Memories of Grandma: Part One
Good morning, everyone,
The trips across to Grandma’s, I usually took with my younger brother, as there were only 14 months between us. At some preschool age, we would climb the steep steps to Grandma’s bungalow, which was opposite our house, and be welcomed by Kip. Kip was a cross between an Alsatian and Collie. He absolutely loved us children and was born around the same time as my younger brother.
As we entered her hall-way, she would hang our coats on some pegs, next to a riding crop, two walking sticks, Kip’s dog lead, and a straw hat. (Grandma must have ridden horses in her youth.) About once a week we would have tea with Grandma, of boiled egg and soldiers, which always seemed such a treat. I am sure it was Grandma who showed us how to turn over an egg when you had finished it, to fool a sibling that they still had a whole egg, or you’d been given an extra one!
Afterwards, we would kneel at the coffee table, or sit on a floral pouffe and Grandma would get out her old pack of playing cards from a tobacco tin. She would teach us the different symbols on a pack of cards. I recall the spades and clubs being the hardest names to remember. I still have the cards today. 😊 Once we knew the symbols, she would teach us to play simple games such as snap, or old maid.
Grandma also taught me how to French knit. She had an old cotton reel with four short nails tapped into the top; then using a small metal spike, Grandma would start me off and I would wrap the wool around the back of a nail and lift the old thread over. I cannot remember ever doing anything with this long snake like knitting, but it kept me out of mischief! In those days wool was bought in skeins and the recipient had to roll it into balls. So instead of using the back of a chair, if one of us children were to hand, we would hold our hands wide, as if we were playing cats-cradle and she would wind the wool off our hands and into a ball. It was fine for a while, but my arms ached if it took too long.
Grandma was very Victorian, well dressed and was always seen wearing a piece of jewellery, such as a brooch. She would also have somewhere on her person, a lace handkerchief. The only thing I recall Grandma ever giving me when she was still alive, was one of these ornate handkerchiefs. It only has about a two-inch square piece of cotton in the centre and the rest is a border of four inches of lace.
Grandma’s bedroom had her low dressing table on the left, with a couple of drawers in; one of which had her wide pins in, for her hair. On the dressing table was a green backed mirror, a brush and a clothes brush. She had a double bed with a feather eiderdown on top. Her wardrobe was quite small. She would often wear a black velvet cardigan and a porcelain brooch at her neck. On the windowsill, she kept my older brother’s table mats, which he had woven for her out of cane and raffia; They became very faded by the sun overtime.
Grandma had very long white hair, which she wore up in a bun, held together with wide hair grips. The only times I saw it down, would be if she was brushing it early in the mornings. She used her green-backed hair brush, and there she would sit at her low dressing table and count the strokes. If I wanted mine to shine too, then I was told I’d have to brush it a hundred times a day! I’m not sure that at that time I could even count to a hundred! 😃