What Grandparents Do

[poliphilo]

Odi and Peter came to lunch. I threw a macaroni cheese together. Even before I got serious about my cooking I had perfected the art of  the cheese sauce.

This was the first time we'd seen them since Odi returned home. Ailz  told them they need to talk to one another. I took Fabrizio's disgusting push chair outside and scrubbed it with soap and water and a hard-bristled brush. This is what grandparents do.

Then I sang to him. I'd like him to grow up knowing all the old nursery rhymes and counting songs. They're the key to the culture.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

You are so right about the nursery rhymes and counting songs.
You're a wonderful granddad!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I think it's really important to hand these things down.

Nursery rhymes

[methodius.livejournal.com]

When our daughter was about 2 we visited my wife's second cousin who had just given birth to their first child, and his father was painting Disney characters on the wall. He said to our daughter, "Look, there's Goofy", and she replied "Goofy, Goofy gander."

Re: Nursery rhymes

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I like that.

I'm not keen on the way the Disney corporation has colonised childhood.

cheese sauce

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

in japan where I often ate macaroni
my art of the cheese sauce consisted
of slicing cheese and putting it on top
of boiling mac.

Re: cheese sauce

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that a little bland?

For me the killer ingredient in a good cheese sauce is mustard.

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

well no doubt you are right
but it tasted ok. I was young then
and then found ,what I would still hold,
that beer helps wash stuff down

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The young will mostly eat anything- especially if there's beer.

Re: cheese sauce

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Amazing what a bit of mustard does to the flavour! Mmmmm....

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

You are a wonderful grandfather. And you're right, those old nursery rhymes and counting songs ARE the key to the culture.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to sit me on his lap and sing "Way Down Upon the Swanee River" to me. I am the ONLY grandchild he ever sang to. I remember this with great happiness, and I hope your grandchild feels the same way.

Until *I* learned how to make cheese sauce, my mom's macaroni and cheese was macaroni with Cheez-Whiz stirred into it. I agree with you, mustard is a key ingredient in cheese sauce.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

When I was a kid there was children's programme on the radio called "Listen with Mother". It was broadcast at lunchtime- and featured a nice lady who sang nursery rhymes. It went off air a long time ago.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

You are a wonderful grandfather! And you are so right about the "key to the culture". My own grandmother sang these songs to me, and taught me the rhymes, many of which I had memorized before my third birthday, and all of which I remember to this day. My own long distance grandchildren have been deprived of these, as far as I can tell. When I made reference to phrases from them, the kids thought that I was a bit crazy.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've been happy to discover just how many children's rhymes I know by heart.

I don't think they're as current in the culture as they used to be. Clearly it's the duty of us oldsters to pass them on.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to add the ones I remember into my memoirs file. I am keeping that against the day the grandchildren just might at last be interested in what life was like when Grandma was a kid. I know I was not very attentive to Grandpa's stories of way back when, but now wish I had been. Failing that, I wish he had left written memoirs.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I could wish I knew more about my grandparents. My paternal grandfather was an engineer and did a lot of travelling. There's a set of photos- from the 1920s- showing him posing against South American backdrops. I wish I knew more about that trip.