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Gran

Not exactly sure why but I've been feeling the urge to blog about my paternal Gran. Although she died just before Christmas 1986, I think she is ‘around’ at the moment, in spirit if you like, keeping me on the straight and narrow regarding using my time wisely, resting a calming hand on my shoulder, because she was a no nonsense, always busy sort of lady herself. This is her...
She is the one on the right of the photo (doh!) which was taken by me in 1974 with my first ever Kodak camera. The man standing next to her is my Grandad. They were the best of grandparents. They must have been in around 60 years old here and I remember the door they are standing in front of was their coal house. Here is a photo of me (aged around 6 months old) in front of the very same door. I have been placed in Ringo the Poodle’s dog basket. For comic effect or to keep me still? Who knows?

Anyway, I don’t have many things to remind me of my Gran - a few photos, and a couple of bits I managed to save after she died. Like her sugar bowl...

...which I remember always stood on her kitchen table full of sugar cubes and a pair of sugar tongs. And her wooden spoon...
...which I always use to bake with. It has done a lot of baking over the decades, this spoon. I would be very, VERY upset if anything was to happen to this spoon, so I keep it under a watchful eye. Mad, eh? I think it is because it was something she once held and used, and because it is made from wood, it feels like it has a part of her energy still within it. Does that make sense? I am very fortunate, too,  to have her engagement ring in my belonging, which I also wear everyday for the same reason.  

And then there is her cookery book. It's very tattered and worn now, but then aren't most of us who were born in the '60s?? This one was printed in 1968 and all the recipes are in ounces and Fahrenheit, not a gram/gramme or Celsius/centigrade to be seen. Gran did a lot of cooking. She was a farmer's wife and lived with her husband, brother-in-law and three sons - Victor (my father), and his two younger brothers. Keeping house for five men deserves admiration and a medal, doesn't it? I think so.

The book even has a small vegetarian section! Nut and Macaroni Curry with Curry Sauce, anyone??


I often wonder how she felt about her life. When Grandad died, about five years before her, she immediately set about learning to drive. Being one of life's passengers was no longer an option for her. She passed her test; the world became her oyster. She could drive anywhere and do anything, relying on no-one. Mostly she chose to drive the straight line road (one set of traffic lights) between the farm and the next-door-but-one-village so she could play bowls every Thursday. But the point is, it was her choice. And I wonder, until that point, what else she had in the way of choice in her life.

All I know is that she always had time for me. She wasn't an overly affectionate woman but she was quietly companionable, busy, efficient and welcoming, and I have many warm and happy memories of sharing her company for the first 20 years of my life. And because of this I thought I knew a lot about her, but I think about it now and realise I knew pretty much nothing.

Thanks for still being around, Gran! For lunch today, I made the cheese and vegetable soup from your cookery book, using your spoon.

It was good.

Comments

Andy said…
It was very good soup. But now I am a bit scared of using that wooden spoon ever again.
15 October 2019 at 07:31
Denise said…
The spoon has lived with us for over 15 years and has survived thus far. It’ll be fine...
20 October 2019 at 14:17
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