I asked my Mom what some of her earliest memories were. She says when she was just a little girl, she remembers sitting on her Grandma Scott's knee in her big brick house. She remembers her Grandpa Scott walking away from her towards the barn with his hands behind his back. He was beginning to get sick and would eventually be stricken with what they called 'Creeping Paralysis' in those days. He eventually became totally paralyzed and was left bed ridden until the time of his death. Close to the end, he could only blink his eyes to communicate. I did some research and found that in some circles, the other name for Creeping Paralysis is Lou Gehrig's Disease. Although I understand the mere mention strikes a chord of fear, apparently, it is neither contagious nor hereditary.
Mom remembers her grandma giving my great grandpa a dill pickle to suck on at times as it seemed to help with something...possibly a dry mouth. It must have been exceptionally heavy work for my great grandma to take care of him day in and day out because one day she simply laid down beside him and died. Everyone assumed she had a heart attack. If he knew she had died, there wouldn't have been a single thing he could have done about it. All he could do was lay there and wait for someone to come by. After her death, the grown children took turns sitting with him night and day. Mom remembers her mom going over and sometimes in the middle of the night.
The Scotts had ten kids ... Aaron, Jimmy, Johnny, George, Irvine, Edna, Francess, Margie, Jeannie and Jessie. My grandma was Jessie, and she was the youngest. She of course was my favorite, but they were all special in my eyes and have been gone from this earth for many years now. I inherited a silver tea set from Aunt Edna. My Aunt Francess did beautiful handiwork and made me a beautiful quilt and a whole set of embroidered tea towels, one for every day of the week. As you can imagine, after four decades of use, the tea towels are well worn. The silver tea set however, is turning black, even though it's all wrapped up in many layers of Saran Wrap! I think the last one of the Scott children to pass away was Aunt Jeannie. She was one of the feistiest ones, as she lived the ranching lifestyle with her husband, Uncle Roy and their family out in Alberta. They were truly red necks even before there was such a term.
Unfortunately, one of the first ones to pass away of those children was my grandma, Jessie Louella. She was only 59 and it was from a massive heart attack. She had been suffering with what the doctor's thought was an ulcer, but apparently it wasn't. Grandma had short, wavy snow white hair for as long as I can remember. They said it had gone white in her twenties. One of the best things about grandparents is that they seldom give you heck. They fit you into their household like you always belonged there, and they have so much patience. My parents seldom gave me heck either, but I think we got things at Grandma and Grandpa's that we normally didn't get at home. For instance, I was introduced to Dad's Chocolate Chip cookies for dipping into coffee with fresh, thick cream. We got this as a bedtime snack, so no wonder I had a hard time falling asleep! I'm pretty sure they hadn't invented decaffeinated coffee yet...My little brother and I slept in the middle bedroom which was located off the dining room. There was a beautiful wine-coloured comforter on that double bed that was made of some kind of satin material. It was so slippery it would slide to the floor multiple times overnigth and for sure come morning. We were little and I always remember we would wake up freezing to death. I loved the closet in that room because there was a doll in it that would cry if you held her a certain way. She also had glass eyes with eyelashes that shut when you laid her down and opened when you sat her up.
My grandma used Atrixo hand cream because after all the times her hands were in water they would be as rough as sand paper if she didn't. She had beautiful hair and since 'kiss curls' were in, she had one on either corner of her forhead. She wore black cat glasses...and although that description sounds garish, she really was a very beautiful and well respected woman (even with the cat glasses). They were all the rage after all. In her bedroom she had a small built- in cabinet that housed things like a talcum powder puff. I distinctly remember her wearing just a titch of red rouge and red lipstick when she went to town. She would also dab perfume behind each ear. There was no such thing as a "No Scent" policy anywhere in those days. The rouge was in a tiny round metal tin inside the cabinet. I can't really remember, but I think there might have been a mirror on the outside door too. There was no such thing as make-up brushes, so she used her fingertip to apply the colour. She would have had a basin bath while getting ready to go.
On the other wall was a half closet type cubby hole full of things like all these woman's hats, and matching gloves. These were meant to dress up an outfit for church, weddings or funerals. Her parents' huge black family bible sat open on the dresser. It said when all the family had been born, married and to who, baptised etc. It was a very important book, so I'm not sure how Grandma got it, out of all the ten children, but maybe because she was the youngest. I don't know where that book resides today, but I am pretty sure someone has it. She had another of these cubby hole closets in the dining room. In there was a long, narrow can, that if you took the lid off a long snaky green thing would spring out at you. It was a joke, but the first time you had it played on you, you got quite a jolt! They heated the place with an oil stove in the living room. There was a stove in the kitchen that had some sort of contraption on the side of it, a reservoir I think, to heat water. Uncle Jerry's bedroom was off the kitchen, and I remember that room was always freezing cold first thing in the morning. We were reminded how important it was to always wear shoes or slippers inside Grandma's house in the winter time.
