I scanned a bunch of older photos yesterday. I ran onto a photo of my Maternal Grandmother that shows her love of fish and flowers.
I know I have written before about the windows just off the kitchen that faced south. There were tables there right up next to the windows. There were four windows. That is where Grandma kept her African Violets, geraniums and some ferns and a philodendron that grew up the wall and went over the ceiling. When the room was painted the philodendron roots had to be dug from the plaster.
I had forgotten about the extra chairs that she used to shove under the flower tables until they were needed. They were Avocado Green. I had forgotten the stool between the tables..you had to make the most of your space for plants and that Croton looks like it thrived there. Above the Croton on the stool is a mirror and above the mirror was a thermometer and possibly one of those old strips that turned colors in the humidity. I am not sure how well they worked..I recall the strips turning blue and staying that color.
Grandma grew stuff good.
I am not so sure about her fish. This was a Five Pound Six Ounce Bass that she caught in February of 1983. Grandma would have been 72 years old in this photo.
Someone took a Polaroid of the fish and wrote it’s statistics on the back.
I like to fish for Bass too..using a top water bait in May or Early June..Bass are kinda feisty and they will hit the bait as soon as it hits the water and then fight for their freedom. My experience with Bass is that they are always have little black spots on their bellies and are wormy..so I always have caught them and then released them back into the lake.
Apparently Grandma kept her big old Bass and she most likely fillet it out and fried it up in a pan:)
My mother had a green thumb, too, and she "grew stuff good" as you put it. That fish is darn big, and I can see why she would be so proud of it! :-)
ReplyDeleteFish is some of the best fertilizer. My grandfather - who I never met - used to fish and whenever he caught something they didn't want to eat, he buried it under a rose bush. That rose bush was as tall as the house.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's how your Grandma's plants did so well.
Thanks for sharing this story with us. I love that your Grandma fished at 72. :-)
A friend of ours if a fisherman and he does the same thing but with bones and head of the fish it is the best fertilizer ! Awesome post and photos ! Have a great day !
DeleteI am laughing at the picture of all of the tables with the violets. Our bedroom looked like that when we were first married. There was an African Violet nursery between our house and my parents. Every time we visited we'd stop and buy another beautiful violet... only to have it lose it's blossoms and never bloom again! I guess I didn't have much of a green thumb, like your grandmother did!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Love it! :)
ReplyDeleteFunny, I have fishy memories of my Paternal grandmother also...all of the family would gather there and the Uncles, and my Dad would go fishing for days.
ReplyDeleteThe woman got to stay at Grandmas and cook, LOL and look after us kids.
My Grandma made the absolute best fish. Still can make my mouth water just thinking about it.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
My mother had a lot of house plants, and still has a few in the care home. She was and still is very good at looking after them. They always look great. My house plants have to be able to go for 6 months without water. That's probably why I'm now down to a jade plant and an aloe vera. My dad liked to fish, and used to put the guts, heads, etc in the compost box. No wonder we had raccoons coming to visit.
ReplyDeleteThat's a big fish!
ReplyDeleteMy mother always had beautiful houseplants. During the time she and my dad lived in Florida, she developed a life-long love for orchids. Her plants always thrived. Mine did not. She had a gift, like your grandmother. Now, fishing? My mom would never go fishing! :-)
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing the photos and hearing your memories of grandma.
ReplyDeleteFish weren't wormy back in Grandma's day. Frying was the only way to do fish. Better yet pan fried on the beach over a camp fire.
ReplyDeleteWow! Someday I will organize my photos. Sure would make it easier to find the one I know I have somewhere.
ReplyDeleteGrandma's are like that,wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGood-sized fish!
ReplyDeleteYou've made me miss my grandma. With her, it's line-dried sheets and lilacs. What a wonderful woman she was...
Pearl
Good for your grandma! I've always wanted to learn to fish and I've fished a few times but I always wanted to learn the whole process but there was always some guy hanging around trying to look macho and doing the whole thing for me and I never learned anything. I live across from a lake for criminetly! I could be fishing for my dinner every day. I did buy a pole at a garage sale and then I found a book that has pictures of how to clean them. Now I need to learn how to fix the pole so it works...line and all...I know nothing! I want to catch Blue Gill as I love them and I know they're in the lake just waiting for me! Here fishy, fishy...LOL!
ReplyDeleteI need to filet them and lots of them as they're not real big.
I sure wish your Grandma or you or someone was here to show me, not do it for me but show me. I may need to move to MN where the women are smart, the men are good looking and the children are above average!
beautiful memory
ReplyDeletenice shot
My mom was the one with the green thumb. Won ribbons at the MN State Fair back in the day.
ReplyDeleteLovely picture of your grandma. What an inviting home. But...
Wormy bass? I think this lass will pass. LOL! ;)
My dad had a philodendron that grew across the ceiling like that, too. Someone sent when Mom died and he tended it for twenty years or better. His living room looked like a jungle with that thing.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma had African violets by her windows. We never had fish much growing up - - - just fish sticks -- - so never really developed a taste for them. Such a shame, too, since fish are good for you.
ReplyDeleteYikes .. I hit something and got all the HTML from your blog on my page. Scared me. Anyway, I wonder sometimes about how my descendants will see me in old photos? That never occurred to me when I was younger.
ReplyDelete