Ice cream man was part of the plan

American kids, in the middle of the 20th century, used to love the sound of the ice cream man’s truck coming down the street. At least all the kids I knew did.

If you’re old enough to remember the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s (and maybe 80’s), maybe that’s a nice memory for you, too. Yeah, we could hardly wait to flag down the ice cream man in front of our house and get him to open up the back of his truck where the tastebud treats were.

My favorite was the drumstick, a waffle cone filled with vanilla ice cream and frozen chocolate and nuts on top. And my second favorite was the frozen milkshake. It came with its own small wooden spoon. And the cup said, “spoon and dip or thaw and sip.” I never sipped.

But something else beat everything from the ice cream man.

You probably already guessed. Yeah, HOMEMADE! Woo-hoo!

Back then mom whisked up some sweet ingredients and gave the creamy, delicious mixture to dad to put in a metal container. Then dad would lower the metal container down into the wooden churning bucket. And he’d lock it in place, surround it with ice, add melting salt on the ice, and start rotating a metal crank. And the (naive) kids got to help.

Wow! Does that, or does that not sound like some magical fun?

But the real magic happened as the crank got harder and harder to turn. When it really wouldn’t turn much at all anymore, dad (and sometimes us kids) would stop and remove the container. We could hardly wait for the lid to be popped off so we could get some of ice cream in our bellies. Yuh-um!

The last week has been a scorcher here on the Emerald Coast (and probably in your area, too). So, I figured I’d just cool you off with some tasty memories and a little…

Ice Cream Magic

In the back of the freezer in mom’s refrigerator
Is a tub of vanilla, and we’re gonna eat it later.
It’s ice cream magic and your spoon becomes a wand
With some sweet imagination and a black cape donned.

Conjure up an ocean of chocolate and strawberries
With marshmallow icebergs inhabited by fairies
We see popsicle breezes and the rainbow twinkles
And there’s Ol’ Man Winter blowin’ cinnamon sprinkles.

Look, some rootbeer raindrops and a candy cane straw.
No one’s ever gonna think we really saw what we saw.
But we’ll forgive their kidding, and our feelings won’t get hurt
‘Cause it was ice cream magic, a very dreamy dessert.  © 2013 TF

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