Things that remind you of your grandparents

[RosesAndHellebores]

Mine died 20 years ago and would be 110ish now but I still miss them so much

The bolster on the bed
An old silky jacquard pink blanket that went under the eiderdown
Warm milk with a teaspoon of grated nutmeg
The sweet bowl next to the fruit bowl
Shape with jelly
Pies
Gin and Its
A kitchen that wasn't always spotless
Whiff of horse, hay and Goddard's linament and occasionally Shalimar
Complete no nonsense attitude but so so kind
Every time I look at dd: petite, blonde, blue eyed and the image of grannie (and named for her)

My grandpa's pipe tobacco.
The first time I met my next door neighbour's father, he caught me leaning in to breathe in the scent I had not smelt since my grandpa died.

'Posh salad' for Sunday tea - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and orange slices in concentric circles around a perfect tin shaped (because it had just been decanted) cylinder of John West pink salmon.
My brother and I were allowed to crunch the bones...

Lovely thread. Loved my Nan and have so many memories of her.
A sherry glass of Advocaat before bed every night.
Wearing her hat with a hat pin in on every trip out of the house.
Baking every Friday - beautiful fruit pies, Fat Rascals.
Cooking her own Chips and Fish (she never called it fish and chips) every Friday too.
Pale pink nylon house coat on top of her clothes everyday.
Getting dressed in front of the fire under her voluminous nightdress.
A bag of blackcurrant eclairs in her big leather bag. Such a treat to get one.
Her laughter.
You could hear her car from far away as she hated using 4th gear...no idea why.
Her working ethic would put anyone to shame. Looking back I have no idea how she juggled so many balls without a word of complaint.
Made all her own soft furnishings and curtains.
Had her own businesses - a true entrepreneur in days when women stayed at home.
She always tied a thin black velvet ribbon around her hair like a hair and with a little bow at the side. A mass of thick glorious shiny white waves. Beautiful hair.
Miss her so much.

Oh I just remembered a few more.
Trifle
Sweet white wine
Yorkshire salad
New potatoes with butter and mint
Buying her bread at Perkins
She did make really thick gravy. It seemed to pour into a pile on your dinner.

Geraniums and the glorious smell of their leaves
Lurpak butter
Babycham & Sherry
Fondant mint sweets in the clear wrapper, as well as XXX strong mints
Sweet Pea flowers
Homemade Yorkshire puddings - hers were unbelievable....
Apple sauce
Cooks matches

The smell of the sea
White musk scent from the body shop
Old lady slippers
Flat caps
Lidl biscuits
Sherry
Postcards
Ford mondeos
Caravans
Barbecues
Egg custards
Crosswords
Classic FM
teletext to check the football scores
Nimrod by elgar
The sound of music

I've only lost both of mine in the last few months. Oh how I miss them so much it hurts

Wow this is a really beautiful thread. Most of these memories are from my maternal grandparents who I was so so close to as a child and teenager.

• my nans electric crossword solver which she'd pull out of her bag every time she was stumped doing her puzzle magazines.
• tinned boiled sweets in the car, in those round tins. Sweets always had icing sugar or something like that coated on them.
• gin and tonics.
• M&S ready meals. My nan rarely cooked anything except a roast or bolognese so when we came to stay for a week in the holidays she'd have stocked the fridge with ready meals. And the M&S individual trifle pots.
• Estée Lauder blue eyeliner.
• portmeirion crockery.... absolutely everywhere in their kitchen.
• Lladro clown figures which she collected. Could never understand why she liked them so much!
• Ships in bottles, and paintings of ships in all the bedrooms.
• The smell of the inside of an empty box of cigarettes. Nan smoked a lot and for some reason as a kid I always sniffed the empty packets!
• Mirror in the bathroom with a frosted glass bird (I want to say heron?) on one side of it.
• Nan would always give money to charity collectors outside supermarkets and on the high street and would always give me change to put in their shakers even though I was incredibly shy
• Gold jewellery, so many rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets.
• Ox tongue sandwiches and those fruit fool yoghurts.

this is making me cry, and i never even had any grandparents, ever.
but some things remind me of my early childhood, and of my dear aunt, and some kind neighbours.
what a beautiful legacy, richer than gold.

