Friday, April 11, 2008

Back to the "Homeplace"


Here is a photo of "Grandma Klopfenstein" (to us nieces and nephews and "Mother" to the 4 surviving children). She's on the back porch instead of the front porch in this picture, likely taking a quick and deserving break from the long list of chores she did from sun-up to sun-down. Being widowed at a rather young age, I recall her being an early riser who worked extremely hard. She was a master cook who could cook up a swell meal in a matter of minutes. And, I remember she washed and even starched her family's laundry, by hand, in the basment middle room. Gardening (where Perry's basketball slab now stands) and all the work that went with it was just a way of life for her. She didn't have the Walmart right down the road. And, I don't recall her complaining about work. She no doubt slept well all night long, not needing any computer games, eating peanuts, swallowing alcohol-induced Nyquil, reading books to get tired, or watching dwarfs on TV.
Times have changed!!!

Cleve

8 comments:

Nog Blog said...

I have lots of good memories of Grandma, especially in my early converted days. She was a source of great wisdom for a young Christian, and while drying dishes beside her, she was a source of some good family stories. She was so interesting. She would use the word "Pshaw" and "ought" for zero, and the other day I came up with the strange word "daresn't". and I thought, "I think I heard Grandma use that word." Does anybody remember other words or sayings she used frequently??

Aunt Alice - I see you found the comments! More fun!

Ada said...

I don't remember ever seeing this picture and I love it. I think she looks beautiful. Did you know that after washing clothes in the basement every Monday, her ironing day was Tuesday and she made fudge to eat while doing the ironing. She used to "sprinkle" all the clothes and roll them up for several hours before ironing. It was hard work!

Anonymous said...

Cleve, What were you doing up at12:30am? Couldn't you sleep?

Anonymous said...

To: Anonymous
I had eaten my peanuts, swallowed my NyQuil, played computer games, etc. etc. but still couldn't sleep!
(by the way, the blog time is 1 hour off Central Time). It was only 11:30 p.m. Then I slept good, dreaming I was back in Vietnam, running around dodging bombs. Strange!
Cleve

Anonymous said...

This is lovely picture of Grandma K.

I remember her using "clear" as an adverb for very--which I think some still do today as in something was clear silly or clear good.

Anonymous said...

How old was Grandma in this picture? I'll have to show it to Nathan and see what he says. Whenever he sees the photo on the main page of the blog, he says "uh-mah" which is how he says Grandma (Ada)!!!

Ann said...

I remember that she would say that young couples were "dippy" about each other.

Ada said...

I'd say she was early 50's in this pictur. Probably shortly after we put that cement slab in and I was a little girl but vaguely remember it as being a big deal.

Any other thoughts on her age?

ada