| For a ten year old, life in the city was no picnic. | | | | empty, the room told a story of its former |
| There were gangs to be avoided, scuffed-bare | | | | industry. A seam of pure kaolin clay was |
| dusty lots where impromptu baseball games | | | | discovered nearby and mined for sale to the kilns |
| reigned. Being small of stature, I never got picked | | | | of Southern New Jersey. Famed for its white |
| for a team until everybody else was chosen. We | | | | fine-grained quality, this clay found its way into |
| played marbles in the dirt and wandered through | | | | homes across the country as fine porcelain.Saying |
| abandoned cemeteries, peering at headstones, | | | | good-bye to the large snapping turtle that lived |
| resurrecting in our minds the lives of the dead | | | | there, I paddled up the lake to a favorite spot to |
| people.Then one day we moved to the country. | | | | swim. The sun warmed the top layer of water to |
| Suddenly I lived in a huge twenty-seven room | | | | a depth of two feet. below this, the water swiftly |
| hotel with no neighbors at all. From the top of the | | | | cooled to a chilly fifty degrees. My brother and I |
| hill behind us I could see the buildings of a sheep | | | | were good swimmers and we had no fear of the |
| and turkey farm. In one direction about a mile | | | | deep water.An hour fishing in the shallows usually |
| down the road a town dump existed. But in the | | | | netted a few sunfish. We watched them |
| other direction, a deep dark-water lake nestled | | | | swimming around in the bucket, while we sucked |
| between the road and (to me) towering cliffs.Born | | | | on wounded fingers pricked by needle-rich dorsal |
| of the ice age, an ancient glacier scoured an | | | | fins. We never cooked them, but released them |
| eighty-foot deep chasm that filled with icy spring | | | | for another day.A little further in the woods |
| water. though very deep in the middle, Cedar | | | | behind the pottery factory we could hear the |
| Lake shallowed out into a spoon-shaped pond filled | | | | shouts of a Boy Scout camp. For eight weeks, |
| with lily pads and dragonflies. Plenty of rainbow | | | | the camp Nobibosco boys would learn woods |
| trout and sunfish cruised under the pads.Near the | | | | craft, play sports, build teepees and get poison |
| pond stood an old abandoned ice house, the | | | | ivy. One day we ran back to the house with the |
| sturdy chute starting at water level and soaring at | | | | news that the whole lake turned to milk! A clay |
| a steep angle to a high window. the electric age | | | | seam had opened up at the spring end near the |
| ended the need for an ice house which now | | | | factory and quickly spread throughout the lake, |
| provided a home for mice, snakes, and a family | | | | exiting in the waterlily pond at the other end. |
| of snowy owls. The morning sun glinted off their | | | | While not good for out summer guests, dire |
| silent white wings, whoo-ing across the | | | | predictions ended three weeks later when the |
| lake.Protected by a high hill, the glass-smooth | | | | water cleared.Every season brought new |
| water presented a pristine surface for my canoe | | | | adventures on the lake. It was fun watching the |
| to float on. Passing the home of a large catfish | | | | ice fishermen in the Winter, bringing them hot |
| family, a small dam at the other end of the lake | | | | coffee and staring at the telltales, willing them to |
| gave fishermen an ideal platform. A large building | | | | move. Spring brought the excitement of Rainbow |
| set a few yards behind the dam contained a | | | | Trout Day when hundreds of baby trout were |
| fascinating collection of wheels, gears, rotting | | | | dumped into their new home. Autumn was |
| leather belts and long work tables. Thirty years | | | | glorious and sad, but Summer was pure magic. |