Grandmother's Wood Burning Stove

I remember my father's mother very well.  She spent lots of time with me as I was growing up and she was that quintessential "granny" that every child loves to have.  I have many memories of her, such as her trying to get me to eat more and feeding me one bite every time I would swing back and forth on the swing, just so I'd get the full meal down. 

I remember he pulling weeds in a back yard that, to me, was pretty much all weeds.  But she seemed to get some enjoyment out of it, and I got to play uninterrupted, so I didn't mind.  But this post is about her stove.

Mostly, my grandmother came to me to visit.  She would stay in our house and she'd take care of me before and after school while my parents were at work.  It was always fun when she was around.  Every so often though, I'd go to her house and spend time with her.  I remember being there and waiting for her to cook dinner.  She would spend long amounts of time making more food than my cousins or I could eat, but boy, was it good food.

What I remember vaguely though, was that in the middle of this house, she had a wood burning stove.  She would pile in wood and when the top got hot, she would cook things on top of it.  It was black and it looked scary to me.  I stayed away, but I definitely ate all the food she made from it.

I spoke with my father about it recently.  He told me she was a hazard using that stove, but she insisted.  She would leave logs hanging out and they'd fall off and nearly burn the floor.   She apparently had a regular electric stove, but she didn't want to use it. 

My memories are so vague and yet clear at the same time of the days I spent with her at her house, eating her cornbread and other food she had learned how to make when she was a young girl. 

The Big Boy Update:  "Here, heart me."  "I'll heart you."  Things my son said to his sister while playing with a stethoscope. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  quaaawwwwkkkk.   She's making this quacking, growling, squawking noise lately as she runs around.  It's odd, but it's so toddler.

Fitness Update:  Eight miles in thirty-degree weather with my neighbor this morning.  We were so cold, and then we got so hot.  We forgot to run into the park because we started running later than normal and we didn't even think about the fact that it was light and we could run in the park, we'd run in the dark so much lately.