We don't open windows much here in the south.
Conditions have to be just right, which doesn't happen often.
But on the rare Goldilocks day, when it's not too hot and not too cold,
the pollen is gone and humidity is low, I love to throw open the windows.
The scent of fresh air fills the house, and I'm immediately taken back to my childhood.
In the Chicago suburb where we lived, no one had air-conditioning.
We kept the windows open all summer long, with a single fan in a downstairs window
to help pull the hot air out of the house during a heat wave.
(How we would beg our dad to let the fan blow inwards so it would
blow on us, but no, he always faced it outward, and yes, at times
a slight breeze did come in the upstairs windows as a result,
but we still begged.)
Conditions have to be just right, which doesn't happen often.
But on the rare Goldilocks day, when it's not too hot and not too cold,
the pollen is gone and humidity is low, I love to throw open the windows.
The scent of fresh air fills the house, and I'm immediately taken back to my childhood.
In the Chicago suburb where we lived, no one had air-conditioning.
We kept the windows open all summer long, with a single fan in a downstairs window
to help pull the hot air out of the house during a heat wave.
(How we would beg our dad to let the fan blow inwards so it would
blow on us, but no, he always faced it outward, and yes, at times
a slight breeze did come in the upstairs windows as a result,
but we still begged.)
The sounds of outdoors filled the house -- people talking, cars passing,
kids playing hide and seek, while crickets lulled us to sleep.
And it always seemed cooler on those hot nights
to sleep with our heads at the foot of our beds.
Maybe we were just trying to get closer to a window, hoping for a slight breeze.
Isn't it interesting how a simple open window
can transport us to another time?
kids playing hide and seek, while crickets lulled us to sleep.
And it always seemed cooler on those hot nights
to sleep with our heads at the foot of our beds.
Maybe we were just trying to get closer to a window, hoping for a slight breeze.
Isn't it interesting how a simple open window
can transport us to another time?
We seem to share a lot of the same childhood memories, Dotsie. I have actually started toying with a post over on my other blog titled, "The Fan". I have even searched google to find a picture of one like we had in our home. It got terribly hot in our little upstairs bedrooms in the warm weather and we had to beg Mom & Dad some evenings to turn it on that first time each season. It was located in their downstairs bedroom and after closing the downstairs windows except for just a few inches, the draft it created just billowed out of those upstairs windows! I remember how the house seemed to take a hug breath in and then let it out when we turned it on...and on hot summer days after doing chores or even when we had been swimming and were tired and sunburned, I remember coming in the house and laying across my parent's bed (on my tummy) and the sound of that huge monster of a fan would lull me to sleep in a heartbeat...some of the best sleep I ever had! Thanks for sparking my memory today. Now I want to runo ver to my other blog and get that post written! :D
ReplyDeleteOh yes...and I remember going to sleep at the foot of my bed with no covers...usually waking up in the middle of the night freezing! LOL!
ReplyDeleteHUGE breath...not hug breath...typos...oh me...
ReplyDeleteI wish we had windows here that were easy to open, but they are sliding windows and a pain to keep clean, plus we are on the second floor, so I haven't even tried the past few years. Now it's too hot to even bother with them. So I have dirty windows all the time. :(
ReplyDeleteOpen windows in spring are the very best! I enjoyed reading your memories.
ReplyDeleteOpen windows are so lovely. I remember those similar memories in my home growing up. It's really hard to believe we lived without air conditioning! ♥
ReplyDeleteWe don't open our windows here in FL...we did when we first moved here but it's always so humid. It sure brings back memories of growing up though. Remember when schools weren't air conditioned? It was SO hard to stay awake after lunch! heehee! Enjoy your afternoon! Hugs, Diane
ReplyDeleteWe opened windows for the first time this year this week. It's nice when the time comes again. Here in the Seattle area we don't have air conditioning so being able to open windows for a cross current is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely scene out your open window, and I love the lace valance. You are the only person I've ever heard talk about feeling cooler with your head at the foot of the bed, but I sleep that way now and then too. It does always seem much more comfortable to me at times. Another thing we have in common I guess!
ReplyDeleteLovely memories, Dotsie. I am reminded of being at Mamaw's in southern Mississippi where the only sound was the night bugs and frogs until the rooster crowed and you'd wake up feeling damp.
ReplyDeleteI had terrible allergies years ago and my doctor told me to only open my windows after 1:00 p.m. It worked well.
ReplyDeleteYou made me remember a bit of my childhood, sleeping at the end of the bed in the summer. It may have been because it was closer to the window, or maybe it was from thrashing around in the heat. I can definitely remember doing it!
Jane x
I think it is the scents that transport us so magically to other times and other places. At least it is with me. I do so love the few days we can enjoy open windows. And, your description of your childhood nights brought back memories for me as well. We didn't have the city sounds... only the crickets... the owls... the frogs... And, squirming for a cooler spot, though I never migrated to the end of the bed. ;) blessings and hugs ~ tanna
ReplyDeleteAh yes. I love the spring days before the AC cranks up--bird melodies. Also reminds me of when our grown kids asked why we didn't have a lawn tractor when they were living at home. Our reply, 'we had you' :)
ReplyDeleteI am nodding my head here. Those days when the windows are open are the best! (I like your phrase "Goldilocks Days.")
ReplyDeleteOh, how well do I remember the days without air conditioning. Fans running. (My parents did not use the "facing out" trick.) Curtains stirring. Eating popsicles. Lazing around. (We kids. Not my mom. She kept going despite the heat. I don't know how she did it!)
Lovely post. Thanks for the step back in time. (It is fun to go there in my memory, but I wouldn't want to live without my a/c now!)
I love having our windows open. Our home was built long before air conditioning so open window and cross circulation are what keep our house pleasant year round.
ReplyDeleteOpen window here in the bedroom now. Supposed to get in the 50s tonight, but 80s tomorrow. Love the outdoor smells and fresh air. But here, in the thick of summer, down the windows go again.
ReplyDeleteOpen window here in the bedroom now. Supposed to get in the 50s tonight, but 80s tomorrow. Love the outdoor smells and fresh air. But here, in the thick of summer, down the windows go again.
ReplyDeleteWe have a window open in our bedroom all year long - in the winter it might be just a crack, but now it's getting wider and wider as the temperature warms up a little. No one (or very few) has air conditioning here - we make do with fans.
ReplyDeleteMemory is triggered by such ordinary small events.
I love being able to have the windows open! Where I grew up in Southern California, we were able to have the windows open most of the year! We had no air conditioning except for a window unit that went into the living room window for a few weeks in August every year! Otherwise we had fans and open windows.
ReplyDeleteI love it!
Hi Dotsie, I LOVE this post!!! It just transported me right back to the days when we lived in our family's first little house, 46 years ago. It was not air-conditioned, and I distinctly remember sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed because somehow it seemed cooler. Don't know if this was psychological or not, but my mom said they did the same thing when she was growing up. What you've described in your post is exactly why I was so happy to get replacement windows last fall. Now it's so easy to open our windows, and I can let the outside in whenever I wish.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of past times, and have a great week!
XX,
Denise