Grandmother's Hankies

My mother's mother was born in 1898. That's her in the picture,  sitting on the hay bale looking rather cross.   It's seems unusual to see her looking cranky.  I remember her as always having a smile on her face.  Perhaps the big hat that her sister was wearing was poking her in the face, or her button-hook shoes were too tight.



Grandma married rather late for a woman of her era, and she also broke with traditon by marrying a younger man.  She gave birth to  my mother,  and then 6 years later, had twin girls, not knowing she was carrying twins until the day they were born.

My grandmother always dressed up, complete with stockings, heels and jewelry, (and gloves if she was going into the city).  She often came by our house to babysit if  my mom  needed to run an errand, and she would don an apron over her dress and do all the ironing while Mom was out.  She might stay long enough to  have some lunch, but then she would head back home to watch her "stories" on TV. 

 Every Christmas, she gave my sister and I a new pair of patent leather shoes and we loved getting them.  She was kind and generous, and paid for a year of ballet lessons for me when I was little.  She was always so interested in everything her grandchildren did, and would attend any school play or recital and applaud heartily.  She was caring and approachable, but she liked to sign her greeting cards with "Grandmere", even though we called her "Grandma".

One of the things I'll always remember about my grandmother is that she always had a pretty handkerchief in her purse. She would spray a little perfume on it so that it was both pretty to look at and pretty to smell.

Whenever I see a beautiful ladies hankie, I think of my grandmother, and I wish that I had some of those hankies to keep.