were certainly simpler times. I should post about our vacation to Niagara Falls some time. That was for 5 days, and my dad arranged for my two uncles to milk the cows. By 1970 he had switched over to beef cattle as it was easier to get away and he was working off the farm more. The cows had to be milked twice a day at 7 and 7pm otherwise they would let you know by bellowing and carrying on! My dad only had maybe 20, but it was time-consuming. Now everything is so automated and large scale, milk quotas are worth millions of dollars. I hope our PM Carney doesn’t sacrifice our current dairy industry system to Trump’s crazy demands. We don’t want their hormone filled watered down milk, but they sure seem to want ours. Why can’t they just leave us alone. PS. I love lime ice cream….you can buy aKey-Lime flavour here and it is wonderful.
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I like your photos! I am also fair skinned and burn easily. I have some great photos of my family in childhood visiting the Jersey Shore. We live in Florida and don’t regularly visit the beach as it is one hour away. Sometimes parking is a challenge. My favorite place to live was in Gulf Shores, Alabama where for a 20 minute drive, you could reach the Gulf of Mexico and walk on the beach. I also loved visiting my aunt in West Hampton and Montauk area, my brother. Great spots!
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Thanks ccc! Everyone seems to have fond memories of the beach. Somehow the beach where ever it is, is a calm relaxing place.
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That is a nasty sunburn! I rarely burned but I also rarely spent a whole day at the beach. Usually just afternoons.
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I think it’s a drug photosensitivity reaction, which is an exaggerated sunburn all out of proportion to the amount of sun exposure. I’ll have to be more careful in the future and slather up everywhere. If I go to the beach it’s usually from 1-5 or so, plus driving time, but I’m not sitting in the sun for 4 hours – I’m the one under the umbrella other than brief visits to the water! The sunburn was a souvenir to smarten up!
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Some medications make you photo sensitive. Also infrequent exposure and aging. Ugh! Sure looks nasty. Hope it heals fast.
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Hi Joni. I enjoyed your beach stories and photos – then and now. We rarely made it to the beach when I was growing up but as a teen, I spent a lot of the summers at the city pool as we lived in town and could walk there.
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Thanks Ruth! If we’d had a pool nearby I would have visited that too, especially as a teenager. Pools are so much cleaner.
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Beaches and their inconveniences mean nothing to children—they’re just fun. But they are still wonderful, of a bit more work, for adults, as you’ve demonstrated. I loved your old photos. How great to live close to a beach! I never have been closer than an hour or two, and that was before I could drive. Bummer about the sunburn and reaction. I like the Neutrogena sunscreen myself. I do remember the Coppertone girl!
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Thanks Eilene! I guess when you live relatively close to a beach you take it for granted….and certainly we are unique in having a 100 acre park with a beach (in the photo) right in the city. I wish I had a house or even a cottage along that stretch of shore but the prices and the taxes $$$$$….
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I can imagine! We’re getting a vacation condo in a golf resort (we don’t golf), and the fees are just crazy ridiculous. But we don’t have to maintain anything outside at all. There are pluses. No beach, though! (Pools, tennis, workout facility, restaurants).
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Sounds great – I’d love a pool!
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Great photos.
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I lived hours from any beach as a kid, and never went there, except for a sort-of beach around an old stone quarry that was turned into a swimming facility.
I have gone as an adult and am fine staying under an umbrella with a book.
I love the old pictures! My sister had light blonde hair as a kid.
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Thanks JP! I had fun looking at all the old pictures. These are early 60’s but a few years later color came in. Such simple times they were. I was a towhead when I was a kid, gradually darkening to a dirty blonde. I ran into my grade 2 teacher a few years ago and the first thing she said was my hair had gotten so dark! I guess your grade school teacher aways remembers you as you were in her class.
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Joni – (First, I am really sorry to be responding so late to this post. I was not “unsubscribed” to your blog as has happened with other bloggers, but it didn’t show up in Reader either, so thank you for asking me if I saw this post.)
Yes, Summer, as we remember it, was a lot nicer than now. I guess that is in the past like so many other things are. All I can say is we didn’t have this wacky weather that has no rhyme or reason to it all those years ago. You were very blonde and seem to have a tan – you could have been the little Coppertone girl! That’s a nice picture with your mom and you’re smiling!
We didn’t live close to a beach either, but I have some pictures of one time we went to Center Island. Mom and I went on a weekday with a friend of hers with kids around the same age. We got on a ferry in Toronto and went for the whole day, taking picnic baskets and went swimming. When I was older and we lived over here, we used to go to Holiday Beach in Amherstburg and my father and I would go horseback riding at Boots & Saddle afterward, but that was not a weekly occurrence, maybe once a month in the Summer. I had a pool like yours – same amount of rings. It was bright yellow with an orange bottom on it. I have had pics in my blog in the pool with my friend Linda Crosby who lived next door.
The aluminum web lawn chairs are making a comeback! I see ads for them on Facebook. I remember we had some white and green striped ones and when the web material started to sag, you bought a kit to replace the webbing on the seat/back.
