Grandma's canned peaches and chocolate chip cookies

It is Sunday, 23 March.  The temperature outside dropped 20 degrees from yesterday.  There was sunshine and blue skies yesterday.  Now the skies are grayish white and it is 30F/0C.   There is a chance of snow by Wednesday.  We are waiting to see if the weather pattern changes.  With all the technology the weather people cannot predict the weather most of the time. 

I have been told that my grandmother has had Shingles for the past month.  I was not aware since I was in Mumbai, India.  She is 95 years old.  Shingles is hard enough for a younger person, but the elderly it is worse.  I am praying for a speedy recovery.  

My childhood was spending weekends and summers on my grandparent's farm outside of Columbus, Nebraska.  The farmhouse was very old.  There was no air conditioning in the summer and the only rooms with heat in the winter was the kitchen and living room.  The upstairs had no heat.  It was the best.  My grandma made feather blankets from the geese.  It was the warmest blankets anyone could sleep under.  The air was so cold because there was very insulation and the windows let the cold air into the room.  It did not matter.  My grandma's thick feather blankets were so warm.  I still remember the flannel sheets on the bed were cold when we would crawl underneath the feather blanket.  We would move are feet and legs to create heat and warm the cold flannel sheets.  The thickest of the feather blanket was perfect.  It would sink around you and cradle you.  It was amazing.  There has been no other feather blankets like my grandma's.

In the mornings we would keep our clothes under the blanket to keep them warm.  We would dress under the feather blanket and run downstairs to the heat of the kitchen.

The crazy things is the grandchildren would play upstairs during the winter months.  We never noticed the cold.  

In the heat of the summer, we would be canning all different types of vegetables and fruits with the temperature outside would be over 100F/38C.  Inside the kitchen the temperature would be even hotter.  I remember peeling dozens of apples to make applesauce. We would have contests who can have the longest continuous apple peel.  There was no pressure cookers at the farmhouse.  It had to boil for hours to seal the jar.  It was worth the heat, sweat and hard work in the autumn and winter with fresh canned fruits and vegetables.  My favorite morning snack at Grandma's was fresh canned peaches and homemade chocolate chip cookies.  The cookies were so crispy and buttery.  The canned peaches tasting like eating a fresh peach picked from the peach tree.  It was so juicy and sweet.  No one argued with Grandma about cookies and peaches in the morning.  Whatever Grandma says goes.

My mom does the same thing with her 4 grandchildren.  She spoils them.  This is the right of Grandparents.  They could not spoil their children, but grandchildren are fair game.  Children need to be spoiled by others.  More to come about Grandparents.

Please keep my Grandma in your prayers.