We were fortunate growing up when it came to visiting grandparents because both our grandparents' maternal and paternal grandparents lived within blocks of each other.
Neither were rich in material things, but both were loaded in love.
Our maternal grandmother was a great cook, and one of my favorite sweets was her Sweet Potato Kisses.
Years later, when I had a home of my own, I asked her for the Sweet Potato recipe.
You take a small potato, boil it with the jacket on, and cook it until done.
Peel the potato, mash it up, and roll it out.
Add powder sugar and peanut butter to the center.
Take all the ingredients, roll them into a ball, and slice them.
Our maternal grandmother was also handy with a needle and thread.
Money was always tight at my maternal grandparents ', so she made do with what she had.
She made everything she gave us for Christmas and birthdays. I remember one Christmas she made us sock monkeys and rag dolls.
My memories of the tree she decorated at Christmas still bring a smile to my face.
Her Christmas tree would light up any room with its bubbling lights, angel hair, icicles, stringed popcorn, and tiny trinkets.
Our maternal grandfather loved to smoke Prince Albert Tobacco.
We would watch as he took out those white papers, poured Prince Albert Tobacco into them, then rolled them tightly, licking to seal the tobacco inside.
We would gladly walk to the store to buy him a can of Prince Albert Tobacco because he always gave us a nickel for candy.
On a hot day, we might use that nickel to buy a Coke, a Popsicle, or even a candy bar.
Our maternal grandparents' yard was covered with white clover, weeds, and buttercups(in the spring).
We very seldom wore shoes when we were out of school.
I remember one summer stomping around in the grass and having a good time when I stomped right onto a bee.
I started to cry, holding my foot, when my grandfather came outside to see what was wrong.
He went back inside, grabbed his tobacco and a glass of water, and came back outside.
He placed me in his lap and began to make a cake with his Prince Albert tobacco, which he put on my foot.
One of our maternal grandfather's pet peeves was the grandkids climbing up in his trees.
He kept the limbs trimmed so we could not reach them.
Our maternal grandfather loves to tell scary stories about Bloody Bones.
He would have you set on the edge of your seat, and all of a sudden, he would say, "GOT YOU"!!
Our maternal grandfather grew a variety of fruit trees, which we enjoyed eating.
He would say, if you swallow any seeds, you would grow into a tree.
We spit out every seed.
Our maternal grandparents never had any indoor plumbing. There was an outhouse, and the water came from an outside faucet.
They never owned an automobile, so they never learned to drive.
They never owned an automobile, so they never learned to drive.
My Maternal Grandmother rode to Church with Mr. Ulman, and I attended Church with her many times.
At Church, we sang old hymns while someone played the piano and another played the accordion.
In our Sunday School Class, we learned about Daniel being put in the lions' den for praying, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the whale, and Jonah's disobedience to God.
One Sunday night, after services, as we were riding home, the passenger door flew open, and out onto the pavement flew my cousin.
We both had fallen asleep on the ride home and were leaning on the door.
Our Aunt Willie lived on Penny Lane in Huntsville.
She worked at Red Stone Arsenal.
Our dad would take the entire family to spend the day at Willie's.
Our maternal great-grandparents lived in Town Creek.
Our maternal grandparents would take the train from Sheffield to Town Creek to visit her family.
Our dad took them several times.
Our great-grandparents lived in an Old Military Dining Car.
At one end of the trailer was a large round table, surrounded by bench seating. Many soldiers had dined at this table.
A sofa, a fold-out bed, a chair, and a coal heater stood in the middle of the trailer.
Food was cooked in the kitchen area, which was located at the opposite end of the trailer.
They get their water from a well and use an outhouse.
They get their water from a well and use an outhouse.
Since their home was so small we were sent outside to play, sometime grand-paw would come outside to play with us.
He said I can show you how to catch a worm that he called a Chicken Choker.
He said, "Get a straw, poke it into a small hole, and wiggle it into a worm." The worm will catch hold, and you can pull him out of the ground.
It Worked!!!
I looked up the meaning of Chicken Choker.
It is a long, yellowish worm with humps on its back, 6 legs, a hard head, and brown, two-inch pinchers that would catch hold of the straw.
Chicken Chokers are the larvae of tiger beetles that ambush predators of other insects, lying in wait in their burrows with their heads flush with the soil surface.
It is said that chickens do more harm to the larvae (Chicken Chokers) than to the grubs.