They were my first glimpse of true love! So any old fashioned lovely gentleman and lady. Trinkets (all dust free!) Especially elephants and music boxes. Lipstick and any makeup application video (my grandma was a model) and taught me so much. My son and niece have her exquisite features so she lives on.

Miss Nana so much..
SO much to remember and mainly her gnarled old hands that would always reach for mine when we went for walks....she called me 'lovey'

Weekly trip to Butchers - old style with sawdust on the floor.....major purchase of a 'proper' joint' beef, lamb and one that the Butcher always kept for her...

Her fluffy Hat with a little loop on the top, annual visits to her 'smart' dress shop to buy her Dresses, Day and evening.....all shirt style dresses with a belt to cinch her 24 inch waist...her collection of jewellery...black jet beads, Crystal necklace, and her 'posh' ring to wear on a Sunday

Lavender Yardley soap, Bathjoys Bath Salts...4711 Cologne
'Holly Red' Lipstick
Max Factor Powder in a navy box and fluffy powder puff on her immaculate dressing table

Playing patience, and pairs Card games

Tomato Soup when we were ill

A nice 'sit down' after lunch time - a half hour 'bit of peace' !!!

Winston Churchills Funeral.....black arm bands - reverent talk of 'Mr Churchill'

5 Spinster sisters/Great Aunts who were never to find a Husband after 'The Great War'- visits by them every alternate Sunday for tea...transported by 'Uncle Kenneth' who drove them all over in his Morris....the husband of Aunt May...the only other one to marry

Uncle Will.....married Scots Auntie Nelly...one Son only, because 'Auntie Nelly, 'didn't like it' !!!!!

Uncle Kenneth pressing a 'half a crown' to my hand when he left the house on a Sunday afternoon visit

Sunday Best dress

SO much UNCONDITIONAL Love

Will always miss my Nana...she moved in with us to help look after my Brother when he was born..my Father always joked, ' she came to stay for 2 weeks and stayed 50 years' :)

After she died, my Mother found her note saying 'thank you for giving me a home for so long and putting up with my shortcomings'

Oh Nanna...if only you knew, you were so loved by us all

Am almost crying....what a dear dear lady she was....

Paternal grandma:
Hand dancing in the back of the car with us
Her tea towel hung up on the wall with various sayings on it like too many cooks spoil the broth etc
Her little flat in Chichester that had photos in every nook and cranny
Her kindness, and fierce intelligence

Maternal nana:
Glasses of water kept in the fridge
Fondness for a corner cherry yoghurt
Calling me a Scandinavian baby
Her love of nature - birds especially
Her frankness

Ribena

I used to get terrible tonsillitis as a child, was ill nearly every month with it, and my granny would buy me a big bottle of Ribena, heated up it was so soothing to drink.

She would tell my mother in no uncertain terms that the bottle was for me and me alone. My mother hated that, she was emotionally abusive (and still is) and hated me getting any kind of "special " treatment.

Still love Ribena now, and always think of my granny when I buy a bottle.

Mass every morning before school outwith and including Lent
Mass every evening at 6pm also
Bed by 7pm
All while in 4th year aged 15-16 as a method of punishment hahah

Those candy striped sheets, candlewick bedspreads. Making pastry. Toasting toast on the open fire.

Hot Cross buns...they still occasionally bring tears to my eyes or a lump in my throat.

Penguins the chocolate not this kind🐧

My Grandfather is still alive with him I remember Walking in the woods and playing in a swimming pool & learning to dive. He did the same with my children which I amazing!

