Memory Tugs

I was reading Cannelle et Vanille's recent post, which had lovely photos of fresh picked peas, and I had a sudden flashback. (Whizzing backwards MANY years to Westminster, MA, when I was seven years old....) It was in the heat of summer after school was over, and I was visiting my grandparents for a month or so. My grandmother and I were sitting on their big back porch, which overlooked the 80+ acres of woods behind their home, which they owned. There was a bowl in my lap, a bowl in my grandma's, and a bowl between us. We were shelling peas for dinner, and chatting. Every now and then, I'd eat some fresh peas, loving the greenness and crunch of their flavor, knowing they'd be softer and buttery after my grandma cooked them. I wish I had a photo of this moment, but it's definitely etched in my mind, and pops up every time I see or think of freshly shelled peas.


I do have this other photo of us out blueberry picking in the woods. This was a bit later in the summer, and was another favorite thing to do...

That's my grandma Sigrid, and that's me with my blueberry bucket tied to my waist. (My grandpa's doing.) I love my grandma so much, you just don't know. I miss her terribly all the time. She was a singular soul, and had a way of making everything better when they weren't, and for making a little girl feel special when she thought she wasn't. I was lucky to know her for the first part of my life. I will always love and miss her to the bottom of my soul. 


She taught me many things... to appreciate nature, to cook and bake, to be creative in different ways than what I knew. She inspired me to make jewelry and to garden. She introduced me to the idea of accepting people for just the way they are. When I was a child, I aspired to be like her, and always thought of her as an angel in disguise. (I'm totally serious!) As an adult, I now understand that she really was an angel in disguise, and she watches over me all the time now. I'm a very lucky girl.