Some childhood summer residences.
1944: my mother had surgery (I was never informed what sort — such things were kept secret in those days — but I suspect a hysterectomy) and I was sent to live with my grandmother Sonia, who rented or owned a house near Monticello, New York. It was a plain wood-shingled house and I believe that Sonia used it as an informal hotel or b&b. I don't remember much at all except that she tied a long string to a light bulb over my bed and instructed me to pull it if I needed help during the night. Help? Though only 5, I considered myself quite self-sufficient.
1945: my parents rented a summer home on Glen Lake in the Catskills. It was a house without indoor plumbing. I have a vivid memory of the outhouse, which frightened me because you could look into the hole and see your and your parents' deposits. I remember with more pleasure the pump in the kitchen through which we drew our water. Sometimes I was allowed to prime the pump by pouring a glass of water down its mouth. In August, the war ended and people who owned motor boats were zooming around the lake, shouting. I asked my father what was going on and he said, "the war is over."
1947, 1948, 1949: the best part of my childhood. Three long idyllic summers on Makamah Beach near Northport, N.Y. I have written about this elsewhere.
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