graciemobile

Mrs. West was a farmer’s wife. Allie Mae was a no nonsense woman. Grandma was an AMAZING COOK! My great grandma lived on a huge farm in southern Missouri near the tiny town of Edgerton. She lived in a darling little farmhouse that had a baby living room with her chair, and grandpa’s chair. They had an ancient television and a gold colored couch with a rose pattern. There was a fake plant in the corner, and the windows were covered with big primrose and ivory curtains. On a little table there was a lamp, and a little white porcelain basket. It had pink and yellow roses and two tiny doves, one on each side of it.  In the corner near the doorway that went into the dining room there was a cabinet with a glass door. There were lots of little breakables put in there. Little glass birds, and a little porcelain man and woman, and a cup. There was a wide doorway that led into the dining room. The dining room had another two cabinets, in one there were little porcelain horses and other things. On the table there was a doilie. If you turned to your right on entering the dining room you would enter the hall. There were three doors there. One that led to the only bathroom, another one that led to grandma and grandpa’s room, and the other one led to the blue room. That room had blue curtains, and blue bed spread, and blue pillows. The windows looked out onto white fence and tall cornfields. There was a little chair in there, just my size. If you entered the dining room and went straight on there was a little cubbyhole office with a gold chair, and a desk that had an adding machine, a pad and pen, and a funny green lamp. Turn right and you went to grandma’s sewing room, there she had a green ostrich egg that was in a basket. The kitchen was teeny, tiny, and there was a door off of that that led to the basement. It was a creepy basement, it was big, and cold, and WAY TO DARK! But if you went outside you went out into a dream world. There were lot’s of little landscaping set ups everywhere. On one there was a fake deer and fox, another one had fake geese. And there was one under a tree that had a couch and two chairs that were made of white metal. The driveway to the barns cut into the yard on that side, and on the other side of the road was a great big windmill. There was a pathway that led to the smokehouse and the outdoor gazebo. It was like a mini house, and it was full of fun furniture. Some rocked, some swayed, it was all cool. And one time in the smokehouse a cat came and had her kittens. We saw them when they were all fresh, I am not big on cats, but these were exciting! Then you went out to the big barns. In one there was a gator, I had some fun rides on that. And a three wheeler, my mom didn’t want me to go near it. And one had the combine, I salivate over farm equipment believe it or not, and then there was the tractor. This wasn’t just any old tractor, this one was a monster tractor! The back wheel was taller than my daddy! My grandpa had like 1000 acres. One time my brother, my daddy, and another grandpa went out to take a walk on the land. We found a big pile of corn, this was my great-grandpa’s land, just plain grandpa brought a bag and we filled it up to the brim. He likes to feed the squirrels in his backyard with it. He had that corn for years.

Well, my great-grandpa died of a heart attack when I was just three years old. So I only have vague memories of him. But I remember my grandma much better, she lived several years more. We went there every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. And even though she was getting old there was one thing that she always did, make the homemade pumpkin pie. Oh, we LOVED that pie! She made the crusts by hand, it was so good! The last Christmas we had with her we ate that pie right up. Then we went to her house that Easter, me and my sister, I only had one then, were wearing beautiful pink dresses. We had on matching hats. After the meal we went outside and were running around hunting for Easter eggs. My grandma, who was getting older and more sick, came out to watch us. We left that day, it was the first time she had seen my littlest brother. That was the last time I saw her, she died a couple of weeks later. I was 8 at the time, I didn’t get to go to her funeral. So I haven’t seen that farm since then. I didn’t realize how much I missed my grandma until later on, now I realize how much I miss going to the country every holiday season. I also miss the pie. So did my grandma, just remember it was my great-grandma that died, she missed the pie too. One visit we had with them grandma gave mom great-grandma’s cookbook, and grandma’s old cookbook. Mom was interested mostly in grandma’s cookbook, because it is her mom. But I was interested in great-grandma’s cookbook. It was very old, the pages are yellow and the cover is barely holding on. I was so excited, “Mom, this might be where she got her pie crust recipe!” It was 5 years after she died. So last Thanksgiving I tried it, I found a plain pastry recipe and tried it out. Yes, it turned out great, we finally had the pie back! It was almost like a having a bit of grandma back! Just today I looked at that cookbook again, there are all kinds of recipes in there. It made me think a bit more about her, she was frugal, even though she had thousands of dollars, maybe a million. But she was like most from that generation, you would be too if you had grown up during the Depression. She was punctual and tidy, she was born on her birthday and she died on her birthday. She liked flowers. No, she wasn’t the most affectionate person I have ever met, but she was tenderer on the Christmas before she died, in fact, she was even funny! But if I remembered anything about grandma, it was her cooking. Nothin’ better. I think that I want to be like my grandma, now not in everything, she did some things wrong. But there were lots of neat things that she and grandpa knew and did. They were married when she was in her teens, they had next to nothing, but by hard work and careful saving they built up wealth and prosperity. They were generous to my parents, and to others. I just think that often times with all of our credit cards, modern technology, and frozen dinners we forget what life was like. In some ways that’s good, and some are bad. I want to remember those things and learn to do them, because I think that they have value and they will help me to have a richer life. That’s what grandma’s cookbook makes me remember.