memories

A friend was writing about her grandfather and some of her memories of him today.  I smiled thinking about my own grandfathers and their different personalities.  One of my grandpa's was a very quiet man, who lived through some awful things and liked to whittle and take drives around the countryside.  The other had a huge personality and a brouge that I can still hear calling me "wee lassie".   He made his fortune purely on blue eyes and way with words. 

I'm about the same age my grandfathers were when I was born..... that's a weird thought.

One set of grandparents (paternal) emigrated to Canada seperately and one set (maternal) were first generation Canadians.  Both their sets of parents emigrated from Scotland in the late 1800's. 
They were all very thrifty and set good examples for us on living frugally and well. 

I wish I had more pictures of them.  None of my grandparents liked having their pictures "made".  I guess it was a long process and none of them had the time or money for things that weren't necessities.

I have fond memories of my grandmothers' kitchens - warm smells, well loved dishes and cookie jars and a wonderful canister for crackers; glass cheese covers, worn cast iron frying pans, and constantly boiling kettles, too.

My grandparents' houses had huge gardens.  I think I love sun-warmed raspberries, fresh peas and red currants more because they remind me of wonderful, buzzing summer afternoons.

I think I need to do some gardening this weekend.