My Grandma, Jean Blumer Glatzel

My grandma -

My Grandma loved flowers, and she would have really liked these flowers that were at her memorial service.

My Grandma loved to garden. I think I got my green thumb from her.

When my Grandma and Grandpa sold their house in West Bloomington and moved to their townhouse behind the Target in Savage we dug up her rhubarb plant and moved it to my yard, where it grows very nicely. It is time to pick some rhubarb now, and make a cake or something.

My Grandma was a very kind, patient, person. She was a gentle soul. When I was a kid we went and visited both of my sets of grandparents every Sunday afternoon. My Grandma Glatzel always had made some kind of dessert, a lot of time cookies, and we would have dessert and coffee. At this time of year she would have made something from that rhubarb. Or we would have just dipped the stalks in sugar and ate it raw. As time went on her desserts and cookies got fancier, she was a big fan of Martha Stewart, and watched her show on TV.

I remember when I was a junior in high school she helped me make my prom dress. It was a peachy color, with flowing flaps of sheer fabric over the solid colored peach satin part. She was a good seamstress. She took a lot of classes at the Stretch and Sew over by Valley West shopping center. She made me lots of clothes when I was little. I had a red velvet dress for myself and one for my favorite doll. She always did lots of crafty things too, like knit and crochet. She was always interested in whatever project I was working on, and liked to see what I was making.

My Grandma used to have the ladies over to play bridge. She had card tables, and fancy napkins. We would use up the leftover napkins on Sunday afternoons with our desserts.

My Grandma was adopted. Her father, William, was a high school teacher at South High in Minneapolis. I think he started his teaching career in Ely. He was an avid outdoors man. He built a cabin up on the north shore of Minnesota on Pike Lake. They spent every summer up there when my Grandma was a kid. No running water, no electric. My Grandma's mother, Doris, died when my Grandma was 13 (I think she was 13). After that it was just her and her dad, and a Chesapeake Retriever named Peggy. Mike and I went to visit the Blumer's graves on Memorial Day weekend. They are buried at Lakewood cemetary, with a view of Lake Calhoun.

William F. Blumer

Dec. 11, 1890 - Dec. 19, 1989

Doris Brown Blumer

Jan. 13, 1889 - Nov. 25, 1935

I brought some lilacs from home and we decorated the graves.

Here is their view of the Lake Calhoun -

Lakewood is a beautiful cemetary if you ever have a chance go down and take a look around.

They have walking tours, and carriage rides - here is a link to the webpage http://www.lakewoodcemetery.com/About.html There are a lot of famous people buried there - like Paul, Sheila, and Marcia Wellstone, there is a whole list on the webpage.

My Grandma always liked dogs. When I was a kid they had dachshunds, the original 2 were Freddie and Heidi. I also remember Oscar, Tyge, and Maggie. We had a dachshund when I was growing up from a litter of puppies they had. Her name was Schultze. She used to lay on my legs in the recliner while I read my Charlie Brown/Snoopy books.

My Grandma had Alzheimer's for the past few years, and lived at the Masonic Home in Bloomington. She was still a polite, gentle, person, but would ask the same questions over and over again. It was sad to see her this way, and it was very hard on my Grandpa. They had a good marriage, I think they were very happy together. He used to call her Mrs. G, as kind of a term of endearment. They enjoyed having Happy Hour together in the early evenings. I do remember one Thanksgiving when I was a kid when Grandma had too much wine and had to go lie down on her twin bed (they always had twin beds) and my mom and my aunt Janet had to make the Thanksgiving dinner.

My uncle David, who is only 7 years older than I am was a teenager in the early 70's. He had long hair, and dropped out of high school, and my grandma loved him very much. It didn't matter to her that he did those things, even though she was a pretty proper type of person. She still knew he was a good person, just trying to find his way in the world. And of course he eventually did find his way. And I'm sure he appreciated having a mother like her, who was always there for him, and always loved him for who he was. I feel bad for my uncle, who never got along very well with my grandpa. As an aside, I remember that he had a girlfriend back in the 70's that worked at the Gedney Pickle Factory, and always smelled like pickles. Funny what we remember from our childhoods...

If God had intended us to follow recipes,

He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.

~Linda Henley

My Grandma was a recipe follower - here is a cookie recipe that my Grandma Glatzel always made for Christmas, and I still make these cookies today!

Grandma Glatzel's Green Meringues

2 egg whites
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
2/3 c. sugar
mint chocolate chips, or I use Andes mint pieces found in choc. chip aisle at xmas
green food color

Beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually add sugar, while still beating. Stir in food color and chips. Using a teaspoon drop a small pile of meringue on GREASED cookie sheets. Heat oven to 350. Put cookies in oven, shut the oven off and leave 6-8 hours or overnight. The cookies don't really bake, they just dry up. And then they melt in your mouth when you eat them - YUM!