I recall well my childhood winter-to-summer annual rituals exactly as Jacques Kelly described them in the Baltimore Sun on the same day as my 98th birthday (“May in Baltimore meant summer cleaning madness,” May 23).
In our Baltimore city 3-story-plus plus basement row house, the arrival of spring housecleaning meant that up came the winter wool rugs to be replaced by scratchy, rough, straw-like ones. We, too, covered the furniture with summery slipcovers and changed the window blinds to the dark navy known as Baltimore Blues. With fans, but no air conditioning, evenings found us outdoors with neighbors trying to catch some breezes or visiting nearby Druid Hill Park.
Oh, Mr. Kelly, “Thanks for the memories.”
Betty Samuels Seidel, Baltimore
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