other memories of my Nana...

I called both my grandmothers, Nana. My father's mom was the typical cookie baking, quilt sewing grandmother. My mother's mom was "eccentric", atleast that is how some described her. I spent more time with my mother's mom. Nana Weisinger was truly one of my, if not my best friends as a young child.

She treated me like royalty. On hot days after mowing her outrageously overgrown yard she would sit me down in her gold naugahyde lazy boy and tell me to cool off. She had a collection of rocks and would always bring one of them and tell me to close my eye. Then she would gently put the cold rock on my eye. It was amazing how quickly I cooled off.

When she died, among several things I inherited was that rock. It sits in my office. On a particularly bad day I sit back in my chair and put that rock on my eyes one at a time. Things always feel better after a while.

She fed me so much food in that gold lazy boy. She filled a little metal tray with Coca-Cola advertising on it with all kinds of little treats. A little glass of extra cold juice, some Pepperidge Farm cookies and a bowl of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream with Product 19 cereal mixed into it.

In the mornings when I spent the night she would cut canned biscuits in half and drop them in her little fry daddy deep fryer. Have you ever had a fried biscuit? Oh my gosh, hot fried buttered biscuits pieces dipped into maple syrup. I can still smell her cooking in the kitchen.

Once she got me situated in the lazy boy, feet propped up and tray of food to keep me busy then she would typically tell me stories or show me the latest clothes that she had bought or we would watch television together.

Though I haven't been able to be with her in that house on Montrose Circle....all I have to do is close my eyes and remember!