Yellow & Blue Houses

I want to have a turn at swapping memories, because I am a “great” granddaughter heh heh. (And because work is currently slow). My brain has a few 5 second 5 year old memories of Grandma Vi. (We didn’t call her Grandma Palmer, because we already had one). She fed us banana pudding. We had to eat it outside, but it was delicious. I found that praising her cooking quieted any wrath (Shawn). I also remember finishing off some veggies right from the serving bowl, and she didn’t say a word because she was so pleased I liked it, probably. I also ate her apples and plums and raspberries…is it odd that many of my younger memories include eating? Well, as Marlie said to Jeff last Christmas as she stuffed herself with cheeseballs, “Sometimes I dream I’m eating food…and then it’s gone.” That dream seems familiar to me.

I have other memories of Grandma Vi’s home. Many are similar to Shawn’s. She had a Mouse Trap board game that always looked cool, but I was too young/impatient to actually set it up and learn the rules. She had the movie “The Secret Garden” (among two others) that Jess and I watched, and the “Elves and Fairies” book that is still my favorite book of all time. One more very vivid memory of mine: I found a measuring tape and wanted to show Grandma Vi how high it could go—as it came close to the ceiling, it fell on her. I can’t remember if I was punished by an adult, or if I felt so embarrassed and sorry that I psychologically punished myself. I’m still horrified at that memory.

I think that Grandma’s farm deserves its own theme. It is still one of my most favorite places in the entire world. A little farm with two rope swings, a tire swing, and a wooden swing! There was a cow trough to play in that housed fish and salamanders every once in awhile. We spent our days finding kittens, following ducklings, feeding lambs and calves with a bottle, chasing chickens, and keeping an eye on the raccoon while dad got the gun. We played “Beckon!” with the Palmers, climbed haystacks and trees, picked bluebells, made tents on the clothes line, and named our pig the most original pig name of all time: Wilbur.

Now, Grandpa Craner’s house was definitely different. I recall the orange creamies the adults would complain about while I sat nearby, happily licking mine up. I also stole smarties every once in awhile. Then there was the time where he had a container of frosted animal cookies that nobody would eat because they were stale; so I had them all to myself.

He sometimes took Jessica and me to Clogging, or dropped Jess off early for violin class. Jess still doesn’t stomach bananas very well. He took us to Polar Bear a couple of times. I remember one time sticking fries in our mouths like tusks when his back was turned, and we would whisper, “Hey, I’m talking to you!” We assumed he never heard us. The family usually stopped by his house Halloween night to show him our costumes and get that treat we couldn’t stop thinking about: a gigantic apple.

Grandpa Craner frequently brought us food from his garden, and sometimes his prize flowers. I remember trying to help him garden one year, and everyone was mad at him for some reason ;) He was a particular guy, I guess. I didn’t notice. When I got older, he would hand me a book he had been reading and explain what he got out of it to me. He underlined things here and there and I was horrified that he would write in his book with PEN. The dangly crystal lamps were cool, but I hated his toilet. It had a plastic cover on the seat that had a huge crack in it. It pinched sometimes.

Like Shawn, I respected him immensely. I don’t remember him ever being cross with me. He really was such a great man. We saw him all the time. He made an effort to be involved, and we loved going to see him. My last, most favorite memory of him: When dad switched the straw he had been using for the last 5 years. It was full of gunk inside, but he would keep reusing it. Dad found a whole box of straws in Grandpa’s cupboard, so dad put a new one in Grandpa’s drink when he wasn’t looking, and threw the old one away. Grandpa took a sip from his new straw and started choking haha! He wasn’t used to it coming out so fast. Am I wrong to assume that he went to the garbage and dug his old straw back out again…?

These are very immature memories, it is true. But I was just an immature, chubby little girl that loved to play. I remember their funerals. I have seen 3 dead bodies in my lifetime: Grandma Vi, Grandpa H. Larson, and Grandpa Craner. My three “great” grandparents.This may be a morbid way to end my memoirs, but—naturally—it is where my memories end.

Over the River ...

            Well, unlike the rest of you, I didn’t have 4 grandparents to spoil over me as I was growing up.  I had to make do with a little of Grandma Palmer, and a bit more of Grandpa Craner, but both were past playing and having patience with little ones, so I had to keep quiet and stay out of the way.  Obviously, I’m stronger for it, but we won’t go into that.

 For my growing up years, trips to Preston were pretty frequent with Jen & Troy there, and Grandpa Craner, Grandma Palmer (I didn’t really know either of their spouses).  I feel like I have some faint memory of Grandpa Palmer, but I can’t really associate it with anything so I may just have the picture in my mind from a photo.  I remember Birdie, but also very faintly. The drive to Preston was like Mat said, passed with games of Zip.  If you played Sign Alphabet, you had to hurry and finish by Downey cause there weren’t many signs after that. 

