These lovely days of autumn are my favorite time of year. Once winter arrives it will be all gray and overcast all the time, but for now the sky is glorious. No fall colors yet, that will happen after the frosts, but it's all too ephemeral. Maybe that is why it seems so special.
The convex portrait of my grandmother is not ready yet after its restoration and copying, but the couple who is doing it assures me it will be shipped this week. The lady said she has been showing it to everyone because Grandma looks so lovely. It is still a mystery to me why the portrait was made at all, it has to have cost a pretty penny at the time. And also odd is that I never saw it after all the summers we went to her house. Why would you not hang it? My uncle says it lived in the attic. I don't think my grandmother had a very good marriage. Granddad was a randy guy, and I would guess a tyrant at home as well. When I was in my teens he became far too "huggy" but according to one of my cousins that was the least of his tendencies. Grandma deserved better, I think, she worked herself to the bone, like many farm wives, cooking and sewing and raising 5 kids. When she was married she (and Granddad too) was a school teacher, and I wonder if she missed it. Maybe that is something she would not have talked about to a granddaughter, but I wish I had tried to get to know her as a person. But like most kids I was self centered and to me at the time she was just an old lady (younger than I am now!). She was 98 when she died, long after Granddad was gone; she lived with my aunt right until the end, and although I didn't see her often, I have one photo of her holding my baby daughter that I am very glad I took. If I can find my copy I will post it here.
I am rambling more than usual in this post, so I think I'll call it done for now.
Bumper sticker for the day ' A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother."
1 comment :
Your grandmother looks like a beautiful person. I recently lost my grandmother and I know what you mean about knowing her as a person. BUT that's how life goes.
:)
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