My Old Ladies

 I've been thinking about the elder women in my life lately.

My mother was younger than I am now by several months, when she passed over. She developed a rare disease as a result of being a long term smoker. She worked until she was 73 though! (I left work at 46 due to my fibromyalgia). Despite my disability I've managed to stay quite active and relatively physically fit. This summer though, I'm finding my body trying to kick me down. ( Which might be why I'm thinking more about my elders?)

My good friend Pal was a real power house until she was about 85. She developed diabetes with all the complications that really knocked her for a loop. She was widowed with a small child shortly after I met her. She always worked without social supports, until she was pensionable age. Even then she still did baking for special clients. She really has been my role model, though I don't care for her old lady pincurls. Hahaha

So, old lady hair styles! How they have evolved. My grandmother and her pals all had that pin curl thing going on. My grandmother went to the salon every Saturday morning for a shampoo and set. She touched the stragglers up with her own clamps, pins and nets at home. I was always fascinated with those odd things as a youngster. That drawer in her bathroom was dusted with scented powder. I love the smell that arose when I dug out those funny clips. Once a month my grandmother had a blue rinse put in her hair. Ladies of my generation are more variable with their color choices. Pink and mauve are popular. My eldest daughter frequently goes for green or a brilliant saffire blue.

My maternal grandmother was a prominent role model in my life. My mother was a surprise "change of life" baby, so my grandmother was pretty old when I was born. My mother married in her 30s after my father returned from the war. So, my grandmother was really elderly forever. Still, she had lots of time for us and taught us great life skills. My grandparents were master gardeners. Grandmother had an amazing knowledge of natural herbs and remedies that she learned from her mother, who in turn learned from the First Nation Matriarch's. 

As the much younger baby of the family, my own mother had no interest in any of these skills, so it all came from Grandma. Mum graduated high school just as the second war started and went to the big city to work in a munitions plant. I had visions of her all dolled up like Rosie the Riviter, but she was an office worker. She stayed at work after the war, after my Da convinced her to marry him, and after she had me. She was a modern woman!

Now I'm an old woman, sitting here ruminating over the changes in each generation.

 I still can't get over that blue hair business though.