Grandmothers.

Were yours in your life?

I was so blessed.  I had both.  My dad's mom for a short time and my mom's for a long time.

Della, my dad's mom, sustained a stroke and that was limiting.  But she still made apple fritters almost every time I saw her!  My most vivid memory. 

My mom's mom my sister and I called Ga.  She didn't seem to mind.  

My mom and dad managed the small airport in Quincy in northern California.  It was pretty busy in the summer with tourists and fire season and because my sister, five years older, really hated having to take care of me I was put on the Zephyr in Keddie and had a glorious train trip to San Francisco (where Ga lived) sitting in the observation car.  There I would spend my summers.  (not in the observation car, but in SF!).

There was my dentist.  There Josephine Pomilla, same birth date as mine, lived on the corner.  There I learned to swim in Fleischaker Pool (was the biggest outdoor pool in the world.  more later.)  There Ga made my clothes for the next school year.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Ga and I would go downtown (she and my step grandfather lived out on Ulloa about twenty blocks from the beach) to shop for fabric in Macy's basement bargains.  We always wore a hat and gloves!  We would take the bus and street car to this destination.  We would also always buy a gardenia (now my all time favorite flower) at a flower stand on Union Square.  Ten cents!   And, after sometimes walking for hours, we would go back to Macy's basement, take off our shoes and have a foot massage on the 'foot massage machine.'  Ten cents!

Ga was an amazing seamstress.  I was the best dressed girl at school.  She even made my sister's wedding dress.  I remember going to stores like Saks where my sister tried on gorgeous expensive gowns and in the dressing room Ga would be measuring 'nose to fingertips'  fabric volumes and taking quick little notes in her notebook.  The end result was this beautiful gown of white organdy, one layer of pink underneath,  delicate lace bodice and trim, pearl buttons down the entire back.  She totally disappeared in a cloud of white and pink working at the sewing machine.  The gown was stunning.  And unique.  My sister wore it.  Ga altered it for my wedding.  And it was altered for all three of my sister's daughters.  What a legacy.

Canasta!

My grandmother and I would sit out in the backyard in our swim suits, protected from the wind, and play Canasta FOR HOURS!!  I look back on that now and I surely hope she liked playing that game.  If she didn't....those are the kinds of sacrifices loving grandmothers seem to make.

Swimming!

Here I was a small mountain town girl and hadn't learned to swim.  There was only the local creek, Spanish Creek, by the airport, and it terrified me.  So I took lessons at Fleischaker Pool (it is gone now) where the zoo was.  It was enormous.  The lifeguards patrolled it in row boats!!!  There we would be.  I, freezing, in that salt water.  In that creepy creepy dark green slippery water where you dare not put your feet on the bottom...slimy slimy and god only knows what creatures lurked there!  Ga on the other side of a cyclone fence trying to stay warm in her fur coat, so foggy I rarely caught a full glimpse of her, dutifully watching, cheering me on.  

Then.

Lessons would continue in the bathtub at home.  I, still terrified.  Ga, lovingly holding me as I finally learned to float on my back.  (I loved her bathroom.  Was all white tile with those great small black and white octagonal floor tiles.)  And it had a tiny window that when opened you could reach out and touch the house next door!

After I learned to swim, we would go to Sutro Bath House at the Cliff House.  Oh, how I loved that place!  There were several different swimming pools.  A cold one that looked like milk.  A very hot one.  A fairly shallow luke warm huge one with slides and wheels (my favorite!).  And a diving one with even a high dive!  I NEVER went in that one!  The building was magical.  High high glass ceiling.  Many open stories with lots of wonderful and happy large plants everywhere.  I think it burned down many years ago....but the magical memories live on.

I was with Ga when she received the telephone call that my uncle Marion (her son) and NancyAnn (her twelve year old grand daughter) had died in a crop dusting plane accident.  I was too young to really realize what horror that had to be for her.  To lose a son and grand daughter......suddenly.

Ga's mother, Oria, lived with her for many years.  I don't remember much about her except her hair was white and piled high upon the top of her head and she had long long yellow fingernails that curled.  And that she was always very sweet to me.  

One summer Ga and Homer took me to EVERY statue in the San Francisco area!!  I took notes and made a report for school.  Got an A.  :0)

A little segue.

Josephine Pomilla, with the very same birth date, lived on the corner of Ga's block.  We became best friends.  Her family was very Italian.  Her father was a fisherman whose boat was moored at Fisherman's Wharf!!!!  On Saturdays, after Josephine cleaned the toilets ( sometimes I helped her to speed things up), we got to go out on the boat.  Wonderful memories of sourdough bread and salami picnics!  I got to go to a family wedding once and we danced and danced and even had a tiny glass of wine!

When my sister was down she and I would walk (or sometimes take our boards that fit over a roller skate and gleefully zip down those hills) those twenty blocks ALONE to spend the day at the beach and at ' Playland.'  Sometimes we would take money to ride the electric street car back home since it was all uphill.   No cell phones to checkin.  Just carefree childhood living.  

Aren't I so lucky?  To have those wonderful memories.

I had a personal best experience at my grandmother's.  There was a very tall and wide (especially to a little girl) hedge at the bottom of the front stairs up to the house.  The 'big' kids would stand on the wall of the stairs and jump way over the hedge to the grass on the other side.  I never could work up the nerve to do it and was chided often about it by those 'big' kids.  Summer was ending.  My sister had left for home earlier.  I was to leave tomorrow.  I stood on that ledge for probably a half hour.  Almost jumping several times.  My heart in my throat.  My whole body electric....knowing.....I was gonna jump before I left!  Finally, the moment came.  (I can't explain that moment, but I know we all experience it.)  I jumped!  omg...what an experience.  Flying through the air, clearing that wide wide hedge and miraculously landing in one piece on the neighbor's soft damp grass.

I never told anyone.

It was my big secret.

Til now.

I realize I wandered abit with this grandmother storytelling.  But I have to say, this cold gray winter morning sitting with my coffee next to my tiny firestove reminiscing about my grandmother and my memories with her.... has been enchanting.  

I left.. 'here.'

I spent time...again...with her.  I went to all those places.  Had all those experiences.

Again.

They were marvelous.

Thank you for sharing them with me.  I bet you 'matched' your own childhood memories.

Think about sharing them on the blog.  I would love to hear them.

Have a beautiful day.