In Appalachia Grannies are famous for their healing, cooking, sewing, gardening and for their sometimes quirky ways and funny sayings. I grew up with a dear sweet Granny named Gazzie. She fit the bill for the typical Granny characteristics. Gazzie was famous for her Sunday dinners with potatoes shaped like boats, her biscuits, her stick candy and her crocheting. She was also someone who didn't put up with nonsense and showed no pity for anyone who hurt those she loved.

                                                             

My girls are fortunate to have a Granny too. Their Granny (Gazzie's youngest daughter) is famous for her green beans, crocheting, gardening, sewing, and for her strange, ridiculous, funny and precious sayings. As I post some of both my Granny's sayings and quirky ways of doing things I hope you too will post things about your Granny.

                                                             

Comments

[tipper]

This morning on the way to school, Chitter told Granny she dreamed a copperhead bit her. Granny said "oh Lord you better be careful this coming summer" as she knocked 3 times on the car window. I guess if there's no wood around glass works too : )

[Ethel]

Great site! How many of us are better people because of the love of our Grannies? My grandma, who poudly called herself a "Pennsylvania hillbilly" did a thing she called the irish wash; she would strip a bed, then turn the sheets head-for-foot and put them back on the bed. Anyone else know of this?

[Janera]

Oh,yes, we make snow cream in Texas, too, when it snows. If it snows.

The story about drinking water from a tin dipper brought a memory of my grandma, who kept a wooden tub in the kitchen for the drinking water. If you were thirsty, you went to the bucket, took down the dipper from the hook on the wall, and got yourself a drink. Then, you replaced the dipper on it's hook.

My kids would be mortified. They get a new glass every time they get a drink!

[tipper]

It's exactly 9:47 in the morning. Granny just called and ask me to come eat dinner (lunch). She has turnip greens with turnips cooked in them, pinto beans, cornbread, and gingerbread cookies in the oven.

There is no way I can eat a meal like that this early in the morning-I'm just now finishing my 3rd cup of coffee. But boy am I lucky to have her and Pap or what : ) Honestly-they cook like that everyday-and I'm always invited to eat. Yep life is good.

[kara]

neat site. I grew up canning and picking blackberries and making blackberry pies with my grandmother too.
she's still around but sadly my grandfather, who was full of "isms" both of west virginia and unique to himself

[tipper]

Chitter has had a bad chest cold. Granny says she knows exactly how she caught it. About a week ago Granny seen Chitter running around in a tank top. According to Granny-it is too late in the year to be running around without a coat on-even if it is 70 degrees.

Today me and Chatter walked down to Granny's to eat dinner. We've had the remnants of hurricane Ida sweeping through-and it has dumped several inches of rain on the area. Me and Chatter took our muddy boots off on Granny's porch. Granny had a fit-said we'd catch our death of cold for going around in our socks : )

[John Dilbeck]

Hi Tipper.

I love this page of Grannyisms.

I never knew my Mom's mother. She died just before I was born, but I heard a lot of great things about her.

My Dad's mother lived in Benton, Tennessee when we lived just south of Atlanta. We would visit her several times each year and it was like going back in time for me.

She didn't have running water and there was a "little house in back of the big house" that I hated to go into.

My granny was a great cook and had a woodstove most of her life. I still remember the wonderful turkeys she would cook and the delicious cakes she would bake.

When I was a youngster, she came down to visit us and we all went to Stone Mountain. She was in her late 80s or early 90s and we all hiked to the top of the mountain. She beat all of us to the top!

She was a kind woman and I don't remember her talking very much. She was a great listener, though.

I miss her.

