Grandma-at-the-Farm
Mike and I always thought of mom’s mother as Grandma-at-the-Farm
even when she moved to the house in Bordentown in the early 80s. The land
owners had only given her and her brother Charlie either a month or 6 weeks to
move. They wanted to redo that house for a relative – their son? She had moved
in with her 2 brothers after letting Mom and Dad have her apartment in our town
after they were married in 1968.
I really wish that
we had gotten the chance to see her and Aunt Ann’s family more. We’d go to her
house for Thanksgiving and to Aunt Ann’s place for our second Christmas.
Sometimes we’d visit them all in the summertime. They didn’t visit us that much
mainly because Dad didn’t like them doing so. That is just so heartless and
unfair.
Grandma (and also
Aunt Ann) tried teaching me to crochet. She even got me a set of hooks in the
early 80s. I still have them. I could only do the single loop stitch. I made a
little blanket for my stuffed animals. I
didn’t stick with this for that long, however. Mom tried teaching me to knit but
I could never get the hang of it. I guess that I didn’t inherit their crafting
abilities.
I still have the 2
latch hook rugs- spring/summer and fall trees- and the blanket and pillow set
that Grandma made for me. She did the latter for Mike too. I could never get
rid of these and the other handmade items from her and Aunt Ann.
She prepared nearly
the entire Thanksgiving dinner which was delicious, esp. the pumpkin and apple
pies. I remember how much she used to like English muffins with strawberry jam
which I do also. There were always mini York Peppermint Patties in the candy
dish at her house. I think that she liked Fritos too. I have a vague memory of
that, as well as her canning vegetables and fruits in Ball jars.
She got me into 2 mystery authors that she
greatly enjoyed – Earle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason) and Agatha Christie. I
always preferred that authors’ detective Poirot over Miss Marple. Aunt Ann
introduced me to others of that genre- Martha Grimes, Margaret Truman, PD
James, Elizabeth George, Reginald Hill, and Lillian Jackson Braun.
Grandma had very
beautiful Christmas cactuses. I am pretty sure that Aunt Ann got these after
she died. She gave me a cactus but I accidentally killed it by over watering it
which I felt very bad about.
She helped me study
my state capitals in 4thgrade one of the few times that she was
visiting us for a few days. This really helped me to remember them even more
than if I had done so on my own.
Her favorite
perfume was Jean Nate and she collected cardinals, some of which mom has
now. We would get her both these as
gifts. We have a few of her kitchen items too, like a cast iron skillet.
I found the photo albums of her pictures of
Germany when I was looking through mom’s totes a couple of years ago. I can’t
believe that I had never seen them before this. Maybe I had but it was a long
time ago and I forgot.
She used to go
bowling with her brothers. I was talking to mom about this one day and she told
me that her sister, sister-in-law, nephew and even mom would also go with them
sometimes. They had a pool table at their house. I remember her brothers
playing this but not her but mom said that she did too.
Mom and I both used
to like playing the card game Solitaire and also doing those circle- a- word
puzzles just as Grandma used to do. I wish that I could recall more about
Grandma-at-the-Farm; maybe if Dad had let us visit her more then I’d have more
vivid memories of her now.
Crochet hook set
My Doll Blanket
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