Going to Grandma's house....well, Apartment.

 When I was little, the only grandparents still alive was my father's mother and my mother's father.

My Grandmother was married to her second husband, Joseph Brincil. They lived in a Tenement  apartment building in Manhattan. 

I have photo's of spending Thanksgiving there. How she managed to cook for everyone is amazing!  Her daughers and daughters in law would also bring dishes to eat and help with the setting up and cleaning up. She had 5 children, they were all married with kids. I know there had to be a kids table. 

My mother said grandma Maude  would get up around 4am to start cooking, so soon after dinner she could be out cold on the floor, drunk but also very tired. We have pictures of that too, and I was told she was playing games with us grandkids. 

I remember playing with my cousins. The Silk boys, Tommy, Kevin and Bobby. DeMonte boys, Tommy and Andy. Symmonds boys, Philip and John and my sisters. 

The apartment was a railroad apartment. You came in the apartment at the kitchen  and you walked straight down a hall through (no doors) bedrooms, usually two and ended at the living room that might have a small side room off the living room. 

At some point we would get packed in the car and the trip home back to the Bronx. 

I don't remember a great deal, large gatherings like that, consumed lots of alcohol. So, lots of laughing and talking loud and smoking. Just about everyone smoked.  

I will have to post about the Grandparents one day. 

Grandma with Grandpa Joe, my dad in a white shirt and Uncle Andy. I think they could be his sons.  In grandma's kitchen.