Wyoming Seminary fall semester deans list for 2016/2017

Church briefs

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; While standing in line at the deli counter last weekend, a woman next to me ordered a half pound of oval spiced ham and my mind started churning.</p><p>In a split second, I was back to my grade-school days and coming home for lunch. I would sit on the right side of our couch, which had wooden arms, and wait for my mom to bring me the day&#8217;s delicacy.</p><p>More days than not &#8212; when tuna fish was not on special &#8212; it was a sandwich consisting of two slices of fresh white bread, a slice of cheese and, yes, a couple slices of oval spiced ham.</p><p>Sometimes mom added mayonnaise, other days it was mustard. And the sandwich was always accompanied by soup &#8212; my favorite was Campbell&#8217;s tomato soup with a splash of milk.</p><p>And I usually dunked the sandwich in the soup. To a 9-year-old kid, this was fine dining.</p><p>Some days, mom would serve up tuna fish sandwiches and a cup of tea. I preferred the tomato soup, but either way, I always dunked. Try it sometime before you criticize. And try potato pancakes with sour cream and jelly &#8212; mmmmm.</p><p>These lunches were especially satisfying on the days we would have a snow storm and we would walk through a foot or two or more of the white stuff &#8212; up hill both ways for a mile or more &#8212; to get to school. And we would walk home for lunch and back for the afternoon session. And we would walk home, as well.</p><p>Once home, and before dinner, we would go out and play in the snow. We would build a fort or an igloo. We would embrace Mother Nature and her beautiful snow. Snow was never the enemy. We welcomed it with open arms, covered in a warm winter coat and gloves, of course.</p><p>We never knew what a snow day was. Of course, these were the pre-consolidation days when school buses were only used to transport athletic teams to away games. We actually attended school every day, and we never found ourselves glued to the television screen, gazing wide-eyed until we saw &#8220;Plymouth Borough Schools, closed today&#8221; or &#8220;2-hour delay.&#8221; That just never happened.</p><p>We actually enjoyed trudging to school through high snow. We would throw snowballs at each other most of the way. It was fun.</p><p>The cloakrooms at Central Elementary School were packed with snow-covered coats and boots. For the first hour or so, our cheeks would remain rosy red until we warmed up from the coal-fired furnaces below our rooms.</p><p>And when that bell rang for lunch, we would rush home for those awesome meals of tuna fish, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese and, of course, oval spiced ham. Not to mention tomato soup.</p><p>After school and after supper, we would go sledding. From the top of Nottingham Street, across Second Street, down we went, across First Street, all the way to Shawnee Avenue. We would have lookouts at each intersection to warn us of traffic. But if we managed an uninterrupted ride from the top to the bottom, it was so worth the climb back up for another thrill run.</p><p>Sometimes, we had to deal with obstacles, like ashes from coal furnaces that would be thrown on the roadway to help with traction. Sometimes, we would cover them up or move them out of the way. After all, most people had snow tires &#8212; some with spikes in them &#8212; and others, including my dad, would put chains on the rear tires. If I try hard enough, I can still hear the sound of tire chains on the road.</p><p>We even had indoor games that we played. In our spare room, we would take one of those round Quaker Oats boxes and cut it in half. We would tape it on the wall over the doorway and we would use a rubber ball to play basketball. It really did work. The games were fun, but we could only play one-on-one or two-on-two.</p><p>And we had electric trains with platforms and layouts of Plasticville houses and train stations and miniature towns and people. Some of us had electric slot cars with tracks with bridges and overpasses. We could spend hours with those controllers.</p><p>All of these wonderful memories of snowy winters and hot lunches came rushing back in that deli line when a woman ordered a half-pound of oval spiced ham.</p><p>Guess what I&#8217;ll be ordering this weekend at the deli counter?</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_OBoyle_Columnshot-1-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle, or email at boboyle@www.timesleader.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Beyond the Byline: Oval-spiced ham on a snowy day