Jello

 In pre covid times Far Guy and I liked to attend Auction Sales...and garage/rummage sales.  

I am sorting through some old photos on my Simple Save...oh it is slow going but a good trip down memory lane.  I am working in 2009 right now. In 11 years many things have changed.

This is a fun puzzle.

I  had many a jello made in those crystal bowls... my Aunt Marie like to serve jello over a lettuce leaf and topped with cottage cheese...uffda.  ( For the record Cottage Cheese will make me barf.)  I tried to graciously scoop it off to one side.   I like just plain jello...with some whipped cream on top...and Lemon,  Lime or Blue Raspberry are not my favorite flavors.... give me Orange, Black Cherry or regular Raspberry any day of the week.  My Grandmother put all kinds of fruit in her jello....sometimes more fruit than jello...I hated the grapes.  If Grandma made plain jello it was kept in a crystal refrigerator dish that had a pretty crystal lid.  

Far Side

Old Fashioned Tiger Lilies

A few of my Tiger Lilies escaped the deer foraging through the wild gardens.  These were a long ago gift from my Uncle Otto.

The patch used to be larger, but I am thankful to have just a few.

My Mother had Tiger Lilies growing on the farm in the little flower garden that was planted over the old outhouse hole.  We got a flush toilet in about 1960 and after that the old outhouse area became a flower garden…the flowers grew quite nicely there.

I can also picture Tiger Lilies along side my Maternal Grandparents home.  They really popped against the white house….Grandma had chicken wire around her flower beds…mostly to keep the dogs from laying in her flower beds.

I know they come in all kind of fancy colors nowadays…but I like the old fashioned ones the best!

 

Wistful Wednesday: Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpas

Growing up I cannot remember having a Thanksgiving Dinner anyplace else but my maternal Grandparents.  There was no choice…no invitations ever went out it was just expected that you would be there.  It was the same with Christmas Dinner. 

I don’t have any memories of a holiday dinner in my own home.  Confirmation dinners or Baptism dinners and maybe an Easter dinner or two but not Thanksgiving or Christmas.

No one could make stuffing (or dressing if you choose to call it that) like my grandmother, it had giblets and apples and raisins.  It was my favorite…that and some dark turkey meat and a mound of mashed potatoes along with some dill pickles!  If you helped to set the serving table you could snitch some pickles…taste testing of course. 

The serving table was the large yellow metal table with about three leaves in the heart of the kitchen. 

Grandma had a large farm kitchen. As you came in the doorway the huge fridge sat alone.  There was a spot for someone to sit in between the fridge and the massive red countertop that held the sink.  The table sat in front of the plants…off to the right of the plants was a huge pantry off to the left was a storage area and a private bathroom. On the other wall was the stove, I remember when it was just a stove…it eventually became a stove, countertop and cupboards. Chairs would be lined up in the area behind the table along the plant tables on the wall covered with windows that faced south.  Grandma always had something blooming.   The Aunts would line up on those chairs and watch the goings on in the kitchen. Mostly they gossiped.

I was a dish washer.  It seemed like I washed dishes all afternoon long.  I was the oldest grandchild. This was before automatic dishwashers…not that my Grandparents would have had one anyways.  There would be about 40 people give or take a few babies.  That was a lot of dishes.  The men would set up card tables in the living room and the dining room right after dinner and play Whist.  The women just occupied the kitchen…they fed little ones and occasionally hauled someone off to Grandma and Grandpa’s bedroom to change someone’s diapers.

I always wanted to be home before dark, but there was the inevitable “supper” after the big dinner and pie and coffee.  I would put my coat on and sit in the living room right in front of the television to watch The Wizard of Oz.  Of course I never got to see it all. It was always interrupted by the ride home…25 - 30 minutes that is about how long it took to get home.  I remember sitting in the back seat peaking over the front seat wondering why we couldn’t go faster. 

Summer of 1952, I was almost 1 year old.  That is my Grandmother Elsie and her Mother In Law my Great Grandmother Hatwig. I was their first…the first Grandchild and the first Great Grandchild.

Today as I ready a few things for Thanksgiving, I wonder how my Grandmother did it.  She must have been exhausted.

Wistful Wednesday : 102 Years ago

One hundred and two years ago my maternal Grandmother was born on September 26, 1911.  The daughter of a farmer and his wife.  For eighteen months she would feel safe and loved, then her mother would die.

This photo was taken when she was two or three.  By that time she was living with her father’s sister, a lady they called Grandma Anderson.  Menfolk couldn’t be bothered with a girl.  Later her father would order up a mail order bride to really mess the family up.

Depending on your birth order, you remember different things.  Take for instance my baby brother and I.  I remember Grandma teaching me how to gut a chicken and clean the heart, liver and gizzard very carefully.  My brother remembers her grabbing a chicken and wringing it’s neck.  ( I think he said at the time he told me about that memory  “ Not exactly warm and fuzzy feelings about the little old lady that is your Grandma.”)

