Fall

As a child, I looked forward to Fall for school starting, and for seeing my friends, and for my birthday, which meant presents and a cake and ice cream, and two parties, one for friends and one with relatives.

Living in Madison also meant the start of football season for the UW Badgers.

I remember feeling the brisk cool air, excitement filling the air when there was a home game. Randall Stadium would fill with fans, the bands would play, and the noise could be heard throughout the neighborhood. It was thrilling, even if I never got to go to a game in person.

I collected pennants from the various teams with a plan to use them on the walls of my bedroom. When I started they cost $.50 cents each, but got more expensive through the years.

I don’t think I ever paid more than five dollars for a pennant.

A peek at the internet shows “vintage” pennants for sale for upwards of a hundred dollars.  Mine were made of thin felt, and when we moved, I gave them up.

Never did get them strung up in a garland to drape along the top of my room. Some of the color combinations were pretty awful too.

After the birthdays were past (my sisters shared their birthday two weeks after mine) came Halloween, another Fall favorite.

My parents did not ever buy us costumes, though they did help us with ideas and supplies. One year we were hobos, with bandana sacks on sticks, old raggedy clothes, and cocoa smeared on our cheeks to look unshaven. Slouch hats were a key addition.

We wore our costumes for the parties at school too. When I was 11 or 12, my mom suggested “A sophisticated Parisienne” for my character.

I dressed in black slacks, a black turtle neck with a scarf tied around my neck A black velvet beret and a long cigarette holder were the final touches.

The beret might have come from France, since my mom had been there after serving in WW2 in England. I have no idea where the long cigarette holder came from, as my mom never smoked.

My dad did, but he would never have used such an elegant, feminine long, black holder.