Grandma stories

Hey everyone...

Jamie and I took Grandma dinner last Friday and watched 16 blocks. Afterwards we talked for a long time... She's told us some cute stories in the last few weeks, and thought you kiddies might enjoy some of them... Here's how I remember them:

Grandma was telling Jamie and I about their wedding. They were married by Grandpa’s brother in the Martinez(?) chapel. Afterwards, they drove up to Sacramento for their first night. Grandpa opened up his suitcase and one of his sisters had put rice in his socks, and it spilled all over the hotel room. Later, they drove on to Salt Lake City, where they were married a week later.

I took a painting from Grandma’s house that was just staying on the wall. I was confused because it was Grandpa’s and she wasn't taking it. I asked about it, and she let me take it! It is a darker painting of a house that Grandpa painted in 1942. Grandma said that he had told her that he painted it during his mission. It was painted at night, probably after it had snowed. It was somewhere in Detroit. On the back is a tag of a art show that he had exhibited it in sometime in 1966.

Cool story: Dyke was sitting with Grandma. They were probably at a restaurant or something. They saw Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra sitting at the bar. Dyke told Grandma to go get their autograph and tell them that it was for her kids. Grandma was really cute, she started telling us how “Dean Martin had that look… he was so charming… he just made you melt.” She said, “they knew it wasn’t for my kids.” That card is somewhere around, maybe signed in pencil. Chuck’s probably hoarding it.

When they were first marrried, Grandma and Grandpa lived in a tiny one room apartment with a kitchenette built into the closet. They didn’t even have their own bathroom, it was shared between the tenants on the floor. The building was close to SJSU where Grandpa was going to school.

Grandma has this really cute painting of the streets of Paris. We knew that she and Grandpa had done a lot of traveling, so I was curious where she got it. When we asked, she started laughing, and said, “well, not very many people know about this…” She then told us how their neighbor would periodically place stuff outside of her house to give away or get picked up for trash. One day they saw the painting outside, it reminded them of the streets of Paris, and, “well, I thought we better have that!” So, they snuck it in. It’s still in her house, and the lovely once-piece-of-trash has been above the mantle of her fireplace.

Grandpa made Grandma’s coffee table. I think she said that he made it out of a door.

Grandma suggested two things. First, that we mark where things come from with a permanent marker on the back. Second, that we keep track of repairs and things on the actual appliance. (For example, apparently she found a discreet place to write down refrigerator repairs in the refrigerator.)

Anyways, cute random stories I thought... Kevie, take care of her over there...