Can we talk?

Grandma Knew How To Do Stuff

         I recently saw a post on Facebook that showed a photo of a gray-haired woman in a shirtwaist dress, standing in her garden near her old house. It said, "My grandma could survive anything because she knew how to do stuff!"

         I thought that was probably true, based on my grandmothers' lives. They could sew by hand or machine, cook from scratch, using a wood stove if necessary, gather eggs from the chickens they raised, milk cows, and a lot of other things. They made toys, raised vegetables from seeds, babysat children and old folks and sick folks. They snapped beans and knew how to make butter from milk. I think they both could wring a chicken's neck to make Sunday dinner.

         If I had to kill a chicken or pluck its feathers or remove its innards, I'd starve. I can barely stand to cook a liver, much less remove one from a recently murdered chicken. But their fried chicken certainly made your mouth water. They had a great knowledge of food, but never used cookbooks. One of them could cut out a pattern without using straight pins and put it together for a perfect fit. Cutting firewood or kindling was all something they could handle when no man was around. One of them liked to fish, and would clean her own fish. The other one had a sister who liked to hunt and would handle her own kill. I never thought of them as survivors, but I guess they really were. They were tough as nails, but liked lace and flowers.

         Me, I fall apart without air-conditioning or central heat. I know how to sew, but haven't done any in years. I avoid ironing like the plague. I've got some wrinkled clothes waiting for me right now. I suppose if we had a weather disaster or something like that, after a few days when the tuna and the fresh things ran out, we'd start getting hungry. Heck, I consider the TV and the computer two of life's necessities.

         Yep, I guess they just don't make 'em like Grandma any more. Certainly not me.