Mimi's Daisy Chain

Greetings!

Dorothy Winder @1927

and welcome to my corner of the blogosphere.  Today I am celebrating my Nanny...my maternal grandmother...Dorothy Winder Strube. 

I thought it would be fun to let you know a little bit more about the inspiration behind my latest pattern on Moda's Bakeshop.
 

 

What follows is an excerpt from a short collection of stories I wrote about her several years ago.  It is a little long for a blog post, but it will tell you a little bit more about my Nanny.  I hope you enjoy it.



 

There was nothing truly remarkable about her.  She was not tall or graceful.  She was not fair of face.  One might say that she was rather short, certainly under five foot three, and had a large nose.  That nose, which I can scarcely detach from the rest of her, was quite often a sore spot with her.  She would have called it ugly.  She had gray hair, more white than gray, which I can only remember as being curled, although I believe that God made it straight and thin.  Her hair was not beautiful, nor was her face, yet for the life of me I can think of no other word to describe her.  My grandmother was beautiful from the top of her curly gray head to the tip of her somewhat too large nose, to the bottom of her long narrow feet.  There was nothing truly remarkable about her, except perhaps that she was mine.  (I thank God for the truly wonderful blessing that He gave to me in her.)

 

Dorothy Winder Strube @ 1991

 

Nanny taught me about lots of things.  She was my confidant, she shared my secrets and reveled in my plans.  She was my encourager.  The world needs more like her, yet I wonder whether it is still capable of producing them.  Nanny was born in Manchester England in 1902.  She was the last of thirteen children.  I would have liked to meet my great grandmother Winder to ask her how she managed with so many children.  I seem to have a hard time just dealing with three.  I have a hard time with three, yet I have a husband who is home - hers died when Nanny was very young.  I have a washing machine, dish washer, clothes drier, indoor plumbing and a grocery store not a mile from my home that brings me apples from New Zealand and salmon from the north Atlantic.  I have a television and radio and can "talk" on my computer with people in China if I have a yen to.  I have seen people walk on the moon.  My great grandmother would not even have dreamed of these things.  When Nanny was born the world was a different place.  Lovers still wrote letters to one another and cherished locks of hair.  People traveling great distances had to travel by steam ship, or perhaps by train, but always at a rate much slower than that we "enjoy" today.  Time was slower, people more reflective, innocence more common.  News traveled slowly and was often old before it reached you, but always pertinent.  Letters from distant relatives were cherished epistles, links in a grand chain rather than electronic bursts forgotten a few moments after they are read.  All of these things, and more, went into making my grandmother who she was, thoughtful, reflective, patient, an encourager.

 

Dorothy Winder Strube @ 1992

 

Palm Sunday, 1902 was the day that God chose to bring Nanny, Dorothy Winder, into the world.  I once talked with her about names.  She said, "By the time Mother and Father got to me, they had run out of middle names, so I didn't get one.  Mother liked Dorothy, it means 'gift of God' and she liked Grace.  Father thought one name was sufficient, so Mother picked Dorothy.  They called me Dolly.  I was called Dolly all of my life, until I met your Grandfather.  He didn't think that name did me justice."  I got the feeling that she missed being called Dolly.  It was on that day that I became resolved to give my daughter just that name.  She would be Dorothy Grace in honor of her dear great grandmother, and we would most certainly call her Dolly,...just as soon as God saw fit to give her to me.  That Nanny's given name meant "Gift of God" and that she was born on Palm Sunday meant the world to her.  She felt linked somehow to the passion of Christ.  I have to agree with her, it is a pretty awesome set of coincidences.