What to write About

Not much goes on in my "Caught in a Rut" life. As I read my daughters blogs, I can see that I just need to look out in the yard and there is a whole new world to write about. I am going to have to have some classes on how to write an interesting blog though as I still cannot place a picture on this and it's Thanks to my daughters that there is any color on this page at all.

Today, I am going to talk about Katie. Katie was my grandmother and a very special person in my life. I hope that I have been half as patient of a grandmother as she was with me. Grandma Katie was like no other. She had lived a very full life and traveled more in her lifetime in a covered wagon and train that I have ever traveled. She did most of it before she was 40 years old. Katie was born in NW Kansas and when quite young, traveled with her family by covered wagon over the Oregon trail to Oregon. In her teen age years, she moved by train from the area of Eugene and eventually ended up near Pocohontus, Iowa. Here, she met my grandfather. Being adventursome and wanting a place of their own, they set out for free government land in Oklahoma. Times were hard and my grandfather often worked in Kansas in the Grain elevators during the summer. This training led them on a great move by train to Edmonton, Canada, here my grandad was a grain inspector. With their small sons they lived there until they could not endure the cold hard winters and moved back to the state of Wisconsin where some of their family lived. Through their many moves, they did end up back in Oklahoma and I am glad. Had this last move not been made, WHERE WOULD I BE?

My mother was the last child and only daughter of Katie and Myron. My grandad passed away before I was born so Katie was my only grandparent on my mothers side. She made us feel so special. She had a stern word for us when we didn't mind but we knew we better keep in line.

Grandma had time to take me on walks on the creek each morning. We admired the new growth in the spring and delighted at the abundance in the garden and orchard as we walked by them in harvest time. Grandma always wore an apron and we carried a bucket just in case there would be some wind falls from the peach or apple trees. This would mean fresh pie or just some fresh fruit for lunch. Grandma also made the best applesauce. Her cooking was done on a kerosene stove in the summer and on a wood cook stove in the winter time. She always longed for a summer kitchen outside so the house wouldn't be so hot. She didn't have air conditioning. SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ELECTRICITY. She didn't need such things. It would just be something else to think about and worry her. What would she think of everything now?

The best way to cool off at grandma's in the afternoon was outside. She would hand pump a small tub full of water and we would sit with our feet in that refreshing water, out under the huge elm trees, and feel the wind blow on us. What could be better? Grandma, me and a bread and jelly sandwich, Life was grand.

Grandma taught me a lot of things, she taught me how to sew, cook, but most of all I hope that she taught me how to be a grandma. Katie was born in August of 1881 and passed away in 1970 at the age of 89. I am glad that she was my Grandma and I still miss her.