Nutcracker or memories on the record player.
Bacon made on the grill above the hob, and bacon rinds saved to feed the birds.
Big white powder puff, rose water.
Little gift left on the sideboard every friday when we went round to sleepover.
Egg custards.
Salmon or tuna "pieces", eaten in the car on the side of the road on a day trip.
Grandad's little song for every weather (eg the sun comes out "the sun has got his hat on", starts to rain "it's raining it's pouring").
Wearing a tie, pullover and blazer for every casual occasion (and house dress and tan tights for Nan).
Pipe smoke.
Candy striped brushed cotton sheets and a hot water bottle.

I loved my grandparents.
I used to stay over on the weekend and would wake up to a lovely warm coal fire in kitchen in the winter.
Wash with a flannel, soap and warm water in a metal bowl.
My grandfather always wore a shirt and tie even if he was going to local shop for a newspaper.
The Sunday roast I haven't had anything come close to it since.
My grandmother was so caring and I always felt so safe there even though my parents were fantastic parents it was extra special at my grandparents house.

Maternal grandmother was like a second mum to me.. Christmas tree in the corner on top of the dresser, German blue St Nicklaus candle sat underneath. The living room only used at Christmas, her dining table heaving with treats. Belly pork with piccalilli. Watching Fame with her. Playing cards for hours on end. Her Yorkshire puddings were the best I've ever had. Oh and her schnitzel was incredible. Baking buns on a Sunday afternoon. Drinking tea from a saucer. And just how warm and kind but no nonsense she was. She always listened to me, didn't matter what I was talking about, she listened.

My paternal grandmother... treacle toffees in her apron pocket, warm and soft from being in the kitchen. How they stuck to the little twist of greaseproof wrapper! A dish of Ready Brek - butterscotch flavour - made with model milk from the milkman. Red lipstick, and she used it as rouge too. Cigarette smoke hanging heavy in the air. Watching Family Fortunes with her. She wasn't a cuddly granny, she kept us at arms length, so the memories aren't as warm.

"Have you got shares in ruddy Manweb" whenever you came out of the bathroom leaving the light on.

Ah so many things! My Gran is still alive at the sprightly age of 95, but these particular memories stick with me from when we were all younger...

Hot ribena
Playing with her make up whilst sitting at her big dressing table
Hot stewed apples with a digestive biscuit at the bottom of the bowl
The weird duck poster she had in her spare room where we used to sleep
The cross stitch on the wall of Henry VIII and his wives
Playing doctors with all the stuffed animals and using food colouring to make different coloured medicines in glasses of water
Sausagemeat patties with potatoes and cabbage
Rock cakes
Newspaper cuttings of the Garfield cartoon in The Express that she cut out every day and kept for us to read

What a lovely thread 😊

My nana (mum’s mum)…. Highland shortbread biscuits. We were on a plane for my first time, and she whipped out a big box of biccies to distract me from the take off. Also a set of the Bramley Hedge books she gave me when my brother and I were sick with German measles.

My paternal grandad, I barely knew. I remember he had an unending supply of raspberry ripple ice cream though 😀

Cold lino flooring in the bedrooms.
Outside toilet with a candle for light in the winter and newspaper squares on a piece of string to wipe your bum.
I have to say 18 mths ago when panic buying loo rolls was a thing and everybody was mocking them it did cross my mind, how many have experienced the misery of wiping their ass on news print.😁

My grandma died today.

Will always remember
A cooked breakfast everyday if I wanted it when I stayed as a child
Pink lipstick whenever she left the house
”Spending a penny” (nipping to the loo)
Hairdresser every Friday for a shampoo and set
Coloured cotton wool in a glass bottle
Traffic light jelly and trifle at Christmas
If she ever made a chicken pie, making me a little cherry one with the leftover pastry, my favourite
Taking us to the theatre every year as a child to see a musical - last time she visited me as an adult (some years ago due to declining health) I took her to Carousel
Turning up the hem on my school uniform and sewing in name tapes
Always a bag of toffees and one of mint imperials in her handbag

RIP 😘