Memories

[cjsmith]

Sunday is my grandmother's birthday. She would have been 94 this year.

I can still remember her feisty ways of *not* swearing. She'd crunch up her face and growl "Oh.... H!" Or when she didn't understand something, "What the Sam Hill's that?" (I never did quite figure out what Sam Hill was supposed to represent.)

She was frugal almost to a fault. She bought big paper sacks full of bread past its expiry; she saved bite-sized pieces of leftovers carefully wrapped in reused tinfoil; she washed paper plates. Unless my mom caught her at it and made her pitch the plates, that is.

I remember the shape of her teeth and her chin when she'd smile.

She'd send us gifts every year, long past when she could travel to be with us for birthdays or Christmas. In later years these never failed to include three shiny brass coat hangers per person, taped into a bundle with Scotch tape and wrapped in paper that was probably new decades earlier. My coat closet still has those hangers.

I remember her cooking. She'd do Salisbury steak, she'd drink coffee from a red-and-white patterned mug, she'd produce green foamy stuff with little marshmallows in it for dessert. (Hey, it tasted good, but I admit it mystifies me to this day.)

She and my grandpa were great card players, though of course he wouldn't include her in that statement even under torture. If I'd grown up closer to them I'd be a much better card player myself.

I remember playing dress-up with all her costume jewelry. For some reason she never got mad at us for the, erm, thorough rearrangement of her collection.

Just rememberin' the good stuff, today.

Comments

[sharya.livejournal.com]

The green foamy stuff with little marshmallows in it sounds like this pistachio salad recipe that I have. When I get home, I'll give it to you.

[tattermuffin.livejournal.com]

Sam Hill - a way of saying "hell" without swearing. Most sources say the first evidence of it is 1838 or 1839, although the exact origins are unknown. Some suggest that it may be a mutation of "Samiel" which was the name of the devil in a Faustean play. Others think it may just be hill = hell, and the Sam bit makes it sound less like hell in case someone misheard and thought you'd actually cussed :)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It's good to remember these things. I'm glad you have the memories of her.

More "Sam Hill" Apocrypha

[allanh.livejournal.com]

One story I found via Google:

[begin quoted story]
According to the Facts on File Folks, Colonel Samuel Hill of Guilford, Conn.
was a perpetual political candidate (who was apparently so unsuccessful that
except for the Encyclopedia of American Politics [1946], there is scarce
evidence for his having ever existed). In any case, he inspired the saying
to "run like Sam Hill", or "go like Sam Hill." This served neatly as a
personified euphemism for hell amongst our [American] Puritan ancestors.
[end quoted story]

I found a number of references to the phrase originating as a Cockney phrase, but also found a number of other references debunking that theory.

I suspect the reference to "Samiel" - the devil - is more likely, especially as "Sam Hill" is generally used as an euphemism for "hell".

(Jen's right. I am *such* a frustrated librarian.)

[kateyule.livejournal.com]

Folk etymology in these parts is that the phrase has something to do with railroad entrepreneur Sam Hill (1857-1931), but if it was current in the early 1800s that shoots that down.

It fits him well, though. here (http://www.inetours.com/N_West/Maryhill_Museum/Maryhill.html") is a page about the museum he built in remote Eastern Washington (Maryhill). It talks about the connection with Queen Marie of Roumania, but doesn't mention the concrete replica of Stonehenge he built as the Klickitat County World War I monument. Really. Google it.

The French fashion dolls, which I'd seen a buncha times as my parents schlepped us out to Maryhill for one reason or another, made a big splash in Paris when they were "rediscovered" after being "lost" for so many decades. Whaddaya mean lost? They were right here, all the time....

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like this memory. Coolness, thanks.

[kineticphoenix.livejournal.com]

What is remembered lives. Thank you for the introduction :)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I don't have too many memories of grandparents. Mom's parents were both gone well before I was born. Dad's dad died when I was 6, and his mom when I was 11. And we didn't spend too much time around them - grandma was in a nursing home for her last few years and my dad was an outcast/blacksheep among his siblings.

My dad used to rationalize that he thought it was probably a good thing that I was pretty young when they died; that it was easier on me because the attachment wasn't so strong. I think he's right in a sense.

[platypus]

My mom always made what we called "orange stuff," which was some sort of whipped concoction originally made of Jello. It was foamy and a little bit creamy. Obviously it could be made with lime, but I'm not sure anyone would put marshmallows in it.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

thank you for sharing about your grandmother. today (9/23) would've been my great-grandfather's 106th bday. he was born in 1899, and died in 1994. i think you may have just inspired a similar post by me!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

What beautiful memories, CJ! Your post is especially poignant to me since I never really knew any of my grandparents, so thank you for sharing yours!