Fresh Cut Grass and mud pizza's

The smell of newly cut grass always reminds me of Saturday trips to my Grandma Burton's with my dad when I was around 10. This is my Grandpa and Grandma Burton Christmas of 1972. My Grandpa died in April of '73. After that my dad made regular Saturday trips to my Grandma's house in Inglewood CA. He would cut and edge her grass, trim trees, deal with roots that were raising the sidewalk and do whatever my Grandma needed. I would play outside while my dad worked. I remember playing with a toy pigeon that could climb the wall with it's suction cup feet. My grandma would give us kids rides in the wheelbarrow. One time a man heard my grandma and dad talking and told her she had a beautiful accent and asked where she was from. I laughed inside at his ignorance - this man knew nothing, it was my other grandma who had an accent. Grandma Light was from Utah, she said things like crick (creek) and "Land Sakes!" Grandma Burton grew up in Switzerland and came to the US when she was 18 learning English after she arrived ... but I knew that's just how grandmas talked.

Grandma Burton was very proper in all that she did. She always brought cake to our house when she joined us for dinner (which is THE only proper dessert). She never drank Coke - only Pepsi. She always put her napkin on her lap and dabbed carefully at the edges of her mouth during dinner. One time Lisa and I went with my dad to her house. It was a beautiful day and we were playing outside. Lisa made a gourmet mud pizza that would fit in the palm of your hand complete with little sausages and pepperoni. My grandma came to see what we were doing. We were a little worried that we would be in trouble for playing in the mud but we told her we made a pizza and showed it to her. She asked if she could have some. Lisa handed it to her and to our utter shock she actually took a little bite! We both cried out for her to stop and told her it was made of mud! She acted shocked, turned her head and daintily spit the mud to the side with a little "ptew" sound. No wonder it didn't taste very good. We all had a good laugh.

It's interesting how a smell can bring back some much...