This year was the 60th Annual Harvest Sale of Swan Meadow School. It's quite a different story than it was when I first started school. We used to have it in the basement there at school. It got to crowded to do it there, so now we have it at the community center. Now it's so crowded at the center, that I know some people don't come cause it's hard to find a place to sit. Two things that we made at school, big things that we looked forward to making and then buying and eating, were patties and flavor chips. Lots of grease and sugar on the patties.... I don't know if I'd still like them now. But they were so much fun to make. To dip the patty iron into the batter and then hold in in the hot oil and watch it fry and slip off the iron in a perfect flower or butterfly. Then we had to wrap them very carefully so they wouldn't break.

And the flavor chips... does anyone remember those? I don't think they're around anymore, but I can wish can't I? Little hard pieces of.....something.... that when dropped into hot oil, they expanded and grew. There was red, green, yellow, and brown. The brown was bacon flavored and I really don't remember what the other colors flavors were. If I remember right, it was the fifth graders who did those and it was something everyone seemed to look forward to.

Mom was usually in charge of the taffy pulling. She had (and still does) a special touch with taffy and it very rarely 'flopped' for her. The eighth graders would come to our house one day that week after school and help pull and wrap and bag the taffy.

The cider....the older kids still help make that. Gallons and gallons of cider. And I had not one sip this year... Which is not nearly as tragic as almost missing out on the donuts. They make oodles of them and they sell out in no time flat. I waited in the long line for a long time and when I got about half way up, they announced that the boxed dozens were sold out. Lucky for me, later in the evening I was at the craft table with Kalei and Antoine doing sand art when one of the teachers came out with four more boxes of donuts that they found. I don't know where they were hiding, but I was thrilled!

Another tradition is that the 6-8 graders usually sing a song or two before the auction starts. This year, they asked some students from thirty years ago to sing with the kids. Thirty years ago?! There's two of my sisters in that group! I wonder how old we must seem....

Always lots of things to sell. For quite a few years, there was always a black walnut cake there. I don't remember the exact amount the year it brought the most, but I do know that it was over four hundred dollars. I can't say that I would give five dollars for that, but it became a bit of a competition I guess! Good for the fund-raiser, anyway! Or how about two moon-pies for fifty dollars? If you don't know what moon-pies are, I feel sorry for you...

Beautiful flowers, brought by my sister Clara from her garden.

The school's new cook book. The first cook book with my name in it. :) And my kid's names, too. It's their best looking cook book yet.

Several people made things from the book to display on the table with the cook books, then the food item and cook book were sold together over the auction.

Shoo-Fly pie anyone? They also sold a 400+lb pumpkin. I kid you not...but I can't prove it, cause I didn't take a picture. All in all, it was another successful Harvest Sale.