Mr. FixIt and I had a list as long as your arm yesterday and everything had to be timed according to when businesses opened and closed. One of the last errands was to get ice for the cooler. We pulled into the parking lot of the Ice House and the strongest memories washed over me. When I was really little, we used to go to my Aunt Marge’s house for visits and we often took a block of ice with us so she could make us her world famous homemade peach ice cream.
Sitting there, looking at the delivery bay, the stairs with the iron pipe railing and the painted cinderblock building just pulled me back to my little girl self. I was standing on the floor in the front seat of our 1952 Oldsmobile 98…remember how big those cars were? I stood there watching my dad climb the steps and return in a few minutes with a big block of ice. He wrapped it in newspaper and put it in a box in the trunk, then threw an old quilt over it to keep it from melting too much before we got to my aunt’s house.
The sign at the Ice House means summer and peach ice cream, cold watermelons, fried chicken in a basket and checkered tablecloth. It meant car rides with the windows down…holding your hand out the window, experimenting with aerodynamics or maybe the pinwheel you were lucky enough to get at the Five & Dime. It meant pin-curls and ponytails, seersucker sun suits and a new pair of Keds. It meant mom in a crisp sundress and dad in slacks with a soft white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It meant love.
A man came out to the railing and asked if he could help us. We asked for a block or two of ice for our cooler. He said they stopped making the blocks a few years ago…the only sold a couple a year. They didn’t have dry ice either. That is being saved for his medical clients because of covid. He said even if we had an account, the smallest he could sell us was fifty pounds. We talked a little how times have changed and I told him about my fond memories of this place. What is really cool, though…Mr. FixIt has much the same memories as I do since we both grew up here. It’s one of the things that makes being with him so special…our common history.
We ended up buying a big bag of ice at the store when we picked up the last of the items we needed for our trip. We came home and put the cover over TOW-Wanda for the winter. I didn’t get her ready to sell in time, so I’ll try in the spring. This will protect her from the weather and I’ll sell her in the spring.
So, I have everything I can get done…done. If it isn’t, so be it. I have my knitting and my writing implements and a few magazines packed. Lots of food. And I am taking my big electric skillet. There aren’t a lot of pots and pans in the condo and this will serve double and triple duty. We are driving straight through today. I’m really looking forward to seeing the colors in the mountains and can’t wait to see the beach!!!
❤️
“God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will carry you in their arms, and you won’t hurt your feet on the stones.”
Psalms 91:11-12 CEV