Escape

Well, it's not going to be too hot today, but look out this weekend! Meanwhile, my grandmother is wearing a jacket and wool socks. Not that I'm jealous - I'm always this green! Anyway, here's another story:

Her mother was an amazing woman too. She grew up in Des Moines, Iowa in poverty. She married a man who abused her. It got so bad that she packed up all her belongings in a trunk (we still have the trunk) and moved out west. We have no idea if she divorced him or if she even told him she left. This was in approximately 1917. There were no laws protecting women, so she did what she could to survive. Pretty gutsy! Then she met and married my grandfather out here in Idaho. The rest is history.

Woah!

I'm still waiting to hear from my grandmother (naughty girl!). In the meantime, I do have a story. Her father was a stagecoach driver before he married. When he tried to learn how to drive, it was a memorable experience. When he wanted to stop, he kept shouting "Woah!" but nothing happened. Then he shouted "Woah, you son of a bitch! Woah!" and drove into a ditch. Needless to say, my great-grandmother did all the driving.

Scarlet Fever

I'm still waiting to hear from my grandmother, but I do have a story. My oldest girl has scarlet fever right now. She seems to be doing ok, but we want to make sure it doesn't get to her heart. When my grandmother found out about it, she was very concerned, and here is why:

When my grandmother was a little girl, she and her oldest brother both caught scarlet fever. They did not have antibiotics in those days, so their house was quarantined. They were not supposed to sell milk even, but they needed the money (they lived in a tar paper shack, but nearly everyone else around them was poor too - it took her years to figure out just how poor they were).

She was very sick, and her mother made a bed for her out of two chairs and a blanket by the wood stove so she would stay warm in the kitchen. She always speaks of her mother with great affection.

So anyway, a disease out of the history books has hit Brianna. She is feeling better, but I had never heard of scarlet fever still making an appearance.

Vacation

My grandmother left for the Oregon Coast. She'll be there for the next two months. While I will miss her, I've given her an assignment. She has a notepad and her job is to write down her memories and send them to me. Of course, she'll be busy running around with the neighbors who have adopted her - shopping, having lunch, watching the ocean, missing the heat of our desert - but I'm hoping to have some material soon.