Wake Up Call

Morning and we are all asleep.  Uncle Tommy and Uncle Billy are on the front porch on the pull-out sofa.  Carole is on the sofa in the living room and Aunt Marlene and I are on the side porch on that pull-out sofa(hard as bricks and pillows like sandbags).  All of a sudden we hear Tommy & Billy moaning on the front porch.  Here comes Granpa on his morning rounds of pulling our big toes and telling us, "Okay, time to get up.  Your Grandmother has breakfast ready!"   Well, as we all knew, Granpa was not a man to argue with.  At least we were able to look forward to Grammer's great breakfast.

Gourmet Grammer

It amazes me even to this day how Grammer cooked all those delicious meals on her itty-bitty gas stove!  My bathroom sinks are bigger than her stove was.

I remember "Aunt Jemima" pancakes cooked on a huge round black iron skillet.  God, they were soooooo good!  Poor Grammer would make pancakes until we told her we couldn't eat any more.  Of course, Tommy always ate the most!!

Then there was the famous Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots and the best ever dark brown gravy.  Grammer always had a dessert.  Homemade cupcakes all frosted up and sometimes she decorated them with little chocolate shots or she would have a chocolate sheet cake with plain white frosting.  We had to have our sweets!! (I still do)

Over the years I remember potato salad, fresh corn on the cob, fresh green snap beans, homemade coleslaw, mashed potatoes and that good brown gravy, turkey with dressing, pies, Christmas cookies, rice pudding with raisins.  Oh, the list could go on and on of delicious foods and wonderful smells in Grammer's kitchen.

Chain of Command

Granpa always ate his meal FIRST and ALONE, even if the house was full of family.  He would finish his meal(s) and either go to the side porch to sit and rock or outside next to the back porch and sit on the bench to smoke his pipe.  He never went too far as he wanted to be in hearing distance(he didn't want to miss anything).

When Granpa finished eating; then we kids could come in to get ready to eat.  I think we kids really did not mind that adults were not at he table with us, because we could enjoy ourselves without having to be told how to eat, etc. etc.(I think my kids and grand kids would love for me to let them eat alone.  I am such a nag about manners.)

Well, I don't know how there was ever any food left for Grammer, but she in turn would eat when everyone else had finished.  At least she was able to eat in peace and quiet and I bet she loved every minute of it!!

Granpa had his ways, but I can honestly say I was never afraid of him.  As I grew older I discovered he was smart, very organized, orderly and a hard worker.  Under that hard crab shell(his sign was Cancer) he had a good heart.  I loved him and thank him for happy memories...

Rituals

At least 3 times a week & especially when the weekend was near and company was expected, Grammer had us kids get the house clean.  There was Aunt Marlene, Carole & Butch when they were down visiting for a while and of course, me.  Uncle Tommy had the jobs of helping with the yard cutting and cleaning windows.

There was bed making, dusting, polishing, carpet sweeping.  Then, if the flowers in the MANY vases throughout the house needed to have the water changed or fresh flowers picked, that was a must do.  We would go to the field at the end of the street and pick bright orange spotted Tiger Lilies.  It never entered our minds to watch out for snakes and ticks!

Each summer season meant it was time to help paint the outside furniture.  Grammer loved the color red.  Yup, you guessed it; wooden rockers, metal chairs & outside small tables were painted red certainly kept us busy.  Maybe every other year she would change to white or an odd piece would be dark green.  She certainly kept us busy.  We kids though it was fun!!  Luckily we did the painting outside because although we tried to be careful, we did goof up at times.

Good heavens, we kids were kept so busy that we did not have time to be bored or get into trouble.  Looking back on those years, I never remember getting upset because we had so much to do.  Grammer never yelled at us to get busy doing this or that.  I guess it was expected for us to help.  Thanks Grammer, lessons learned are still with me.

Free Time/Fun Time

Well, one would wonder with all those chores we had to do, when in the world did we have time for fun?  There was plenty of time.  We played games like, checkers, cards(Go Fish, War, Slap Jack) and outside games like Stop Light, Hide 'n Seek, Badminton, Horseshoes and sometimes Baseball.

After chores were done, the day was mostly ours to do what we wanted.  The only thing we were told to do was--be home at Noon for lunch(wash your feet in the water bucket before coming into the house) and be home at Five pm for supper.

Sometimes after supper Grammer would take us kids on long walks.  Over to Indian Town or Chalker Beach, and many times she took us across the main highway and up the road to the bridge we could watch the trains as they passes under us.  I think this area was called Beacon Hill.  These was nothing but lots and lots of trees, farm land and plenty of cows.  It was fun!!  Certainly never saw any of that in Hartford.  "Parker's" Store was also a must visit.  For such a small store, Mrs. Parker had all the goodies anyone would want.  Candy, soda, ice cream and sure, milk, bread etc.  I also remember she had the most unusual buttons to sell and she even let us kids look at the trays of them for ourselves.  Don't remember ever buying any, but I might have.