I have no doubt that his memory is as good as mine is…both things happened...at different times seen by different children.

When I think of Grandma, I think kitchen and cooking and lemon bars, Russian Dill pickles, apples and raisins in the dressing at Thanksgiving, and fresh peas and potatoes in white sauce in the summer.  My brother and the rest of my siblings probably don’t remember all those good foods…or perhaps they had their own favorites.

Grandma in 1990, she would live another five years until 1995.  I am pretty sure she was at Aunt Leila's in this photo ( Grandpa’s sister). Land sakes alive someone had crochet/knit up a storm!

Somewhere along the line, I think my Mother took a photo of the town named after Grandma. It was either my Mother or my brother…I think this is Elsie, Oregon.

Grandma would die before the name Elsie became popular again.  She has a Great Great Granddaughter named Elsie now.  I think that would have pleased her:)

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas Card 1951

Sometimes you find old photo Christmas Cards where you don’t know all the people.  I am sure my Mother knows all the women on this old photo Christmas Card.  I wasn’t born yet when the photo was taken..but I was born (September) before Christmas ..as were my twin Aunt and Uncle (November).

My Mother and Grandmother are in this photo taken sometime in the late spring/summer of 1951. They are both pregnant..but it is hard to tell.

My Mom has a sweater on and my Grandma is the tallest lady next to my Mom.  Two of the women are wearing slacks..which was quite scandalous for 1951.  They must be dress slacks.  I am not sure if people call trousers or pants slacks anymore.  Growing up I rarely saw my Grandmother in pants..and if she did wear them she was headed to the barn to do chores or to go fishing or it was winter and really cold outside.  In later years Grandma wore pants everywhere..but in the 1950’s and early 1960’s many women still wore dresses everyday.  

These ladies were all neighbors of my Grandma, I should recall some of their names..I think the gal next to my Mom is Shirley. The lady on the end has a cute little black purse on her arm.

No one looks real thrilled to be in this photo..line them up looking into the sun and take a photograph.  After all flash bulbs were expensive..so if they could take photos outside they did:)

Wistful Wednesday: Little Ones 1972 and 1984

“Babies are a handful sometimes, a heartful all the time.”  Author Unknown

Babies.  My Grandma liked babies..she always had time to ohh and ahh..and give advice.  This is a four generation photo taken in 1972.

Grandma D. my Mother holding Trica and me.

This was taken in April of 1972.  AND oh yes I look tired.  Trica did not sleep for more than two hours at a time until she was six months old. She screamed night and day..she had colic.  She would scream while I fed her a bottle..she would suck and then scream.  My Grandmother left and went home one day..she said I was going to choke that baby for sure feeding her while she was screaming. My pediatrician told me to keep right on feeding her even if she was screaming.  Who knows best your Grandma or your Pediatrician?  He spent his lunch hour with us one day..watching how she had to be fed..and declared it okay.

Fast forward 12 years to 1984.  My baby brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl.

Grandma got to hold her close when they visited that summer.  The little girl is all grown  up and married now. I wonder if my Grandmother gave my brother any baby advice?

This was a photo I found last winter when I scanned a whole bunch of old photos that were special to my Grandmother.

In the 12 years between 1972 and 1984 my Grandmother never changed the color of her kitchen..it may have just been a slightly different shade of aqua. Her little window to the porch just had a little bit different white curtain with aqua flowers.

Some things never change..flowery curtains or a favorite color ( My Mother painted her Dining Room and Living room this same color aqua last year.) Another thing that never changes is the love a Great Grandma or a Grandmother has for a new baby:)

Grandma’s Fish and Flowers

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:)

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:) 

Wistful Wednesday: 1950

My maternal grandparents were Elsie and Albert, they were the grandparents that we visited every Sunday afternoon without fail.  After I was married I was expected to visit there on Sunday afternoons too..I chose to go on other days so I could actually visit. 

This is my grandparents the year before I was born.  They are all dressed up for church.  Remember those rubber overshoes like my grandma has on? All the ladies wore them in the winter..so they wouldn’t get their good shoes snowy or wet. Grandmas were the fancy smancy ones..they had fur at the top.

This is a summer time photo around the same time..give or take a year or two.  This is how I remember them dressing every day..Grandma in a house dress and Grandpa in his bibs with his engineers cap.  I think that is Dixie..they had a few Dixies in their time..Dixie would have been a cow dog…she would have went to the pasture and brought the cows up to the barn for milking. Dixie would have understood both English commands and German commands.

