This one is for my cousin Martin who seems to have an unatural affinity for stories about Mrs. Samrov, my grandmother's cleaning lady. I admit most of the grandchildren....my generation, have a fond and tender affection for Mrs. Samrov. It was the way we got out of doing any dishes after those big Sunday dinners. Not to diminish the importance of Mrs. Samrov in our lives. But, w e learned pretty quickly....don't worry, Mrs. Samrov is coming (that is....to clean up) and she always did. My grandmother was onto something pretty good with that gig. She didn't live large by any measure, but when it came to efficiency she had it down. Why do housework, if you could get Mrs. Samrov to show up? And, by the way, for the historians in the crowd....her name use to be Mrs. Flansburg. I always thought that was a better name for the way she looked. I mean really...think about it...flansburg! What comes up on the screen? Red hair.....well kind of...a comb over that rivals anything the big Donald could come up with. I asked my sister about this and she had no memory of it. She must have "repressed cleaning lady syndrome". Mrs. Samrov or Flansburg...had the color hair you only see on Fourth Ave. in Tucson...Lucy Arnez would be green with envy.
Mrs. Samrov came to 116 First Ave. every Thursday except when grandma and grandpa went to the lake. Then they were on their own and who knows what Mrs. Samrov did> She probably went to Shermans on the weekend and spent her hard earned cash on the gypsy trying to get a good fortune. She always showed up on Thursday and grandma was sure to clear the schedule so that we didn't have any competing interest because Mrs. S. was coming. She arrived always at the back door with her brown bag lunch. After hoovering around all the downstairs room, dinner would happen in the formal dining room with grandma in her usual place at the head of the table in the shadow of the sea captain painting. No one said much. Mrs. Samrov sat across from me delicately eating her brown bag lunch. I never looked too hard at what was in the bag as it seemed an extreme violation of privacy. We quietly ate grandma's lunch....which in my life was really supper...but who would argue with grandma and the white damask table cloth. We never thought of having a quick bite to eat in the kitchen either. We just endured the dance of lunch with Mrs. Samrov!
I bet Mrs. Samrov would be pretty happy if she knew she was an icon in our family!!
One time I met a person who was the nanny for my mother and aunt. I didn't even know she had a nanny when she was young. I was pretty shocked. I imagined grandma taking care of my mother.....but then again! Maybe not! Since each of the three children were all sent away to prep school in a time when they didn't really have to do that. The kids weren't druggies....or problems....or potential presidents....or....country club wanna be's so don't really know why they were sent away except that grandma was busy sitting at the head of very controlled table...and Mrs. Samrov knew the drill!
Okay, Martin! There better be a post from you!
Mrs. Samrov came to 116 First Ave. every Thursday except when grandma and grandpa went to the lake. Then they were on their own and who knows what Mrs. Samrov did> She probably went to Shermans on the weekend and spent her hard earned cash on the gypsy trying to get a good fortune. She always showed up on Thursday and grandma was sure to clear the schedule so that we didn't have any competing interest because Mrs. S. was coming. She arrived always at the back door with her brown bag lunch. After hoovering around all the downstairs room, dinner would happen in the formal dining room with grandma in her usual place at the head of the table in the shadow of the sea captain painting. No one said much. Mrs. Samrov sat across from me delicately eating her brown bag lunch. I never looked too hard at what was in the bag as it seemed an extreme violation of privacy. We quietly ate grandma's lunch....which in my life was really supper...but who would argue with grandma and the white damask table cloth. We never thought of having a quick bite to eat in the kitchen either. We just endured the dance of lunch with Mrs. Samrov!
I bet Mrs. Samrov would be pretty happy if she knew she was an icon in our family!!
One time I met a person who was the nanny for my mother and aunt. I didn't even know she had a nanny when she was young. I was pretty shocked. I imagined grandma taking care of my mother.....but then again! Maybe not! Since each of the three children were all sent away to prep school in a time when they didn't really have to do that. The kids weren't druggies....or problems....or potential presidents....or....country club wanna be's so don't really know why they were sent away except that grandma was busy sitting at the head of very controlled table...and Mrs. Samrov knew the drill!
Okay, Martin! There better be a post from you!
2 comments:
Margie, nice recollection of Mrs. Samrov. I'll bet you did not know that she was a Russian immigrant who settled in Wasilla and first worked for the Palin family before coming to the Ormisteins.
Martin...that's gotta be a joke!
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