I am very fortunate to have known my grandparents the way I know them. My youngest sister does not know my dads parents at all. They are now in a home, but that is due to being in their 80's, Grandpa has a hard time walking and he fell and hit his head, my grandmother had a couple of strokes and she is not in the right mind at all. She was the kind of woman who did not swear and now she just sits there with her head bent muttering profanities. She doesn't remember who anyone is.

My moms parents were great too. My Grandfather is still alive (well mom's adoptive father, since hers skipped out when she was so young) and my grandmother passed away in 2003. I was really the only grandchild to get to know both sets.

I remember my grandmother watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune every day. I remember watching the Honeymooners reruns with her too.

My dads mom loved to watch the home shopping network, and I was able to get her into Everybody Loves Raymond. She said that Marie reminded her of herself.

My moms dad would work out in the Garden and he was the one who chopped down our cherry tree to make way for my swing set, since he decided that it should be the center point of the back yard. HE had that right, since I think it was he and grandma that bought it for me.

My dads father used to take me to the nature museum, this walking trail called Graw Mill, which used to be a family farm. We used to go to the movies all the time. I remember that he would play Hank Williams and Kenny Rogers. And he would tell me stories about Black Bart. And even though I never heard anything about WWII he did tell me that he was in the Navy in 1944 and I have the photo to prove it.

I really really miss all that! IF it wasn't for my grandparents I probably wouldn't be who I am today. I like things that a lot of kids today do not. I have an appreciation for different cultures, one of my favorites being India (minus all the bad stuff, but every group of people has a bad side) which I plan on visiting in January of 2012 with my school. I listen to old music and new music and I have an absolute love for world music.

I remember that whenever you talked to adults it was always "Yes Mam..No Mam.. Yes Sir..No Sir. You sure don't hear much of that anymore. It's usually a grunt or huhn if you're even acknowledged. One of my favorite memories is all of us neighborhood kids ( 10 to 15 of us) walking 10 miles to a little ice cream store. The biggest decision was ...do I want two single cones for a nickel each or one large cone for a dime. We usually opted for the two cones, eating one in the store and the other on the walk home. We had to eat that last one fast before it melted.

And no A/C. We used those palm fans with the bible verses on them.

Yet another memory of melting the flyswatter on top of the coal stove in the living room thinking we were getting away from being punished. HA!!! My mother would make us go outside and break off a switch from that huge maple tree in the front yard. If she didn't like what we brought in....SHE got her own. We soon learned!!!!

No hair dryers!! My sister and I had hair down past our waists and every Saturday morning in good weather we got our hair washed and just sat on the front steps until it was dry. In cold weather we stood over the floor furnace.

What great memories. It made my day reading all of them. I remember going sledding with my mom's metal pie tins but we had to remember to bring them back. haha and even now and then using a old coal shovel. Which did make for a great sled.

I remember when my father would pile all the snow in the front yard making a "mountain" of snow and my brothers and I would jump into it from the porch railing. FUN !!! Does anyone remember "ration coupons that came in books ". One for milk, one for potatos, one for sugar, etc. Must have been around 1944 or 1945......wooden sleds.....quart glass milk bottles...we got McAdams milk. or the "pony boy" ice cream wagon....got many a splinter from the wood on back of the wagon.

forgot to mention that the cream was on top of the milk. my grandmother saved it for her cereal.

Me too...that was always one of my favorites!! :-(

Ditter

I remember those times well....sigh

Ditter

I remember actually sleeping in our porch swing one night because it was so hot in the upstairs bedrooms.I think I was about 12 or 13......

Ditter

Hmmm Marsye - old fashioned values and you've got that cigarette in your mouth? :lol:

Did anyone rake leaves in the fall. And when they were in the ditch, put some potatoes and lit the leaves? Then, when the fire went out, we would eat the potatoes!