St. Jacobs Farmers Market

 My Royal Doulton Doll

Today, a found memory of mine burnt to the ground. And, only two and a half months before I was going to visit it again.

http://storify.com/theglobeandmail/st-jacobs-market-fire

As a child, my Mom made sure that us kids got to fly to visit our grandma (known on this blog as Emma and Rylee's great grandma) in Ontario at least every other year. We looked forward to these visits with Grandma. One of our favorite things to do when visiting grandma, was to go to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market. It was such a fun place with lots of things to see and do, and of course enjoy the delicious food it had to offer.  Grandma knew how much we loved it and made sure we stopped by every time we were in Ontario. I will be visit Grandma in November and was hoping we could go to the market - I guess it will have to be a found memory as we build new traditions to look forward to with each visit.

As an adult, I don't get to see my Grandma as much. And, while I miss her, I feel like she is here with me often. You see, Grandma is good and doing special things to make sure I feel close when I am so far away. When visiting grandma as a kid, I always enjoyed looking in her glass cabinet at "her ladies." Grandma collected Royal Doulton porcelain figurines. Each lady had a name and a different look and feel. Of course, grandma made sure that in her collection was a lady that shared the same name as each of her granddaughters.

http://www.royal-doulton.com/

I enjoyed looking at these ladies and trying to pinpoint similarities between the figurines and each of my cousins. Believe it or not, it seemed that the dolls really did represent each of us girls. As I got older, grandma would even let me hold my lady to look at it up close. It was really special that she trusted me. And, I liked that idea that when I came home to Saskatchewan that grandma would still have my figurine.

In 2010, I got married. And, Grandma made the trip out west for my wedding. She took part in the morning-of activities, having breakfast and champagne while we got ready for my big day. My cousin Katrina was also there.  As I was waiting to have my hair done, my Grandma came out of the spare bedroom with two gift bags. She told me she had something for Katrina and I that she was saving until we were old enough. I couldn't guess what was in that bag, but when I opened it brought a tear to my eye. It was my "lady" - the Charlotte figurine from Grandma's collection. It was such a perfect gift and really made the morning of my wedding special. Katrina and I were so pleased with these moving gifts. My lady sits in my china-cabinet with all of my valuables, where I can see it often and smile at the fond memories I have of my Grandma Audrey.

So, although the St. Jacobs Market is only a fond memory now, I still have my lady to hold on to.

Charlotte McGraw

Roadtripping with Grandma

Charlotte McGraw 

My Favourite Picture of Charlotte

Today I am going to introduce you to my niece Charlotte McGraw.  I have invited Charlotte to become a guest blogger, she brings a unique perspective to the topic of Grandparents and Grandchildren.  Hers is the perspective of a young married, professional Granddaughter.

 Charlotte and Adam on their wedding day

Charlotte is the oldest child of my baby sister Carla Beros and I want to take this opportunity to thank Carla for raising such a strong, independent, compassionate daughter – she takes after her mother.

I hope you will all join with me in welcoming Charlotte to the world of blogging.

Roadtripping with Grandma

Theresa Beros /Grandma Terry

by Charlotte McGraw

Some 25 year-olds might cringe at the idea of driving 1500 kilometres in a car with their grandma, but I was looking forward to our five day trip to visit family in Alberta. The excursion presented a unique opportunity to spend quality time with the woman for whom I was named, my grandma Terry.

Bright and early Thursday morning Grandma and I hit the road –saddled with a booster cushion and neck pillow for Grandma and an ice coffee for me. About five minutes into our drive we hit our first obstacle – differing opinions on music. As I popped in the audio book I had bought in anticipation of this very challenge, grandma pulled out a brand new polka-style gospel CD. After some compromise we agreed to alternate. And, although I didn’t like the polka-tune, I enjoy the big smile on grandma’s face as she tapped her hand and sang along. 

After a ride of music and conversation, we arrived at my aunt’s house. At supper that evening, Grandma entertained the family with the tale of how her prized garden gnome-owl was recently stolen. Grandma takes great pride in her garden gnomes, and this theft was a big deal. So big in fact, that she called the local police to report the missing owl. Upon hearing this, my cousins and I burst into laughter; we thought it was hilarious that she had gotten the authorities involved. Grandma didn’t think this was funny: “You all laugh, but I have had that owl for almost 30 years, since grandpa and I moved off the farm.” We tried to contain ourselves while explaining to grandma that while we felt bad for her missing gnome, that we just found it funny that she filed a formal report.

The rest of the weekend was low-key and relaxing. We did some shopping (grandma got herself a new garden animal) and spent a lot of time hanging out on the deck and visiting. It was a change for me to have to share grandma with my cousins. I am a chatter-box, so I had to hold my tongue and ensure my cousins and grandma got in a good visit without me dominating the conversation. I even missed out on a garage sale, letting my cousin and grandma go on their own for some quality bonding time. After all, I did get to spend seven hours with her on our drive home.

As grateful as I was to have gotten to experience the road trip with grandma, she was more grateful that I had taken her: “Thank you for driving me Charlotte, if I was driving we’d have been all over the road and in the ditch right now. I enjoy being able to look at all the farm yards and being able to nap.”

I wish I would have thought of this sooner. I’d recommend all grandchildren taking a road-trip with a grandparent.

Charlotte McGraw