What are some things that you remember about your grandparent's house?

The sounds of the furnace.

I only saw my maternal grandmother once. My paternal grandmother died before I was born.
I remember the smell of gas in her old, old farm house.

When I was about 8 we went to the Pacific Northwest to visit.
I remember playing in barn, in the hay loft, with my cousin.
I remember gramma standing outside, rubbing her back on the door frame, a bottle of her “red medicine” in her hand. Pretty sure the “red medicine” was just liquor of some kind. She died when I was about 10. My cousins all gush about how awesome she was and I feel like I really missed out on something.

@Dutchess_III That makes me sad to think that you didn’t get to know your grandma in the way that some of your cousins did. I got super lucky in the grandma department.

Nana’s cooking. She was amazing, and every meal seemed like a party.

Wow. Do I have to narrow it down to one? Taking a chamber pot to bed at night and emptying it in the morning. Using the outhouse. Dealing with the bee hives near the outhouse. Hearing the rain on the tin roof. Learning to drive the tractor. Big Time Wrestling (Grandad loved it!). Sitting on the porch swing and watching the evening come on.

A coal fired furnace with electric stoker.

I only had one set of grandparents and never saw them again after the age of six. What I remember is rosaries, the smell of chicory coffee, the park across the street, and it seemed very big.

@MollyMcGuire was there a falling out?

@Kardamom I missed out on a LOT not growing up around my cousins. Kind of makes me angry to think about it. My folks dragged us from Washington (Dad worked at Boeing there), to Florida (Honeywell), but in the end we wound up in Kansas (Boeing again.) My folks clothed Kansas, and the first chance they got, after the divorce when I was 19, Mom moved back to Washington, and Dad moved to Florida. It’s like…they just stole my extended family then just abandoned us to live in this crap place.

@Dutchess_III Is there any way you and your hubby could move to WA and re-connect with that part of your family?

Think about that for a second….

I remember the bells that rang in the dining room to summon servants. My grandparents never had servants but their house was built in an era when they were common. There was a lever in each room that when pulled rang its bell by means of a cord.

Wow @flutherother! That’s wild!

@Kardamom I would never leave my kids, and especially not my grandkids. My family is here now.

Grandma always had the kraft pieces of candy that was pink-white-chocolate coconut.
Anyone else remember that candy?

I remember pink and white coconut ice. I would nibble a little bit of each to decide which I liked best. Sometimes it was the pink and sometimes the white. My grandmother also kept delicious turkish delight in a drawer in her sitting room.

I remember that, at home, when dinner was ready, Mom would have us turn the TV off and come to the table.
At Grammy and Grand Dad’s house, Gram would just roll the TV right up to the dinner table!

@MooCows, I love those pink and white coconut candies : )

My grandma had a pretty, decorative lidded candy tin on her coffee table that contained multi-colored sour balls. She also had a bowl full of mixed nuts in the shell, with a nutcracker. I thought that was the height of glamor.