“A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will’s freedom after it.”
It’s a warm day which can’t seem to make up its mind. We had sun then clouds, then sun again, and now it’s cloudy. The weatherman said maybe rain, and that’s the forecast for most of this week, maybe rain. Sebastian, the younger, worked on my garden all morning; he is the younger as Sebastian, the older, is my neighbor and the boss of the landscaping crew. The Sebastians are not related and share only a name and a nationality, Brazilian. The younger planted grass seed on bare spots, moved day lilies, cut down the dead flower stalks, trimmed bushes, weeded my herb garden, got rid of the mint and planted the mums I’d bought and be given as gifts. The garden has been readied for winter.
My mother made great school lunches. She never gave us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Most days we had bologna. On Friday it was tuna. On really cold days we had hot soup in our thermoses. Chicken noodle was a favorite. I remember my lunchboxes always had wire holders to keep the thermos from moving around and breaking, but one year the thermos broke anyway. I still remember how scared and horrible I felt hearing the sound of the glass shaking inside the thermos. That was the year of no soup. My mother sometimes put in potato chips and she always included dessert. The days after she had grocery shopped were the best for desserts. We’d get a Hostess cupcake or a sno-ball. Later in the week we’d get cookies wrapped in plastic, usually Oreos. We didn’t get fruit all that much, an apple every once in a while. I used to buy my milk. Just before lunch, a milk crate filled with cartons was delivered to the room. The milk was always in one of those small waxy cartons which were never easy to open. Good thing they gave us a straw.
We used to keep our lunchboxes under our seats. They never went in the cloak room. When the lunch bell rang, it meant we could talk and soon enough we’d be running outside for recess. For some reason I remember the fourth grade the best when my seat was in the back and my lunchbox was plaid.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: eating lunch in school, gardens, lunchbox, recess, thermos
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
September 28, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Lunch was and still is for free in swedish schools so I never had any lunch box. But I do remember that horrid sound of a broken thermos 🙂 We always brought one with us when the class went to the ice skating rink or if we were out skiing. I don´t remember how many thermoses I broke back then 🙂 🙂 But I can tell You that I love these so called unbreakable thermoses we have now days 🙂 🙂
Sunny and cold here today. I haven´t started the radiators yet so my home feel a bit cold now 🙂 But the fire in the stove spreads the heat rather fast in my small cottage.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
September 28, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Christer,
I still remember the sound of tinkling glass when my thermos broke. It only happened once I think, but it was awful.
Hot and so humid today. It has been an ugly day all around.
September 28, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I loved my Lone Ranger lunchbox. It was made for a real man. And it held a larger thermos and when those glass tubes shattered it was a big deal to the teacher who spent hours, non-stop, teaching kids not to open the top and wait for adult help. What? From the Lone Ranger? Well Tonto was on the side too along with Silver and maybe a bad guy, can’t remember the bloody scenes on kids lunchboxes. But we were serious followers back then. Zorro took hold I recall, about the time we graduated to girls in bikinis. Then the girls won and we never looked back.
September 28, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Z&Me,
I think I had a Roy and Dale box. I remember they were riding on Trigger and Buttercup and Bullet raced along beside them.
If it weren’t broken slivers of glass and my mother getting mad, the sound might have been pretty.
September 28, 2010 at 5:27 pm
We got to go home for lunch because we lived very close to school but we had milk and a snack before morning recess. I remember carrying my milk money tied up in a corner of a handkerchief and tucked into the tip of my mittens. My mother always gave us peanut butter and saltines wrapped in aluminum foil. To this day, peanut butter always brings a slight metallic scent of aluminum to my memory.
September 28, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Hi Caryn,
I have to say that yours is the most unappetizing lunch to me. I’m okay with the peanut butter but not the sardines. After sitting under the desk all day, I have to think they might have been a bit fishy smelling.
My mother used to put our money in the lunchboxes.
September 30, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I agree with you on the peanut butter and sardines. Blegh.
It was saltine crackers that we got. Only slightly better in my view. 🙂
September 28, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Who stays ? Who goes ? Somedays are very painful
September 28, 2010 at 9:51 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Sorry, I have no answers.
September 29, 2010 at 3:32 pm
no post on Wednesdays? Are you pulling a Chister Olaf on us?
September 29, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Z&Me,
Indeed I am. It’s been my day off for quite a few weeks. I’m thinking you’ve checked on Thursday and thought you saw new!
September 29, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Kat,
Not to be picky, but I think Caryn’s mom sent her off with peanut butter and saltine crackers. Not what you’d call fine dining, but a big step up from peanut butter and sardines!
September 29, 2010 at 7:39 pm
OMOT,
I’m laughing at myself; of course, she meant saltine crackers!
September 29, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I was voting for salt cod.
Cheers
September 30, 2010 at 9:48 am
Minicapt,
Baccalà in these parts