Friday, April 22, 2016

S is for Swamps


S is for Swamps I have known
or S is for School Days

Well, today was going to be about swamps with an Earth Day theme, but I've run out of time to develop that post properly--meaning I haven't written it and I can't find my pictures to go with it. The earlier parts of my day were spent either at work or the dentist. (Still biting my tongue at this point. Can't wait for the numbness to wear off.)  And, I have to leave for my book club meeting in a few minutes. So I've decided to go into the files and revisit something from the past.

Below is a post that I did during the School Days series and this one happens to be about my dad. When I did this interview, he was was in the early to mid stages of Alzheimer's. However, since older memories are often the last to go, everything he told me was right on and I had a very nice time talking with him. I am so happy I did this.

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School Days--Earl
School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 


Here is today's story.

Earl started school in 1932 when he was six years old. His school was in rural West Virginia. 

Tell me about when you started school.
I had just turned six. I started with my older sister. They held her back so we could start school at the same time. We went to a one room school a mile or less from our farm house. I used to run all of the way there and all of the way home.

What was your school like?
It was a one room school with one teacher. It had a gas heater and had no pump for water. We had to carry our water.  On the playground there were teeter-totters and the big kids would try to knock the little kids off.

Did you like school?
No, I couldn't wait to get away from there. There were too many restrictions.
Did you get in trouble because you weren't used to so many restrictions?
No, they just ignored me. I didn't do much including applying myself to my studies. I wasn't much interested in what they were teaching although I could hold my own in most areas. My sister applied herself and did well in school. My favorite subject was freedom when school let out.

What did you do for lunch?
We took our lunch. I made my own because my mother was too busy with the rest of my brothers and sisters. We usually had biscuits and sandwich spread. I've had enough sandwich spread to do me for a long time.

Another time, I would like to hear more about your school days.



17 comments:

  1. Live and learn, that is so nice that you have this interview with your dad about his growing up years. I'm sure you treasure these memories.

    Your dad's recollections about school lunches reminded me about a story about depression sandwiches. A mom is making sandwiches for the family and asks each family member about what they want. "Would you like cucumbers on your sandwich, or nothing on your sandwich?" Cucumbers it is. Our modern idea of a sandwich is a couple of pieces of bread, mayo/butter/mustard, some protein food, some veggies or maybe jam/jelly -- not just butter, bread and cucumber slices if you're lucky (and not picky). So the to say "would you like your sandwich plain?" -- meaning just bread, sounds so peculiar to me.

    When your dad said he made himself biscuits and sandwich spread it reminded me of that. Do you know what he meant by sandwich spread?

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    1. Your story about the plain sandwich reminds me of when my mother talked about what a treat it was if there were actually some bits of meat in her gravy and biscuits. Most the time it was gravy made from drippings with no meat around. This was when she was young girl during the depression.

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    2. Hellmann's makes a relish sandwich spread, which sounds like what you described. I thought maybe your dad was referring to something like mayo, but then I also thought about something my sister loved when we were small -- canned meat-based sandwich spreads, like liverwurst and deviled ham. And I know in some parts of the US pimento cheese is referred to as a sandwich spread. We live in a time and place of abundance, so it's hard to imagine a lunch which consisted of biscuits and sandwich spread, day after day.

      My grandmother used to tell the story of putting together a wedding luncheon for 40 people, during the Depression, with just 2 cans of salmon, for the main dish. They made a salmon loaf, using lots of bread, and eggs that were free. They served this with mashed potatoes (of course, always cheap), and boiled vegetables from everyone's gardens. No fabulous wedding cake, no bottles of Champagne or sparkling cider, no anything extra. They had coffee and tap water to drink. But everyone at the luncheon thought this was a feast. So it just goes to show you how fortunate we are.

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    3. Ah, yes--pimento cheese spread. That is also a favorite from my childhood. Although you can get it in the stores here, I always buy some when I visit my mother. A tradition sort of thing.