Mom remembers her dad hand-making little wooden baby carriages for her and her little sister. The little wheels were even made out of wood. He was actually quite a good carpenter. He built his own shop and a camp kitchen in the midst of a bunch of trees he had planted in between the house and the barn. The "Forest", to us kids, it was more like an Enchanted Forest. We stayed out of the forest for no real reason other than it was rather creepy. It was on the one side of the road that led to the barn and on the other side was the "Big House". This was Great Grandma and Grandpa Gunderson's home. In my entire youth, it had no one living in it. It had original wood trim and doors and a wooden stairwell to a second storey. The closets in the bedrooms had slanted ceilings. There were women's leather shoes in those closets that had buttons on one side that came up over top of the ankle. All those shoes were black and I always tried to see in my mind's eye what the women who wore them would have looked like. It was a huge two-storey home and I always wondered why it sat empty while my grandparents raised their entire family of four only a couple hundred yards away in a small bungalow. I could only think that the big one would have cost too much to heat, or for whatever reason, I guess I will never know. Once as a young girl, I was going through some of my Grandma's treasures, including her photo albums. I had a big shock to see a picture of my Great Grandma Gunderson in her casket. I had never before seen anyone dead, so I had a few nightmares after that!
There was a kind of closet at the front door of the Big House and for some reason some sticks of dynamite had been left there for absolutely years. Eventually, someone came and removed them in a safe manner, but there were some tense moments, because of the instability of the nitroglycerine. Dynamite was commonly used to blow up beaver dams that were affecting the free flow of the creeks with subsequent flooding of land and crops. There were no ceiling lights in any of the closets in the Big House. The walls were kind of chalky and great for drawing pictures on. We drew an old fashioned telphone and played house and office by the hour. There were trunks of books and clothes and we could stay most of the day if we liked never lacking things to do. The windows upstairs were big and the position of the house facing south made it possible to have the sun streaming in, especially in the afternoon. Downstairs, by the back door was a pantry-like closet. I remember all the old things sitting on the shelves collecting dust. One was an old wicker picnic basket. One was a foot heater that a person could use to warm their feet while riding in a cutter. The windows in the large living room were stained glass. The dining room was off of the living room and I'm not sure if the room at the back of it was the kitchen or another bedroom. It was always dark, so I didn't like going in there. There was a big veranda out the front door that faced the road, with carragana and lilac bushes planted on three sides of the house. The house was built at the top of a hill, so overlooked alot of countryside. There is a creek to the south and east of the farm yard, so in the Spring of the year when the flood came in, the view from the house would have been spectacular. The countless birds, geese, ducks and swans that flock to that area to this day during the flood in the Spring is nothing short of awesome.
Grandpa built a set of kitchen cupboards for grandma. He was a bit shorter than her and built the cupboards to his own height. This was a little too low for her so she had to bend down a little while washing dishes or vegetables or working at the cupboard in general, especially preparing meals. I remember that issue being a bone of contention, but she was always happy with her new cupboards regardless. I remember them being varnished to a really high glossy coat. I remember her pen drawer and the fact that she always kept several boxes of Chicklets chewing gum in the same drawer. After all, she was a closet smoker and it wouldn't do to smell like smoke when any of her sisters or brothers showed up at her doorstep for a visit . One of the best jobs my little brother and I had when we visited them was to check out all the scores of pens individually to see if they still wrote. If they had dried up, then it was time to throw them out. Another job we had was to gather the eggs. For some reason, her hens were mean and cranky. Grandma showed us how to reach under the hen to get the egg. Some of these hens could tell just by looking at us little kids that we were easy pecking... Did you ever get hen pecked? It hurts like anything to have a sharp beak give you a good one on the back of the hand. I never really liked gathering the eggs for that very reason. Then we would sit up with Grandma late at night until each and every egg was washed. They would be sold at the creamery in town, along with cream from the Jersey cow.
Mom blistered her whole hand once on a hot exhaust pipe that ran from a motor on the washing machine and exhausted out a window. Her dad had rigged up the motor to make the washing machine work. Mom was a little girl and was fascinated with the whole set up. For some reason, she reached out and grabbed the pipe and her hand instantly blistered. Grandma Gunderson immediately thrust her whole little hand into the flour bin. I really don't know how flour would help, but I guess it did.
Mom remembers going for a ride in an old car at her grandpa's. It was in the 1930's and had a canvas roof. She was just a kid and several cousins got to go for the ride with her. She said it was a real highlight because no one had a car in those days.
