#Great grandmother

[dear-photograph]

Dear Photograph, this is an image of my great-grandmother, Nana Anna, in front of my grandfather’s house (her son) 26 years ago. Her joy and kindness glow from this image which resonates in all of our hearts. Each day, I am reminded of her peace and kindness through this image and my joyful heart is a result of her unconditional love and care. How lucky I am to share in her love and last name?

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was talking to my great-grandmother, who has now been dead for quite a few years. She was telling me about her haircare routine, and then started talking about Final Fantasy 14. I asked her if she had become a gamer since we last spoke. She said that she has, and that she loves the FF series, and has also been dabbling in Among Us recently.

[leonisandmurex]

George + Charlotte + Louis = Elizabeth once upon a time

[amorgansgal]

So I just learnt that my great grandmother got divorced and remarried in the 1900s, which was unheard of during the time. But she gave zero shits and her 2nd husband adored her and didn't care that she was divorced.

Then my grandma and grandpa in the 1950s left their wedding on her motorbike. My grandpa's motorbike was broken, so he rode on the back of her bike while my grandma was still wearing a full skirted 1950s wedding dress!

And my mum got married in 1990s without telling anyone and when I was already toddling around as 1 year old and kept her last name.

And my father-in-law expects me to take my partner's last name because 'back in his day' that was how things worked! Well, I think the long line of batshit insane women I've come from have never given a single shit about what's going on 'back in their day' and neither will I!

[always-coffee]

A bit of history

My great grandmother came from Italy. She sold olive oil in a storefront in New York. Most of the stories about her have been lost to time. But she was, among other things, a witch. She provided remedies to the neighborhood, when they came to call with an earache or a problem.

I only remember meeting her once, during the holidays when I must’ve been only five. She was in a wheelchair, and she had a kind face. Together, we rolled the cold cuts up for antipasto. (I mostly just kept her company.) Since we were in New York they were what I’d come to call the good cold cuts, alongside the good cheese.

From the stories I was told (by my mother and others), I know she was a strong woman who lived a hard life. Harder than is easy to wrap your head around. The truth can be like that sometimes: a creature as much made of shadows as it is light, seemingly impossible. And yet.

I have always had an affinity for witches and witchy-hearted humans. A large portion of the poetry I write are tarot poems. I read tarot cards, albeit inconsistently. I am always and forever learning.

There are days I look to the past to remind me of who I am. Today is one of those days, so I am sharing this glimpse with you.

[krasivaa]

~☆~🥹~☆~

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia and her great-grandmother, Queen Louise of Denmark, circa 1896.

photo enchanced by me!!

[yukiwhitetm]

Mum and I have been watching a lot of Downton Abbey lately and I've been admiring Mary and Edith's beautiful pearl necklaces, to the point where I said to mum, "I would like a pearl necklace!"

Mum looked at me and then replied, "Just a minute." And then she went upstairs.

She came back down with two envelopes in hand and gave them to me. I found three fake pearl necklaces inside. I pulled them out and held them up so they glistened in the lamplight. "Wow! Mum, I love them."

"They were my grandmother's - your great-grandmother's - and she always took such good care of them. You can have them now."

[blueskyheadleft010]

My great grandmother didn’t have a television in her home until sometime in the nineties, and my aunt loves to tell the story about how she reacted to it once they got it installed and turned it on.

Now, my great grandmother had definitely seen and knew what a television is, she’d just never owned one. She’d grown up living on a farm and didn’t have much time to do other things except take care of her large family and cook and clean, etc.

Anyways, my aunt had turned it on to some fictitious detective criminal show and then left to go do something real quick. When she came back she saw that my great grandmother had an angry look on her face and the tv was turned off.

She didn’t even get to ask her what was going on before she’d stood up suddenly and yelled aloud about how she was super done with television because ‘those stupid people were doing such stupid things and it made me so angry and they’re not even real! I don’t even know them!’, and then stormed out of the room.

My aunt managed to settle her down after she changed the channel to a game show, but I regularly quote her statement about ‘X isn’t even real! I don’t even know them!’ Because that was such a thing she would just casually say during an outing all the time lol.

[sweeetheartoftherodeo]

my great grandma and her rambunctious pack of friends

[luc3]

[Noël de Printemps]

Hawthorn, Hawthorn, yes, it's you the Real White Knight...

Thanks to this Way of Aridity and Truth, I learn the hard way what The Green Tongue really is.

The bad student that I am takes slaps that reduce her excessive pride.

Nature exults in the joy of the Lord.

[whytewolfe-art]

The Heart of the Grrmeister (read: My Memaw)

I'm a little late posting this, but this is a charcoal drawing I did of my great grandmother who passed last February. It took me about 3-4 hours to complete it.

I sent it to my grandma (her daughter) and she forwarded it to everyone in the family. We all miss our Memaw (whom we lovingly referred to as "Grr" or "the Grrmeister" when she was irritable because she was a little old German lady and she would make a grumbling noise that sounded like she was growling lol).

How I wish I had bought this woman more flowers when I could have :')

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Kenny from South Park was a tiny guy that lived in my great grandmother’s couch in the house from Encanto.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Great Grandmother and her siblings :: from my flickr files]

* * * *

Beat, Old Heart

Carl Sandburg

1878 –1967

Beat, old heart, these are the old bars All stragglers have beat against. Beat on these bars like the old sea Beats on the rocks and beaches. Beat here like the old winter winds Beat on the prairies and timbers. Old grizzlies, eagles, buffalo, Their paws and beaks register this. Their hides and heads say it with scars.

[kyuroon]

okay but without the previous connotations, grandmother would make a great name for a final boss

[high-quality-tiktoks]

Put my teacher in shock today🫠

[julochka365]

30/10.2022 (5) - looking closely at one of great grandma’s quilts