Autumn leaf color is slowly revealing itself – mostly browns and golds at this point but many trees haven’t yet begun to change. We’re in for a warmer stretch the next few days. It was warm yesterday. It’s time to mow the front lawn and the back forty/corral. I wonder when nature will show us that no more mowing is needed? Seems impossible at the moment.
It’s been nice to see the sun again. Sunday was sunny all day long and that has been a rarity lately. Today, tomorrow, Wednesday – I think all three days are expected to be sunny.
This time of year always reminds me of school starting, of shuffling through crisp leaves as I walked to school. Our house was in a suburb of Detroit – right next to Detroit, actually. The elementary school was across the street. Our junior high at the end of our street – a 3½ block walk. The high school was a longer walk: down the street to the corner, turn left and walk by a large field and then several more blocks, then turn left and walk through a much busier section of our neighborhood to arrive at the school. A half-mile? A mile? I’m not sure. But I never once used a school bus. Schools in our area were easily reached and walking was good for you. I don’t think any school buses operated in our neighborhood. Before the big field in front of our house (owned by Ford Motor Co.) was sold and subdivided for houses, I used to cut across the field on my journey to high school, unless it was muddy. It saved time.
My mom never learned to drive. We had one car and my father used it for work. So my parents were smart in choosing where to buy a house. All of us trekked to whatever school we were attending. I used to take an extra class in high school which started at 7:30 am, so I often walked to school in the dark. I never felt unsafe.
It was a different time.
I used to get terrible menstrual cramps. They were so horrible, I’d often feel like I was going to pass out. We tried everything for them, but the only thing that helped at all was a heating pad and aspirin/ibuprofen. Every time the cramps started, I’d do my best to get through the day until I faced the fact that it was impossible. I’d ask to be excused from class to go to the nurse’s office. The nurse would call my mom and since mom didn’t drive, I’d have to walk all the way home from the high school. Mom would stand at the front window, keeping watch for a glimpse of me starting to trudge across the field. Then she’d track me all the way, open the door, and hustle me off to bed.
Heating pads are a theme in my life. In those younger, much more limber days, I used them once a month for cramps. Now? I use one almost daily for my back.
So many hours spent praying that a heavy menstrual flow wouldn’t leak, hoping I could get to a bathroom in time to check on everything. It’s really god-awful, isn’t it? That memory is a bit softened nowadays, but if I allow myself to think about it, as I’m doing now, all of it comes back. Praying that no telltale stains appeared. Oh heavens! I feel like it took up so much of my life.
Autumn is so evocative. I bet all of us have a host of sense memories from this time of year. What are some of yours?
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. It took me ages to get over the feeling that I should be heading back to school; going to work just isn’t the same. There were new clothes and new shoes, new binders and fresh packs of college-ruled paper. I loved the whole thing. Loved school too. We also walked. I didn’t even know what a school bus was until high school, when we moved much further north, far away from my beloved OB. Autumn is a time for remembrane, but also a time for new adventures, of places, people, and ideas. And also the beginning of that rollercoaster ride into the new year. Here we go!
A different time, indeed! I lived very close to elementary school and high school, but the middle school was further, so we had to take the bus. I loved those days when it was raining enough to wear rain boots! So fun to slosh through all the piles of leaves!
Our little four-room school house (1st-4th) had a supply of yellow hooded (vinyl?) raincoats on hand should the day cloud over and rain fell. These were for the kids that walked to school and they wore them home for lunch and then again at the end of the day if it were still raining, sure to return them the next school day. This may have been only for 1st and 2nd grade, not sure anymore. I always thought those raincoats were so cool and what school today would even consider? Then again, what kids today would be caught dead wearing them?
I remember most the smell of burning leaves (allowed then) All of us neighbors raked leaves into the street and we burned them, a reward for all that raking. At that time burning was encouraged by my city. A rite of autumn.
Ah Fall…my favorite season. Fall to me is full of colored leaves, fires in the fireplace, steaming bowls of soup, watching football games, running through piles of leaves that your dad has just raked…lol, and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils. (Although, I haven’t smelled a freshly sharpened pencil in years.). I’ve always loved taking fall walks. Picking up pinecones along the way. But my fondest childhood memory, was picking up the chestnuts in the lawn from our beloved chestnut tree before my dad mowed. That was my chore…and I loved it. Each chestnut had its own beauty…I used to wash then…and rub them with a cloth to get them as shiny as I could. And shine they did.
Thanks for the prompt Claudia that brought up such a happy memory. Enjoy your day! ;)
Funny you mentioned the smell of freshly sharpened pencils, I remember that smell too! Our previous home was built in 1965 and came w/ a pencil sharpener in the garage just like those in school. When we downsized to our current home, it was built in 1948 and it too has a pencil sharpener in the garage. Pretty sure I will dig out a few pencils today and sharpen them-just for the memories!
Thanks Donnamae!
