My Grandma and the collander

Anyone that knows me even a little bit knows that I had a very close relationship with my Grandma Jean. We lived across town from my Grandma, but anyone who knows Sandpoint knows that it only about a 10 minute drive. We were just very close. Maybe because I was the only Granddaughter out of 3 other boys until Ashley, Dyani Brook and Laura were born. But for a long time I was the only granddaughter. I think Ash was born in 89 so I had a 14 year run of just me and Grandma as far as Granddaughter go. We spent lots of time together. She taught me how to cook, how to shop on a budget and how to balance a check book. When her hands were sore with arthritis I would help her pay bills. She would sign the checks and I would write them out, fill in the register, and stuff the bills in the envelopes. Then I would walk around to Hardware store, Larsons, The city of Sandpoint, the light company, and the IGA to pay the bills. I would bring the receipts back and she would reward me for a job well done with a piece of candy and getting to watch whatever TV show I wanted. This is all while I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. Yeah it is no wonder that I take care of the finances in our home now. I was taught by my Grandma to budget and to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul". I remember one year when she was mad at some company for poor service and she insisted that we just pay them $5 a month. She figured that if she made a payment each month they couldn't send her to "collections" and it preserved her credit. She paid that bill $5 a month for years and years. I don't know if they ever wrote it off for her or not. But she just simply refused to pay more than $5, this of course was back in the days before high interest rates and such. But I have to admit I once did this with a Drs bill that I felt was over billed. In the end they ended up writing off the last $80 of the bill because it was costing them more money to pay the accountant to process my $5 per month payments than the $5 they were making per month. LOL!

I am so glad that before Grandma died that she got to met Tim. I know she liked Tim, even if she did think we were too young and she worried that he hadn't found his vocation yet. But I think she saw that he was a good man and if nothing else appreciated his sense of humor and how well he treated me. Tim & I during a stressful time in our lives lived in Grandma basement for a spell. When it was time for us to spread our wings and move out, Grandma helped us by giving us household items to set up our home with. Among those things were towels, dishes, pie plate, plastic mixing bowl and a plastic collander. She gave these items to us in the spring of 1996. They have made it through about move after move after move. We moved 6 times, the last being into the home we now own.

The towels are tattered and have been reduced to rags. But I still think of Grandma every time I use one of the blue, thin, ragged towels. The plastic mixing bowl was throw away last year. I tried to mash potatoes in it and it is so old that the plastic would flake off and into the potatoes every time the hand mixer hit the sides. After we ate blue flecked plastic chunked mashed potatoes for dinner Tim made me throw the bowl away. I am pretty sure I cried as the garbage men took the bowl away. The plates she gave me are chipped and some pieces have broken over the years. We have since bought 2 new sets but the pieces remaining of the set Grandma gave me are in the basement in a box marked: Dishes Grandma gave me. DO NOT throw away. So all I have left is a pie plate and a plastic collander of the gifts she gave me to set up my own home. The pie plate is my favorite one of all the pie plates I have. Mostly because it came from her own kitchen. The edges have some brown stained on the handle, probably from a pumpkin pie overflowing at Thanksgiving. The pie plate is deeper than any of the ones I can find on the market today. It is deep dished and a full 9 inches wide. I love making pie in the plate. Especially Pumpkin. I can still see her sitting at the round kitchen table eating a piece of cold pumpkin pie for breakfast. I hope that the pie plate never gets misplaced or broken. I want to teach my children how to make pumpkin pie in that pie plate, even if it is just with Libby's pumpkin. Mostly just because I want to tell them the story of her eating cold pie for breakfast.

Now the collander is on it's last legs. The bottom is falling out of it. My Mom and Tim have all suggested I throw it away. I just can't do it. I have other collanders that I use for general cooking. About 2 weeks ago my friends Sarah and Sara were here for dinner. We were all cooking together and when the pasta got done Sarah grabbed the closest collander and drained the pasta. Well about 1/2 the pasta fell through the bottom. She pointed out to me that the collander was broken. I knew that Sarah would understand since she not only had met my Grandma and knew of our close relationship but she recently lost her grandmother of whom she was very close. I told her "My grandma gave me that collander and I just can't bare to throw it away" She smiled and nodded. Then she said, " ya know what this collander would be good for? Washing strawberries." I honestly had to choke back tears. Sarah understood so quickly and knew what to say to honor the moment. Thank you Sarah.

So here are a few picture of my well loved and well used collander:

It is hard for me to believe that Grandma has been gone for almost 11 years. So much has happened in that time. It seems like 11 years isn't that long until you consider all she has missed: Tim & I getting married, the purchase of our home, the birth of our 3 children, and so much more. I miss her so much. I don't know what the fate of the collander will be yet. I will probably wash strawberries in it this summer at least.