It's been many years since she passed away,
every precious moment we had I will always treasure
and in my thoughts and my heart she will be forever.
I look around at the things I have of hers and with each there is a story to tell. The many hours I sat at her kitchen table as she rambled on and on, now I wish I had listened closer. I am quite sure someday these things will be passed on to my children. I hope they remember what these things meant to me when I am gone. I do remember she always wore her hair cut short with a bit of a wave here & there. Sometimes she even had bobby pin curls tucked under her brown hairnet that she always wore and a handmade apron with pockets that she made herself. She spent a lot of hours, making aprons, potholders and even cutting out triangles & square shapes of brightly printed fabric using cardboard templates to make into quilts. My Grandpa made her a quilting frame and I have vivid memories of my mom & aunt stitching through layers of fabric stretched over that wooden frame with her when we went to visit. The faded now quilted fabrics matched the dresses that my cousins, sisters and I wore as a children. When we would go to her house we would find her often sitting at her kitchen table with a crossword book or find a word puzzle book and always a cold cup of coffee. I would ask her to bring out the album of pictures of my dad and his brother & sisters when they were younger. She would shake her head and open the cabinet drawer where letters from her sister in Kansas, laid neatly wrapped in a rubber bands and she would say "OK, but for just a few minutes I have supper to cook. " Grandma had a lot of buttons too that often we would sort through at her kitchen table matching colors, shapes and patterns as she told stories of her own childhood, of the things she used to do. She talked of people I never knew "back in Kansas" she would say. She was a quiet lady spoke softly and very kind, she only wore red lipstick and her hands were not soft but weathered from her daily labours, she lived a simple life and never seemed to complain or tire of my asking questions about my dad and how things were back when he was young.
Grandma had pretty flowers around her yard. Zinnias, Cosmos, Roses, beautiful Iris and orange & yellow marigolds, chrysanthemums, bachelor buttons & hollyhocks too and a big chestnut and a sycamore tree shaded her back door....everyone used the back door even the milkman. I guess because it was closest to her driveway. My cousins were lucky they lived in the house right behind hers on their 1/2 acre. I was often jealous of them. They could run down to her house anytime they wanted, I wonder today if they remember the things I do, like the time we sneaked down into the cellar and opened up a jar of grandmas home canned dill pickles and ate them right from the jar.. Ya know I think she knew we were there, all along.
At Christmas time grandma made the best divinity and suet puddings and mincemeat. I wish I had all her recipes that she kept in a wooden box in a cupboard on the second shelf next to her butter dish. I think my grandpa tossed them...Oh, that is another story to tell. The mixing bowls she used often are another of my favorites. At the time when I was young I didn't know were pottery called "yellow ware" quite popular now for some collectors. I used to have all three but one got broken sometime ago and I cried and one has a little hairline crack so I don't use them anymore. My sisters don't have tangible things of my grandma's and sometimes I do feel guilty but I was the first grandchild and a girl and I think I am entitled to these treasures I asked my Grandpa if I could have them when she passed away, because of the many stories she told and I remember some of them well. I hope someday my children and grandchildren will have fond memories of me and my stories of their great grandmother and remember my stories as well.
