In mid October the sasanqua camellias, that Dr. Lampley planted in the 60s, begin to bloom in the back yard. The first year we lived on Fairway Drive, I was walking around outside and smelled a sweet smell almost like honeysuckle. I knew it was too late for honeysuckle to bloom so I looked around and noticed delicate white flowers and shiny green leaves in a hedge of tall trees. I cut off a few branches and brought them inside. I was familiar with japonica camellias that bloom in the spring, but fall camellias were new to me. Since then I've learned that sasanqua camellias are native to China and Japan and they do have an asian look to them.
So every year about this time, I look for the sasanquas to bloom and then bring some into the kitchen. They smell great and are so pretty and a distinct change from the brown, burgundy and orange of typical fall flowers.
Mid October also makes me think of Fall Festivals at Lattimore School. Lattimore school was closed years ago, but when we lived in the old Hewitt House it was a thriving school in the middle of Lattimore with 1st through 12th grades. We could walk to school from the Hewitt house on Main Street. On the way, we passed Grady and Euzelia Brooks house with their exotic bamboo garden and koi fish pond. We called it the goldfish pond. The fish were huge and the bamboo always seemed unusual on Main Street in Lattimore.
We also walked by the Willis house where Daddy's first cousin, Mary Elizabeth lived. Mary Elizabeth's nickname was Chuff but she didn't like it so we always tried to remember to call her Mary Elizabeth. She never married and when she died, I went to the auction of her possessions because I wanted something to remember her by. One treasure is a small flower vase that was in a box full of odds and ends. I bid on it and won the bid for $7.50. The vase is tall in the middle with 3 smaller ones hanging from tiny chains. Most any season, most anything out of the yard - herbs, flowers or a mixture of whatever is growing - makes a cute arrangment in this vase.
Bell's Antiques - Nishie called it Bellses- was on the way to school. They had all kinds of antiques that were brought from all over the place to sell in Lattimore. Right beside Lattimore School was Horne's grocery store where Jack Horne and Annie Mae had to contend with kids before and after school.
Lattimore had some great teachers and most of them knew every family in Lattimore. Mrs. Nina Toms was my second grade teacher and she had also taught my father and all four of my sisters. Mrs. Toms was an experienced teacher; organized, intelligent, in charge and calm. I can still see her face when we sat in her classroom in November 1963 and the loud speaker came on to announce that President Kennedy had been killed. Mrs. Toms hung her head and, quietly, big tears rolled down her face. I didn't grasp the full impact of the death of Camelot at the time, but I did know that if Mrs. Toms was showing this kind of emotion it was a really sad thing.
There was an auditorium with wooden chairs and this is where we had Assembly. We assembled for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we heard lectures or watched performances and sometimes we performed. Mrs. Lattimore was our music teacher and she taught us to play recorder and sing alot of fun songs like The Happy Wanderer, This Land is Your Land and one about cowboy life with a verse that said "there's sand in the butter and flies in the meat. Press along to the old corral". The boys had a bass part when they were supposed to sing in deep voices "Press along cowboy. Press along cowboy". Most of them didn't have deep voices but the boys and sometimes the girls tried to make our voices really deep to sing that part.
We laughed alot when we were singing. Daddy reminded me the other day that we used to ride 2 at a time on the riding lawnmower singing while we mowed the grass. We sang really loud and tried our best to sing harmony. One of my favorites went like this -- "I See the Moon the Moon sees me, Down through the leaves of the old oak tree. Please let the light that shines on me, Shine on the one I Love OH OH OH OOOVEERR the mountains OVER the Sea. Back where my heart is longing to be. Please let the light that shines on me. Shine on the one I Love" Thank heavens the lawnmower was really loud too.
Lattimore school always had a Fall Festival. It was also a fundraiser, but I didn't know that at the time. For me it was just fun. They had games like a fishing game where you would cast a fishing line over a table and curtain and behind that curtain there was an adult who would hook a surprise treasure to your fish hook. It was always fun to see what you would reel back in.
The Fall Festival usually had a cake walk. A cake walk is alot like musical chairs but as Judy pointed out, it's better because you are playing to get to take a cake home. I had to consult the experts on how that cake walk actually worked and Libby quickly got the inside scoop from Ann at the beauty shop. Numbers are placed on the floor for however many cakes have been donated. Participants pay .25 or $1.00 or whatever the going fee might be to get a chance to walk around the numbers. One at a time a cake is chosen and a number is drawn to represent that cake. There can even be a little gamesmanship in that process. The music starts and the participants walk around the numbers. Whenever the song stops whoever is on that cake's number gets that cake. This continues until all cakes are gone. Sometimes they would up the ante when they got down to the last few cakes. Like musical chairs it can get pretty competitive and pretty funny.
It may be nostalgia, but it seems like the cafeteria at Lattimore School had pretty good food. At least some of it was homemade like the vegetable soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on white bread. I remember one thing I didn't like. There must have been a surplus of ripe olives because sometimes there were big green bowls of huge black olives on the tables. Ironically I love black olives now, but in grade school they were gross.
During Fall Festival the Lattimore School cafeteria would serve homemade chicken pie. There really is no better comfort food in the Fall or anytime. When I made Chicken Pie the other night (recipe in Oct 18 post), I needed a quick side dish. I was in a 60's nostalgic mood and a pear salad that Mama used to make came to mind. Fresh pears weren't always available back then and Mama used canned pears. I don't know if she made this up, but it is vintage Mama because it is fairly healthy and very pretty.
Mama's Pear Salad
Drain one can of pears and arrange pears on a plate
Put just a tiny dab of mayo in the center of each pear
Grate a small amount of Cheddar Cheese over the pears
Top each pear with a red cherry
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