Grandma’s Boy

My Eulogy for Grandma – Audio Version

The audio version of my Grandma’s eulogy differed slightly from what I wrote on the page.  I am glad to have this record of how it happened, live.

For most of my life, I’ve only had one grandparent.  Grandma Ladano was gone before I was born.  Grandpa Ladano died in 1981.  We lost Grandpa Winter in 1984.  Since that time I only had one Grandma, and she was very special to all of us.  Not just because she was the only one, as you will hear today.

My mom tells me that Grandma babysat me a lot as a kid.  I don’t remember this very much, but I do remember that she was my favourite babysitter.  I can remember that I would look forward to those nights that Grandma would take care of me.  I also remember visiting her house a lot.  She had board games there that we didn’t have, like Mousetrap and Clue.  The idea was that they wanted us to have special games that we could only play at Grandma’s house, but we didn’t need special games to enjoy those visits.  She let us watch the Flintstones and run around the yard.  She and Grandpa took me to the Welland Canal to see the big ships going through the locks.  It seemed like being there was never boring, even to a kid.  It was always fun to visit Grandma’s house.  My dad and I would pick carrots from her garden, much to her scolding.  My sister and I never took her scolding very seriously.  We heard she could be strict, but she never was with us.

Most of my memories are from adulthood.  I suppose adulthood started with the end of highschool and moving on to University.  I attended Wilfrid Laurier, which was just a short drive from her place.  On Thursdays during my first year, I had a full slate of classes.  I had history and psychology in the afternoons, with a short break before evening Anthropology, which was a favourite of mine.  It was too long a trip to drive all the way home for dinner and back again for class, so instead I had dinner at Grandma’s house.  She would make my favourite:  pork chops in mushroom soup.  That was a special meal that only she made.  It was like a treat.  She’d offer me something for dessert and then I’d be running back to school again.  For her, our visits were always too short.

In 1997, we took a special trip with Grandma and Aunt Marie, out west to see Aunt Lynda and Cousin Geoff in Calgary.  This was a special trip for me.  Work didn’t want me to take a week off in the fall, but I insisted.  I really wanted to go.  That trip was everything I wanted it to be.  Grandma was a little slower moving, and I used to make sure everybody stopped and waited for her to catch up at the airport.  If I saw her lagging behind, I would stop and shout, “Wait for the grandma!”  That was an excellent trip.  We made daily trips out shopping and just relaxing reading books.  We went to the mountains.  Some of my happiest memories are visiting the mountains out west, but that trip was special because Grandma and I really took care of each other that time.

I think one of the best ways we spent time together was driving to the cottage.  I would pick her up at her place, load the car with her planters and bags, and we’d make the two hour trip together.  I’d pick the music; something she’d like.  O Brother Where Art Thou was a favourite of hers.  She liked “You Are My Sunshine”.  Whatever we picked, we’d talk the whole way there.  She would point out all the flowers along the way, which I couldn’t stop to look at because I was driving!  I always found that funny, because Grandma didn’t drive and didn’t realize I had my eyes on the road.  Those were some special trips, just the two of us.

Grandma always supported Dr. Kathryn’s music, even as it got more experimental.  “Kathryn, will you ever play some of the songs that I like?” she would ask.  Kathryn wasn’t into playing anything that wasn’t original and eclectic, but Grandma kept going to her shows anyway.  Few people really understand that kind of music, but Grandma went with the loyalty that only a grandparent has.

At the age of 96, Grandma endured a global pandemic.  The isolation really bothered her, but we did porch visits every other weekend with her.  When Uncle Don died, it really affected her.  Suddenly she was living alone.  She won two battles with Covid, which is unbelievable.  It really felt like Grandma was bulletproof, given all the hardship she endured.  First Uncle Don, then his cat.  This is enough loss for most people to just pack it in.

She was touch as nails.  Covid couldn’t take her down.  Several close calls happened, and she bounced back every time.

In 2024, she had what I will call her final wish.  Grandma loved food.  A good meal of meat and potatoes was all she wanted.  She always told us how much she craved a good old fashioned home cooked feast.  She got it that on Christmas Day 2024.  It was a struggle to move her from her home to ours, up the stairs to the dining room.  There was one moment frozen in time when I thought we’d have to back out and take her home, so difficult were the stairs.  But she made it, and had her one last family dinner with us.  It was a very special moment.  She declined for seven months after.  That trip fulfilled her final wish, but I believe it also took the last of her strength from her.  Also, I think she had a hard realization that she couldn’t come and go anymore.  That there was no way she could do that again.  That she’d never see the cottage again, or have another big family dinner.  But I don’t think she regretted it.  It was a very special night.  She still made it to 101 years old.

