Tuesday With Gram

Meet Gram.

88 Years Old...I think?

Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Mother of 6.

Grandmother of 11.

Great-Grandmother of 9.

Husband of over 60 years passed away almost 1 year ago.

Gram lives about 5 minutes away and for extenuating circumstances we don't see her as often as I would like. But there are times that she joins us for an afternoon and dinner. Yesterday was one of those times. Everytime she joins us, I think about how I should not let the business of life get in the way of having her over more often. Here's the thing about Gram. She "suffers" from dimensia. Which means her short term memory is pretty much shot. I say "suffers" because she isn't really suffering. She has no clue that she asks the same question over and over throughout our visit, or that she has commented 20 times over the past 3 hours on how cute Emma Kate's shoes are.

Nonetheless, I cannot tell you how much I love to watch her watch my children. Her eyes light up when she sees them and they twinkle as she interacts with them. She is totally content to sit on the couch and watch Dora with Emma Kate or read Connor a story. And when I am too busy making dinner to sit and look at the latest Toys R Us ad with Connor, Gram is ready and willing. Just when I think that she isn't "there" listening to our conversation, she interjects with some hilarious comment that is totally applicable!

I love this woman and I love that my children are able to spend this precious time with her.

(Yes, she is sitting in the kids Anywhere Chair!)

I can also try new recipes on her, like this one I got over at Kim's blog.

I didn't have the Basil Cream Sauce that she made, but it was still delicious. I think I had "4ths."

"Pre-Baking:"

"Post-Baking:"

I got the zucchini from my neighbor's garden...it was the biggest zucchini I have ever seen in my life!

And I had all the rest of the ingredients on hand. Nice!

Jeff isn't a big fan of zucchini and I can't say that this recipe helped that at all. But the kids, Gram, and I loved them!

Do you have a zucchini recipe that you love? I'll take all I can get.