It's been a hard week

I know I've been MIA this week, but if you follow me on Facebook, you know that my grandmother passed away on Sunday.  It was sort of a shock.  I say it that way b/c I knew her health was declining, I knew she had congestive heart failure and poor kidney function, and she was 82 years old.  However, she also lived on her own and I had talked to her Tuesday evening (her birthday).  She was able to call my Aunt and ask her to come over Sunday morning, and the decision was made to call rescue. She left this world around 3:30 that very afternoon.  Her strength was pretty amazing.  She has lived alone since my grandfather's unexpected death over 20 years ago, in the same home she raised all 4 of her children in.  Her body was so arthritis ridden that she has been unable to walk for several years. Yet, she would get in her motorized chair and work in her yard (she kept an amazing yard) and tend to the few vegetables she still planted.  She has gorgeous flowers and not a speck of dust was allowed in the house. In other words, she was an amazing woman.  I inherited her love of cooking, gardening, and eating!  We loved to talk about food.  Even when she was in a lot of pain she would have the Food Network on TV and she would make notes about recipes to try when she was feeling up to it.  She would often send someone to the grocery store, just for a particular ingredient, b/c once she got something on her mind, she was determined to do it! (I might have inherited that as well!)

So, it's been a hard week.  We said our final goodbyes yesterday, under gorgeous blue sunny skies, 70 degree weather, and surrounded by flowers, family and friends.  I believe that is the way she would have wanted it.

She will always be a part of my heart. I loved her, and she loved me and my children. Yes, she was a Great-Grandma in every sense of the word :-)  My oldest daughter is actually named after her, and that makes me very happy.

I'll get back to posting recipes very soon, b/c sharing food was one of my Grandma's favorite past times.  She did not want anyone walking around too thin!