52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History from GeneaBloggers

GeneaBloggers is a group interested in sharing genealogy with others through their blogs. They also give suggestions on what to write about in blogs. There are daily and weekly suggestions. This week's prompt is childhood memories of spring.

Spring Memories

My mother’s mother, Helen (Coyle) Gardner, our Nana, lived in tiny white house on a country road in Germantown, NY.  She had been born and raised in New York City but adapted quickly to life in the country. She learned the names of all the birds and flowers around her house. She even raised chickens. My mother was her only child and we visited often. In the spring my brothers loved to play in the woods and fields around the house, climbing trees and playing imaginary games. I loved the Lily of the Valley that grew beside Nana’s little front stoop. Nana would let me pick a handful to put in a glass jar on her kitchen table. Then she’d give me paper and a pencil she had sharpened with a knife and I’d have a great time drawing the flowers. Lily of the Valley are still my favorite flowers and I grow them beside my own front door.  Their smell always brings memories of my Nana.