Autumn always makes me want to go out and buy new pencils!
pretty flowers. glad you have a stretch of sunny days, too.
worried about leaks when that time first started, but otherwise it went easy for me. also grateful that it ended by 42 for me.
six blocks to grade school, just under a mile to junior high and a mile to high school. most often walked, but our parents gave my brother, sister and me rides on stormy days. my father took me to gymnastics in grade school (had to be there at 6:00 am most days of the week). ran track one year in high school (learned i wanted to run on my own, not compete … though my jv time beat all the varsity girls in my first race at a triangular meet … heehee). walked the long way for a long time before/after high school after a guy started going out on his porch completely naked, touching himself and yelling for me.
…
loved getting new school supplies, including the pencil holder made of thick plastic and with a zipper and holes to put it in front of the (first) floral-fabric-covered (and, later, denim) notebook. my mother covering the school’s books in paper grocery sacks, then me drawing on them. wearing for the entire day at school halloween costumes that my mother made. same with my blue bird and camp fire girl uniforms once a month. only being able to wear pants to/from school and at recess (school changed that rule when i was in sixth grade). having acorn-pick-up contests, usually with my sister and me on one team, our brother and a rake on the other, and wishing i still had the blue ribbons our mother made out of construction paper. going to apple and pumpkin orchards, getting some apple cider and laughing nervously at them straining the apple pulp with cloth diapers (which i later learned were never of course used for their original purpose). enjoying cooler weather (summers were always fun, but less easy-breezy after having a heat emergency at fifteen). burning piles of leaves in our neighbors’ double driveway (but first jumping into the leaves from the top of the garage). long car rides to see leaves changing colors.
could go on and on, but this is long enough for now.
thanks for asking a question that brought up so many happy memories (excluding the creeper and heat emergency)!
happy, safe monday to everyone!
kathy
Kathy, I am shocked that as a young girl, you had to encounter that absolute pervert on his porch. Despicable behaviour.
thanks very much, dee dee.
it was traumatic at the time … and it’s always gross that anyone could do that to another person, especially to a kid. thankfully, my parents and school staff were quick to help and made sure police followed through.
what a world, huh?
but i’m grateful that the good outweighs the bad!
how are you? hope all’s well for you and your loves. stay safe.
kathy
Autumn has always been my favourite season. As a younger child, the highlight would be Bonfire Night celebrated on 5th November. It commemorates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 . From September onwards we would collect any type of unwanted wood, it would be piled up at least 20 feet on spare waste ground and kids would guard it from any rival streets trying to raid it.
On the top there would be an effigy of Guy Fawkes, the plot’s ringleader. Special foods were eaten such as black peas, treacle toffee and parkin cake. All the family would come along to celebrate.
This highly dangerous structure would be lit by an adult. Children of any age could purchase fireworks and every year dozens of accidents ensued up and down the country. By the mid 1970s, organised events took over, usually run by the Council’s Parks Department, thank goodness!
Happy Monday
Midol, heating pads….headaches and sanitary pads and those damn cramps. I do not miss them but remember the mood changes….adrenaline before the event and then miserable for a good week . Also zits…..one would always pop up around that time of the month. My mom gave me the {now you are a woman} talk. I remember entering the date in my diary so I could plan my life a little better. Not family planning but wether I could wear my white pants safely. Well, Claudia I have gone off on a tangent. Thanks for taking me back to those days.
I love this time of year. The change in colors and light. The cooler temps. I too always walked to school even through parts of high school. It was a very long walk to high school so sometimes we got rides with parents or friends who were older and drove, but most of the time I walked. No wonder I was so slim and trim then. Thanks for bringing back such great memories.
I love the heating pad, too. I used to get terrible leg aches as a child, and the heating pad really helped. Lots of times now I like it just to warm me up in winter when it gets really cold!
dear Claudia/Don — we got the covid and flu vaccines today — arms just a little sore nothing major so far, hoping stays this way!! re periods — had bad cramping w/ moderate bleeding but the worst thing was having to Make pads from rags b/c NO Money to purchase anything else — at least it was better than what my mother in law had to do: wash the rags, hang them to dry to reuse again, can’t imagine such a thing. did always worry about leaking which did happen to me once–what an awful mess. did ride a bus to school but always lived in a very remote area miles from school, off the gravel roadways with long lanes to walk in rain, snow or sleet to wait for the bus. sometimes the bus would not come for pickup b/c school was cancelled b/c of weather — had no way to know that, LOL!! thanks for listening to my rant !! stay safe/healthy
In the town I mostly grew up in, we didn’t have school buses. My jr hi was 3/4 of a mile from home and sometimes I did it four times a day. To and fro twice in one day. It was a little less to high school. You either walked or parents drove you. Most parents made you walk. We did not have the dangers of today.
In my humble opinion, the only good thing about menopause was no more periods but then hot flashes were no picnic, either. And then women have to give birth on top of everything else but of course you had a much loved child afterwards. Fall is my favourite season, too. I remember my dad raking and burning leaves and listening to a football game on the radio. We used to press the prettiest leaves between sheets of wax paper to make them last longer. And we made leaf houses which we filled with dishes, tables and chairs. A doll house but on a larger scale. So much fun. Enjoy your next few sunny days. Hugs, Elaine
This is my favorite time of year, too!
