I spent a week up North taking care of my elderly grandmother.
Couple cute things Grammy says:
"Swell"
"I don't give a rat's nose..."
"MH, would you be kind enough to..."
I mentioned that I enjoyed hearing some of those and she commented that my grandpa (who died while my mother was still a child) used to say,
"I'll be go to hell" about everything, even when they were in public. She claims that it embarrassed her for years but talking about it to me produced a giggle. She told me again the famous War Story. He was on Iwo Jima. It's pretty much the exact story of Flags of our Fathers, except for a few small details. He wasn't one of the guys raising the flag, but he did endure some terrible things. What I love is how this has been talked about in our family for years, and we thought it was OUR story. I guess it wasn't!
Although I can't stand the sight or smell of any meat, I knew that Grammy would not be happy without her regular meat-centered meals.
For breakfast, I usually made for her eggs and bacon or sausage. Good thing she likes her bacon crispy. I tried making a dish fondly referred to as potato-egg-cheese-stuff (pictured before I threw everything in a skillet). She loves that. It's a mixture of omelette ingredients plus whatever meat and cheese is sitting around.
One morning we had french toast. Another morning, we made cinnamon rolls and Grammy "made" a heavenly cream cheese frosting for them. I measured and mixed, but she told me exactly what she wanted done! She used to make cinnamon toast for my brother and I when we would spend the night at her house.
For dinner, I was on my own in deciding what to make. She naps during the day, so I couldn't very well wake her up to ask what she'd prefer to eat in a couple hours.
I dug out a few of her old cookbooks and used the local fundraiser ones. I found recipes that she
had submitted and used them! I made a salmon loaf, fried chicken and beef stroganoff. Chicken salad (pictured) for lunch once. I found it curious that she didn't have there any of her Irish recipes. She said, "Now why would I give my best recipes to people I don't even know?"
We drank coffee all day long, but went without the whiskey, thankfully. Although, I did see a stockpile of Irish and Scotch whiskey in one of the pantries. I wondered why she didn't ask for it. Her chief duty was to think up things for me to get for her at the store. One trip was to satisfy her sweet tooth. Although there were already countless sugar-packed goodies scattered about in little dishes or shut away in cupboards, I ended up with a list for the following:
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (the small ones)
Small Hershey's Candy Bars
3 Kinds of chocolate, small sized in a big bag
Pepperridge Farm Milanos
Pepperridge Farm Sugar Cookies
Pepperridge Farm cookie of your choice
But I made sure that she had lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. It was Peach season so they were a staple.
A couple of days, Grammy was tired and crabby.
She sometimes had trouble walking. It was a pleasure to wait on her and take care of every small need.
She now lives in a house that my uncle bought for her to live in. It has extra bedrooms for family members to visit for extended periods.
It is a beautiful house. The kitchen is amazing. I can't remember ever having so much fun just cleaning a space. Her bedroom looks like a young girl's dream room. The bed linens are pink and white, and the bedroom set is from her old house, except it was from one of the girl's rooms. Funny that she is now using her children's furniture. It works very well for her needs.
We did indeed spend many hours playing Scrabble. I won maybe two or three games out of the dozens we played. I think she has the whole Scrabble Dictionary memorized.
