Life Down Under: Gammer

Gammer with my mom

Today on March 29th my Grandmother aka Gammer passed away. She was 96 & up until she was 95 she lived on her own.

I remember really enjoying the sleepovers I had at her house. She had a Peter Rabbit book that always stayed in the guest room. She had a huge beautiful garden that she let me work & play in. The first flower I ever learned the name of was the Zinnia flower, which she taught me. I always thought it was such a strange name. She grew them in the sunshine of her pink Arcadia home. Often times she'd take us to the Arboretum & I'd have a tuna sandwich with her homemade sweet pickles.

She always had candy stashed in her soup tureen, usually Kit Kats. If you were lucky she'd have a box of See's Candy turtles lying around, those were yummy too. She'd send us a birthday card with our exact age in dollar bills, then when we got too old for that, she'd still send us grandkids a birthday check in the amount of our age. One year I remember she had Mickey Mouse Christmas wrapping paper too, how cool was that?!

A few years ago she gave me several plates that she's had forever, & I mean forever. You know when you go to your Grandmother's house & nothing has changed since, I don't know...1950? She's used these plates ever since 1950, I can't remember anything else. Anyway, they must have been burned into my mind because I secretly like them & have been using them for different stuff over the years. I think of her when I see them.