Days gone by

I was saddened by the news that my Great Aunt Ellen passed away yesterday. She lived a great and long life to the age of 96 which makes me grateful for good genes. She lived in Vancouver and I remember her from the summers when she would come and visit my Grandma Bea at the lake. Grandma Bea and her sisters Aunty Ellen and Aunty Vi were all beautiful classy women that I looked up to. They always had to put their "face on" before they went out. Most of the time there were sharply dressed in high heel shoes, jewelry, fur coat, a blouse and skirt or dress.

My Grandma lost her mom when she was only 4 years old and Aunty Ellen was only two. The five kids under the age of 10 were raised by their Dad and relatives and friends. When my grandma was only 16 years old she quit school and got a job as a telephone operator, rented an apartment and raised her kid sister Ellen. Wow what strong, independent women to take care of themselves and grow up without a mom and end up so classy and put together. They lived in such a different time than we do. They connected not through blackberry and email but through letters and bridge games. They churned their own butter, ironed pillowcases, socks, tea towels and sheets, underwear and hankies, the used hankies. The attended Saturday night dances where there was a real live orchestra and no alcohol but a midnight lunch (i love the midnight lunch!) Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong decade. I think I would have liked to be a housewife and mother with a garden, baking fresh bread and sewing dresses for my girls and wearing pearls! We live in a pretty hectic life but I do try to bring in some of the homemaking skills I learned from my Grandmas and Aunts.

This was a picture I had pulled out for my Awkward family photos that I didn't inherit any photography skills from Aunty Ellen as the reflection in the mirror of her is great but she cut my two Grandma's heads off. I will miss her!