Friday, December 11, 2009

Article #82 Sights of the Past

I still remember what both of my grandparents’ homes, no longer standing, looked like. Sometimes I’ll awake from a dream and recall being in grandma’s kitchen or dining room. It still exists in my memory even though grandmother died in 1967. It’s been more than 40 years since I walked through her modest front door. By the front window she always had some geranium flowering plants growing to add some color and cheer to her life since she didn’t have a yard to grow her favorite lilacs or others flowers after moving to Eureka from Silver City. All she had was a cement front porch, no grass and an old tree growing by the side of the house. There was an alleyway on the side of her house, but no garage. In the winter when the snow was high, it was difficult to shovel the driveway. There was just one way out the front door to get to the street. (Photo of my aunts l-r Ethel, Esther and my mom Evelyn standing in front of Grandma's house in Eureka, Utah.)

Grandma’s house had an upstairs where my mom and I had a small apartment that we shared. A long stairway led to our hideaway but alas we had no bathroom up there. We had a little chamber pot under our bed for when it was too cold to make the long walk downstairs to the one toilet shared by everyone including grandma’s borders. Across from the community toilet and shower that were in separate stalls, there was a huge washbasin with a large decorated mirror when boarders could lather up and shave their whiskers before heading off to work.

I remember Grandma’s stove in the dining room that required lumps of coal to heat the whole house. The only other source of heat was the kitchen wood stove that was used all year round for cooking despite the temperature indoors or out. Hauling in wood and taking out ashes were regular chores each day for my uncle Clarence. Next to this cozy stove was where I had my Saturday night tub baths. (Photo above of Grandma Johnson who was so proud of her home in Eureka, Utah with hot water and an indoor toilet.)

My other grandparents lived in the Union Pacific railroad company home, a simple but well kept block home that grandmother kept meticulously clean. I was so sad when grandpa retired and they had to move from that home to a newer home in a different part of town. I had so many memories in their old house, but grandmother was excited to finally have some of the modern conveniences like a garage that her neighbors had. (Photo of my parents and me outside my grand parent Vernon's home by the railroad tracks in Milford, Utah.)

7 comments:

  1. You've stirred up memories of my maternal grandparents' home in New Brunswick, Lin. How I loved visiting their farm. The house had two stairways, a formal front staircase and a back stairway leading up from the kitchen. When I was little, there was no indoor plumbing, so that meant using the outhouse in the back end of the pig barn. Chamber pots were kept under the beds for night time use. I often think of my grandfather using the milk separator in the back shed early in the morning. I can still remember the smell of the fresh cream being separated from the milk. Great memories.

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  2. Your grandmothers were strong women. They sure did make some beautiful room for themselves and for you. That is wisdom.

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  3. I especially remember my grandparents' homes at Christmas. For many years we went to one for Christmas eve anthe other for Christmas Day. They were opposites, one on a farm and one in the city.

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  4. It is so funny that you mention this because I just had a dream about my grandmother's apartment. I have dreams about both grandparents' homes and the cabin and they are so clear...yet just out of reach....The places I felt safe as a child...

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  5. I have memories of a home in the middle of a cane field with neighbors extremely far away. There's a fish pond and a ditch and a sand box. Banana trees, dogs, horses, chickens. My memory is so bad.

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  6. I can see my maternal grandmother's living room at Christmas time, the tree decorated with beautiful glass ornaments, lights and tons of tinsel. A happy memory.

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  7. I can also remember the layout of my grandmother's house[maternal] and it is no longer standing, either. Life is constantly .

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