Favorite Photo Friday

I do love heritage photos so much! And not just because you might look back at good ‘ole [great-great –great-?] aunt so & so and see YOUR eyes [so fun! Did you know that only a few of us cousins have Mama M's eyes?] but also because they preserve images of our lifestyles too. And contrary to what ‘The Help’ might lead people to believe, all white families in the South didn’t grow up with help in the home… not in my little neck of the woods anyway.

Love that I’ve found these photos of my gr-mothers in their kitchens – probably taken in the early 50's [and John – that’s your daddy’s grandmother with Grandmaw B.] In these pictures you can see that my family grew up without a lot of luxuries. Note that neither of them have 'running' water.

I love that you can see the bare walls in the kitchen of Grandmaw B and the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Love the curtains and the scalloped shade - As far as I know, Grandmaw B always lived in town and while I have no memories of this house I'm sure some of my older cousins do. I do remember that she always wore her hair in a little bun at the back of her neck ...

Mama M lived rural her entire life. - And I love seeing the window by the stove in her kitchen that looked out on the drive and the big cedar tree- just wish you could see the hoosier-like cabinet she had also. I can't remember them not having running water - but I DO have a vague memory of taking a bath in a big washtub in the middle of this kitchen - and memories of sharing in the happiness when Mama M finally got an inside bathroom. Seriously. And, oh my - what wonderful tea cakes she'd roll out on that side counter top.

So I thought I'd contrast these photos with the some more recent ones [ha] - here's the kitchen I grew up using - it was small and tidy with the washer and dryer sitting against one wall and the 'pantry' was the bottom right cabinet [my bi-weekly job was to put all the canned goods away in there.] We baked many a chocolate brownie and chef boyardee pizza in this kitchen - and look! There's that mixer that lost a screw while we were making divinity one Christmas -

And this kitchen is the one my boys will always remember at gr-mommie's house - this is the kitchen where they learned to make biscuit men from left-over biscuit dough and where Mama would cook THE BEST blackberry jam this side of heaven. This kitchen almost always had a pot of coffee brewing or waiting to be served.It's the kitchen that was home to Joey for most of his life. And honestly, with Mom moving into assisted living - it's leaving us all grieving a bit to let it go -- but we'll hang tight to the memories ---- and the recipe for that jam!