Community Chat

[snappyfrappy]

grandma taught me how to say the alphabet backwards, and I can still do it.

snappy

[shoekitty]

My grandparents were from Russia. My grandfather came first in 1909, my grandmother and 2 aunts in 1911. The were born with Csars in power, and left as the revolution was either coming to a head, or was brewing. The stories from them were translated, and they always changed with every translation. They were of the religious sect Molokan, and when Lenin was coming to power they lost the right to worship, OR were going to loose it. They met in homes to worship anyway, as they always refused a church building. . They were also called to war, which the Molokans had been exempt from until then. They were pacifists. I think the religion is sort of like Amish, in some ways. They settled in San Francisco on Russian Hill, and then left for the Utah desert. They had hoped to make a community there of Molokan. But it was brutal, and they came back to Russian Hill, then to Santa Rosa. There is a book of their journey http://molokane.org/places/USA/Utah/2003_Bowen.html

My Mom was born after this point. But she was sixth of 8 kids. My Baba never spoke English, but we talked with our eyes, and pantomime. She did teach me about perseverance and you can never, ever roll Lapsha noodles too thin! Lapsha is a paper thin egg noodle they cook with chicken broth and pieces of chicken. I helped make this and other russian dishes as a kid, I wouldn't know now!. My grandfather was a an elder and pastor when they met for church on Sunday. The church lasted from early morning, until night. They sung the service at times.

[brewhaha]

Always keep your feet apart when peeing behind the bushes.

[Slate]

On 3/11/2015 MickD said: Polish....fluent at age 2/3....my mom couldn't understand a word I said....had to wait until my dad came home from work....haha...I can't remember a lick of it now.....bummer. ....fluent for a 2/3 year old for gawds sake....not adult fluent.....jeez....

mówic prosto z mostu.

[MickD]

Slate - OMG! I usually do....that's so cool...dziekuje!

[Slate]

Prosze

[ROMARY]

shoekitty: What an interesting real life story. You, too, should print your post, and perhaps make a memory book with other memories of your grandparents. Heart........(wish I had a heart icon/emotion)

[ivey]

My grandmother lived in a very old house with only a heater in the living room. No heaters in the bedrooms. She would heat bricks on the heater, then stick them under the covers at the foot of the bed to warm up the bed. There were plenty of quilts on the bed, and it would be warm and cozy when we got in. Poor thing--she slept that way every night. We only slept like that when we spent the night with her.

[MickD]

...ladies...these stories are truly amazing!

[ROMARY]

ivey: Heartwarming. Wonder what she would have thought about today's life in general and conveniences......