I Remember Grandma

I remember
Old Black Diamond stories and Black Strap molasses
White leather purses, hair nets and wire-frame glasses
Fried chicken, egg kisses, and beaten biscuits
Mosquito smashing and puttin' on the Ritz

I remember
Radishes, the petunia box, and skeeter scoot
Grandpa's juggling, Lagomachi, and Christmas loot
The front porch swing and mastering the word "rue"
Miz Parsley's flashlight, Doc Wathen, and visiting the zoo

But mostly
I remember
How much
I loved You.

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AS SUGGESTED BY MY FRIEND UNNI, I HAVE ATTACHED THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATION.IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE STORIES BEHIND THE POEM, READ ON:
Old Black Diamond Stories=My great grandfather had a bad old bull, all black except
for a white diamond on his forehead. He forever got in trouble and my grandmother would
tell me stories while I tried to fall asleep at night.

> Black Strap Molasses=My grandmother thought any sickness could be helped or cured by
> taking a tablespoon of Black Strap Molasses. It tasted awful!!
>
> White leather purses, hair nets and wire-frame glasses=She always carried the same white
> leather purse. When one wore out, she got another just like it. She also wore nets
> over her hair to keep it in place and plain old wire frame glasses.
>
> Fried chicken, egg kisses, and beaten biscuits= My grandma was known far and wide for
> her cooking and her specialities that I liked best were these items. Egg kisses were made
> from beaten egg whites and sugar and baked in the oven. M-m-m-m Good. Beaten Biscuits
> were biscuits that were hard and flat and we all loved them. They would take all day
> to make because they had to be turned through a roller press many, many times.
>
> Mosquito smashing=We didn’t have air conditioning and on cool nights when we sat in
> the living room, mosquitoes would light on the ceiling. My aunts and I would smash them dead
> by throwing pillows up against the ceiling.
>
Puttin' on the Ritz=My friends and I were always putting on shows for them. We would sing and dance and do acrobatics. We made them watch us over and over. Especially if we made a mistake—which was always—we’d want to start over again.
>
> Radishes=when I was about 5 year old my grandfather took me to the store and I wanted
> to buy some radish seeds to plant. I have no idea why. Anyway, he wouldn’t do it and a
> friend of my grandma’s went by us and shamed him into buying them for me. My aunts helped me plant them when we got home and after I went to bed, they went out and put grown radishes in where I had planted the seeds. I was so happy to raise the radishes!

> The Petunia box=My grandmother raised prized petunias in two wooden flower boxes on the
> front porch. I had seen her weeding them a million times. One night—I was only 5—when
> I was bored by all the adult talk on the porch and it was dark, I went over and started
> weeding her flowers for her. Of course, I didn’t know what a weed or a plant was and
> just randomly pulled out her plants and tossed them into the yard. My grandfather whipped me for the first and last time in his life that night and Grandma would have whipped him too if he hadn’t skeedaddled out back.
>
> Skeeter scoot= We had mosquitoes in Kentucky in the summer and since we all sat on the
> porch most evenings waiting for the house to cool off so we could go to bed--(the
> reference to the front porch later on is due to this fact)--we bought Oil of Citronella
> which was suppose to keep the varmints away. I called it skeeter scoot because I could not pronounce the other. Therefore, the name was adopted by the whole family. Skeeter
> is short for Mosquito.

Grandpa’s juggling= My grandpa could juggle and he often entertained me by doing so.
>
> Lagomachi=a very old card game where letters appear on the cards and each player takes
> turns making words to score points. The reference to RUE later is because this was an
> easy word to make and that is how I learned what the word meant, how to spell and use
> it.
>
> Christmas loot= the presents I would get being an only child and only grandchild and only niece of two old maid aunties.
>
> Miz Parsley=One of my grandma’s dearest friends. She lived two blocks south of us and
> had to walk by our house where ever she went. She always carried a flash light—by day to beat off bad people and by night to light her way.
>
> Doc Wathen=The old town doctor who lived a block down the street. He was the only doc
> in London, KY that I ever knew about.