High on Life: "Half Pint" and Summers at Rainbow Lake
Columnist Karen WeHunt Harden remembers 1950s and early-'60s summers: Rainbow Lake, cold watermelon, a shared pint of ice cream and no air conditioning.
In her "High on Life" column for The Woodruff Times (August 7, 2026), Karen WeHunt Harden looks back on childhood summers in the 1950s and early 1960s. Here is our summary.
She recalls her parents taking the family to Rainbow Lake, where everyone shared cold watermelon at picnic tables in the shade after a long day of swimming. She also remembers a hot Saturday when her father brought home a pint of vanilla ice cream and split it between her and her brother Doug. That small treat gives the piece its title, "Half Pint."
Neither the house nor the car had air conditioning back then. The family got by with a ceiling fan that her father switched on late at night and her mother turned off early the next morning.
The column ends looking ahead: however hard summer feels now, every yellow leaf brings the hope of a cool autumn.