When I was a kid ( way back when ) we used to have a cottage in Silver Creek.. its on Lake Erie.. we used to go up there in the summers we were up there alot I think most weekends if I recall and sometimes weeks as well. Our Aunt had the Cottage right next to ours and it was awesome.. and all our family would come out and visit at times.. I remember my Grandma and Aunts and Uncles sitting around playing cards in the evening with the waves gently crashing against the shore.. I remember my brother and I catching Fireflies and putting them in bottles. I remember The kids we used to play with whose families also had cottages up there I remember the walks along the railroad tracks and milkweed. I Remember the Grape Festival too. Way back in 77 there was a nasty blizzard.. you know the one Buffalo is famous for.. well that year the cottages got washed away.. and we got a pool.. ( it wasnt the same ) I know my mom was kind of glad it was so much work for her.. but I remember the smells, the sounds.. I remember sitting in inflated tire intertubes and riding the waves after a big storm.. I recall stepping on a dead fish and getting it stuck in my foot ( ok that one not such a pleasant memory and I think it was also the first time I got stunk by a bee ) I remember my grandma driving us to Dunkirk to go get Ice Cream and getting to the location of the shop that had ice cream only to see a car had crashed through the front window and the store was closed.. ( obviously ) and how in awe I was that a car could do that. and back then all cars where HUGE. I remember driving from our house in Kenmore out to Silver Creek and shouting loudly at this one sign that said 15 miles to the Indian Store, 10 miles to the Indian Store etc.. ( back then we weren't politically correct.. not just us kids but the world and the signs said Indian Store ) we had to drive through part of the Reservation to get to Silver Creek I miss those days not sure why just do..Miss my grandma and the other family members who have since passed away who used to come out there and just hang out.. I even miss making sandbags to help shore up the property in the late fall to help protect from the lake and ice and rising waterline in the winter months.. ( but dont tell anyone that part ) hahah.
So what brings all this up you ask? I was out in Silver Creek doing a photoshoot, I have done two out there in the last few weeks and it got me thinking about how much I really loved those summers..
I stopped by that beach that area on my way home the other day to take some photos.. it seems so small now... ( which makes no sense since those cottages are no longer there you know ) it seems so lonely.. not just because its fall.. but I have been buy here in the summer too and it seems just as lonely.
we loved this tunnel to play in.
this empty spot is where are cottages were..
Well anyway.. I miss this place that time in my life.. being a kid.. being carefree.. catching those fireflies.. riding home in the back of my dad's big old car listening this hum in the speaker of the radio that I thought for sure had a bee in it.. anyway.. take some time.. think back to kid-dom what to do you remember?