JD

[Tipper]

Granny has been worrying about NASA shooting a rocket into the moon. She is sure it will effect our weather. Who knows maybe she's right : )

[Misty]

My Grandmother is still alive, for which I am mostly grateful. I realize that this is a luxury that most people do not have. Still, I've always been a little afraid & standoffish with her. She has a gift for passive aggression backed up with scripture that only southern women understand. We have never had the type of relationship that left me feeling good about myself after being in her company. While I know that each day she has here on earth is an opportunity to learn more about her and my culture, I tend to keep a safe distance.
It was her sister, Big Mamma that I loved like a grandmother. When I think about the formal way I address my mother's mother as opposed to getting to call someone "Big Mamma" it tells a lot of the story. She lived down a then un-named dirt road from us. I passed her trailer on the way to church. (Mom sent all 3 girls every Sunday so that she could stay at home and re-assemble her sanity.) We walked there, more slowly as we passed Big Mamma's. Often times she was watching for us out her window & would call for us to visit. I remember that she would have black coffee; fresh biscuits & store bought grape jelly. (Store bought jelly was an oddity to me back then.) She would talk to us long enough to "accidentally" make us miss the church bell. It was always our little secret when we laid out of church and spent time with Big Mamma. I swear to this day that I felt God more there amongst the raked leaves and biscuit crumbs than in the brick building down the road.
I still think about her almost every day. She died when I was thirteen years old. I think she's often with me & acts as my homing device when the world gets too crazy. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her. Then again, maybe that's not true at all.

[buzz]

Grandma was [ borned ]in Nauvoo Alabama.
Chimley was a chimney
Root hog or die
Even a blind pig'll find an acorn now and then
Zink was a kitchen sink

Great Grandpa Andrew Thomas Romine had five daughters,three were boys .LOL
Georgia (george)
Billie (bill)
Josephine (joe)
Eila Mae
Rachael
and my Grandma Lily Blanche

i guess Grandpa wanted a boy.
oh well i'm sure glad Hattie Cloud Romine had my grandma Blanche.
Blanche taught me how to make Reebles and their civilized cousins , hand made noodles,
of course from scratch.

you get the idea.
buzz kirschner

[Dedra]

My Mamaw has now passed away but I remember some of the best times of my childhood at her house. When we would come to visit she always had a vanilla cake with chocolate icing made just for me and to this day it is my favorite. I miss her so much but I know she is in a much better place.

[warren]

My Granny was a delight too...full of spunk until she died at age 89. One thing I learned early on...never call her Granny! Anyhow, Grandma was famous for pickles. I remember her house smelling of the most wonderful blend of vinegar and spices (yes...it was an incredible smell...in a great way) when she was pickling. A funny thing she did was in her pronunciation of April...she said "Ape-rile". I still smile and am trying to make it a habit of mine to say it that way too...

[James]

My grandma like Marlene's post never cut her hair her whole life long. She always wore her hair in a bun tucked under her bonnet.

I remember the toys she made for me. A bottle cap with a hole punched in it with an ice pick and a sharpened country match through it and spun like a top. An old dry corn cob broken in two and three chicken feathers stuck in the pulp of the cob thrown into the air spinning around as it fell to the ground she called a whirly gig. My favorite was an old empty thread spool notched on the edges and a rubber band threaded through held on one side by a broken off match stick... and the other end of the rubber band wound with a crayon... letting the long end of the crayon stick out from the spool when you let go it made a little tractor type of a toy that crawled around the floor. Great fun.

My Grandmaw would ask me when I told her of visiting friends “were they clever“

I thought this a strange question. I ask my mom and she told me “clever” was a term used in the old days to mean... did they invite you in to break bread. I guess it meant something like cordial,courteous or gracious.

Grandmaw had a cure for everything picked right out in the woods. Bitter yellow root made caster oil taste like sugar. If you had a sore throat she would bacon grease a turpentine rag with cream and swab your throat. She made poultices for around our necks and chest. And you know what. I think they really did work.

[georgie]

Just found your blog. I was named after Dad's Mom, a fiesty Norwegian immigrant who lived until she was 98. She'd be 126 now! She knit Scandinavian sweaters for others for pin money, her cookie jar was never empty and the coffee was always on. Her faith and love of family were very important. She was a great joker and gave wonderful hugs. It was a toss up as to who was the person with the best humor-Dad or Grandma. My favorite Grandmaism is what she said of my procrastinating cousin "He doesn't ride the horse the day he puts the saddle on".
Mom's Mom was a very dignified lady who had a terrific rolling giggle and always smelled of fancy perfume. Her name was Viola. The violas in the garden always remind me of her.