I never rode a school bus and walked to school from kindergarten through high school. Kindergarten through sixth grade was probably one half to three quarters of a mile from our house and junior high was right across the street from the high school and they were probably a bit more than a mile walk from our house. Rain or shine we made the trek to and from school.
Oh, those carefree days were wonderful!!
My sisters and I walked a couple blocks to elementary school. Every fall, I remember walking home and smelling the British chili sauce my mom was making from the second block. The following week we would smell the apple mincemeat (no meat involved) cooking on the stove waiting to be canned.
Junior high was a mile walk and High school was a few blocks. My mom didn’t get her driver’s license until I did when I was 18.( my dad’s friend was killed in an awful accident when I turned 16 so he wanted me to wait) My parents also bought the house near schools and the grocery store for the convenience of walking. Sometimes, I wish I was able to walk to the store or library from my house but I would miss the woods. So much easier to get exercise when you don’t have to think about it!
When I worked in the library, a man exposed himself to me between the shelves of the books 1974! I was pretty traumatized because I had to walk by him to tell the head librarian. He was arrested at some point. I knew a some boys that were just friends who would come and keep me company after that happened. Just goes to show stuff like that has always happened. Scary and also sweet memory.
We were so lucky to be able to go home for lunch in elementary school. So much more relaxing to see your mom and play in your own yard rather than what my grandkids do. It’s lunch at assigned tables and recess without anyone looking out for kids being bullied. There are aides standing around, but so many kids are out there and so many have not been taught kindness.
Those were the good old days!
hej, betsy.
i am sorry that you had to deal with a creeper, too. glad he was arrested and that you were supported by other students and staff members.
in grade school, my brother, sister and i walked home for lunch, too. after lunches of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches or other yummy things, our mother read to us. primarily “little house on the prairie” books (there’s a lot of them) and they were and are forever favorites, just like those times, those memories and all my family. :)
though i am crying now as i write/think about these things, they are happy tears and i thank you, betsy, for bringing them up for having mentioned your own at-home lunches.
hope you are having a nice day! stay safe.
kathy
Hi Kathy,
Memories are hard sometimes, aren’t they? They are also sweet.
My mom and dad went to heaven 3 months apart; almost 3 years ago ( during covid). It was so hard to dismantle the house and sell. They had beautiful gardens. I still can’t drive by there.
I’m so lucky to have 4 siblings, my 3 children and their spouses and 6 grandchildren and my patient husband. As my dad used to say, getting older isn’t a choice but you have to make the best of it!
Love and prayers to you. Betsy
Oh, Claudia, you’ve resurrected some awful memories. Like you I had terrible cramps (as did my mom before me). The heating pad was my friend too. If it was also a heavy period, by the time I was working I didn’t even try to go in for the day. Wish they’d had remote working then. The painful cramping lasted all the way up to menopause for me so I was extremely glad to be down with it all.
We’ve had a return to summer these last two days. The trees are starting to turn and fall. With the warm weather and having the doors open, I’ve become aware of the silence. Not just the kids back in school but no birds most of the day. They’ll come back to the feeders late in the afternoon but from late morning on it is just eerily silent of birdsong around here.
That hydrangea is just beautiful.
Take care,
Kay
Yup, I remember the school days. Our elementary school was just across he park. Roger would sprint the park once the first bell had rung. Our high school was pretty far, about 1 1/2 miles. And we had to do a bridge and stairs up the big hill as well. My older sister would often scream into the wind once we got to the top. Our neighbor and I knew all the radio songs and would sing them on the way. We’d head to the back, grungy bathroom where our friend would put on her makeup (she’d take it off after school). My sis, Shirley took a period day off each month, and I don’t know why Mom let her – I had bad days too. Dad would drive us to school only if the temperature was 40 below or more (and then Mom wouldn’t allow him to work). None of us ever, ever took a school bus or city bus to school. My daughter’s friend down the street missed many buses and I’d hop in the car and drive her to school. Abra thought I loved Kayla more than her – ha
Best part of aging — no more periods! I remember some of those bad cramp times, too. And yes, to this very day the heating pad is my friend. My dear, daily friend.
Hello! I too walked to elementary, jr. high and high school, all within walking distance, the high school being the farthest maybe a half mile, in the rain and snow, yep! Your menstrual cycle sounded like mine, with tea, aspirin and heating pad the only somewhat relief, and yes, worrying when I was at school if there would be an accident. Horrors! If you’ve watched “Anne with an E”, there is an episode that highlights her first period. When Aunt Merilla tells her it happens once a month, Anne hysterically yells “every month?” So dramatic and traumatic. Glad those days are over! Take care.
Me too, Pamela.
Stay safe.
We were very lucky to grow up where we did. We could walk every where. When I first saw school buses I thought it was strange.
I had no idea that you also had painful periods. It was horrible. Mine were heavy and lasted forever. I remember a gym teacher saying it wasn’t possible to have my period that long. Stupid woman. Hey you helped me out. Due to your experience my mother was probably more sympathetic.
Gym teachers! The bane of my school existence. I’m sorry to hear you suffered as well, Kay.
xoxo and
Stay safe.