One of the earliest memories I have of Grandma is when she made me stay at the dinner table by myself until I ate the vomitus mass of sopping wet, cooked spinach on my plate.  I can actually remember how it made me gag, and I still feel a little queasy.  I am grateful now, because there have been very few other things that I have had trouble getting down.  My friend’s mothers all loved that I would eat anything they put in front of me, but maybe that was just because our saintly mother took all of the good meals she made to “neighbors.”

Grandma’s always had a little bit of mystery to it.  You never knew what you were going to find under the piles of junk in the 15 different sheds.  Mandy and I loved to play with Holly and Niels (still don’t know how to spell his name), in the barn on the big rope swing.  We’d swing from the hay loft on one side, across to the other side where mostly old scrap metal and junk was kept.  Whenever I looked up at the tattered rope we were swinging on, I always had a visual image of the big hay fork dropping down on my head.  There was a cool, old car in the barn, a big hawk’s nest next to a perfect climbing tree.  I remember cousins teaching us to suck the nectar out of  honeysuckle, having my first experience with young green apples, playing kick the can, capture the flag, jumping on the unusually tall bed upstairs, and picking raspberries out of the patch.  She had a few distinct toys, and only two movies that I remember (Where the Red Fern Grows, and An American Tale).  Going back for some of the Palmer reunions in recent years has been fun because everything I look at has a memory attached to it.  The perfectly shaded yard with the clothes lines, the apple trees, etc. etc. etc.

Grandpa Craner’s house on the other hand was pretty predictable.  You would probably get a banana creamy (or strawberry, depending on the era), look at picture albums, and try to talk to Grandpa. His garage, and back porch were always so well organized.  The house was also neat, and orderly.  It only got disgusting when you looked too close.  I loved his old tin Carousel, the bouncing balls, and Hungry Hippos! I remember helping Grandpa cut his prize Gladiolus for Memorial Day, and being amazed at his attention to detail in even just the arranging of the flowers.  He was always very particular about how things were done, especially in the garden.  One of my favorite memories of Grandpa that I will always remember is when he actually came to visit my school for Grandparent’s Day at Inkom Elementary.  I don’t remember what we did together the rest of the day, but my 90 year old grandpa came out and played whiffle ball with my friends and me during recess.  Justin Wright got him out at one of the bases, and Grandpa just shoved him off the base.  My buddies all thought I had a pretty awesome Grandpa, and I did too.  I thought he was just as cool when I came into the dugout during a baseball game in Preston my sophomore year, and my coach had a wry smile on his face, because there was my 96 year old Grandpa huddled up there at the end of our bench.  It was a chilly, windy day, and in classic
Grandpa Craner style he just walked in and sat down, and told coach he was my grandpa.

On one visit, I talked to Grandpa about his autobiography, (probably while Mom was trying to hurry and clean some of the house) and brought up his story of driving a girl home in a buggy, and that it was a good thing that the horse knew the way home, because he was busy smooching the girl under a blanket.   He got a big grin, and said something about the advantages of horses.  As I got older I loved to wander around his garage and look at the old tools and things he had in there.  It was cool for me to learn that he was such a well-respected man in the community.  From Craner Fields, and being Grand Marshall, to having the new Ag. Building named after him, helped me to respect and appreciate him. 

Silver dollar hamburgers on Memorial Day, Banana Creamies, Nutty Buddies, and mushy bananas are just a few of the things that always remind me of Grandpas house.  Maybe he did those things so consistently so that we would remember him more often.

Christmas Party!

I'm with Josie...can't wait to read more Christmas memories :)
Speaking of Christmas, it was a crazy time for us, but the best time!  We flew into Colorado to see my family and then we took the train from Colorado to Salt Lake. Of course our train was delayed two hours so we didn't get in till like 1 in the morning. We are grateful Clair and Carolyn were willing to pick us up. It was so fun seeing where they work and exploring Temple Square. Such a special place. Christmas morning was fun of course. Kanyin got spoiled. Christmas morning we were off to Preston and spent a few days there with everybody. Thank you Palmer's and Larson's for letting us crash your homes! The adults even got away one night to see a movie "Saving Mr Banks," which was so so good and got something to eat afterwards.

The new City Creek has a fun place for kids. 

Christmas morning!

