But for other readers, let me explain: When I was growing up, my family had a Fourth of July tradition based on the book The Summer Snowman, written back in the 1950s by Gene Zion. The book's about a boy who makes a little snowman during the winter and can't bear for it to melt, so he stores it in his freezer. Then he brings it out on the Fourth of July, and the townspeople are all really tickled by it, but in the midst of the excitement, the snowman melts away, which as I seem to recall is kind of sad, though I haven't read this book in, like, a quarter century.
Anyway, our family custom was that near the end of winter, we'd make a snowman about a foot high, wrap it in tin foil, and store it in the freezer. On the Fourth of July, we'd bring it outside, Mom would read the story, and we'd eat popsicles while we watched the snowman melt. One year we ended up having a snowball fight, which was great fun. I don't remember when the tradition stopped.
This winter, there was an unusual amount of snowfall for this area (which is the same as saying there was snowfall, period). And for some reason it occurred to me to make a summer snowman. So today I dug it out of the back of the freezer and took it outside, near our apartment complex's pool, and sat under a tree with the dog, doing some editing work while the snowman melted. I'd hoped it might attract the attention of some of the kids in the complex, with whom I often interact while walking the dog, but in the end it was just me and the dog watching the snowman melt.
Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman.
Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall.
In the sun he melted, melted, melted.
In the sun he melted, small...,
small...,
small.
(The dog finished it off as a snack.)
1 comment:
John-Charles, that is great! I also have fond memories of this tradition. We did this in student family housing our first year in Logan and read the story with the neighborhood kids. We haven't thought of it the last two winters, though.
There is another childhood memory that this brings up for me... Listening to those old Bill Cosby records. The summer snowman reminds me of the story Cosby tells about putting a snowball in the freezer to get revenge on his nemesis (Junior Barnes?), only to discover that his mother threw the snowball away.
Thanks for sharing this, Aaron
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