My grandmother Verda turned 95 today. I called and sang her happy birthday. I’m sure she could have gone another 95 years without hearing my singing again. Grandma loves gardening. She hasn’t had one in several years as she now lives in an assisted living facility. I wished she lived closer, I would like to bring her to my garden, sit on the bench and just talk about life. She says we both love gardening because we were born under the earth signs. Our phone calls consist of talk about my latest plantings, harvests, pest problems and she tells me how they used to do things. I really enjoy hearing her stories about gardens long past. She was one of 8 children and her mother’s vegetable garden was almost an acre in size when all the kids were at home. No tractors, just some horses and 10 pairs of hands to plant, pull weeds, harvest and all of the other jobs a rural garden of the early 1900’s called for. Most people garden for fun, they did it for necessity. If you didn’t grow it you didn’t eat it. Grandma tells me that blackberry cobblers were one of her favorite deserts. They had wild berries growing nearby and any kid worth their salt can pick a bucket of berries in nothin’ flat. I told her of my blackberries almost the size of my thumb and I’m not quite sure she believed me. Two of her sisters are still living and one of them is also an avid gardner though legally blind. I guess its in my blood. Happy birthday grandma.
5 thoughts on “95 and counting”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Kerry, What a loving tribute! You are so lucky to still have her with you and to be able to gather her stories and her recipes. A very happy birthday to Verda !
I am so happy I found your blog…….I live in Missouri and am all most 70..Stll love to garden…….My grandmother lived long as yours is and of course was the BEST when it came to her garden…..I remember black berry hunting with her and my grand-pa……we got into the woods on a flat bed wagon pulled by two mules! Oh my……….
That is a sweet tribute, Kerry. My grandparents all died fairly young, some very young so I didn’t know them. Now I am a Granny of 5 myself. My Mom is 71 and is moving to our little city. She is quite the gardener and I’m sure we’ll spend some time sitting in the garden, talking.
Happy Birthday grandmother Verda! All the best to you!
I found your beautiful blog through Sabine and I like i so much.
Thanks all, I passed your birthday wishes on to grandma Verda and she was quite tickled. She has never played on a computer but is amazed that people from all over the world can get together and communicate.
Welcome Nancy and Sonia. Sonia I’ll have to check out your blog. Nancy no blog for you?
Sabine, I am sorry you didn’t get to know your grandparents. Your grandchildren are very lucky. I didn’t grow up knowing grandma Verda, I only met her as an adult (really long story there). It was quite a shock to find at 40 that I had a grandparent still living. The grandmother I knew as a child died when I was 19 so I didn’t get any real adult time with her. I do miss her. She was quite a gardener herself. Her yard was always a blaze of color. Its very strange how life can surprise you when you least expect it though I suppose that is why it is called a surprise lol.