Thursday, June 19, 2014

20 Skills Your Grandparents Had That You Don't?

Browsing through the Huffington Post last night, I came across a feature article in the "Huff-50" (aka "Old Fa*ts") section that really got me thinking. It was called 7 Skills Your Grandparents Had That You Don't. They are...

My grandmothers
1. Cooking from Scratch
2. Sewing (and quilting, crocheting & darning)
3. Canning
4. Ironing
5. Meeting people (without the Internet)
6. Haggling
7. Writing Letters
"Grammy" with my son, Rob, in 1975

I was really close to my grandparents and stayed with them often. Having had so many opportunities to watch them, and learn from them, I really need to add to the HuffPo's list of forgotten skills:

8.  Making crushed ice with a hammer (no fancy ice-in-the-door for my grandmother!)
9.  Saving old buttons (and pins, and thread, and match books, and envelopes, and string, and...)
10. Finding coins in children's ears
11. Making do
12. Wearing a girdle and full slip
13. Drinking Ginger Ale & Root Beer
14. Writing "Thank You" Notes
15. Going to Mass every Sunday
16. Taking the city bus
17. Matching your purse to your shoes
18. Staying married
19. Using a pressure cooker without blowing up the kitchen
20.  Doing a gig while singing "Harrigan" (Priceless!)


Grandpa...always on stage!

How about you?
What skills did your grandparents have that may have been lost today?

 
This post is linked to:
Home Sweet Home Party at The Charm of Home
Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
What's It Wednesday at Ivy & Elephants
Flaunt It Friday at Chic On A Shoestring Decorating
Friendship Friday at Create With Joy

7 comments:

  1. Grandma would use an old ring-type washing machine, hang all the clothes on the clothesline, iron them and then had a homemade pie ready for desert. She was an amazing woman. Your picture is darling.
    Ann

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  2. Good post! I was interested in your list and was proud to think that I new all of the 7. But then I remembered, I'm a grandma. Then I got to thinking of the flip side and wonder what 7 skills my grandkids have that I don't. I might be scared to know ~lol~

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  3. Oh boy, I remember singing Harrigan also. Gosh I am old. How is it living in Falmouth? My Doctor Rodrique
    is there he did my new hip. I missed Mass 2 weeks ago. Never used a head of guns
    "NOT ONE MORE"pressure cooker after it blew up. Tried to cook wild rice, takes an hour the right way. I wanted to speed it up and used the pressure. Picked rice off the ceiling for weeks.Still cook from scratch. and Iron, still write Thank you's writing letters is rare. Bye for now fellow Mainer. yvonne

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  4. some thing changed my comment yvonne

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  5. Wow, that was an interesting list. I don't know if my grandmother did all those things or not but I know my Mother-in-law did a lot of them. Fun! I love the photo of your grandfather. That's fun too. Times sure have changed. If they could see us now in front of our computers communicating with the 'world'. :)

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  6. I do bake from scratch and ironed all my clothes when I was working. I don't need to iron my daily uniform -Patagonia shorts and Life Is Good tee shirts.
    I have canned in the past, but we eat fresh rather than canned or frozen food.
    I save buttons, write thank you notes, and letters frequently.
    I remember my mother using the pressure cooker and never understood it.

    Thanks for the fun list.

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  7. I saw a link to something like this the past week and I clicked on it and read it. It is a priceless time with skills that would be good to be learned by all of us! Thank you for linking with Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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