Things Your Grandmother Had

JupiterKid

If you were fortunate enough to remember your grandmother(s) when you were a child, what things did she have in her home that you have distinct memories of? Things like the " good room" or parlour for receiving important guests, little detailed ornaments, Art Deco mirrors from the 1930s and 40s, maybe a sacred heart of Jesus picture, picture of Dev or JFK?

My own grandmother loved little glass animal ornaments which she proudly displayed on her dark wooden dressers in her living room and had a collection of porcelain Pierrot dolls. She also had a Swiss cuckoo clock that I loved as a kid.

My other granny had a set of brass dinner gongs which my mum inherited when she passed away.

What things did your grandmothers have and do you have fond memories of them? Have you or your parents inherited any of these things and thus are they still in your life?

Shoelaces

Im sorry for your loss

antodeco

JupiterKid wrote: »

Art Deco

I got all excited for a minute

jonon9

A stick in the corner and a pot of bacon and cabbage boiling away I remember the smell. mighty times. she died in 1991.

JupiterKid

Shoelaces wrote: »

Im sorry for your loss

No need to be. My last grandmother passed away back in 1994.

cumulonimbus

She had a settle bed in the kitchen in which she kept books and magazines. The magazines had a kids section with stories about birds and rabbits. There were also little boxes containing buttons and beads and shells which we loved to pick through - it was like a treasure chest.

Wanderer78

Good room and rocking chair

tupenny

Irelands Owen

gifted

Usually a funny smell off her lol lol

PirateShampoo

Antique collection of Ivory Dildos.

Copper_pipe

Sewing kit in a biscuit tin

Lorelli!

She also had a dark wooden cabinet with loads of ornaments. One I loved was a little girl with a tear down her face. My mam has that now. In the cabinet, she also had photo albums which i would take out every now and then.

She had these little tacky novelty cactus plants that she got as a holiday present from one of the other grandkids which I loved and snowglobes. She also grew rhubarb and blackberries in the back garden.

amtc

Elephants. Obviously not real ones. But because they never forget. She had a terror of Alzheimer's. She has dementia now at 91 and holds the elephants so she won't forget any more.

My other grandmother died when I was seven. She had lovely jewellery and I wear it a lot. She also told me to always have my own money. She was a right feminist in the 1970s! Went on the contraception train to the north.

osarusan

Every time we left her house to go back home, the car got a splash of holy water from one of those small plastic Lady of Lourdes bottles.

Imallrightjack

She had a lovely bush we used to pick blackberrys from.

snowflaker

My nanny died at the end of last year.
My other grandmother died long before I was born.

Nanny I remember 2 things from my youth- washing 24/6 with the twin tub and the smell of Ariel washing powder.
Baking bread. She used bake a lot -while she could.

And pink Germoline - she'd get it out of the press if you had a cut or graze

Summertime making rhubarb and gooseberry jam!!!

infogiver

My granny had a big back yard with Rhode Island Red chickens in it.
The house was small and sparsely furnished but spotless clean.
Lots of religious icons on the walls.
She had lots of grandchildren who visited a lot and had long since smashed any trinkets she had about the place.
She was fat and she spent a lot of time in her "scullery" preparing food.
She would be 115 now if she was still alive.

CarrickMcJoe

My granny had toilet roll which resembled greaseproof paper, it would just spread it around and cut the hole of ya. I used to insist on going home for a dump 😀

Big Nasty

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the holy picture with the red light. Surely they all had one of them?

CarrickMcJoe

Big Nasty wrote: »

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the holy picture with the red light. Surely they all had one of them?

The sacred heart picture, no, mine didn't have one.

_Brian

Big Nasty wrote: »

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the holy picture with the red light. Surely they all had one of them?

Remember, grannies aren't all catholic!

Graces7

As my parents were born in the very early years of the 1900s,my grandparents go back a very long way.

My father's mother had a small back street grocery shop, the kind that sells everything.

In those days sugar, flour etc had to be weighed out for you in the shop.

When we little ones were taken to see her, she would take us into the back of the shop, open the big box of icing sugar and feed us any that had gone into lumps.

Every house had the "front room" ; never used. Overstuffed settee, china cabinet, and, as it overlooked the street, pure white net curtains and a red geranium. These were,along with the white doorstep, a sign of good housewifery. A woman who did not keep her doorstep and her nets white?

Graces7

CarrickMcJoe wrote: »

My granny had toilet roll which resembled greaseproof paper, it would just spread it around and cut the hole of ya. I used to insist on going home for a dump 😀

That was posh stuff. We got newspaper, cut into squares and threaded on rough twine, at granny' house.. outdoor loo she had too.

alchemist33

A butter churn. Best butter ever.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

My granny had this really cool ashtray that was a kind of bowl like thing on top of a single leg stand. At the top of the the bowl was a pull-up handle that opened the ashtray, you'd butt-out the cigarette and drop it inside the bowl, then close it up again.

Just googling here, it was called a "floor ashtray".

She had a "good room" too.

My other granny had a glass cabinet full of creepy porcelain dolls, and a "Crying Boy" painting, not sure which one.

Samaris

Photos and teddy-gifts from a variety of grandchildren through the years, along with the scrawled "LoVe yoU NAnA" cards that five-year olds draw, possibly with the aid of dotted letters from a nearby adult. :P

JupiterKid

Big Nasty wrote: »

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the holy picture with the red light. Surely they all had one of them?

I mentioned it in my OP. The Sacred Heart of Jesus picture. Also pics of De Valera and JFK were popular too.

Sleeper12

Grandchildren

s4uv3

A dresser full to the brim with "good china" sets. I can still see them now, plates with all sorts of patterns, and I'd only be dying to use them. When there were visitors around, the good china would come out.
She also had two large stone chickens either side of the front door. We used to love sitting up on them and climbing all over them when we were tiny. Looking back now, they must have looked really daft
And the USA box full of buttons of course....

stimpson

A stroke.

Thumpette

One of my grannies is still going but all she has is an evil disposition. (Oh the stories!)

My other granny died at 57 in 1993. She used to live right next door to us and mind us while my parents worked. She was great at knitting- used to knit the Aran jumpers that then went onto being sold in shops for a small fortune. I always remember the wool coming in these big reels and then I'd help roll it into balls.

The main thing I remember is her food. She wasn't a great cook in retrospect. She used to make this stew and potatoes and then heat it in a thing she had which looked like a microwave but was a little electric grill/ oven. It was always dry and a bit burnt but I loved it. It had a particular flavour. One day a couple of years ago I tasted hp fruity sauce and there it was! The secret ingredient!

Lovely thread OP. Have such lovely memories of my Nanny. She had a tough life, sent to Scotland to pick potatoes at a young age, forced to pretend he first son was her brother for most of her life and burying her youngest daughter at 9 months. She was great fun though, warm and with this michievious laugh- the life and soul.