Keeping Busy

The kids in the neighborhood always had something to do during all the different seasons. In spring we always looked forward to April 1st for that was the start of fishing season. Getting up early and off to Broadvines or Willard Brook or a small brook off of Turnpike Road that had native trout. Broadvines was our favorite area for it was very isolated with great trout fishing. One day I was fishing with two friends when the current increased and was rushing over the rocks (little did we know that someone had opened the dam at the pond that fed this brook). The fish were very excited and snapping at everything includes our fishing lines. We reeled one after another in over that next hour. We all got our limit (12) that day in record time. Broadvines also had a few pools that lead to us diving in and having a great swim during the warmer summer days. Spring was also the time when the sap from the Maple trees would be running. We would tap the trees and put a sleeve in the hole to collect the sap in buckets. My Aunt Lil would have a fire pit set up in her yard where the sap would be boiled down into Maple Syrup. It would take many hours to get very little syrup but we had fun doing it year after year. Spring also lead us to the pond in our back yard were nature was renewing itself. Catching polliwogs to trying to grab a turtle to fishing for a catfish to skipping stones were some of the things we did to stay busy. Spring was also the time to visit the initial tree area to climb the rocks and explore the caves. Jake Jacobson taught us how to make whistles from a small tree branch. This took patience and time but we always enjoyed the feeling of making something that worked. Spring also was the time for baseball. All the neighborhood boys would meet up in Ekola's field to have a game. The ball was generally taped and the bats had screws and tape to hold then together. The older kids would help the younger kids.
Summer was a time for sleep outs to Kick the Can. Each day the kids would gather at our house to play Kick the Can. Our house had many hiding places so it was a great location to play this game of hide and seek. The whole neighborhood would show up and it was a game played many times during our summer days.

Summer was spent at Willard Brook (pictured above) with friends and family. The Red Cross offered swimming lessons in this spring fed lake. The only truly organized sporting event would be Little League and Babe Ruth. In my teens years our back field was very active with our field cars. I bought a 1952 Chevy with a stick shift. The Johnson's had a car and Dennis Stone had a car. We raced hour after hour around the 1/2 mile field track. Sometimes we created so much dust you couldn't see the houses on the street. We slept out in our sleeping bags in the fields in the area as well as in the cabin my father built in the pine grove.

Fall was a time to go apple picking at Saari's Orchard. We would sneak into the apple orchard and fill up our shirts with juicy red apples. We also would have crab apple fights with long wooden tree poles. We would attach a crab apple from a tree in our yard to the 15 foot pole and then whip the apple a few hundred yards across the field at the other person.

Winter also lead to sliding or skating in our back yard. The pond was busy during the day as well as the night. The back fields have wonderful hills for sliding.