Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Love Stories, Favourite Recipes and Wacky Advice

Today's blogs...

Blog City – Day 46? – April 18

Describe the wackiest but most useful advice you've ever received. This could be interesting!
This is tricky this morning as I do not remember any advice given to me. I am looking forward to what other's have to say.

Welcome To My Reality - Week Seventeen

6. Tell us your love story. It doesn't have to be romantic love but love between family members, friends etc.
I have never really viewed a 'love story' as anything other than romantic, but with this take on it - I would like to tell you about my Grandmother. I called her Gramzie. She was not a Granny. She could pass for Grandma, but that did not quite fit and Grandmother would send tremors up her back (I would call her this to 'get' her occasionally). Gramzie fit and stuck. With calling her that, she always knew who I was - even after her stroke. The only other person that really called her that consistently was my cousin Michael. We both had a special place in her heart. We both lived through periods of time when our parents struggled with their marriages. Infidelity. My parents split, his got back together, but because my aunt shared too much information with his young mind, he had issues with his father for years afterward. Things are much better now - but I would say, it took 20 years to come to reconciliation.

So... my grandmother, Gramzie. She loved with her whole heart. Unconditional love flowed from her. I could do no wrong in her eyes. She was an amazing woman - although, she would never admit any such thing.

She was the second daughter in a family of four children. Born in November of 1904. Her mother favoured her older sister. Aunt Jean was the one who went off to Teacher's College and it was my grandmother who went into town to work - cleaning a house and helping with the children - so that her sister could go off to school. My grandmother did it without complaint - she, too, loved her sister. Aunt Jean, however, never finished her studies. She died of pneumonia when she was off at school. A devastating blow, I am sure.

Later my grandmother married a young man, my grandfather, who was quiet abusive both physically and emotionally - I am almost sure, he picked up where my grandmother's mother left off. I do not suppose their marriage started out like that, but my Grandmother's self esteem was not very strong. They had four children over the span of 20 years. Those children adored her. My mother, in particular, rallied around her and tried to protect her.

It was my mother who stayed in New Liskeard while all the other children left - one to Toronto, then Montreal, then Vancouver. One to Thessalon (about an hour from Sault St. Marie - about an eight hour drive). And the youngest went to Teacher's College in North Bay and then settled in Guelph (in southern Ontario - also an eight hour drive away).

Being so close, I got to see my grandmother every weekend. Sunday was our day to go out and visit. I loved being around my grandmother. I would sit as close to her as possible. I basked in her unconditional love and attention. Friday was the day they came into town. Gramzie did the groceries and the laundry. Grandpa stood on the street corner talking to everyone. I usually saw them then as well.

I asked her once if she had to do it all again would she change anything - and she had said "No". Her family was important to her, we all adored her - her children (4), her grandchildren (6), her great grandchildren (8) and one great great grandchild. We all adored her and there was no question about where she would stay - we all wanted her. Grandpa was a tag along. Don't get me wrong - I loved him, but his children.... loved him with distance. He had been a difficult man to live with.

7. What is your favourite recipe?

There are a few recipes I enjoy... 5 cup salad is a favourite of mine.
One cup each of bite size pineapple, mandarin oranges, mini marshmallows, coconut and sour cream. Mix them together and serve. It is better if the mixture gets to be together for a few hours before serving. Then the marshmallows get soft.

Another recipe I make a lot because my husband enjoys it is a broccoli cauliflower casserole.
I make the larger portion of this recipe:
1 head of cauliflower
2 heads of broccoli
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
½ cup of cheddar cheese
4 tblsp of Mayonnaise
¼ cup parmesan cheese
¼ cup of bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a bowl mix together the cream of mushroom soup with the cheddar cheese and mayonnaise.
Boil the broccoli for 3 to 4 minutes.
Boil the cauliflower for 7 to 8 minutes.
Place the broccoli and cauliflower in a baking dish and cover with the soup mixture.
Then sprinkle the parmesan and the bread crumbs over the whole mixture.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes.




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