All of us went to see her for her birthday that day.  She enjoyed her lunch and coffee, and had a nice rest afterwards.  She was thinking of her sister, Aunt Marie.  Towards the end, it was difficult to see her decline, but her birthday was the last time I saw her.  Even though she had so many close calls, it was still a shock to me when she finally went on July 30 2025.  I’m glad she made it to 101.  I really wanted that to happen because it is such a huge milestone.  They make birthday cards for 100, but not 101.  She defied all the odds.

She was always special, in life and in death.  Always full of surprises, right to the very end.  She had the spirit of a fighter and a well of feistiness that most of us will never find.

I miss our phone calls, and I miss seeking her advice.  I used to say that Grandma was the only one in the family who understood me.  Now that’s gone.  My confidant is gone.  The one person who always knew what I was going through.  The memory remains, and I will always be grateful for my special grandmother that lived to 101 years old.  Goodbye Grandma.  They always say this when someone is gone, but there truly will never be another one like Dolly Winter.

 

 

#1209: The Wooden Spoon

RECORD STORE TALES #1209: The Wooden Spoon

Friday August 22 2025, we lay my Grandma to rest.  I have a big speech planned, but there are far too many Grandma stories to tell for just one speech.  For the purposes of public speaking, I left out certain stories, that I can certainly tell here!

My mom and my aunt tell me that Grandma was a strict parent.  As kids, we didn’t believe them.  Who, OUR Grandma?  Strict?  Impossible!  She was the sweetest, kindest lady imaginable!  She was always gentle with us and we couldn’t even imagine her being hard on kids.  My mom and aunt tell stories of hiding behind trees to escape her wrath, but I couldn’t picture that in a million years.

Once we we were very small, we were misbehaving at her house one afternoon.  At that point, Grandma threatened to hit us with the “wooden spoon”, a common threat to misbehaved kids in the old days.  So how did we react?

We laughed!

We didn’t believe she could hit us with the wooden spoon, and we were right.  Grandma never laid a finger on us.  It was a hollow threat and we could see right through.  My mom can’t remember if Grandma ever actually used the wooden spoon, but she certainly threatened to!  (I bet she never used it.)

She was the best grandma.  She was so great that we didn’t think she was capable of discipline, even though once upon a time, she was “strict”.

We’ll always miss her.

Grab A Stack of Rock – Late August Hiatus

Just a reminder that there will be no episode of Grab A Stack of Rock this week, new or re-run, as Mike prepares for his beloved Grandmother’s funeral.

Grab A Stack of Rock will return soon with more 50 Years of Iron Maiden, more Music & Mental Health, and live episodes.

Mike lost his grandmother on July 30 2025, at the age of 101 years old.  He is working on his funeral speech, and will be the only speaker at the funeral.  He feels the need to focus on that task, and supporting his family, before he is able to record new episodes of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

 

In the meantime, he has created a playlist called The Greatest Grandmother, featuring some of his favourite Grandma stories.

See you again real soon on Grab A Stack of Rock.

 

 

The Greatest Grandma – Rest in Peace Doris “Dolly” Winter: Jul 12 1924-Jul 30 2025

I wrote this over two years ago.  We thought she was gone, four or five times since 2022.  Now it is the sad time to post it.

 

For most of my life I’ve only had one grandparent.  I never knew Grandma Ladano – she’s been gone over 70 years.  Grampa Ladano died in 1981.  Grampa Winter left us in 1984.  For over 40 years, I’ve only had one grandparent and she’s the best one you could ever ask for.

I was a cheeky kid.  Around the time I started highschool, I started calling my grandma “Dolly”.  Everybody else called her Dolly (her real name is Doris), so we kids started doing it too.  She never quite liked it though.  I reverted to “grandma” in more recent years.  I can’t remember the last time I called her “Dolly” but that’s what her friends called her!

She babysat me when I was really young and I have so many memories of being at her house.  Playing games like Mousetrap and Clue.  Reading books, watching the Flintstones.  Grandma and Grampa took me to Welland to see the big boats at the canal.  How exciting that was!  I remember those big ships, so long that I could not even fit one into a single camera frame.

She was always good to us.  When visiting, she’d serve up my favourite pork chops:  in mushroom soup!  Or, I’d eat all her Rice Krispies.  My dad and I would dig carrots out of her garden.  Oh, how she hated us stealing her carrots!  Later on in life, I would have dinner at her house every Thursday night in between classes at school.  Thursdays were my busy day.  I had day classes and night classes.  There was a short break between the end of the afternoon class and the night class, and my grandma lived really close to the university.  I would eat with her for an hour and head back to school.  We always had a nice visit.  I remember during exams, I once forgot my pen so I quickly drove to her house, got a pen, and got back to my exam just in time to start!  Her house – so many memories!  An epic front hill, and lots of fun adventures in her yard.