[Sallie Covolo]

My granny, (I only had one), was born in 1874. Her daddy was a Baptist Preacher up by Weaverville area, where she was born. She always told us about the Lord.
She had worn, and gentle hands. She would put my hair in Shirley Temple curls which was the style then. She lived her married life and widowed life in West Asheville.
We lived with her some, off and on.
She had some cute and quaint sayings but the one that comes to mind is, "A whistling woman and a crowing hen, will always come to no good end."

[tipper]

Last Friday, I took Granny to get her hair cut. When she got into the car the first thing she said was "Now lets be real careful it's Friday the 13th" Seems Granny's fear of Friday the 13th is still going strong.

[boutique de laine]

many interesting stories :)There are many things to learn from older people.always tell us is correct,I know my grandmother because :)

[Vera]

I had two wonderful grandmothers. My dads mom passed away in 1947, I was nine years old. All her grandchildren and her children called her Ma. When she died I thought my world had ended, my parents, brother and I had lived with her all my life. I loved her so much.
My moms mom died in 1984, she was 93. We called her grandma. This grandma was loud spoken, and if she thought it, she said it. She was very superstitious and she didn't want you to do anything that she thought was bad luck.
Grandma was a hard worker all her life, and had 10 children. I still miss her.

[Sandra]

Grandmother Bennett passed many decades ago but many fond memories include her biscuits made on a wood stove, the kitchen sink pump, her apron, her cozy little figure and the way her life revolved around her kitchen and home.

[The Tile Lady, Marie]

Tipper, I loved this! My great-great grandmother whose picture is on my blog at over 100 years old, and a little 3-year old me on her lap, was alive during the War Between the States. When she became very old, she would always wear several dresses at a time. If someone came by and asked if she wanted to go to town or go visiting she would say, "Give me a minute" and go into the other room, remove the top dress and reveal the clean one underneath, and she was ready to go!

My Dad's mother died right before my parents were married, and of course I never knew her. Oh, but I wish I had! I have heard such wonderful things about her--my Dad adored his mother. She had ten children, and the doctor warned her not to have so many (she died in childbirth with the last child, who also died) and when someone would ask her why she kept having kids, she replied "I know I shouldn't, but they are just so sweet!"

My mother's mother was very special to me. She was a real saint on this earth, never speaking a negative word about anyone, always soft-spoken, loving and caring. She worked very hard all her life and never complained and I have always wanted to be just like her. She kept ice cream in her freezer for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and made me a buttermilk custard pie (my favorite) when we came to visit.

[Egghead]

My paternal grandmother was what I always thought of as the "Cookie Jar Grandma". My mother and father would take us to visit her and there was never a time that her cookie jar was empty. She kept it filled for the grandchildren. In fact I can remember her trying to send home entire packages of those Grandma's Sandwich Cookies made by Frito Lay and my mother was very irritated about that because of course we would not eat our dinner. But there were seven of us and I do believe my grandma thought we were denied any kind of sweet treat.

Her name was Marie Barbara, at least that is what we know. Because she immigrated from Hungary with an aunt at the young age of thirteen or fourteen her name may have been changed to an American version. No one seems to know for sure. In doing research on my grandfather who also immigrated a few years later, both he and his brother changed their first names to an American version. But that is another story for another time.

Grandma was a small lady, standing only about 4'11" or so. She always, always wore dresses which she made herself and aside from a different pattern on the fabric they all looked the same. I don't recall my grandmother ever in pants. To me this would not have been my grandmother. She had the greenest thumb you can imagine. Her flowers and plants inside the house and outside were amazing. I can remember taking her to the cemetary on memorial day and we would gather huge armfuls of her peonies to place upon the graves of our loved ones.

