Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Outdoor Wednesday: School Days Flash-Back

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

Well, Labor Day has come and gone and suddenly it's autumn. Even after living up here in the north country for more than a quarter century now, I've never really gotten used to that abrupt change of seasons at the beginning of September. I grew up in a part of Texas where the warm summer weather could (and frequently did) last right up to Christmas Eve, and beyond! So I'm never prepared for the shortened days and brisk nights that appear here in Virginia, right after August makes its exit every year.

But it definitely feels like fall's approaching now. So, since all the schools in the DC area are back in session, and in honor of the back-to-school weather, I'm putting up a few nostalgic schoolyard shots from back in the school year of 195-something . . . well, sometime around the invention of the wheel. I was about six years old, in the first grade, and the day was actually near the end of the school year rather than the beginning (I was a "mid-termer," which meant that I hadn't been old enough to enter school in September, and had to wait until the following January – a complicated and antiquated system that was done away with a few years later). And, no – we weren't dressed up for any particular celebration. Believe it or not, this is just the way kids dressed for a normal school day back in the Pleistocene Era.
These were the girls in the class. My mother was taking the photos, and I'm not sure why she didn't get a shot of all the boys. Probably couldn't corral them long enough. I'm the one kneeling, second from the left, in the front row, with the sun in my eyes. Notice the "vintage" cars way over to the right.
Me again, before school on the same day. Don't you love that garden hose snaking across the grass in the background? My mom wasn't one to sweat the details.
And one more. Here I am (third from the right) with some of my "special friends." I appear to be deep in thought, don't I? Probably wondering how long 'til lunchtime. You know, this shot reminds me – I was actually a pretty tall kid until we all reached puberty and everybody else kept growing! Darn that Mother Nature, anyway!

14 comments:

  1. These are wonderful photos!

    I'm from the era when January was the time used to determine a child age for entering first grade or kindergarten. My cousin was born on Dec 31. By the time my children started school the date had changed to September 30. My oldest daughter was born September 16th!

    I love seeing these older photos! Wonderful ODW post!

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  2. Oh my! By 1954 I was married and beginning out family! How cute you were. I love those old pictures...
    Notice how well cared for those children look...it makes me wonder how each of their lives went. Did you keep in contact with any of them?

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  3. Those photos are great. It makes me want to find my grade school photos. Thanks for taking my down memory lane.

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  4. Great photos. How lucky you are to have such lovely mementos.
    If you think the weather changes quickly in Virginia you should try up here in New England.

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  5. love old pictures like that and to know that each of these little school kids grew up to become adults

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  6. What wonderful photos! How wonderful to have them at your fingertips. I hope you are having a wonderful day.

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  7. Such lovely pictures. Wonderful memories.
    Have a nice day

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  8. Wonderfull memories to treasure.
    Have a nice day, Annemieke

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  9. Oh, yes, we wore dresses to school and everywhere else. I sort of miss that sometimes, guess that is why I enjoy wearing skirts so much in the summer.
    I lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years. I would leave there with layers of clothes on and arrive in Alabama to balmy days and start shedding layers. We always have some warm days even in winter.
    It is still quite warm here today. But the nights have begun to be cooler. AC is still plugging away but doesn't stay on as long at a time these days.
    I loved seeing these photos.
    Mama Bear

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  10. What wonderful pics and memories. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day,
    Val

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  11. I live in Texas, so I know what you mean! I love these pics. So cute and innocent.
    Brenda

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  12. Ok-- question -- first photo -- back row, first on left, hopelessly curly hair would be Twinkle? Then, back row, tall blond would maybe be Joyce? Is Carol Sue in any of these, I don't seem to recognize her.

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  13. I loved seeing your school pictures! Have a terrific weekend. Karen

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  14. What cute pictures Joy. You were a cutie pie...

    I went to school before they invented the wheel also---first grade in 1948...Woooooo My!!!

    I hated my years in Texas because I WANTED that cooler weather in September. I'm where I need to be I'm sure right here in Tennessee.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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