What became of all these places? The Scott house with it's dumb waiter (another name for lift or elevator) was burned unexpectedly one night. It had housed leather couches and many other treasures that were being stolen because no one was left to live in it. The Gunderson's Big House was ransacked by vandals and had the inside walls shot up. Someone got loose in there with a gun and went crazy wrecking the place. After much of the woodwork was salvaged by family and friends, it too was burned. The big hip-roofed grey barn was burned one night too and no one knows if it was lightning or deliberately set. The smaller house where my mother was raised is still standing but as a cabin at a lake.
Mom remembers her grandma giving my great grandpa a dill pickle to suck on at times as it seemed to help with something...possibly a dry mouth. It must have been exceptionally heavy work for my great grandma to take care of him day in and day out because one day she simply laid down beside him and died. Everyone assumed she had a heart attack. If he knew she had died, there wouldn't have been a single thing he could have done about it. All he could do was lay there and wait for someone to come by. After her death, the grown children took turns sitting with him night and day. Mom remembers her mom going over and sometimes in the middle of the night.
The Scotts had ten kids ... Aaron, Jimmy, Johnny, George, Irvine, Edna, Francess, Margie, Jeannie and Jessie. My grandma was Jessie, and she was the youngest. She of course was my favorite, but they were all special in my eyes and have been gone from this earth for many years now. I inherited a silver tea set from Aunt Edna. My Aunt Francess did beautiful handiwork and made me a beautiful quilt and a whole set of embroidered tea towels, one for every day of the week. As you can imagine, after four decades of use, the tea towels are well worn. The silver tea set however, is turning black, even though it's all wrapped up in many layers of Saran Wrap! I think the last one of the Scott children to pass away was Aunt Jeannie. She was one of the feistiest ones, as she lived the ranching lifestyle with her husband, Uncle Roy and their family out in Alberta. They were truly red necks even before there was such a term.
Unfortunately, one of the first ones to pass away of those children was my grandma, Jessie Louella. She was only 59 and it was from a massive heart attack. She had been suffering with what the doctor's thought was an ulcer, but apparently it wasn't. Grandma had short, wavy snow white hair for as long as I can remember. They said it had gone white in her twenties. One of the best things about grandparents is that they seldom give you heck. They fit you into their household like you always belonged there, and they have so much patience. My parents seldom gave me heck either, but I think we got things at Grandma and Grandpa's that we normally didn't get at home. For instance, I was introduced to Dad's Chocolate Chip cookies for dipping into coffee with fresh, thick cream. We got this as a bedtime snack, so no wonder I had a hard time falling asleep! I'm pretty sure they hadn't invented decaffeinated coffee yet...My little brother and I slept in the middle bedroom which was located off the dining room. There was a beautiful wine-coloured comforter on that double bed that was made of some kind of satin material. It was so slippery it would slide to the floor multiple times overnigth and for sure come morning. We were little and I always remember we would wake up freezing to death. I loved the closet in that room because there was a doll in it that would cry if you held her a certain way. She also had glass eyes with eyelashes that shut when you laid her down and opened when you sat her up.
My grandma used Atrixo hand cream because after all the times her hands were in water they would be as rough as sand paper if she didn't. She had beautiful hair and since 'kiss curls' were in, she had one on either corner of her forhead. She wore black cat glasses...and although that description sounds garish, she really was a very beautiful and well respected woman (even with the cat glasses). They were all the rage after all. In her bedroom she had a small built- in cabinet that housed things like a talcum powder puff. I distinctly remember her wearing just a titch of red rouge and red lipstick when she went to town. She would also dab perfume behind each ear. There was no such thing as a "No Scent" policy anywhere in those days. The rouge was in a tiny round metal tin inside the cabinet. I can't really remember, but I think there might have been a mirror on the outside door too. There was no such thing as make-up brushes, so she used her fingertip to apply the colour. She would have had a basin bath while getting ready to go.
On the other wall was a half closet type cubby hole full of things like all these woman's hats, and matching gloves. These were meant to dress up an outfit for church, weddings or funerals. Her parents' huge black family bible sat open on the dresser. It said when all the family had been born, married and to who, baptised etc. It was a very important book, so I'm not sure how Grandma got it, out of all the ten children, but maybe because she was the youngest. I don't know where that book resides today, but I am pretty sure someone has it. She had another of these cubby hole closets in the dining room. In there was a long, narrow can, that if you took the lid off a long snaky green thing would spring out at you. It was a joke, but the first time you had it played on you, you got quite a jolt! They heated the place with an oil stove in the living room. There was a stove in the kitchen that had some sort of contraption on the side of it, a reservoir I think, to heat water. Uncle Jerry's bedroom was off the kitchen, and I remember that room was always freezing cold first thing in the morning. We were reminded how important it was to always wear shoes or slippers inside Grandma's house in the winter time.
