Memory Lane Friday is a weekly blog carnival where you can blog about your memories and link up. Some weeks have themes, this week does not. Everyone is welcome!
How many of you can stop what you're doing, remember your grandmother's house, and smell it in your memory? I can, I can smell the moment I walked in the door. Five years old and engulfed in the smells of home cooking and heavy brocade curtains and my grandmother's lotion. After all the hugging business was out of the way, my young legs would carry me to the slippery peach couch perched on ornate wooden legs. That was where the visiting would take place, as I kicked my legs back and forth, but of more important interest to me were the side tables. Of which the peach couch had two.
On the side tables in addition to family photos and at times a magazine, there were two hobnobbed milk glass candy dishes like this:
On one side was the rounder candy dish and on the other side the more square dish.
And I knew a secret.
See, everyone went for the round dish. The square dish was forgotten.
So although I, too, was drawn to the attractive round dish, I knew that the best candies were in the square dish. It always had a better selection.
Sometimes, my grandmother would think about it beforehand and top off the candy for me before I even arrived.
She'd fill it with old fashioned ribbon candy mix like this:
There were a few types I didn't care for, but mostly sugar was sugar and I wasn't too picky.
They'd dissolve slowly in my mouth as I listened to conversations in the room. Sweet chatting.
As I grew older and became a pre-teen, sometimes the candy was forgotten, and I'd be the only one to remember to check the dishes. I'd find the candies stuck together and stale. I never said anything about it though. In retrospect, you can find so many little signs of Alzheimers in the memories of small daily life moments.
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Come back next week. The topic is "A Store"
You completely transported me to my childhood too. In my blog reader all I saw was the picture of the candydish & instantly I thought of my Grammy's house & the ribbon candy inside it. THEN, I opened your post & read EXACTLY what I was thinking. How crazy is that! Must be a Grandma thing. Thanks for reminding me :)
ReplyDeletelovely post x
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother's square dish held the candy. It was milk glass too. It held a mixed of Brach's candies.
ReplyDeletethere are SO many things that bring me to my grama's homes ..... smells are a huge one for me but we had the candy dishes too!
ReplyDeleteThose old-fashioned candies brought back some memories for me too. :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandma had a tin filled with cookies on top of her refrigerator. Even though everyone always made a beeline for it when they visited-it always seemed to be full:)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this memory about your grandma, but I was sorry to read about her Alzheimer's. Such a terrible illness.
My grandma had the same kind of dish--and the same kind of candy! Oh, how I loved it! And that is still my favorite candy to this day!
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Lisa, we have so many similarities. My grandmother had Alzheimer's, as well. Her "candy" was tootsie rolls, though. ;) And my great grandmother (on my mom's side) was in a nursing home and she always had coffee candies for us. Thanks for bringing this memory back to me!
ReplyDeleteI love love this candy!!
ReplyDeleteHave a happy weekend, Lisa xx
I remember going to my great grandmother's house the most. I don't remember candy, but I do remember she had toys hid in everyday type things around the room. There were balls hid in a big round milk thing, no idea what it was called. In the closet was Lincoln Logs with farm animals. She also had a piano that I used to play when we would go to her house. I also remember her couch was slick to sit on! You had to work to keep from sliding off it! lol Oh, and she had a shelf behind her chair where she hid her snuff!
ReplyDeleteHave a Wonderful Weekend!
Angela
WOW~! I loved my gramma's.. One always greeted you with hugs, hugs,hugs and kisses and "HiHiHiHiHI". This Gramma always had ice cream. My other gramma was more stiff ,,,she was happy to see you but just a hug and no kiss.
ReplyDeleteand She had no candy, cookies or anything to offer. Of course you know which Gramma I loved going to the most.
You have a Tiggeriffic story today about your Grandma.. Enjoy you so much..
Have a tiggeriffic day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Lisa, how fortunate you were to have memories of your grandmother's house and of her. I don't have those memories so much, due to distance and other circumstances. Your childre will have your blog to refer to (hopefully) to learn what you experienced. That is so important. :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents house is FILLED with those types of glass dishes. Literally, it's everywhere. Probably still filled with the same candy from 20+ years ago. Love this post, totally took me back to my childhood.
ReplyDeleteI remember that ribbon candy! It must have been a best seller!...:)JP
ReplyDeleteWhat a great memory about visiting your grandmother. Fun stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful memories of your childhood and grandmother. Now I want candy!
ReplyDeleteMy grandma's little glass dish held candies like those as well ... but her dish was a music box so when the lid came off the songs would chime. It became a little game for me to get a candy and she'd call out to me to bring her one too. Thanks for bringing these memories back :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend!
My grandfather had Alzheimer's and looking back, our first clue was him constantly losing his keys ... now if I ever lose my keys I worry!
ReplyDeleteI love it!!! Now you have me thinking about my grandmothers soup and sitting in her living room watching Lawrence Welk... and trips to their vacation cottage in Florida which smelled like "Florida" (years later I found out "Florida" was Moth Balls in the closets!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memory!
My grandmother didn't often have candy at her house, but when she did...it was that ribbon candy that you have pictured. She kept hers in a crystal bowl in the living room.
ReplyDeleteI remember sitting in there, reading a book, and eating it. Very sweet.
My grandparents died when I was very young so I barely remember them. How wonderful it must be for you to have memories of your grandparents. I love that ribbon candy, I still buy it when I see it in the store...usually around Christmas time.
ReplyDelete