The Matriarch

What can I say about my grandmother other than what I have heard from my dad?
She was what one would typically call an "Irish Broad." She was a tough woman who wasn't afraid to put a beat-down on someone who threatened her, but at the same time she was someone obsessed with societal niceties. She had a problem with alcohol, that often led to her becoming verbally abusive of my grandfather and drove him to drink; she was also a hard woman to please and frequently ended my grandfather's chances at making something of himself. She was nicknamed "Grandma Apple" because of an apple tree that grew in her backyard; she was also devoted to her garden, my dad is convinced she was some sort of neo-pagan or druidess masquerading as an Episcopalian. She was apparently a terrible cook, with the exception of cakes, pies, and lasagna. She was an artist and enjoyed drawing and painting; something a lot of people in my family like. She was a skilled pianist. She was a dancer and always wanted to be a ballerina, though she never made it.

When I said she was tough, I wasn't kidding. When she was in high school, a couple of lesbian girls had tried to sexually assault her and she just beat the hell out of them.

Has anyone heard of Senator McCarthy? You know, the guy who whipped up all the Red Scare stuff during the Cold War? Well, my grandparents were out at a club one evening and Senator McCarthy showed up, drunk out of his mind, and he groped my grandmother. So, what did she do? She beat the hell out of him. She also beat up a bookie who had tried to cheat her, but that's another story.

She was a woman of habit and did not like when things changed. She refused to even travel too far. When she and my grandfather went to Indiana for my dad's graduation, she began to freak out because she thought she was in "Indian country"; she was also terrified by how rural everything was and couldn't believe how many cows there were out there as the most rural place she had been to was northern Virginia.

I could write a book on the things my dad and relatives have told me about my grandmother, but that may take a while. Let me just conclude by saying that I decided to portray her as a sort of Celtic goddess using the Azaleasdolls Goddess Maker; I felt it was apt for her. My design for her was inspired by some old photographs; she had deep-set eyes, dark hair, and was very skinny.