Mom remembers her dad hand-making little wooden baby carriages for her and her little sister. The little wheels were even made out of wood. He was actually quite a good carpenter. He built his own shop and a camp kitchen in the midst of a bunch of trees he had planted in between the house and the barn. The "Forest", to us kids, it was more like an Enchanted Forest. We stayed out of the forest for no real reason other than it was rather creepy. It was on the one side of the road that led to the barn and on the other side was the "Big House". This was Great Grandma and Grandpa Gunderson's home. In my entire youth, it had no one living in it. It had original wood trim and doors and a wooden stairwell to a second storey. The closets in the bedrooms had slanted ceilings. There were women's leather shoes in those closets that had buttons on one side that came up over top of the ankle. All those shoes were black and I always tried to see in my mind's eye what the women who wore them would have looked like. It was a huge two-storey home and I always wondered why it sat empty while my grandparents raised their entire family of four only a couple hundred yards away in a small bungalow. I could only think that the big one would have cost too much to heat, or for whatever reason, I guess I will never know. Once as a young girl, I was going through some of my Grandma's treasures, including her photo albums. I had a big shock to see a picture of my Great Grandma Gunderson in her casket. I had never before seen anyone dead, so I had a few nightmares after that!
There was a kind of closet at the front door of the Big House and for some reason some sticks of dynamite had been left there for absolutely years. Eventually, someone came and removed them in a safe manner, but there were some tense moments, because of the instability of the nitroglycerine. Dynamite was commonly used to blow up beaver dams that were affecting the free flow of the creeks with subsequent flooding of land and crops. There were no ceiling lights in any of the closets in the Big House. The walls were kind of chalky and great for drawing pictures on. We drew an old fashioned telphone and played house and office by the hour. There were trunks of books and clothes and we could stay most of the day if we liked never lacking things to do. The windows upstairs were big and the position of the house facing south made it possible to have the sun streaming in, especially in the afternoon. Downstairs, by the back door was a pantry-like closet. I remember all the old things sitting on the shelves collecting dust. One was an old wicker picnic basket. One was a foot heater that a person could use to warm their feet while riding in a cutter. The windows in the large living room were stained glass. The dining room was off of the living room and I'm not sure if the room at the back of it was the kitchen or another bedroom. It was always dark, so I didn't like going in there. There was a big veranda out the front door that faced the road, with carragana and lilac bushes planted on three sides of the house. The house was built at the top of a hill, so overlooked alot of countryside. There is a creek to the south and east of the farm yard, so in the Spring of the year when the flood came in, the view from the house would have been spectacular. The countless birds, geese, ducks and swans that flock to that area to this day during the flood in the Spring is nothing short of awesome.
Grandpa built a set of kitchen cupboards for grandma. He was a bit shorter than her and built the cupboards to his own height. This was a little too low for her so she had to bend down a little while washing dishes or vegetables or working at the cupboard in general, especially preparing meals. I remember that issue being a bone of contention, but she was always happy with her new cupboards regardless. I remember them being varnished to a really high glossy coat. I remember her pen drawer and the fact that she always kept several boxes of Chicklets chewing gum in the same drawer. After all, she was a closet smoker and it wouldn't do to smell like smoke when any of her sisters or brothers showed up at her doorstep for a visit . One of the best jobs my little brother and I had when we visited them was to check out all the scores of pens individually to see if they still wrote. If they had dried up, then it was time to throw them out. Another job we had was to gather the eggs. For some reason, her hens were mean and cranky. Grandma showed us how to reach under the hen to get the egg. Some of these hens could tell just by looking at us little kids that we were easy pecking... Did you ever get hen pecked? It hurts like anything to have a sharp beak give you a good one on the back of the hand. I never really liked gathering the eggs for that very reason. Then we would sit up with Grandma late at night until each and every egg was washed. They would be sold at the creamery in town, along with cream from the Jersey cow.
Mom blistered her whole hand once on a hot exhaust pipe that ran from a motor on the washing machine and exhausted out a window. Her dad had rigged up the motor to make the washing machine work. Mom was a little girl and was fascinated with the whole set up. For some reason, she reached out and grabbed the pipe and her hand instantly blistered. Grandma Gunderson immediately thrust her whole little hand into the flour bin. I really don't know how flour would help, but I guess it did.
Mom remembers going for a ride in an old car at her grandpa's. It was in the 1930's and had a canvas roof. She was just a kid and several cousins got to go for the ride with her. She said it was a real highlight because no one had a car in those days.
What became of all these places? The Scott house with it's dumb waiter (another name for lift or elevator) was burned unexpectedly one night. It had housed leather couches and many other treasures that were being stolen because no one was left to live in it. The Gunderson's Big House was ransacked by vandals and had the inside walls shot up. Someone got loose in there with a gun and went crazy wrecking the place. After much of the woodwork was salvaged by family and friends, it too was burned. The big hip-roofed grey barn was burned one night too and no one knows if it was lightning or deliberately set. The smaller house where my mother was raised is still standing but as a cabin at a lake.
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