A Change of Pace

These are my grandparents, Glenn and Ruth. They were my dad's parents. They met in Sunday School where he gave her a hair ribbon, which we still have (my grandmother kept everything sentimental - I know that's where I got it).

Glenn was a school teacher, then a principal, finishing his career as a district superintendent.
He taught his first class just a couple of years older than his students. Have times ever changed! Ruth was a homemaker but also drove a school bus early in their marriage. Could she cook! I especially loved her Brandied Peaches. I have her recipe but I've never tried making them. It requires a stoneware crock, pickling spices and lots of brandy - and a year soaking in the brine!
This is a family photo with my uncle Cliff (left) and my dad. I love the short pants and stockings. The tie and collar is a real winner, too, but this was in the early 1920's.

My grandmother's father was a minister, and they lived on the Covina plains. This is somewhat between present day Pomona and Pasadena (CA). I remember the big old farm house my great grand parents lived in. To a little child it seemed huge and a little spooky. I remember a huge staircase with dark wooden railings that led up to a landing where I always looked both ways, expecting to see something that I was certain would be from another realm! And what kid is going to stay away from a barn! I can still smell the fresh hay as we searched for kittens and chickens.

My cousin asked me recently if I remembered the "chickies" that our great grandmother would fix us. I hadn't thought of them in ages, until she jogged my memory. She would take leftover biscuit dough, shape it like little chicks, use cloves for the eyes and bake them. She died was I was five or six, and my parents thought it would be a good time to introduce me to the facts of life, so they took me with them to the viewing. Thus began my fear of the dark!

I so enjoyed Sarge's family stories so much that I thought I'd try a few myself.
---to be continued