Happy memories

Today my grandmother would have been 117, where does the time go? She was born this day in Malmesbury, Western Cape, South Africa in 1900. Today also happened to be Paul Kruger's birthday so she was named after him, Paulina Kruger Schaefer.

It has been many since she passed on but her memory and that of my grandfather is still bright and clear after all these years. As a child I spent many a weekend with them. My grandfather Pierre was an artist, I would sit fascinated (at least for a time) and watched him paint. He was always doing something, he loved working with his hands and their house was full of his projects. My grandmother was an excellent cook and her pantry was full of preserves and jams.

Most Sundays the family, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends would gather at their house, lunch would be a three-course meal with a choice of three meats. I can still remember the smell of her kitchen. It's amazing when you let your mind wander back in time how clear the memories become and even today a certain smell will trigger an avalanche of memories taking me right back to those faraway times.

We were a very musical family, my grandmother played many instruments but excelled on the piano. My mom, her sister and brother had good voices and after the meal and after an hour or so to relax, the house was filled with song. Those were days before television, mobile phones and computers, families were much closer and I got to know my cousins very well. Today sadly that is no longer the case.

Evenings I would sleep on a bed made up in the lounge. I have memories of lying awake in the dark listening to the floor-boards creak and restlessly remembering the ghost stories my grandmother had told me.

Image - Pixabay

I have many fond recollections of a life that has for most part disappeared and we are the poorer for that.

Photographs from my private collection