Role-models and reminiscences

I had two very good role-models growing up - my two grandmothers!

Grandma Kathleen was a champion baker and even now, many years after her death, distant relatives and old acquaintances still reminisce over her Christmas cakes, buns and also her Yorkshire puddings.

She even made my wedding cake and people still mention it to me, 12 years on!

Granny Doris was skilled at making gourmet meals on a very tight budget, for a large extended family. She was a former nurse, turned homemaker, who took great pleasure in looking after people - not only her own large family, but various elderly or disabled neighbours, as well as knitting clothes for babies in overseas orphanages, sponsored walks for aid charities, etc.

It's over 20 years since she passed away, but I can still smell her turkey in orange juice and taste her flapjack and shortbread and I still remember the way she took care of people and made everyone feel cared for and loved.

I hope that one day my own children and grandchildren will remember me just as fondly and my talent for cooking up "something yummy from nothing". I also hope that my grandmothers are looking down on me proudly right now, as I do my best to give my children positive childhood memories for later :-)