Here are just a few of the things I remember most, about being at my maternal grandparents' house as a child:
- being allowed to play with Mimi's wondrous button jar
- making doll furniture out of cigar boxes and old fashioned wooden clothespins - the springless kind
- getting tiny glass bottles of Coca-cola out of the "ice-box" in her pink kitchen, which she kept set so low, the sodas were always a bit slushy
- their metallic silver Christmas tree, and the revolving light that made it change colors
- the boxful of doll clothes she sewed, for my very first Barbie, on her ancient Singer sewing machine
- her amazing button jar
- watching Lawrence Welk, and pretending I was the youngest Lennon sister
- what family get-togethers were like, when there were 14 grandkids, all right around the same age, and all living within an hour or two of each other
- playing Mimi's saloon-style upright piano, with the stool that you could spin around on
- that fabulous button jar
- swinging on the front porch swing, with a half dozen or so of the aforementioned cousins
- the giant fig tree in their back yard
- the oddity of them living in a tiny, 2-bedroom, 1 bath bungalow, and it having "servant's quarters" attached to the garage
- her stupendous button jar
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6 comments:
Wow. My grandma was also called Mimi, and reading your post I remembered things of my childhood I thought long forgotten.
Peace,
Lady C.
Glad you stopped by, Lady C. I was only planning to write about the button jar, but once I opened the gate, the memories just kept marching in! I hope this "jars" the memories loose for lots of my readers, and that they share some of their favorites here in the comments.
"Mem'ries,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories...."
Wow! I actually had tears well up while thinking about wonderful times with both my grandmothers.
Maternal granny always allowed me to paint my toenails with her many shades of polish, read her Regency paperback Gothic romance novels replete with governesses and dashing Lords, and help zip up her bathing suit before we'd head to the beach in my granddaddy's little blue-n-white Jeep. (She was kinda buxom!)
Paternal grandma always had a case of tall ice-cold Coca Cola bottles in the outdoor fridge and 3 (!) half-gallons of vanilla ice-milk in the freezer for afternoon "Coke Floats." What a treat! Watching Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights was TRADITION and we all agreed that Janet Lennon (the youngest) was the cutest one.
What a lovely post Becky to evoke such poignant remembrances thought long forgotten as Lady C so gracefully wrote. Thank you. I'll keep an eye out for unusual buttons when I hit those yard sales!
Wow - you really took me back there. Interestingly enough, you remember some things I don't remember at all! I also remember the nurses uniforms and bridesmaid dresses she made Carolyn and I for dress up. I think she ran out of steam for that much sewing before you came along... Gus
As did Mom - which is why I had to learn to sew for myself!
I'm making Grandmama memories at the moment. The woolen hair is drying in place on the clothespin dolls I'm making my tiny granddaughters, who will arrive in two days. I have play clay, crayons, beads to string, puzzles to work -- we'll never have time to do it all.
Did I do all these things with my grandmothers? No. With my mom? Yes. With my kids? Not much.
Maybe next visit the wee one will be old enough for buttons. We can sew some on scraps.
Memories. Sweet, sweet memories, whether back then, or far in the future.
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