      I guess salmon has a strong enough flavor that you could use 2 cans for 40 people and they would still recognize it as salmon loaf. Scarcity certainly made very inventive people as your grandmother demonstrated.

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  2. I'm also curious about sandwich spread. I love hearing people's memories about their life experiences. It's amazing how much has changed in what is really only a small amount of time. And some things don't change at all--bullying has been a constant, as has the desire for freedom when school gets out. Thanks for sharing these memories--and I love the picture.

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    1. I love hearing people's stories also. That's why I did both the School Days series and the one about First Jobs. I thought that those were two subjects that most people could relate to. Of course, the stories that come from my family are extra special to me. Especially this one my father shared as we were seeing his memory slip away.

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    2. Sandwich spread is a creamy, tart spread that is sort of like mayonnaise combined with relish. I loved it as a kid and we used to can lots of it. The stuff in the store never measured up as far as I was concerned. Haven't had it in years, I'm going to see if I can find some.

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    3. I think I would like sandwich spread WITH something, not just alone on bread--but if you couldn't afford anything else, I guess being picky is a bad option.

      I know what you mean about family stories being special. I have a great memory of my dad in the middle stages of dementia sitting on our patio, chatting with my son and me. He was in the cavalry in WWII, stationed in Germany. He told us stories about some of the things that happened to him there and how he made friends with some of the locals (he was part of the clean-up crew at the end of the war; food was scarce for the locals so he and some of the other servicemen shared their food with them and made good friendships as a result--generosity was very characteristic of my father). My son enjoyed hearing his stories almost as much as dad loved telling them. :)

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    4. I used to love to spread the sandwich spread on thick between two slices of bread. Yum.

      Cavalry in WWII in Germany. Your father must have had very interesting stories to tell and how wonderful that your son got to hear them.

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  3. I love that you got to record some wonderful memories from your dad. It is great to be have them for posterity. At some time you may have grandchildren and you have something tangible from their "roots". My folks were Depression babies and don't remember that much from then but they were both preteen WW2 kids and remember all the rationing and doing without at that time, so the biscuit and spread story is not far off from some of the lunches they recall. My dad ate cornbread and onion or tomato sandwiches for lunch a lot.

    I was fortunate enough to be able to spend huge amounts of time with Dad the month before he died. He kept his memory and sense of humor until the day before he passed away and I was fortunate enough to be able to hear, and write down some of his stories. We still laugh about a ribald little ditty he sang in high school to the tune of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" Whenever we hear that tune now we all laugh and launch into lusty vocals (well lusty if no one outside the family is around to hear it)

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    1. I wanna know your dad's lyrics to his tune--what a fun memory. At my dad's funeral, we laughed about how, after church, he would turn on "polka time" on the car radio and sing "In Heaven there is no beer (that's why we drink it here)". Keep in mind we went to a Baptist church ...

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    2. That's really funny. I spent some time in a Baptist Church and appreciate the irony of it all.

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    3. I'm with Kris. I want to know the lyrics.

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  4. "My favorite subject was freedom when school let out." Ha! The more things change, the more they stay the same - that's certainly how I felt about it.

    I just love this story, and the sandwich spread is fascinating.

    I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of a story my dad tells about when he was a small child just after the start of WWII. His father, who was in the army, sent him some money for his birthday with instructions that he was NOT to spend it on war bonds, but was to buy himself a chocolate ice cream. He started to cry because he didn't like chocolate. His mother had to reassure him that it would be OK if he got vanilla instead.

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    1. These are all great stories including the one about your father as a small child. Yep, kids are kids and when they're young, they are very literal. I"m glad your mother was around to tell him that vanilla was okay.

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  5. Swamps sounded like a fun post. I pictured swamp monsters, black fog, maybe horror flicks, but school days is ok too.

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    1. I think your imagination is more interesting than my actual experiences, but it gives me some ideas for when I actually write it.

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What do you think?