Wistful Wednesday: 1952

This is a photograph of me and my Grandma D.  in the spring of 1952.   This is a picture of my Mothers Mother.  She lived a good long time, and probably would have lived longer if my grandfather hadn’t died.  He was much older than she was ( 8 years)..he died and in two months and three days she was gone too.  They both died in 1995, Grandpa was 92 and Grandma was 84.  I was 44 years old that year. 

It was Grandma’s birthday last Monday, her birthday is just six days after mine…I like to think that perhaps I was an early(40th) birthday gift..but she was seven months pregnant with twins at the time.

I loved my Grandma very much…and she knew it, and she loved me too.  When she died, they made her up kinda fancy lying there in the casket.  Makeup and bright red lipstick with her hair all fluffed up. She didn’t look anything like my grandma. Except for her hands they couldn’t change them..she had pudgy little fingers and hairy arms…I said goodbye to those hands and arms, with the familiar ring and the watch that made marks on her arm.

She was a wonderful cook and she was happiest cooking  and baking.  There was always food in the pantry, usually a cake..a spice cake with raisins and brown sugar frosting..or Lemon Bars.  There were jars and jars of canned goods..she always sent a jar of pickles home with me..she knew I liked them and the yellow string beans..those were the best beans ever!   She made dressing (stuffing) with raisins and apples at Thanksgiving and Christmas.   She made fresh peas and new potatoes in white sauce.. yummy!  She made cole slaw with slices of apple, and Sauerkraut that was to die for!  A pork sausage that I used to watch her and grandpa run through the meat grinder into a tub where it was mixed with spices and then stuffed into the empty intestines that were cut and tied every so often. I can still taste that sausage in my mind..I have never found another ring sausage that even compared to theirs.

Grandma cooked at the church, she was very active and it seemed like she was always helping out someone by cooking and serving at a wedding or a funeral.

This year I was 60, and Grandma would have celebrated her 100th birthday.  She was born September 26, 1911 and died October 17, 1995. 

I am sure she would be pleased that I remember her for all the good food I associate with her, all the flavors of summer with fresh garden ingredients, the bountiful fall harvest and the preserved and canned foods for winter meals:)