We were very lucky growing up when it came to visiting grandparents because both our grandparent's maternal & paternal 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 ask her for the Sweet Potato receipt.
You take a small potato boil it with the jacket on and cook until done.
Peel the potato mash it up and roll it out.
Add powder sugar and peanut butter to the center.
Take all ingredients and roll them into a ball and slice them into pieces.
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 her 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 and pour Prince Albert Tobacco inside and then he would roll 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 grandparent's 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 placed 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 someone else played an accord.
In our Sunday School Class we learned about Daniel being put in the Lion's Den for praying, Noah’s Ark, Jonah, 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 Willies.
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.
On one end of the trailer was a large round table, encircled with bench seating. Many soldiers had dined at this table.
A sofa, 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 got their water from a well and they use an outhouse.
They got their water from a well and they 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 the straw into a small hole, and wiggle the straw 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 color worm with humps on it back 6 legs a hard head, brown with two-inch pinchers that would catch hold of the straw.
Chicken Chokers are larvae of tiger beetles that ambush predators of other insects, lying in wait in their burrows with their heads flush with the surface of the soil.
It is said that chickens do more harm to the larvae(Chicken Chokers) than the grubs.