These are great pictures … the best thing ever is taking pictures through the years, so you can now look back and remember those cherished family times. I hope your sunburn has healed by now – that looks painful on your feet and then the red up your legs from your reaction. I do remember Noxzema skin cream. Both my grandmother and mother used it for years and they both had flawless skin. I have burned badly a few times as I am fair and it was not fun – the pain, then the peeling. Now I wear sun protection clothing so I don’t have to put the lotions/sprays on as I’m often near the water, but have the camera with me so I don’t want stickiness on the camera or my hands. I like how you downsized your food the second day!
This was a nice look into your past Joni.
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Thanks for reading Linda! I did wonder as you had not commented. I think I am scowling in the first picture as the sun was in my eyes…or maybe I was just too hot! Although I don’t remember the summers being as hot as now….maybe in August we would get a few days of the dog days of summer when it was hot and humid, but not the whole summer. My feet are better now, after 2 weeks, and at the peeling stage, but at least I can wear shoes again. I only remember using Noxzema for a sunburn but it stung so it was a last resort. I think it was more of a cold cream for cleansing, but the ads said it was for sunburn too. I would certainly never recommend that now, even if they still made it, as I think it had menthol in it? PS. I have to have MacDonalds once a summer! if only for the salt…
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I don’t know what happened Joni – I know I didn’t miss it in Reader as I usually check what posts the day before, just because I have had a few posts of my own not show up in Reader on the scheduled day, but the next day or many hours later; one which was for a holiday, Christmas I believe.
So many times after I started my walking regimen and was working from home, I’d be walking home from Council Point Park thinking “if only I could stay out a little longer” … now, I get out and walk but the joy I had before is gone, whether it is at Council Point Park which is raggedy as ever and totally lacks ambiance now, or having to keep a constant eye on the weather as the predictions are not accurate anymore … that is, if I get out. I have not walked as much this year, any of the seasons, so I’m not happy about that.
I meant to add before that I liked the song … perfect for this post. I was a big Beach Boy fan.
Well, that’s good you can wear shoes again – you are headed in the right direction. I’m thinking you might get burned wearing socks too. I’ve not seen sun protection socks, but if you’re wearing socks, your shoes would likely cover the tops of your feet, unless you’re in sandals. They now have sun protection hats for Winter. I’m not out that much – it’s be good for people who ski or skate or work outside as the sun’s rays are strong in Winter too.
I never used Noxzema on my face as my face was oily when I was younger, even now, my face is not dry, so I never used a moisturizing soap. I just looked and they still make Noxzema Skin Cream.
I have not had fast food since I gave it up for Lent around 2010 or 2011. That is not to say that I don’t miss it, but I didn’t eat that much of it before. My mom and I did get on a pizza kick though. Little Caesar’s Pizza not far from us, had the Hot-n-Ready large pizzas for $5.00. So I would get us one every week … had plenty for leftovers. I’ve not had pizza since then, but that I do crave occasionally.
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I only have Macdonalds a couple of times a year, if I’m craving french fries. I has gotten expensive, for a fast food meal, and I swear the portions are smaller. I usually get the fish fillet sandwich, which is good, and somewhat healthier, but never the hamburgers, as I don’t eat hamburgers cooked by someone else, due to the e-coli threat if they are not cooked sufficiently or handled properly. I know two patients who died of e-coli from eating hamburgers at food stands. Pizza I have once or twice a year, but only if I have company. You can’t really cater to everyone’s food allergies or tastes now so they can order the type they want. For me, socks will be sufficient for sun blocking, covered mostly by pants. I’m not that worried about a repeat burn. I’m not out as long as you are, as I can’t walk that far. It’s not a beach boys song, although it sure sounds like one and is from the same era! I think the group was Class Act or First Class or something like that, probably their one and only hit.
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I do miss MacDonald’s fries though. My mom and I used to get the frozen skinny fries and packages of Tyson chicken nuggets and sometimes had that on a Sunday night. It took years for me to convince my mom we did not have to have a hot meal every night of the week after my father was gone. Then there were issues with Tyson chicken, glass or foreign particles in the nuggets, so we stopped buying them and I’ve not had them since. Funny I’ve never seen socks with sun protection – they have everything else, including face masks. I listened to it, but didn’t realize it wasn’t the Beach Boys. I’ve seen the Beach Boys several times and you could have fooled me.
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I does sound like them. I don’t think I’ve had a chicken nugget in my life! Same with chicken strips….too much coating for me. But I do like their Fish Filet sandwich, which is a nice piece of breaded white fillet, with a slice of melted cheese and a bit of tartar sauce, on a soft bun. But I do believe the size is smaller now.
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I haven’t had their fish sandwich in forever. I used to get it sometimes. We’d go to MacDonalds sometimes if we had errands after I got home from work, like my mom a hairdresser appointment and I took her for that. She would never have the fish sandwich. It took forever for me to convince her for us to try Long John Silvers which was a kind of fast food restaurant, which I think has closed now. They had battered cod which was like English-style fish and chips and their shrimp dinners were good too. I loved their hush puppies. Have you ever had them Joni? They are corn meal batter with savory seasons rolled into balls and deep fried. Not the best dinner for heart health or calorie-wise but we had it maybe once a quarter, if that much.