This is the house where I learned to play “Annie I Over” one summer Sunday afternoon.  Now for the younger readers..this is how you play.  You split into two teams, one team on each side of the house.  You throw a large ball over the roof and holler Annie I Over!  Then you wait..if the kids on the other side of the house catch the ball then they will sneak around the house and tag someone with the ball and then you are on their team. If no one catches the ball they are suppose to holler “Pig Tail” and then it is their turn to throw it over..always hollering “Annie I Over” as the ball goes up and over the house. It was a great game full of throwing, anticipation, running for your life to the other side of the house..and giggling..lots of giggling:)   

Wistful Wednesday :1915

I did some research this week.  I had a photo of the family that raised my maternal Grandmother Elsie. They were August and Elizabeth Anderson..Elizabeth was my Grandmothers Aunt.

Here she is..is that a chamber pot in her hand..I am not certain, but it certainly appears to be.   Elizabeth..or Elisa as it was noted in one of the census records. Of course she was known as most women were in those days as Mrs. August Anderson.  My Mother could not remember this ladies first name as she was always known as Grandma Anderson.  Finally I found her in the census records!

I was also able to figure out a few things about this photo..

I believe this to be a photo taken right around 1915.  Left to right are John-25, Lena-?, Annie-28, Lizzie ( Elizabeth)-21, Elizabeth-59, Elsie ( My Grandmother)–5, August-75, August-35 and William-15.  This photo was just called the Anderson Family Photo.  Now the faces have some names.  In the 1920 census my grandmother appears as the adopted daughter.  She went to live with this family in 1912 probably around Christmas time…after her mother died and her father did not want to care for her. On a side note..August seemed to have had some huge friendly dogs!  I am not absolutely certain of the identity of all the men in the photo..but they seem to fit the census records and how the photo was labeled.

From what I understand this was a safe home for my Grandmother,  she worked hard there..and when she became old enough she was “Shoved from pillar to post to work in the fields or cared for babies wherever she was needed the most.”  She was married at the age of 15.

She had a good relationship with her adopted sisters..I met them many times when I was little..I just thought that they were a bunch of old ladies that visited my Grandma all the time.

  Lena, Annie and Lizzie sometime in the 1950’s.

This is how I remember these ladies, always in dresses with black little old lady shoes worn with thick stockings. One more piece of family history solved:)

99 years ago

My maternal Grandmother was born on September 26, 1911.  Her father( Dietrich) was not a nice man and not much is known about her mother ( Amanda) as she died when Grandma was 15 months old, Amanda fell ( or was pushed) down the stairs while she was pregnant.  Making Dietrich a widower with four small children.  

Dietrich, Amanda, Bill and Henry in1905?

Dietrich and Amanda had four children, Bill ( always known as Uncle Bill), Henry, Gunvold and my maternal grandmother Elsie.

What to do..what to do..well..keep the boys and ship off the little girl to your sister.
  This  is my Grandmother..doncha just love the big old bow in her hair?  She is pictured with Grandma Anderson..Dietrichs sister.  I will guess that this photo was taken in about 1916 when my Grandmother was five years old.  I asked my Mother what Grandma Andersons first name was..she did not know..as she was always called Grandma Anderson.  On a side note..Grandma Anderson and her mother ( who would have been my Great-Great Grandmother) were the first two white women in Toad Lake Township, Becker County, Minnesota in 1888.

Elsie..my Grandmother when she was about 2 or 3 years old..1913 or 1914.

I wonder how my Grandmother felt..abandoned first by the death of her Mother and then by the choice her father made.  Then how do you accept the fact that your father was probably the cause of your mothers death?   How much did it effect the mothering she would do in subsequent years?

I will say that I think she was a much better Grandmother than a Mother.  I think that can be said of many women.  I am a much better Grandmother than a Mother, I have more time for one thing..time to play games and time to listen.
Grandma was just 40 in this photo..a very young Grandma..that would be me in the photo with her..I was the one that made her a Grandmother.  This photo was taken in the spring of 1952, I was born the previous fall, our birthdays are just 40 years and six days apart.

Some of my memories of her:
She spoke German to the cats and dogs and they understood her.  She had a deep love for animals…and me and my menagerie were always welcome inside the house to visit. Twice I took newborn litters of Shelties to visit, and more often than not..I had four Shelties with me.

She was a wonderful cook, my favorites were her Lemon Bars and new peas and potatoes in white sauce..oh and Russian Dill Pickles and rhubarb sauce.

She had a table on the south side of the kitchen that was filled with flowers, blooming African Violets and a plant that began growing in the corner and up the wall and over the top of the windows.  It was chopped down one year when my Mother painted the walls..but quickly grew back again.  Grandma could grow anything..she had flowers inside and flowers outside.

She was stoic when my Grandfather was moved to the Nursing home and she wanted to go with him.  She was strong when he died..and she followed him exactly 64 days later, almost a day for every year that they were married.  They were married for 68 years.  My Grandmother was 84 when she died..and I was 44.. I was blessed to have her in my life for so many years:)