Grandma’s Hutch & Great Grandma’s Hollyhocks

August Blog

Grandma’s Hutch & Great Grandma’s Hollyhocks

I love antiques and the stories they hold. I am incredibly fortunate to have some silver from my Great Grandmother on my mother’s side and some English bone china tea cups. When I touch one of the cups or read on a piece of silver where Great Grandpa engraved her name, I feel taken back in time, remembering their home and garden. They had a wooden sink in the kitchen with a pump handle. Something was always cooking and the aroma was wonderful.

Great Grandma Elizabeth and I would walk through a trellis structure off the hallway that was laden with Wisteria, smelling like a piece of heaven. We would clasp hands and go pick a few hollyhock blossoms deep in the garden. Taking them inside she would take small, flat wooden spoons and draw a face on them. The hollyhocks were next and she pushed the end of the spoon through the top of the large blossom. Great Grandpa would volunteer a pipe cleaner and Great Grandma would make arms. The hollyhock became a little fairy doll. She made these for me every time I had a summer visit. I was about 4 years old then and remember every scent, each flower doll and the wonder of the house. I remember her knotted hands and warm smile.

My grandparents on my mother’s side were frequently visited and I was spoiled rotten. My sister and I would visit for a week every summer to go school shopping with them, get haircuts and perms for school and share the best of times with them. They were so close to us and I loved them dearly.

On my father’s side we would drive for several hours north once a year, usually to visit his very large and boisterous side of the family. My paternal Grandfather Percy declared that he was Welsh, (not Irish) and he played the fiddle, but never when we were there. What I remember most about him was his wonderful laughter. I believe my strong love of traditional music was a gift from him, embedded in my genes.

My father’s mother, Grandma Rose, was always working in their very full home. She was always cooking huge meals and baking bread. She made really, really good bread! Grandma Rose’s heritage was German and she and Grandpa Percy were devout Catholics. She worked for the Priests when the kids were all grown, cooking their meals and cleaning. She was a force of nature.

I had dozens of cousins and my eleven aunts and uncles. I always enjoyed the visits, but I also felt like I never really fit in. It was an awkwardness. I regret I did not see them often enough to develop the deep relationship I had with my mother’s side of the family. 

Recently, a dear cousin posted in our Facebook Messenger group that she needed to find a new home for Grandma Rose’s old hutch. I watched the messages pop up and saw that no one had space for it and I most certainly did. I would take it! I responded that I would love it and a couple of weeks later went north to pick it up with truck and trailer.

I had so few artifacts from my father’s side of the family and this hutch touched me deeply. I felt like I had a piece of Grandma Rose and Grandpa Percy and all the family from up north.  My cousin graciously shared some duplicate family pictures she had also.  I will have a prominent place in my kitchen for the hutch and when I look at it, I will hold them all in my heart. The pictures are going to be part of a family picture hallway in my home.

This is one of the ways I honor my ancestors. I know they are not inhabiting the antiques I have that were theirs, but it is one way of evoking the memories of those I was honored to know and love. It is comforting to look at the long line of individuals that made me who I am, paved the way for many of my successes, and lived the good lives that they did. My hope is that you also have an artifact or two of your beloved ancestors and share that same honoring and gratitude with your family. It can bring us closer and it can bring us joy.

This is usually not the time of year I converse with you about ancestor veneration, but the hutch of Grandma Rose brought it all home for me. Stay tuned for more ancestor discussion and gatherings coming in October this year.

As Always, Here’s To Your Well-being!

Sandra L. Place

sandy@asandyplace.com