Over the River and Through the Woods

In honor of my Grandma, Marilyn Oakes, who will celebrate a very special birthday on Tuesday.

The road to Grandma's house has always been rather a long one, though one we always traveled with anticipation. Good things awaited us on our arrival. She'll tell you that she is no longer able to cook the feasts she once did, that her hands don't cooperate and her eyes are weak. But we didn't travel there because she cooked for us; we traveled there because she was there, and being with Grandma is always a good thing.

These last few years, however, the road to Grandma's house has gotten much longer, coming from Africa, and that means that we don't get to be there as often as we would like. Today my Grandma will celebrate her 90th birthday, and as much as we would like to, we just can't be there to celebrate with her. But as I look around my house, I see little reminders of her, and that makes me smile.

A few years ago, Grandma gave us a collection of some fabric scraps she had saved over the years. This mixer cover
was one of the first things we made from her material. 

For the girl who is always sewing, the fabric from Grandma
 has been indispensable! Her latest creation is a Kimono bathrobe,
made from a lovely black and white polyester.

One time at Grandma's house we were going through some of her things, and
she found these three embroidered flower pictures. One of them needed
to be finished, so Joya finished it to complete the set. 

Grandma had several cast iron  skillets, and before we even
moved to Africa, she gave us her large one. We use it
 almost every day. 

Grandma, even though we can't be with you today, know that you are in our hearts and that we love you dearly, and we look forward to the next time we can take the road to Grandma's house.