Aunty Peg's funeral has got me thinking about her a lot.
She had a stroke over 12 years ago and since then has been partially paralyzed and so has been living in the hospital wing of a rest home. She had moved there of her own volition a few months before her stroke. Before that she lived on her own in a house her father (my great-grandfather) built in Thorndon. It had a fabulous view! She lived on her own and always had as long as I could remember, not that long in her life. She was 92 when she passed away.
Before she moved we visited her quite frequently and she always had a jar of lollies so that we could each have one. She had a great toy box which had really neat wooden blocks in various shapes, including half-circles and arches and a bunch of farm animals as well as some metal fences. She taught me to play Scrabble.
I always thought she was really neat and independant living on her own with no man. When she first moved into the home I organised for Puggle and me to have a sleep-over at her house. All girls! I remember that she cooked us dinner and that it included green beans and was yummy. We slept in sleeping bags in the lounge. She had a crocheted blanket over the couch. She used to crochet alot and she knitted us all (and all the cousins) jerseys every year for our birthdays. I can only remember one, probably the last one she made for me, it was blue and had big shapes (square, circle, triangle, I think) in various colours on it.
Once she had the stroke she couldn't knit anymore. She had been quite an active woman and even after the stroke, when she was wheelchair-bound, no matter what the weather, if you suggested a drive or a walk on the grounds, she was always keen.
When at Uni I got her a Diana Gabaldan book, the first one in that series whatever it's called, for christmas. She enjoyed it and passed it on to my Granny. I think I got her the second in the series too, but her eyesight was going at that stage and the print was too small. I remember being a pretty shocked that she had liked it and was keen for the next because... some bits are pretty raunchy! Not to mention Granny as well! I guess I totally forgot about all the real-life these women have had.
Aren't people funny?
Posted by giffy at August 23, 2004 11:01 PM | TrackBack