Granny Rhoda

I was very young when my great-grandmother died, but there is much I remember about her. I remember she had a way with flowers, she could stick a cutting in the ground and it would grow. The place where she lived was very beautiful with lots of flowers. I remember an old hewed out log near a hand pump that had been a watering trough. There was always water in it. I think she got water there to water her flowers. I remember she would sit on her porch and smoke a tiny corncob pipe. She seemed to really enjoy that. I think my mom has one of her pipes. She smoked George Washington tobacco. She gave me a tin once that her tobacco came in, I still have it. Its filled with other little keepsakes from my youth. I remember she always had a peppermint log in her shifferobe (a place to hang clothes), and she would crack of a tiny piece of this cane off for my brother and me every time we came over. I think she was one of about twelve children, and she had about that many of her own. My grandmother was next to the youngest. She loved to get her family together and on her birthday every year people would come from all over to a family reunion. Many of them were friends and not family members, but everyone was welcome. Sometimes it seemed like there was a hundred people there, maybe more, because they were everywhere. They would bring dishes and granny and her two daughters that lived with her would start cooking the day before. When they made tables outside they were very long and filled with food. Nobody went away hungry, there was always plenty and some left over. I always enjoyed those time, there were so many kids to play with. I played with the boys, didn't like girl games. All I had to play with was boys anyway, so I kept it up. We kept this up for many years after she died until Aunt Polly died. Then when her granddaughter got the place we did it again until a few years ago. But this time wasn't like it was then. Lots of people came but not as many people as before. I may have been three maybe four when she died but I will never forget that night. When she died the church and yard was filled with friends and relatives. She left behind her a strong legacy of the family.

love, neon_sapphire