Thanks Josie for the "kick in the pants!" I guess as Mom and Grandma I should lead out with "Memories of visits to Grandma and Grandpa's." I must say that those visits for this Mom was kinda stressful. I worried about what the kids would say or do or what they would break, etc. My kids were just normal?, average kids, full of life and mischief and my parents were just not used to that many all at once! I was grateful for the lovely meals they prepared for us at Christmas time and for the games they always had for the kids to play with - both indoors and out in the back yard. Grandma Palmer was always very welcoming to us, but Grandpa Palmer would always send the kids to the "back room" to play - with what? Children in his day were seen, but not heard. I guess he didn't want to see them either. The kids enjoyed the barn with the big rope swing and enjoyed Joel and Lois's kids and helping out once in a while with the milking and the hay hauling and other chores. And of course Grandma Palmer could make the best meals out of whatever she had! I tried to make "mush" like hers, but I guess hers just tasted better because Grandma made it. I would ask her what I could do to help, and she would always say, "you take care of the kids; I'll take care of the food." I told her, that was a deal. Most of you kids don't remember Aunt Jennie and Uncle Jed. Jennie was Grandpa Palmer's sister, and they had no children, so they would come to visit the Palmers. Aunt Jennie loved rings and things and would always hold her fingers "just so", so everyone could admire her beautiful jewelry. I loved Uncle Gene. He was Grandma's brother. He loved me too. Uncle Ted, her other brother and his wife, Aunt Celia, were also very kind to me. I worked with Celia at Cal Pack in 1964, so we were acquainted with each other. Grandpa's sister, Aunt Leone and her husband, Uncle Melvin, also had no children of their own, so they doted on all their nieces and nephews and even raised a nephew. I also knew Grandma's sisters, Aunt Rhoda and her husband, Scottie and Aunt Mary, who lived in Soda Springs. They were all good people and I'm so happy to have known them. Maybe I will just mention my own visits to my grandparents. As you know, my grandparents waited for a grandchild for a long time - 14 years! I can only imagine their feelings when they finally had one. My Grandma Pond loved me to pieces! (not always to my pleasure) I loved going to their home in Logan and drive by their place every once in a while, when I'm in Logan, and reminisce. Too this day, I love the smell of mothballs, because that was the smell that was in the linen closet in the hallway of G&G Pond's house. I loved their big old radio and my memory of Grandpa listening to Utah State games in his big easy chair. I loved their old player piano. I don't remember it ever working, but I loved pretending. It was traded in for the piano we had as you were growing up. I loved Thanksgiving around their lovely table in the dining room,(my favorite part of the meal was the fruit cup at the beginning and the carrot pudding with the yellow sauce at the end), and even enjoyed spreading my paper dolls out in the piano room, while the adults watched football in the living room and visited. They always played a few rounds of "Button, Button" with me. Aunt Ora and Uncle Arthur were my "substitute" grandparents on the Craner side. They lived in the old Craner home, which was built in 1911. I LOVED that old home. I loved to imagine my grandparents and aunts and uncles coming in from the barn and washiing up etc. on the old back porch (enclosed). I did a lot of "imagining" about the rotating china cupboard, which turned from the kitchen to the dining room, and the dumb waiter, which hauled fruit and other bottled goods from the basement to the kitchen. Max Craner told me that the grandkids used to ride on it. I never took a bath in the bathtub that I can remember, but it was sure fun to see that huge old tub in the bathroom. The living room was so lovely and had the original windows with the wavy glass and a few stained glass windows at the top. I enjoyed playing the piano in "the Parlor," and loved Aunt Ora's old sheet music. I also remember playing the old thick records on the old Edison phonograph on the front porch. The stairs creaked as we walked up to go to bed. I slept in the "girl's" room, and Mama and Daddy slept in my Dad's old room. Those rooms had big old walk-in closets, and the room that I slept in had my cousin Donna's fairytale dolls on the bookshelves. The large window on the east welcomed the sunlight in the mornings. It was so lovely! I remember a family reunion when my cousin, Annette (Aunt Annie's daughter, who was my age) was there from California. We slept width wise with another cousin. That was so fun! Aunt Ora was a delightful lady who twittered when she laughed. She was such a good cook and prepared wonderful meals for us when we visited. Uncle Arthur and my Dad loved to argue - mostly about church or politics. He had quite the laugh (a very loud one), as well as a loud voice. His hair was so wiry and stuck up everywhere! The lane on the west side of the house was lined with wild yellow roses. The barns and sheds were still being used when I was a kid and one memory I have was being butted to the ground by an old ram sheep. I can hear Uncle Arthur laughing now. Aunt Ora worked hard in her yards and gardens. They were so lovely. It isn't that way any more. I'm so glad for good memories. My Craner grandparents were very hard working people, and my mother's first visit to them was memorable to her. Grandma Craner had her come out and weed the garden with her. I will be excited to meet them on the other side of the veil and to renew my acquaintance with all my aunts and uncles.