Thursday, February 08, 2007

Nostalgia

There has been a lot of reminiscing around blogland lately. I wonder why.....

I am feeling a bit nostalgic myself today. My wonderful father-in-law passed away one year ago today. He was such a nice man, and I miss him.

Some of this remembering is hilarious. Did you read Laurie's blog today? I almost snorted pop out of my nose on that one. Hehe, do you smell something? Do you just want to dance or do aerobics in a snazzy outfit? :)

Jen also posted some memories. Wow, I could relate to those! Moon boots, snowmobile suits.....what else? Legwarmers? Gauchos? Shag haircuts? Bad perms? No you are not getting any bad pictures of me. For one thing, I don't actually have any, and for another, even if I did, I am not as brave as Laurie. (giggle, she has the most embarassing best pics ever!)

I do have some great memories, but I think some of them could start with the phrase "you know you're a redneck when" (imagine an amazing hillbilly accent there). We lived next to my grandparents when I was young. I think we moved "to town" when I was in 4th grade. My grandma was my very best friend. She was just the greatest. We spent hours and hours together. She taught me to sew, garden, crochet, iron, bake, can, freeze, feed the animals, clean their stalls, gather eggs, ride a pony, drive a pony cart, and many more.

Horror of all horrors, I actually learned to "clean" chickens. Now you city folk, cleaning a chicken does not mean giving him or her a bath. This is what happens when the chicken needs to go from clucking to dinner. My gramps would kill the buggers and then gram and I would pluck 'em and clean 'em. You city folks should know, chicken does not just grow in those little yellow, neatly wrapped packages. It starts out with feathers a beak and ugly feet. We would have to put them through a plucking machine, and then....(squeamish people turn away here) clean out their undesirable insides. Then on to the freezer they went. Not a fun job, but part of farm life. Hope I didn't scare ya all to death there. My gram was a saint. She let me make her dozens of crocheted potholders, ugly quilt squares, and yucky cookies. She was the best! She helped me to love crafts after all, which led to knitting, yay! Yeah....lots of my memories are so much better than chickens!

3 comments:

Diane said...

What a wonderful Gram. I'll bet she just loved everything you made for her. You were both lucky to live close enough to have that relationship and you were blessed to have parents who let it happen.

Chickens don't grow in yellow packages? The things you learn. LOL.

Anonymous said...

And yet the chickens are an integral part of your relationship with your grandparents - just a bit more messy than doilies :)

A lovely reminiscence!

Opal said...

I loved that post of Laurie's! What a wonderful Grandmother you had. Lovely post. :-)