Although she was a good and devout Catholic, she had a little quirk in her that makes me laugh. She never drove a car so relied on people to take her to run errands. Whenever, we would take her to an establishment that had plants, be it a farm store or grocery store, she would pinch off a chunk of the plant to take home and root. I don't think the woman ever had to purchase an entire plant. She was so successful at rooting and growing these little stolen pieces that she didn't need to. I guess she did not think of this as stealing....just borrowing a little piece.

She had a very thick Hungarian accent and some very old world ideas. Once I took her to church and as we were driving past houses in her neighborhood she spied a young man in shorts mowing his lawn. She said to me "Look at that feeltee ting wearing short pants". I asked her why she thought that was horrible and she told me that "his feeltee harrry legs" were showing. She apparently thought that was quite disgusting and all men should hide their harry legs. It is a wonder she had ten children if she was so against those hairy legs.

I really only have warm and wonderful memories of my grandmother. She could make the most wonderful Hungarian dishes and never had a recipe written down. She taught me one Christmas how to make home made noodles in the middle of the table using no bowl or utensils. She told me it was all in the feel of the dough as to how much flour you added to the eggs she had cracked in the center of a well in the flour. The same was for kneading the dough. It had to have a certain look and feel about it before it was ready to roll out and cut into noodles to lay out and dry. Some time I may document just how she taught me even though it took more time than the short cuts that I use now.

She kept a totally spotless home and I can remember feeling so warm and loved while there. Do you have a wonderful memory of your grandmother?

[Rhonda]

I recently talked about my grandma on my blog. She was born in 1897 and has long since past away but I will always remember her. I carry her in my heart and in just about everything I do. She gave me the world of quilting and I'm eternally grateful!

[Carolyn A.]

My grandmother Carrie (Dad's Mom) was a Creek Indian Maid that my grandfather fell in love with. He wanted to marry her the next time the preacher came through Harrisonburg, VA, but Grandmom said she would not marry him unless it was in a church. Grandpop called his brothers, and together they built the church that my grandparents were married in. They are both gone now, but their last farewell was in that same church. Now that's what I call true love!

[Janet]

Hi,
I have many fond memories of my grandma (my mother's mom). We all lived up a holler and Grandma just lived 2 houses down from us. She made the best applesauce stack cake and we went berry picking all the time. She couldn't stand to see the berries go to waste. My older cousins told me she was very superstitious. She loved to sit out on her front porch and watch everyone go by. Every summer on her birthday all the family would come and have like a family reunion in her yard with all the food and fixins. We'd take group pictures in front of her snowball bush.She'd always say she probably wouldn't live to see her next birthday - she lived to be 92. She never had an inside bathroom and I remember her complaining when they put running water in the kitchen. The bucket of cool well water kept by the back kitchen door was wonderful. I could go on and on.

['Cousin Dwayne']

Hi Cousin, I see another one of our cousins has been here, too. Hello Monica, been a long time.
I was thinking about Granny the other day, and I remembered that she only watched one channel on television. She never changed the channel because she was convinced that if you changed the channel that you would break the tv set.
I also remember the old wood stove in the kitchen (wonder whatever happened to it). You could go into Granny's kitchen at anytime and open the upper doors and reach in and get a warm biscuit, and nobody else ever made biscuits like Granny.
I am old enough that I remember Granny's house before she had running water. I remember when the pump was dropped down into the well so she could have running water put into the kitchen and finally get an indoor toilet. Before that, you had to go to the outhouse in the back (down near where she would have somebody try to plant a garden). I guess I was might have been in 2nd or 3rd grade (how old would that be???).
And I remember how Granny loved having as many of her grandbabies around as could be there (and we have quite a large family). Everybody would be there, kids playing all around the house, grownups sitting on and around the front porch. You could go to Granny's house anytime and sit and 'visit' and it seemed how nothing else mattered.
Oh, how I miss those days.

Dwayne