I've been thinking about my great grandparents since I posted yesterday. My memories are clouded by very poor recall but I do remember going to their house as a kid to visit. The house had a formal parlor with either burgundy or brown velvet furniture with doilies on top. We loved that furniture because it was slippery! Really slippery! We'd spend part of the visit using them as slides. I don't remember anyone yelling at us about it though.
But no one ever sat in the parlor, we were all in the kitchen/dining area. I remember my Great Grandpa sitting in a chair in an alcove right off that area. I remember him as being short and hunched over a bit with glasses but my poor memory may be wrong. He was the son of the man in the article but I don't know if he was the offspring of the first, second, or third wife. We'd sit on his lap and he'd show us his gnarled hand with the missing fingers and he'd tell us a different story of how it had happened each time we were there. The funny thing is that my Dad insists he wasn't missing any fingers (he was my Dad's Mother's father so he should know) but my Mom insists he was missing fingers. I'm obviously siding with my Mom on this. Now, does this mean I inherited my Dad's poor memory or not?
Funny, I don't remember my Great Grandma in the house much at all. She was probably out and about. She had a big garden in the back and kept busy. After my Great Grandpa died she moved into a nursing home that was very near our gradeschool so some days we'd go visit her after school. We'd go and play cards or at least play with the card shuffler. I remember one day in particular where my Great Grandma was outside in her wheelchair and I was there. She started talking (and laughing) about her chin hair and how she needed someone to pull them. My Mom used to bring her homecooked meals but had to stop because apparently my Great Grandma was angering the other residents by bragging about it. Mom, correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.
Oh how I wish I'd been aware how fleeting those times were and that I'd gotten to know them both better. I don't think I've even got a picture of them.
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Your are right about the meals. She would lord it over the other residents about her meals. I was sorry when I was told not to bring them anymore. She so loved to eat. I don't know why you don't remember her being around. She was always there bossing Grandpa around. She would say, "Alex, get me this or Alex put that away." Then she would say, "Alex, you old fool." This was all in fun and would always get a laugh with that remark. Grandpa was her legs because she couldn't get around very well. That didn't stop her from baking a dozen loaves of bread weekly and distributing them to relatives. There was always a jar of jam made from berries she grew in her garden to go with it. Dad talks about the whole pig they used to keep on their enclosed porch during the winter. That was their freezer.I think they used every inch of it
They were wonderful people and I miss them to this day. Grandpa did have a part of his finger missing. I'm not sure if it happened when he was logging or if it happened when he was working at the paper mill. It makes me smile every time I think about them.
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