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I remember Long John Silvers restaurant being advertised on tv, but we didn’t have one here….so no hush puppies. We don’t even have a Red Lobster anymore, the nearest is in London. Mostly what we have is a lot of Indian restaurants as the local collage has/or had a large population of students from India, but the government cut the student quota as they were driving up the rents all over the province. MacDonalds is the only fast food restaurant I occasionally visit, the rest A&W, Harveys, Popeyes, Arbys, Wendys, I have never eaten at. Even KFC is not the same as it used to be, smaller portions, higher prizes. None of it is healthy eating. I see Carney walked away from the trade deal last night – good for him! They threw in some crazy last minute demands like we couldn’t strike trade deals with other countries? Canada is behind him, even if they put US booze and bourbon and wine back on the shelves, no one’s going to buy it. I knew Carney would stand firm.
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My mom and I used to go to A&W for a coney and curly fries or onion rings sometimes if we were out doing errands and it was too late to go to a sit-down restaurant for lunch – that was in the Summer mostly after work as it was lighter for longer in the evenings. We took my grandmother as she had never had a coney island, fries or onion rings. She enjoyed her meal so much she wanted to go back again (and again) while she was visiting here every Summer. We had KFC occasionally when my father was still here – I liked the extra crispy, then they discontinued making that when they rebranded from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC since “KFC” sounded healthier. I think I was at Red Lobster once – we went for my birthday. Neither of my parents liked fish and when I was a kid, my mom would buy Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks for me for a treat as we only had tuna fish salad or salmon patties, mostly during Lent.
I was surprised to hear that about the trade deal on the news first thing when I got up this morning … then, all day long, for every newscast, I’ve heard this: “we’ll be paying more for tongue depressors and hockey sticks.” I thought to myself “that is your biggest worry about high prices, what you’ll pay for tongue depressors and hockey sticks due to the tariffs?”
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Interesting … I checked this time to ensure the comment was here since I didn’t comment on your actual site, but in Notifications. Word Press has been doing something strange the last year or so – not every time, but when I make a comment, I proof it before I press “send” and it will say “duplicate comment – you already said that!” WP sends it on its own before I am finished! So I came here and it did it again because at the end I said I liked the song “Beach Baby” – it was perfect for this post and I always liked the Beach Boys. WP sometimes.
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You can disregard this last comment because I just scanned my previous comment to see if it did anything strange and it put the Beach Boys comment in the middle of the comment!
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?
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Why did the last line of my comment end up in the middle of the comment – see this boggles my mind, just like when WP sends the comment prematurely.
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I’ve never had that, just missing comments, and lately my spell check doesn’t work here in WP.
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I’m guessing we can attribute all the quirkiness to having old themes. When I started my blog I picked the easiest theme I could find.
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I don’t think there was as much choice 10-15 years ago….it was before those lines came in that you clicked on and it took you to a drop down menu. I remember it was a lot of work to set it up so I’m not changing it!
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I remember I just picked one of the “pre-fab” headers (they had four choices, one for each season), then later, on a snowy Winter weekend, similar to when I created my blog, I did a collage of pictures to make my current header. I also added some widgets and that was it and I’ve not added to it. I should really take the photo gallery down as it takes up room on my blog and I’m sure no one looks at it anyway – they are old pictures, mostly of Council Point Park in its flora and fauna heyday.
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I remember setting up the widgets….not sure I could remember how now?
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It’s been a long time for me as well and I don’t have all the extra things like blog hit counters, calendars, or anything else.
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A plug for my blog in your very first sentence? Oh my – thanks! Loved learning about your memories of family and the beach, especially in an era I identify with. Your b/w photos speak to much more innocent times. I share the link of KFC and the beach because my family used to do the same on America’s 4th of July – sitting on the sand on beach towels and enjoying dinner while watching the fireworks off the nearby pier. When we were in CA recently they’d added a new warning sign – believe this one or not – “no unsupervised digging of holes”. The rules included no burying of persons and no leaving the holes behind. Makes me think, like most things, a lawsuit led to the sign. Talk about loss of innocence. Also, washing your feet in a bucket reminded me of the tar that would stick to our skin from the beach and ocean, back in a time when environmental concerns weren’t so much at the forefront.. Probably the byproduct of some oil trawler. We’d have to use turpentine to get it off (which shouldn’t be on the skin either – ha).
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Thanks for reading Dave…..I knew you were on vacation. I had a photo of me buried in the sand when I was older, maybe 10 yr old, but decided not to use it. That’s interesting about the no digging without supervision signs. I don’t see anyone digging here anymore period, so it must be a lost art! I don’t see anyone building sandcastles either, with a moat around it which we would fill with buckets of water. Yes, much simpler times….
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