Friday, January 2, 2009

Grandmas Fridge


My Grandma D's fridge was always full. It held a wondrous assortment of food. Your senses were immediately assaulted by what was inside. Jars of pickles (several kinds) candied crab apples, pickled beets, rhubarb sauce, or cherry sauce. Jars with brilliant mouthwatering contents. Then there were the glass covered "refrigerator dishes" .. I always looked for the jello! Then the "hats" no one but Grandma knew what lurked under them. Do you remember the elastic edged plastic washable hats in pink, blue, green that stretched to cover leftovers? They were like shower caps..but for food. I am not sure how well they worked, but they made for a fine fridge adventure, covering delicious foods with their puffiness. "What's under here Grandma?" She always knew. I always looked for the sauerkraut.


I would set the lunch table for three, Grandpa, Grandma and me. I loved visiting them all by myself. Grandpa would take his place at his end of the red and white checked oilcloth, Grandma sat on one side of him, me on the other. Their plastic cool whip bowl filled with their pills sat in the center of the table. As I went about setting the table I would pause and give Grandpa a quick hug and a kiss on the head. He loved me unconditionally, I was perfect. I would sometimes say "You think I am perfect..right Grandpa?" He would always say 'Ya, Ya and smile." During lunch they would talk about their visitors and how fishing had been, they loved going fishing. Sometimes Grandpa would talk about the old days, then he would dab at his eyes with the red handkerchief that he kept in his pocket. I wish I could remember all of the old stories he told me. We would enjoy our lunch together, have coffee and raid the pantry for some bars, Lemon Bars were my favorite, I think they were Grandmas too because she baked them a lot.


After lunch Grandpa would get out his papers and his tobacco and roll a cigarette. After he had smoked his cigarette he would doze in his chair. I would clean up the kitchen and do the dishes and then sit a bit with Grandma talking about whatever was on her mind. Her favorite subjects were food and recipes. She would always ask "When are you coming again?" I would answer "When I can Grandma." She would reply "I know you are busy..why don't you come on Sunday?" My reply was always the same, "Cause the house is full every Sunday and I love having you and Grandpa all to myself! "


I was lucky, I was their first Grandchild, in fact they became parents to twins two months after I was born. So I have an Uncle and Aunt that are younger than me. When my Mother came home from the hospital with me, my Father was in Korea, so it was my Grandparents home that was my first home for a little while. I was pretty spoiled. Their house was full of children, all of whom took their turns with the spoiling.


I visited with my Grandparents a lot when we lived at the lake. It was only a twenty minute drive to their house. I am thankful for every time I was able to visit with them and to explore their fridge for lunch, and to feel their unconditional love wrap around me like a warm quilt on a cold day:)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh - I love grandparent stories... they always seem to be so warm and full of love!

And what an adventure that fridge must have been!

flydragon said...

What wonderful memories you have, and you tell them so well. Thanks for making me feel good today!!

Coffee with Cathy said...

Aw, that's the kind of grandma I want to be! Thanks so much for sharing your memories.

Mary said...

Everyone should have grandparents like that. Everygrandparent should have a grandaughter who treasurers them.

Jeanne Estridge said...

Connie --

There's a blogging award, called A Hoy,that was started at Christmas. I was fortunate enough to receive one, and was instructed to pass it on to 5 blogs that I really like and yours was one of the 5 I chose. (And this post is a perfect example of why.)

Please accept it with my best wishes and pay it forward.

Thanks,
Jeanne

Rules for Making an Award
1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award based upon any criteria - for example, the quality of the commentary, wit, humour, artwork, overall design, value to you of the information being provided, and so on.
2. The awarding blogger should choose at least two blogs not on his or her own blogroll, the purpose being to encourage variety of reading matter, and to have the person making the award think about what they like to see and read.
3. Your five choices must be published in a dedicated post on your own blog. This post must contain the name of the author (which may be their logon name), and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. This post should contain brief details of what attracted you to the blog. Details may also be posted in the comments section of "What is a Hoy?"
4. In the same dedicated post, each winner has to show the award and acknowledge the blog that has given him or her the award.
5. Both those awarding and receiving A Hoy must show the link to A Hoy blog, so that everyone will know the origin of this award.
6. When publishing details of the blogs to which you have made your awards, these rules must be published for recipients to follow.

Anonymous said...

What a heart-warming story of your grandparents today. I had that kind of relationship with mine and treasure the memories. Thanks for jogging my memory today - such a well told story.

Fragrant Liar said...

I so miss my grandparents. My parents are still alive, however, and we still have four generations to enjoy, including my own grandkiddos. Wouldn't it be great if our elders were around forever?

KJ
www.nanadiaries.com
http://fragrantliar.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

woderful story

The W.O.W. factor! said...

Oh the smells came to me through osmosis, through your post...of my Grammas! (I only had the one, both Grampa's died while Mom was Preg with me...yea, gave me a complex for a certain phase in my life..)
Sauerkraut and Jello I remember, very well being in her fridge...but I couldn't drop in like you could...lived too far away. Maybe she always had them cuz she knew me and my one sister loved it..

Lattice said...

What a wonderful post! :~) I appreciated my grandparents in similar fashion, but was much less sweet about doing the dishes. You have such character, Far.

The Wife said...

What a lovely post! Thanks for sharing those special moments.

Jan said...

This was a great post. Memories come back to me of my great-aunt Leona, my grandparents on both sides and my next-door neighbors that watched me grow up. You inspire me. Actually I would comment much more often but I check blogs on my phone alot and your blog won't allow me to post comments. Not sure why but there is another one that I follow and it is the same way. Not always easy to get to a computer. Work just gets in the way!