Coldest Winter Ever

Kathy's Conundrums

    I was in San Francisco last week, and the weather was very cool. The temperatures were in the 60s to the low 70s; not exactly what one would expect for California in the summer. I kept my eyes on the weather channel and realized that when I got back to Minnesota it would be hot. But let me tell you, being told it’s hot in Minnesota and walking off an air conditioned airplane into the blast furnace in the jet way was a real shock to my system.  Ah, I know I don’t have to tell you how hot it is, and I, for one, really appreciate air conditioning.     I’ve been thinking about what I did when I was a kid to keep myself cool during the heat waves.  I know my family did not have air conditioning. There was no escape to a cool basement.  The house my parents rented had an apartment that took up over half of the basement.  The apartment was rented to college students winter and summer.  The rest of the basement had the old wringer washer, rinse tubs, furnace, water heater, fuel oil barrel, and an old coal bin that had been transformed into a storage room.  Not much space to spread out and stay cool on the hot days.     My favorite place to cool off was Harry Howland Swimming Pool.  It was only about six blocks from my house.  I was a ‘regular’ there throughout my junior high years.  I made friends with the life guards so I could go in the morning and help (hang out) during the swimming lessons, showed up every afternoon when it opened; rode my bike home in late afternoon to gobble down a quick supper and then back to the pool for the evening. My mode of transportation was always my bike.     The first summer all the neighbor kids and kids from school would swim together, boys and girls, in the area in the middle of the pool.  We’d sit on the bottom and see who could hold their breath the longest.  We’d exhale all the air we could from our lungs to see who could settle the closest to the bottom.  We sit cross-legged and talk to each other. When we headed to the diving board it was to see who could make the biggest splash from a cannon ball. We left the sides and shallow parts of the pool for the little kids.      By the next summer, the ‘culture’ of the pool began to change. The boys gathered on the east side of the pool; the girls gathered on the west side of the pool.

David Rheins on Blogger: The coldest winter I ever spent...

David Rheins is a songwriter/poet/visual artist. He blogs at David Rheins Blogger (davidrheins.blogspot.com) and Free Pamphlet Publishing (freepamphlet.wordpress.com. Rheins has released two CDs with songwriting partner Tim Brickley (www.timbrickley.com). When not playing with the arts, Dave serves as principal of web 2.0 media sales and creative marketing experts DMR Consulting (www.dmrconsultindy.

k' la - the coldest winter ever (mixtape)

Thank you too! Can u believe it's 6am and I'm just closing my eyes after reading "The Coldest Winter Ever."

RT : Quote for all sweating in USA=would luv SF now! "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco"~Mark Twain

Just got done reading the Coldest Winter Ever . Book was good .

absolutely LOVED the coldest winter ever. my fav. book ever. will you ever show how his life changed so drastically

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