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Remembering Grandma Tietjen

Grandma gardening
Grandma gardening

Our paternal grandmother, Louise Tietjen, passed away this past winter of 2013 at the age of 87.  We were glad that we had a chance to see our grandparents when they made a trip to California a few months prior.  We used to go back east every summer to hang out at their house in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.  On our recent tour to the northeast we returned to Old Saybrook to spend time with our family and commemorate our grandmother.

An early production at Grandma and Grandpa's house
Early production at Grandma & Grandpa’s house

Being at the old house brought back lots of memories of the time we spent there: playing in the garden with grandma and preparing salads with the fresh veggies; rustling through the old clothes in the attic for costumes for our very first plays and fashion shows that we put on for our family; flashlight tag in the dark with the neighborhood kids; fireflies; collecting seashells at the town beach; and walks around the North Cove, looking out at the Long Island Sound.

Another integral part of our summer trips was taking a drive to Amherst, Massachusetts where our dad was born and the family still owned a beautiful piece of land.

familyland
Road to the “Poet’s Walk”

This past trip, we returned to the land and held a small ceremony with just the three of us sisters to commemorate our grandmother, Louise Tietjen. The last time we were at the family land, we were memorializing our uncle Richard who died in 2009 after a long battle with lymphoma. After Richard passed away, our family donated the land to the town of Amherst in his honor and named the portion that connects to the Robert Frost Trail “The Poet’s Walk.” We were thinking about him too as we performed our small ritual.

Below is one of Richard’s poems accompanied by an early photo of him with our father Ramsey on the Amherst land.

PORTRAIT OF 2 LATE HOLOCENE HUNTERS

Amherst
Richard and Ramsey Tietjen – Amherst, circa 1960

Guilford — 2007

My brother and I stand, my bow with arrow nocked,
his bow tangled between his knees.
It looks like it’s made from a branch.
Mine is store-bought
but he has a cowboy hat.
Our arrows seem to be dowels
from my father’s basement workshop.

My brother, 2 years younger, makes no attempt to pose;
he gazes into the film with open, innocent eyes.
My eyes are narrowed, suspicious: a hunter.

Later, my mother whacked the bow across my legs
for shooting at the house.

Later, I went down to the basement
to make a machine gun from a two-by-four.
My father suggested we make it
into a destroyer instead.
He did all the work and gave it
swiveling gun turrets fore and aft
and poured lead into the hull to make it
float upright in the bathtub.

Much later, it seems most of my childhood
play was an imitation of war.


We dedicated our new album, “Kindred Lines,” to Grandma Louise Tietjen.
Listen/Purchase album »

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4 Comments

  1. while stumbling through amazon.com in search of good music what did I discover but “Kindred Lines.” Your music is incredible!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

    1. Thanks William! We really appreciate it! See you at a show sometime 🙂 -Ts

  2. Saw you at Lagunitas last nite – thought you were terrific. I purchased the CD’s and hope to see you perform again. Our label artist lives in San Clemente – I am going to tell her to try to see you on Oct 9.

    BTW, when reading through some of the info on your web site, I saw that your grandma lived in Old Saybrook CT. I couldn’t believe it! I grew up in East Lyme – and spent a lot of time in Old Saybrook and Essex etc. Small world.

    1. Dear Frankie,

      Thank you for the kind words and support! And thanks for spreading the word about our show in San Clemente–that should be a fun one!

      Yes, Grandma lived in Old Saybrook, where we spent many summers as little girls, and one of us went on to Amherst College not far from there. Small world indeed!

      Best,
      T’s

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