My Grandma
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes. "Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill."
Grandma loved to watch wrestling on television and she would yell at the television set like the wrestlers would hear her. I thought that was so funny that an "old" woman watched wrestling. Her favorite game was a a board game called Wahoo! And she had a passion for that game. She invited every grandchild to play her and every adult. She was good at it too and she would yell WAHOO when she won.
Soon as we arrived at Grandma's house to visit, she would get her glass of water and comb. I knew this meant she was curling my hair. She thought my hair was pretty and she loved to put finger curls all in it. I really didn't care back then, but now I look back and smile. It was special after all. Also you could count on biscuits being on the stove when you arrived. Even if they were cold, they were delicious! Funny how a cold biscuit mean so much.
I have an old cassette tape of my Mom's that has Grandma singing on it. Grandma loved to sing and she loved to listen to her children and grandchildren sing. She would sing the song, "My Little Red Ford", and all us children would just laugh! Grandma was a talker too! She would talk non stop of whether you were in the same room or not. My Mother took after Grandma. She was a talker too. I remember Grandma's birthday one year. We all made it so special. Mom gave her a white sweater and she had a store bought cake. We took pictures and sang Happy Birthday. Mom has that sweater to this day. Now Grandma dipped snuff. As a child, I truly believed that all "old women" dipped snuff. I really thought it was just something they had to do. I didn't think it was an option! She kept a Folgers's can to spit in, and she bought the snuff that came in clear glasses and that was her collection of drinking glasses! Once when a cousin was stung by a wasp, Grandma ran out the screen door and spit a big wad of snuff on his back and it stopped the stinging! Then I realized what Grandma's snuff was for!
I know my Grandma had a hard time raising her own children. And I know from what I've been told that she had it even harder when she became a widow and had no money to raise the ones that were still at home. And as her own left to start their own families, Grandma longed for family visits. I know she complained of being lonely. For this woman had given so much life and spent her entire life raising and caring for others and now she was alone. Grandma was like a mother hen at times defending her children. She would stand up to any daughter in law not doing her son right, or any husband not doing her daughter right. I look back at growing up and am thankful I had a grandmother like Etta Mae.
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I
have such fond memories of my Grandmother. I still dream of her often. I
love the set and graphics because it reminds me of her and those times in
her kitchen. Grandma had a kitchen pie cabinet such as this. She was
famous for her biscuits biscuits and chocolate gravy. If you've never had
chocolate gravy, you don't know what a great thing you are missing! She
was a good cook. She had aprons and we all know about grandmother's apron.
They were used for much more than cooking!
