Nana-isms

The title of my blog today is Nana-isms.  These are phrases that Nana uses that are unique to Nana’s vocabulary, like…..

“It’s raining cats and dogs and hammer handles.”  I asked Nana where she heard this phrase and she said that her mom and dad said it when she was growing up.  I’ve heard the “cats and dogs” phrase, but I’m clueless where the hammer handles come into the picture.  Nana didn’t know either but it seems normal to her because she’s been saying it all her life.

While I was combing Nana's grandkitty, Mitzi and talking to Nana on the phone one morning, Nana remarked that she had already combed her hair for the day.  Then she delivered the newest Nana-ism “Brush your teeth and comb your hair and you’ll look like a millionaire.”  She told me she heard the phrase in her childhood.  It’s amazing to me I’ve never heard her say that before.  Nana can always surprise me.

Another famous Nana-ism is a phrase she calls “storm air.”  When she walks outside and the air penetrates with cold and moisture, Nana says it’s a “storm air.”  The funny thing is she's usually right.  After her pronouncement, a storm is not far behind.

At 89 years old, Nana gets tired more easily now than when she was younger.  I’m always encouraging her to take a nap in the afternoon, especially when she hasn’t slept enough the night before.  Her answer is always the same, “I’m not a daytime sleeper.”  She states this Nana-ism like any indisputable fact.  That’s the end of the discussion.

Whenever Nana and I are talking about numbers, whether it be her checkbook total, or the price of bananas, she frequently says, “go figure.”  That’s one of her favorite Nana-isms.  For Nana to “go figure” she uses a pencil and piece of paper, not a calculator.  This woman can add and subtract in her head faster than I can enter the numbers in a calculator.  She still does her own checkbook and balances her bank account statements every month.  She may only have an eighth grade education, but she does know how to “go figure.”

As I write this, it’s starting to rain - I'm waiting to see the “cats and dogs and hammer handles.”

 

 

Nana and Snow

 

We had 3 inches of snow in Virginia today.  Whenever I talk to Nana about snow, she loves to tell the story about the time that she was in Austin in 1943 and they had snow there for the first winter in 17 years.  She says that the kids went wild, throwing snowballs, even breaking windows in their excitement.  Most of those kids had never seen snow before.  Of course, it didn't stay long in the warmer Texas temperatures but it truly was an event to remember.

 Nana also told me when she was a kid, she and Uncle John walked to Pikes Peak School in the winter.  She said the snow was as high as the fences they crossed.  The teacher lived next to the school so there was no "snow days" for them to get a vacation from school.

Below is a picture of Nana and Uncle Ben during the winter with snow on the ground while she lived at home in Elimsport area with Grandma and Grandpa Tilburg.  Nana was probably in her late teens and Uncle Ben was 7 years younger.  Nana is holding a guitar.  When I asked her about the guitar, she said it was Uncle John's.  She liked to strum on it sometimes but didn't really play.  She told me Uncle John used to play the guitar for square dances.  The old car they are posing in front of she thinks is a Ford, because Grandpa Tilburg usually bought Fords. 

Nana and Uncle Ben

 

Nana has seen lots of winters.  We talked recently about the blizzard of 1996 and the flood that followed. We both remembered that as one of the worst in history.  I guess this 3 inches of snow today is really no big deal.  

Pictures from Advent Wreath Service December 2012

 

Thanks to my brother Bill for sharing these pictures he took of Nana lighting the Advent Wreath Candle at St. John's United Methodist Church in December.  See my previous blog for all the details of that Sunday!