It's a BIG deal! Mom brought Maurine's pressure cooker to me. My first. Back in the days the pressure cooker, canning supplies and quilts were passed on from generation to generation. This cooker is a symbol to me. As girls we tire of listening to the stories of this jar or that cooker or this grinder belonging to Aunt so and so or Grandma somebody. And quite honestly, I would arrogantly blow it off. Humpf! Didn't she know that we would be leaving the place someday and would work and BUY green beans? My Mom, Maureen, Grandma Laura, Grandma Edith and Aunt Ally were mentors, tutors and the legends of our family.
Maureen at first worked for my family on the ranch. She was a tough, sassy and independent lady that mentored my Mom and thrilled her with stories of the past. She made her own soap which of course we had to go watch. She helped when we butchered chickens, canned meet or gathered to harvest and freeze sweet corn. She saved everything!! My boys still sleep with their quilts she made them of old polyester. She was part of that great generation of women who knew how to create something out of nothing. How to survive on a garden and a will!
Grandma Levin -"One Hell of a Woman" as quoted by a neighbor guy. She grew a huge garden, ground wheat, drove any truck and any tractor and rode horses. She canned and preserved everything in her little cellar. She knitted, crocheted and is a woman of prayer and the Word, tenacity and perseverance. In fact, the roots of the Levins on the Hereford flat began with my Grandma! I remember during blizzards and calving she would be at our house to help cook and she took her turn at the night watch.
Grandma Edith Goodwin who raise eight children in a tiny house in Hereford during the depression stood as a stake for her family. She was a great woman! I loved going to "help" with the chickens and peacocks and animals. She loved animals and us! A great honor was in their older years and during a horrible storm I was sent down their long (several miles) on horseback to stay with them through the storm. Playing checkers and drinking hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and debating politics and religion! (you were never too young to learn!)
Aunt Ally. She sent her boys to get my Mom and I and brought us to South Dakota. She mentored my mom in being a mom by her actions and her words. Mom tells of Aunt Ally holding me on her lap on the rocking chair and beginning to teach her how to nurture a child. She said, "You have to hold this girl!" We were surrounded by family and activity and Sunday dinners.
Mentoring. Sharing your life with someone. Taking someone along with you. I want to mentor and be mentored! I want to pass on a pressure cooker, my Bible and relationships. Skills for independence and life are not to be passed as a baton from one hand to another but rather lived side by side. Not a separate act but a way of life and being. Tied together with the memories, the relationships and a way of life.
Maureen at first worked for my family on the ranch. She was a tough, sassy and independent lady that mentored my Mom and thrilled her with stories of the past. She made her own soap which of course we had to go watch. She helped when we butchered chickens, canned meet or gathered to harvest and freeze sweet corn. She saved everything!! My boys still sleep with their quilts she made them of old polyester. She was part of that great generation of women who knew how to create something out of nothing. How to survive on a garden and a will!
Grandma Levin -"One Hell of a Woman" as quoted by a neighbor guy. She grew a huge garden, ground wheat, drove any truck and any tractor and rode horses. She canned and preserved everything in her little cellar. She knitted, crocheted and is a woman of prayer and the Word, tenacity and perseverance. In fact, the roots of the Levins on the Hereford flat began with my Grandma! I remember during blizzards and calving she would be at our house to help cook and she took her turn at the night watch.
Grandma Edith Goodwin who raise eight children in a tiny house in Hereford during the depression stood as a stake for her family. She was a great woman! I loved going to "help" with the chickens and peacocks and animals. She loved animals and us! A great honor was in their older years and during a horrible storm I was sent down their long (several miles) on horseback to stay with them through the storm. Playing checkers and drinking hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and debating politics and religion! (you were never too young to learn!)
Aunt Ally. She sent her boys to get my Mom and I and brought us to South Dakota. She mentored my mom in being a mom by her actions and her words. Mom tells of Aunt Ally holding me on her lap on the rocking chair and beginning to teach her how to nurture a child. She said, "You have to hold this girl!" We were surrounded by family and activity and Sunday dinners.
Mentoring. Sharing your life with someone. Taking someone along with you. I want to mentor and be mentored! I want to pass on a pressure cooker, my Bible and relationships. Skills for independence and life are not to be passed as a baton from one hand to another but rather lived side by side. Not a separate act but a way of life and being. Tied together with the memories, the relationships and a way of life.
Sweet post. Reminds me of my grandma...my dads mom. There are jokes my dad had to eat thistles as a child in the 20's. I'm thinking it wasn't that bad but pretty close. I remember watching her stitch up my baby dolls on a black vintage(vintage now;) singer sewing machine. She made the best scrambled eggs I have ever tasted. I still have some quilts of hers in my garage...but they are beyond repair and hard to let go.
ReplyDeleteI love teaching my dd to sew and both children to cook and bake and enjoy nature. I hope they remember me for those things. I especially hope they remember me for teaching them about God. I still remember my grandma singing gospel songs like "Rock of Ages" and I don't mean the song that you and I grew up hearing. hahahaha.
I just used my moms pressure cooker last night...heck it more than likely was HER moms pressure cooker from the 20's...things don't last like they used to. ;)
Thanks for sharing!! What a neat woman she must have been. I love reading all that you are doing with your kids. You are always on the go with them and I know they will remember all that you are teaching them some day. That's funny. Rock of ages. That means more and more everyday doesn't it!
ReplyDelete