Spending The Night With Grandma Hutton … Part 1!

I have been posting items from my grandfather’s memories and that led me to thinking that I really was too young to have many memories of him at all.  I remember that he was sick and in bed when we visited.  I remember him being on the couch one time but leaning to one side trying to rest.  The lack of memories makes me sad.  However, it brought to mind the many memories I have of my grandmother.

For as long as I can remember, I spent Saturday nights at my grandmother’s house.  I do not think any of the other siblings did, just me.  There is a recollection of my little brother attempting to spend the night once, but then our great grandmother came to visit grandma and he scooted right home with dad!  Haha.  He was a bit frightened.  He visited on Saturdays too, but would go home for bedtime. People would have a hard time believing this, but we are both shy.  It may be more unbelievable about me, but even though I talk through a situation and seem to be outgoing, inside I am dying.  Anyway, I have such great memories of these times!  I will have to write later about the times together as families with taffy pulls and other great gatherings.

I always wanted to be there in time for supper because she gave the choice of some of the foods.  Without fail, I chose fried potatoes as a side dish.  She, too, had a garden in the back yard as well as a cherry tree! While the meat was cooking, we would go out and pick the salad ingredients.  Everything, of course, was made in cast iron skillets and pans that I call guardian ware. They were pans with sort of bumps on the outside.  I still cook with both, cast iron and guardian ware.  She made the very best wilted lettuce ever! The smells of the food were also good, it was like you could taste the food! She would have a 6 pack of Coke, which only came in bottles, and she would split one with me. My mother was a fantastic cook too but I loved the attention at grandma’s as well.

She had the neatest kitchen and I would love to have that today!  There was the huge double sink with side drainboards, is I guess how I would describe it.  That is called porcelain or cast iron ceramic I think.  The counters went clear across the wall except for where the stove was.  There were no cabinets.  She had floor to ceiling cabinets on the opposite wall to store everything in, the dishes and the pantry were both on that side.  We would eat and clean up the dishes in time for Lawrence Welk.  That was her very favorite show.   I remember the bubbles from the show and Bobby and Cissy!  I remember other stuff on the show but those two things come to mind first. Sometimes we would go to the table and play bunco or rummy after the show and other times we would just sit and watch the next shows that were on.  Grandma was crocheting every time she was sitting.  She made the most beautiful doilies for table tops and backs and arms of chairs.  She made those hangings that looked like bunches of grapes. They were crocheted over pop bottle caps.  Her crocheted items were so dainty and beautiful. I crochet, but there is no way I could crochet with that tiny needle and thin yarn!  I have tried but by now I probably could not even see the stitches! I would love for my house to look like my grandmother’s! Again, I searched for a photo of what she made and hers was smaller and much nicer looking in my opinion, but below is a photo. She used the thread stuff to make hers with, not yarn, so it was finer.

Here are some photos of the types of doilies she made.

Sometimes, in the evenings, her friends would stop by and visit.  That was always fun to me.  They would just sit in the chairs and talk and laugh about their stories.  My great grandmother, her mother, would visit and she had the longest white hair.  She always wore it braided and then wrapped those braids around her head.  I have always said I would have long white hair and wrap it around my head in braids when I was old.  I am growing it now! She lived to be 99!

At bedtime, we would pray together and then just lay and talk.  She would tell stories about her life or just talk about what happened the week before.  Those were the best times.  The next morning, she would fix me breakfast and then we would wait for her friend.  She had a friend that lived the next street over and every morning she would walk across the street and down the alley to grandma’s house.  Grandma could see out the window from her kitchen table and see when she was coming.  She would jump up and pour her a cup of coffee.  I loved sitting at the table and listening to them talk! My grandmother had a diary that she kept at the table and wrote in.  I asked her once to say that I spent the night.  Guess what?  I have those diaries and one time it says that I spent the night! What a treasure to have!

Dad would pick me up mid-morning.  One time, the minute, I got into the car I told him I was starving.  He said, “What? Are you saying Mom did not feed you?”  I told him that she offered but I did not want it.  I went on to tell him that she asked me if I wanted french toast and I told her that I did not like it!  Dad quickly turned and looked at me and asked, “You did not want it?”  I told him No!  I told her I do not like french toast.  He laughed and I was sort of starting to get angry at him for laughing but he quickly went on to ask if I knew what french toast was.  Of course, I did not, I told him no.  He laughed even harder and I was getting angry.  He told me in between laughs that french toast was what we called “egg bread”.  He said, “It is your favorite! Why didn’t you ask her what it was?”  I have no idea why I did not ask her and just told her no and that I did not like it.  I was no longer angry at dad for laughing, I was very angry at me!!!  I really missed out!

My grandmother had the most amazing bathroom! Off of the kitchen was a bathroom that was like a really small hallway.  There was a door from the kitchen and on the other side was a door to her bedroom.  It was really, really tiny.  To the right was the toilet.  That was practically all there was room for with a toilet paper holder on the wall.  At the other end was some sort of closet type thing.  It was weird looking though.  I assume the toilet paper and supplies were in there. I could be mistaken but I think this was a shelf with a curtain in front of it, but not sure.  I really did not like the looks of it and did not feel comfortable opening that curtain because it was so odd looking to me.

BUT!!!!!, the bathtub!!!  The bathtub was off of the bedroom and was all that was in the room, a bathing room! I would LOVE to have this room and I remember so many details about it!  The bathtub was a clawfoot tub.  Totally wonderful!  I had to have a bath every time that I was there!  The towels were on a shelf and you could pick your own fluffy towel in whatever color.   She had a slender shelf that went along the walls that  contained bath salts and bubble baths of every type.  You could open the jars and smell each one and take your pick and they came in different colors. They looked so pretty lining the shelves!  There was a window with the cutest curtains with a view of her side yard and you could see her cherry tree.  There was a nice chair to sit in and some cabinets and counter top to put your stuff on. I felt like a princess being able to have this luxurious bath in the special bathing room.  The back of the tub was sloped so that you had an awesome back rest. I absolutely loved it.  I am not certain on the flooring, but it was just off of her bedroom and her bedroom had a beautiful linoleum with roses on it and I think the bathing room was the same.  I loved everything about it.  Sometimes when we were just visiting, we would go into the room just to look at it.  The baths lasted much longer than they needed to because it was just that enjoyable! With your imaginations and dreams, you could spend so much time in there. I searched images but could find none exactly like it, but it was something like this. The feet were white as well, though.

I was telling my husband about this room that just had a tub in it and he said, oh, like ours?  I said no, ours is a tub first and then the toilet.  See, with ours you walk in a door that has a tub and then there is another door and the toilet.  The room where the toilet is has a small sink and a window and then a door to our bedroom.  Uh Oh!  He should not have told me this.  I processed that awhile and called him back and told him, you know, we need to remodel our bathroom, get a clawfoot tub and flip flop the room and put the toilet first.  He said he did not think so! I may work on him and see.

I just realized that I am going on and on and have so much more to tell!  I am going to write a Part 2!  Join me Thursday for that!