Back In The Day - Grandpa and Granny Powell

I am thinking about my paternal Grandparents today - Grandpa and Granny Powell. It's funny that when I think of my Grandparents, I still feel like I did when I was young and growing up at home. I would give about anything to be able to talk to my Granny and let my daughters and Grandbabes get to know her like I did. Granny was the quintessential 'Granny' - she wore an apron everyday and all day, as part of her attire and she always had a scarf tied around her head - at night, she would let her hair down out of the two twisted buns she wore and comb it before going to bed...it reached to her waist. My Granny died before my Grandpa and I can still picture him sitting in his rocker, between the beds in the main room of their log cabin (in the overalls that he always wore and twiddling his thumbs. If you don't know what twiddling thumbs is - you clasp your hands in front of you in a relaxed position and you roll your thumbs around and around each other. Grandpa was always twiddling his thumbs.

My Grandparents lived on a 63 acre farm in a three room log cabin - a main room, a kitchen and an added on 'extra' bedroom that was always called the backroom and seperated from the mainroom by a door covered with a floral curtain. The mainroom held two iron beds, two comfortable rocker chairs (one for Granny and one for Grandpa and they never sat in each others chairs), a foot pedal Singer sewing machine, a black metal trunk, a potbelly stove and several ladder back chairs for guests. The kitchen held a Hoosier cabinet, a small white metal cabinet for the dishes, an electric range, a refrigerator, a table with 6 metal and vinyl chairs, a washstand with a metal basin to washup and a 2 gallon metal bucket that held water and a dipper. The backroom held another iron bed, a covered shelf that held extra quilts, a freezer, and a big trunk. There was no running water to the house and water for drinking and washing dishes was 'drawn' from a well out back and carried into the house in the 2 gallon bucket that was housed in the kitchen. The outhouse or toilet was in the horse lot close to the barn and crib and about 500 yards from the house...on cold days, Granny had a chamberpot that we could use on the backporch. Life was simple and they lived with none of the things that we feel are necessary today and spending the night with them was something that I miss and yearn to do again. Granny taught me how to sew and how to crochet and would sit and listen to me for hours...never offering an opinion or a critical word but always listening.

In the background of this picture, close to mid-frame, you can see the outhouse. 

All the best,