Found this photo stuck in a book today. My grandmother, Betta (the short one), and her three older sisters, Clara, Maria, and Anna in Germany, before Clara and my grandma moved to the United States. Maria and her husband Max came to visit us once. Maria was always laughing and Max carried a notebook with him everywhere and would write down the prices of all the food he saw in the grocery store. We took him to our favorite grocery store — Erie County Farms — which was like a combination fish market, farmer’s market, and warehouse. It was always really crowded in there and my memory of it is a lot of people yelling. The cheese line was our favorite. You’d get a ticket for the cheese line and then do all your shopping and still have to wait. You could hear them yelling out the cheese numbers all over the store. There was a separate line for the deli, where they were also yelling out numbers. The whole place was slightly controlled pandemonium. Max loved it. We hated going there as kids but came to appreciate the quirkiness of the place.
Wonderful old photo! I love your story, too. My grandmother and aunt used to travel a lot and kept a notebook to record all their expenses. Down to the penny!
@eudora That’s so fun! Do you have any of their notebooks? I think Max owned a grocery store in Germany and that’s why he was so fascinated by food prices — and what foods were available!
@margonaut My mom sends me home with photos sometimes and I randomly stick them in whatever I’m reading so they don’t get bent. I was weeding my books and found this one — glad I checked before donating it!
November 24th, 2020
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