We kids were learning our way around and soon we would be taking walking trips by ourselves.  Saybrook Center was one of the trips we would take and believe me when you are young it was a long way to go from Grammer and Granpa's house.  We enjoyed going to the Pier at the end of Middletown Road(I think that was the street, one over from Sea Lane).  We could sit there for hours, meet guys and talk or jump into the water.  The guys were brave and would get on the top railing of the pier and at high tide dive into the water.  I walked down the stairs and slithered in.  I would only touch bottom if I really had to, because I was so afraid of stepping on a crab.  Yuk!!

A lot of our time was spent at the beach at the end of Sea Lane(Grammer's Beach, we called it).  That is where relatives all congregated when they came down.  We kids would play and jump off the rock wall into the water.  Grammer would show up sometime in the early afternoon and although she did not swim, she always went into the water.  She reminded us kids of a washing machine agitator--swishing her arms from side to side and bouncing up and down at the same time.  When we would tire of swimming, we would run onto the beach and cover ourselves up with the wonderful hot sand.  It really felt great!!!!!

Little Lulu

One year Grammer was given a little square shaped row boat which was painted red(of course) and white.  It was a cute little thing and very sturdy.  Granpa painted the name, "Little Lulu" on the back of the boat because Grammer's name was Louise and her family called her Lulu.

Any ways, when Little Lulu came onto the scene, it made for lots of fun for all us kids.  The boys used it most of the time.  They would row over to Indian Town or over to the two piers and of course, right there at Grammer's Beach.  I guess they thought we girls weren't as strong as the boys and would not be able to row the boat.  Umm, they didn't know Carole Anne's strength.  Sometimes the boys would let us in the boat and we would pretend we were in a storm and some of us would fall out of the boat yelling as screaming for help.  Then they would come along side and try to get us into the boat.  We didn't make it easy for them, because we pretended to be so weak and couldn't move much,  That game never lasted long as the boys got tired of it.

Little Lulu was Grammer's boat, but I can only remember her actually being in it a few times.  I guess she enjoyed her bouncing in the water instead.  Also, I think it made her happy to see us kids having such fun.

My brother Butch recalled his memories of Little Lulu(it also signifies Grammer) by doing a beautiful large oil painting of the little boat and giving it to Granpa.  I believe our brother Bobby now has that special painting.  Speaking of Bobby, he actually found an abandoned little boat on the shore that looked like Little Lulu.  The little boat looked as if it was just waiting for him to come and save it from a terrible fate.  Bobby did wait awhile before taking the boat because he wanted to be sure it did not belong to someone.  He finally brought it home and over a period of time this little boat was painted red and white and on the back was the name, Little Lulu II.  How's that for a great memory of someone we all loved so much?

Come Dance with Me

I don't remember how old I was, but I smile now thinking of the scene.  The Clubhouse(the original building) was down the street from Grammer & Granpa's house.  Everyone who was staying at the beach would at one time or another show up on the nights for Bingo, movies or dancing.  The Clubhouse was the place to be for fun and meeting people.

Grammer loved to dance and she was really very good and fast.  This one night I recall, they were playing the record, "Roll Out the Barrel" which of course is a Polka.  Well no one was dancing and Grammer wanted to get people started, so who do you think she looks at??  Yup.  She said, "Babe, come dance with me!"  Now this was not a request; this was a gotcha by the arm and away we went.  I remember saying "Grammer, I don't know how to dance.".  She said, "Sure you do.  Just follow me!" .  Well, I am sure we were a sight to behold flying around the dance floor.  Grammer was happy as a lark, smiling and singing to the music while my arms felt as if they were going to come out of their sockets!!  Together we did manage to get a few more couples up on the dance floor.

Well, Grammer and I did a lot dancing that night and after a while I actually was able to keep up with her and the beat of the music.  I really had fun that night and Grammer and I danced many more nights that summer.

Now at age 64, dancing is still a very happy part of my life.  Grammer, there is only one thing though; I can't seem to be able to teach Bob how to do the Polka.  I wish you could come dance with me.

Learning Without Knowing It

When I look back over years, my summer's at the beach were learning experiences.  Learning things such as washing dishes, cleaning house(my brother Bobby is a whiz at it) and painting(remember all those chairs?)  Bobby is a ditto on the painting--very particular.  I have carried on the tradition of many vases throughout the house filled with colorful flowers regardless of the weather or season.

I learned how to make braided rugs(small ones, thank you).  I am in the process of making one to put in front of my kitchen sink in yellows, blues and whites.  Of course, I have been working on this little rug for two years.

In the evening or when it was rainy outside, Grammer would sit on the front porch and always be doing something with her hands.  She taught us how to sew scraps of material together; then how to braid these scraps and the final step was to sew that long braid into a round shape or an oval shape depending on what she was making.  She did all this by hand, nothing was on the sewing machine.  I am lucky enough to have a braided doily she made years and years ago  and to this day, it is still in good shape.

I wish I could also say I learned how to be a great cook like Grammer, but I am afraid that is not on of my good points.

Thankful

Our sons had grandparents who lived too far away for them to ever really know them or love them.  How sad!!

Since we have become grandparents, we have tried to have the kids come visit and stay with us for long periods of time, especially in the summer.  I believe they have had lots of good times over the years and they always look forward to coming back.  I must admit though, I will never be a special grandma like the Grammer we all knew.

Thanks Grammer and Granpa for the greatest gift you gave to us;  wonderful happy memories along with much needed love.