[Mikitv]

If any one remembers Marjorie Main the Hollywood actress that played Ma Kettle then you will know what I mean when I say that was a lot like my maternal grandmother. She was always Grandma Ma or Ma. She was a Mc Leod who's family was from the Isle of Skye. I swear she would deal the dinner plates out on the table just like Ma Kettle.

She had a hard life but never complained and worked with her husband doing what ever they could for money during the depression. At that time they had 11 children so money was scarce. I never saw her down or sad. She did make us all get up to go to church on Sunday, the only time she wore a dress with her stockings rolled up and twisted at the knees. How she ever kept them up I will never know. She wore pants the rest of the time because we were picking, or she was cutting lawns for the summer homes, or opening and closing their homes for the year.

I spent 10 of my summers with her and they were fantastic. I went to the beach almost every day, if we weren't out picking something that she would can, freeze, or sell to the summer folks. She loved all her grandkids and would even climb cherry trees with us. She played baseball at family picnics and could do just about anything.

Even though she worked all the time she cooked homemade meals everyday. You would get up for a breakfast, of steak, potatoes, eggs, oatmeal. Home made soups, biscuits, and her pies. Also I remember making home canned bread and butter pickles. I got to keep my 14 quarts I made one summer with her.

Almost all of my aunts and uncles lived within a five mile radius of her and she was the true matriarch of the family. She knew everyone in the area and was always picking up hitch hikers (this was the 50"s) and always seemed to know someone in their families.

I could go on because she was so important to me in my younger years and I do miss her.