She always tried to treat us right, though she didn’t know exactly what we liked.  One birthday, she wrote me a cheque and asked me to use it to buy “one of your CD records”.  Another time she bought me Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard Of Ozz, with him dressed as a priest holding a big cross!  I know she didn’t pick that one!  As a staunch Catholic she never would have picked that one!  She prefers John McDermott to John “Ozzy” Osbourne.

When we travelled with Grandma, she was always a bit slower than the others, so I always hung back a bit to make sure she was OK.  “Wait for the grandma!” I would shout as we walked through an airport in Toronto hauling all our bags.  “Wait for the grandma!”  I would always make sure we didn’t lose sight of her.  Calgary 1997 with Grandma and Aunt Marie was one of my favourite trips ever.

In the years following that, I enjoyed driving Grandma to the cottage.  I would pick her up after work, and we’ve drive up together.  I played the music a little lower for her.  She would point out things along the road that I couldn’t look at because I was too busy driving.  “Look at the dandelions!” she would say with excitement, not realizing I was too busy keeping my eyes on traffic.  She never drove, which we didn’t understand when we were little kids.  An adult who didn’t drive?  How unusual!

We loved spending time with her, shopping at Zellers or going to one of the restaurants she liked such as the Cedar Barn.  She hates this story, but I can’t help but laugh.  She wanted to treat my sister and I to lunch at the Cedar Barn, but when it came time to pay, they didn’t accept cheques or credit cards.  Cash only.  My sister and I scrounged enough together to pay for the lunch.  It was funny to us at the time.  She didn’t think it was funny, but I still smile.  Sounds like a scene from a movie!  Grandma invites the kids out to lunch, but then realizes she can’t pay!  I think it’s pretty funny.

Speaking of scenes from movies, in 1998 we all went to the theater as a family:  my mom, my aunt, my grandma and my sister.  My mom and sister came with me to see Star Trek: Insurrection.  Grandma and Aunt went to see You’ve Got Mail.  Grandma loved it!  Coming out, she said “I just saw the nicest movie.  It was called There’s Mail Waiting For You!”.  A few years later, she was telling us about another movie she liked called Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?  She had actually seen O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Most of all, I’ll always cherish how much she loves a visit.  The longer the better.  Just a visit is all she needs to be happy.  As she got older, she had to sell the cottage.  She could no longer handle the travel.  She sold the cottage to my sister, and every summer I make cottage videos for her to watch.  One time I forgot my laptop.  She noticed right away!  The videos are a highlight of any visit.  But all she needs is a visit.

In the end, she got tired.  Tired of being tired all the time.  She stayed for us, but everyone has their time to go.

I had the best grandma.  I’m a lucky grandson.

#1198: Happy 101st Birthday to Doris Winter

RECORD STORE TALES #1198: Happy 101st Birthday to Doris Anne Winter

One year ago today, we wished my Grandma Dolly a happy 100th birthday.  She was visited by friends, and family from afar.  She enjoyed cake and balloons.  She legitimately had a good time.  She actually had two parties:  One for friends and neighbors and one just for close family and friends.  She was exhausted by the end of it.  Heck I’d be exhausted if I celebrated my birthday over two consecutive days, and I’m half her age.

Grandma is still with us today despite the odds, and will be celebrating 101 years.  She doesn’t look the same anymore.  The last six months have taken a toll as she has battled time and illness.  Something in her just refuses to give in.  Back in January, I did a special show with John Clauser as a tribute to my grandma, thinking we’d be losing her imminently.  Now it is July.

Today she will just have a few visitors.  There won’t be a lot of celebrating happening.  She’s just too tired and weak.  But she did truck on for another year, hitting another milestone.  101 years.  Imagine being there for the roaring twenties, the dirty thirties, the Second World War and the baby boom.  Picture living through the rapid advances of the 1950s amd 1960s, when television became the norm and Grandpa worked for Bell telephone, connecting all the neighbours with the latest technology for communication.  Grandchildren arrived in the 1970s amd 1980s, and Grandma had a whole new adventure ahead of her, spoiling us.  For us, when we were kids, being babysat by Grandma was a treat.  She’d let us eat Rice Crispies with lots of sugar.

All this and more.  Living through the 1990s when her Grandson learned to drive, and started taking her out on weekends.  She’d make dinner for me every Thursday night when I was at school doing night classes.  Anthropology 101.  I loved that class.  I would arrive stuffed full of her famous pork chops in mushroom soup.  Onto a new millennium, and finally a global pandemic that closed her in as we tried to keep her safe.  She survived two bouts with Covid.  Imagine that.

