Memories of my Maternal Grandfather

My maternal grandfather was born in the very early years of the 1900s.  He died many years ago but I am thinking of him today because his birthday is tomorrow.

He was the most daunting of my grandparents because he was quite tall and could look rather fierce. I think when I was very young I steered clear of him….until I got to know him a little better the first time I stayed with that set of grandparents without the rest of my family. From then on I realized that he was a big instigator of ‘fun’ for the grandchildren, in particular during the summer.

• He was always on the lookout for rivers or lakes for swimming. Eventually his built a swimming pool.
• He built things too - a fountain and wishing well, a picnic table around a tree, a huge grilling pit, bricked benches and planters, a merry go round (wielded together) and a very tall swing with fat rope/large seat.  For years there were new things that had been built every time we visited. 
• The house was not air conditioned so sleeping outside in the summer time was the most comfortable. One summer he has a flatbed trailer pulled up behind the house; it became our raised platform for sleeping under the stars (we had to scurry in with all our bedding one night when it started to rain!).
• He had a big garden and involved all the children in picking and processing produce. I remember his tutorial on how to pick blackberries and not get caught up in the thorns. We shucked corn on the cob (that went into the biggest post I’d ever seen, so big it required two burners on the stove). Of course there were flowers too - in the part of the garden closest to the road.
• He did quite a bit of the cooking too. His main seasoning for just about everything was pepper rather than salt.
• There were chickens but the peacocks he raised were the attention getters.  Just before I got old enough that I didn’t visit as frequently, there was a summer that he had an incubator; hatched peacocks and ducklings.  What a learning experience that was for the grandchildren!