memories of grandma

I got a call from my mom this morning to tell me that my grandma had died. If you've read recent postings, it's my grandpa that we had been worried about, after he had broken first one hip and then the other. So I was/am pretty shocked. I was supposed to visit this past weekend, and at the last minute my mom said it was a little hectic and maybe I should wait till this upcoming weekend. So while I sit here and wait to find out more about what is happening in the coming days and weeks, here are some of my favorite memories of my grandma:

Braided rugs that she handmade and had all over her house; her bird feeders she fussed over to make sure there was enough food all the time; picking raspberries in her gardens; how much she loved her plants and wanted to give David cuttings since the two of them had this in common; when I was a kid and my brother and I slept over, I always loved that she had Museli (?) cereal that she would give me with half & half or some sort of creamy milk; short bread cookies in her cookie jars; looking under her bathroom sink to see what colors of nail polish and lipstick she had; she kept a daily calendar and would write little notes on each day of the week about what she had done that day, like "lunch with Leila" or something else completely routine and ordinary; her elegant and perfect cursive handwriting; looooong games of Shang-hi (the best card game ever) around their dining room table; during card games of Shang-hi the feisty way she'd say "I want that" when a card came up she wanted to steal; her eye for beauty and pretty things; when people would tell me that I remind them of my grandma I always felt such pride and joy to hear that; her beauty and grace; her fiery stubbornness; her advice to me when I got married: to always share and love each other - so simply, so sweet; at my wedding shower, after opening a particularly lovely piece of lingerie, it was my GRANDMOTHER who said "you'll only wear it for 30 seconds"; she figured out email and always sent me every forward imaginable; with some prompting she even created a facebook account; her recipe for peppermint bark and almond rocca; she was so excited when we announced we were moving to the Portland area, because she thought Oregon was such a "progressive state"; her strength as evidenced throughout her life as a war-time wife and mother; her faithfulness to send birthday, Christmas and anniversary cards; how she always said she was proud of me and believed in me.