Happy Fall to everyone!  Yes, it’s here even though it still feels like summer here in northern Illinois.  I wonder does it look like fall anywhere?  Here it is still very lush and green due to all of the rain we’ve gotten recently.  With the exception of a few leaves here and there, I cannot find any golden, reddish, or orange hued trees yet.

My Grandma was one of the most special people in my life.  It would have been her 103rd birthday today.  She’s been gone 8 years and I still miss her as much as ever.  She was only 48 years old when I was born and we always lived close by, so we spent lots and lots of time with her and my grandpa; I have tons of wonderful memories of her.

I looked for photos of her and I together and sadly there are very few.  I think it was because she was always preparing meals and taking care of everyone; she hardly ever sat down.  Here’s one of her helping me eat soup.  She was always making soup and to this day I love soup and make it more than anything else.

She had a little garden in the back of their two flat in a Chicago suburb where they lived in the 1960s.  When I got older she would send me out to her lettuce patch to pick leaf lettuce for dinner.  I still use her vinegar and oil dressing recipe for my salads.  This is her recipe from so long ago.  I keep it in the refrigerator and use as needed.  The olive oil gets solidified in the frig, but 30 seconds in the microwave makes it pourable again.

Vinegar and Oil Salad Dressing

2 oz. apple cider vinegar

2 oz. olive oil

4 oz. water

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. salt

a sweetener, my Grandma used Sweet and Low, but I use 15 drops of Stevia.

Shake up everything in a salad dressing shaker or jar and pour on salad as desired.

Oh, I just thought of this story she told me a few years before she passed.  She NEVER ever had a doll!  Do you believe it?  Well, I couldn’t believe it, so for her next birthday I hand painted a round wooden box to look like a cake and placed some Kelly dolls inside dressed in the types of outfits I was making at the time.  She was so happy and displayed the little dolls on a shelf in her apartment.  She always supported my creative passions.

Happy Birthday Grandma and I miss you SO MUCH!

Love you, Grandma!  ❤ ❤ ❤

Thanks so much for reading along and sharing a few of my memories of my Grandma.  Who do you have from your childhood who was extra special in your life?