Maude Nificent on Nostr: answer; see photos the story (there is a always a story) my grandmother Ida was born ...
answer; see photos
the story (there is a always a story)
my grandmother Ida was born 1902. her own mother died of puerperal fever 6 days after she was born 🥲. as Ida’s father already had four other littlies to care for, Ida was (informally) adopted by 2nd? cousin once removed? who was well to do — he and his wife had recently lost their newborn.
ida received an appropriate education for that era and class, learning pianoforte, cookery, and what she called “fancy work”.
to really appreciate the bottle cover, let us step back in time; Moonee Ponds, a kitchen circa 1963. naturally there is a piano in the tiny kitchen (she lived in a small semi-detached ) we hear a blue budgie chirping in a cage (poor fing).
A simple Saturday lunch at Ida’s required a starched tablecloth (hand embroidered line), and a set table.
A few slices of bread on a bread dish, a chunk of butter on a butter dish, a dollop of jam taken from a jar and placed on a jam dish, milk from the bottle into a small milk jug: — at the end of the meal everything would be returned to storage containers, leaving a big pile of washing up.
The dramatic counterpoint to all of this graceful living was Ida’s post-prandial cigarette. After she had finished her first cup of tea, she used the empty tea cup as an ashtray. Without leaving the table she would next — remaining seated — turn in her seat and empty the slops and fag end from her cup into the kitchen sink behind her. She would then rinse the cup with tea from the pot, and empty that into the sink. Then she was ready for a second cup of tea.
Ashtrays were everywhere in those days, but Ida would not dream of putting one on the table while eating.
i miss her, every day
the story (there is a always a story)
my grandmother Ida was born 1902. her own mother died of puerperal fever 6 days after she was born 🥲. as Ida’s father already had four other littlies to care for, Ida was (informally) adopted by 2nd? cousin once removed? who was well to do — he and his wife had recently lost their newborn.
ida received an appropriate education for that era and class, learning pianoforte, cookery, and what she called “fancy work”.
to really appreciate the bottle cover, let us step back in time; Moonee Ponds, a kitchen circa 1963. naturally there is a piano in the tiny kitchen (she lived in a small semi-detached ) we hear a blue budgie chirping in a cage (poor fing).
A simple Saturday lunch at Ida’s required a starched tablecloth (hand embroidered line), and a set table.
A few slices of bread on a bread dish, a chunk of butter on a butter dish, a dollop of jam taken from a jar and placed on a jam dish, milk from the bottle into a small milk jug: — at the end of the meal everything would be returned to storage containers, leaving a big pile of washing up.
The dramatic counterpoint to all of this graceful living was Ida’s post-prandial cigarette. After she had finished her first cup of tea, she used the empty tea cup as an ashtray. Without leaving the table she would next — remaining seated — turn in her seat and empty the slops and fag end from her cup into the kitchen sink behind her. She would then rinse the cup with tea from the pot, and empty that into the sink. Then she was ready for a second cup of tea.
Ashtrays were everywhere in those days, but Ida would not dream of putting one on the table while eating.
i miss her, every day