Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

This week a dear bloggy friend, Jedjidja, wrote a post on a memory of her grandparents visting her as a child.  This reminded me of my great grandmother.  For those who do not know, I was raised by my grandparents.  So my relationsip with them is more of a child/parent relationship.  My relationship with my great grandmother (my maternal grandmother's mom) is the relationship I think of when I think grandparent relationship.  

My great grandma was 66 when I was born.  I remember her coming to our house and bringing digestive biscuits or wafer cookies with her for tea time.  I remember driving in her blue car (I don't know what kind) and getting picked up from school or going to the doctor.  When I was around 5 years old, she had a major heart attack.  This slowed her down.  However, she had just moved into a condominium that was walking distance from our house.  Sometimes after school my grandmother would take me over to her condominium for tea time.  Tea time was always around 3.  The tea was served in delicate china mugs.  There was always some cookie, bar or cup cake that she had made.  But I always waited for the shortbread.  Not whipped shortbread, but traditional Scottish shortbread.  It's more of a bar.  It is also hard and when dipped in your tea is amazing.  I was the shortbread girl.  I would do anything to get some.  The year I lived with my mom when I was 12, she sent me some for my Christmas gift.  My mom wanted me to put it out for our guests, but as it was my Christmas gift I said no and hid it in my room.  

When my great grandmother died I was devastated.  She was so important to me.  I loved listening to her stories of growing up in a mining town.  Or her advice "you meet good boys at church."  Because of this relationship I encourage my children's relationship with their grandparents and great grandmother (my grandma).  I love when my grandmother and kids get to visit with each other and I think it's great that even though we don't live in the same city that they are able to skype. 

My friend, Shawntele, at Rambling with Grace, has a new meme on Friday's called 5 Fave Friday.  This week she is talking about comfort food, which I think is quite fitting with my memories of great grandma.  These are the foods that I think about when I think about family and friends.  They bring back memories of growing up.  They make me think places I have been or places I want to go.

1.  Shortbread - Obvious

2.  Fish Sticks and French Fries - We didn't have a lot of money growing up, but these bring fond memories of sitting with my family eating dinner and watching sitcom reruns at dinner time.

3.  Chocolate Chip Cookies-A classic and a favourite of everyone at any age.

4.  Dutch Apple Taart - When I was a teenager we started buying these for our desert for Christmas dinner.  This year I made my own to start the tradition in my family.

5.  Lasagna - Even though lasagna isn't that hard to make, it is time consuming.  Growing up it was a treat when my grandmother made Lasagna and usually a big family function was going on.