Remembering Grandma Bones

July 3rd my Grandmother passed away. I just want to take a moment to document a few of my memories of and with her.

• I dubbed her “Grandma Bones” when I was in high school. She came to our house every Saturday and in the summer we would turn off the a/c or turn it high enough it wouldn’t kick on before she arrived. I asked why we had to do that and my mom said it was because Grandma had arthritis and the cold air hurt her bones. From them on I called her Grandma Bones.
• Lunches and peppermint ice cream at Johnny’s Round the Clock. I remember going to this restaurant often with Grandma and usually saying I had a tummy ache at the end of my meal. She would promptly say, “We better get some peppermint ice cream to settle it then.”
• Chinese food and hot tea. I acquired my love of hot tea from all of the times we ate at a Chinese restaurant and I ordered hot tea to accompany the food. You will often find me sipping hot tea in the evenings.
• Spicy cabinets. Her cabinets have a certain spice smell. I think it’s a combination of all her spices. I hope someday to be in a home long enough that when you open my cabinets you can smell my spices. A few years ago my aunts redid grandma’s kitchen and the first thing I checked was that the smell was still there. It was.
• Baked chicken and rice. If grandma was babysitting or staying with us kids for the weekend I always requested that she make her baked chicken and rice recipe. I made this Friday, July 6th and cried as I took it out of the oven.
• Bells. I have no idea why, but for many years I bought her a bell for  Christmas or if I went on a trip. She has them all displayed in her kitchen by her sink.

My new kitchen art (Kifli & Nut Roll recipes in Grandma’s handwriting):

Four generations (from Raelyn’s baby shower January 2010):