Walking to School / October 31, 2023

 October 31, 2023

Walking to School

Until the age of ten, I lived in Cranford, NJ, in a little post-war housing tract typical of the times. Through fourth grade, I attended Brookside Place Elementary, walking the four blocks to school every day with my Waverly Place neighborhood friends, walking home for lunch and then back to Brookside—Campbell’s Chicken and Rice Soup and a dish of Mott’s applesause under my belt, and walking home again after school.

It’s that stretch of sidewalk between my childhood home and elementary school that evokes my earliest memories of the utter delight of scuffing my way through dried leaves in autumn—the crunch! the crackle! the colors! the musky earthy smell! the fun of kicking whispery kaleidoscopes of leaves into the air!

Kicking Leaves on the Walk to Brookside School
7 x 9″; acrylic, India ink, and watercolor pencil on sketchbook paper
abstract
2023

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1. 

   carolee36

   October 31, 2023 at 4:04 pm

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   My favorite pastime too! Miss the fall, colors, smells, and the cold nip.

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      October 31, 2023 at 4:37 pm

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      After a string of gloriously warm sunny days last week, today definitely has a crisp cold nip. Regardless of temps, I get to kick dry leaves every day now : )

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2. 

   Joyful Puttering

   November 1, 2023 at 8:47 am

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   I absolutely love this memory….and your collage piece illustrates it perfectly! Well done!

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      November 1, 2023 at 2:54 pm

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      MaryAnn, you get it—both the memory and the scattered-bits collage art illustrating the memory. Yay, and thank you!

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      1. 

         Joyful Puttering

         November 2, 2023 at 8:32 am

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         The scattered bits are what make this so perfect! I can hear the rustling of the leaves.

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3. 

   imajenationgmailcom

   November 1, 2023 at 2:12 pm

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   what a splendid memory! The art is ideal – capturing the utter delight you had in those moments! Hooray!

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   1. 

      Dotty Seiter

      November 1, 2023 at 2:58 pm

      Edit

      I didn’t know I was capturing a memory until after the creation of the art allowed the memory to fly into sight, like a bright dry leaf kicked up off the sidewalk by an elementary student walking back to school after lunch at home on a fall afternoon : ) And, yes, Lola: hooray!