Off To Grandma's House We Go

Photo: Ede and her sister (Verna?) ~ date unknown


My grandmother, Edith, turned 91 young this past June. She and I share the same birthday and every year I hear the story about when I was born she was the first one to hold me. Throughout the years I would spend summers with her; performing plays in the backyard, creating bead projects, watching Young & The Restless in the mid morning and The Walton's before bed, and making Play Doh out of flour, water, and a dash of food coloring. Another past time with gma was learning to play an instrument. She taught me to play the piano with numbers taped to the keys (which does me no good now. HA!), a very sad (and short) attempt at the accordion, and the violin-uke.


The past year gma had to be moved into a nursing home and I acquired one of the two family violin-ukes. According to ma, a traveling salesman came to the farm and sold one to the family and the other was given to the family from a neighbor. The price on this beaut at the time was $28.50 which was probably like a hundred dollars to us this day in age. To play the violin-uke one needs to use one hand to pluck at the cords and the other to glide the bow across the strings. But alas this piece does not have a instruction book, and I don't recall how to read the notes on the music sheet, so it sits in it's mothball stenched case.


I also had a short musical career in the percussion field. I played the drums all of my 6th grade year (sports became more important in junior high) and all I really remember of that time was lugging that VERY heavy snare drum case back and from school and sounding out the doub-a-strok-a-roll while beating out double stroke rolls in band class. One day, I think I will attempt to relearn the piano this time, however, by learning the notes. ;O)

5 Memories of Visiting Gma:

• Performing a play with my sister and little cousin Terry
• Play Doh making in the kitchen
• The Murphy bed in the little house on the hill
• Listening to gma play on the piano
• Raiding the chocolate pudding stash in the bottom cupboard

P.S. I will post photos of my violin-uke in another blog. :O)