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Ellen Barbara Segner - Illustrator Well Known for Little Miss Sunbeam and Dick and Jane Readers |
Many of you have been sharing your favorite fall comforts on my "It's Almost Autumn Tea Giveaway" post. The images are delicious! I began to reflect and I do believe that it was grade school that first captured my affection for fall.
Southern California is an irrigated desert, so we don't witness a substantial change in our landscape. Most trees retain their leaves and others shed foliage with little or no fanfare. Aside from a noticeable drop in temperature and seasonal flower-beds ceasing to bloom, it's pretty much business-as-usual.
I did have a nibble of fall at the home where my parents still reside. They have a Liquid Amber tree in their front yard that mimics a Maple. The leaves turn crimson, burnt orange, and yellow; and the green prickly pods become russet.
Yet, my truest connection to fall was at William F. Prisk Elementary School. Each September, on the first day of school, I would locate my desk, take inventory of new and returning students, and then check to see how my teacher had cozied up the room.
There was always an autumn themed calendar with apples or leaves numbering the days. Bulletin boards were a collage of varietal apples, baskets, the token rake, and trees blazing with color.
My name was neatly written as "Karen M" on apples or foliage simply because there were 5 Karen's in my grade. Once, briefly, at least 4 of us were in the same classroom!
There was always an autumn themed calendar with apples or leaves numbering the days. Bulletin boards were a collage of varietal apples, baskets, the token rake, and trees blazing with color.
My name was neatly written as "Karen M" on apples or foliage simply because there were 5 Karen's in my grade. Once, briefly, at least 4 of us were in the same classroom!
Then there were the beautiful text book illustrations much like the one above. I could have gazed endlessly at sweater clad children diving into piles of leaves or following leaf-littered paths to school. In essence, the California classroom treated us to a fall we weren't able to experience first hand.