I’m really proud of my Grandma for hanging on as hard as she has.  We thought she was gone many times over the past three or four years.  I brag about her a lot.  A 100 year old is a rare thing, but a 101 year old is even more so.  It doesn’t look like an easy existence, being 101 years old, but she lives for our visits.  They are the highlight of her week.  Fortunately she has lots of visitors.  My mom goes to see her several days a week and she has friends visiting on the other days.  Where she used to babysit me, now when I visit I sort of babysit her.  She asks for the TV to be changed to the baseball game, or she asks for me to find her glasses.  She can’t see very well anymore, but she likes the sound of the TV.  She still loves her Blue Jays.

You never know what to expect when you go and visit Grandma these days, but I hope she has a good day today.

Happy birthday Grandma.  We all love you.  We just want you to have a nice day today, and we’ll see you very soon.

Mike

Grab A Stack of Chat with Johnny Metal: A Special Post-Show Tribute to Grandmothers and Iron Maiden

A post-show chat with Johnny Metal was in order after our great Iron Maiden (1980) episode on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  In this special chat, Johnny and I discuss some addition Iron Maiden content not covered in the actual episode, such as an album with Dennis Stratton (Lionheart) and some compilations with almost every Maiden member pre-Killers.  (Even the keyboard player!)

I also unboxed a very cool, very rare CD from Mike Slayen.  Check this out!  A true rarity.

Finally, one reason I wanted to do this post-show chat was that I needed to be social last night.  My 100 year old Grandma is sick again, and I was having such anxiety during the day, that I thought it would do me some good to tell some Grandma stories with Johnny Metal.  I hope you find these as heartfelt and amusing as I do.

Thanks for watching!

#1140: Happy 100th Birthday to my Grandma

No show today, as we celebrate this centenarian!

RECORD STORE TALES #1140: Happy 100th Birthday to my Grandma

100 years ago, Doris Ann Drumm was born.  With a name like “Drumm”, I suppose it’s no wonder that my sister and I grew up to be so musical!  In fact, my grandmother can trace her family line to Alsace-Lorraine, and musicians on her side of the family.  As for her, even though she likes singers such as Michael Buble, she had no problem buying me Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen tapes when I was a teen.  Later on, she’d just write me a cheque for my birthday.  “Buy one of your CD records,” went the inscription inside one birthday card.

The pandemic was hard on my grandma.  In the first three months, we lost my Uncle Don Don.  That was difficult for everyone, but especially her.  She still lived in her own home at age 96, and losing Uncle Don Don left her lonely.  Due to pandemic rules, we couldn’t hug her when we went to visit on her back porch.  At age 96, you simply don’t want to take any chances.  Though she survived two rounds with Covid, she got depressed and we nearly lost her three times.  The last time she came so close, I took half the day off work and wrote her obituary.  That’s how bad she was, February 23 2023.  Fortunately now she’s now in a good senior’s home where she doesn’t miss meals or medication.

Today, she’s happy living in her new home, and making new friends.  She still misses her old house, and her old cottage, but she recognizes that it wasn’t sustainable.

She likes to sit with us out in the courtyard of her building, in the shade, enjoying the weather.  She enjoys watching the Blue Jays on TV, even when they’re not doing so well.  She loves to talk!  All she needs is an ear to listen.  I enjoy bringing over my cottage videos, and watching them with her.  She hasn’t been to the cottage in a decade.

I’m so happy we made it to this incredible milestone.  It seemed like it was not going to happen.  But it did and here we are!  She’ll be receiving a letter of congratulations from the King, and family is flying in from Alberta to celebrate.

People always told us that grandma looked like the Queen.  To us, she is the queen!  Leave a happy birthday wish for my grandmother, and celebrate with us on this special day!

Happy 99th “Wayne Gretzky” Birthday to my Grandma!

There were numerous times in the last couple years that we didn’t think she was going to make it.  But she did!  Grandma is now 99.  It’s what we’re calling her Wayne Gretzky birthday!  This is honestly a post I didn’t think I would be writing.  I wrote her obituary back in February!  She’s had brushes with death, cancer and Covid.  But here we are.  99 and strong.  Let’s make it 100 Grandma!

I love my grandma.

DVD REVIEW: Grandma’s Boy (Unrated 2006)

GRANDMA’S BOY (2006 20th Century Fox Unrated Edition DVD)

Allen Covert finally got to step out from Adam Sandler’s sizable shadow in Grandma’s Boy, one of the best, most re-watchable weed comedies this side of Half Baked. Covert can’t really do an entire comedy on his own so expect to see Sandler’s other reliable sidemen:  Peter Dante, David Spade, Kevin Nealon and Rob Schneider.  Joel Moore (Avatar) and Linda Cardelini (Freaks & Geeks, Captain America: Civil War) are on hand, but check out a super young Jonah Hill!

The setup is pretty simple. Allen Covert has been evicted from his apartment (not his fault!) and decides to go live with some new “roomates” — his grandma and her two friends. But he can’t let his co-workers at a video game company know that he’s not throwing it down with hotties every night, so he keeps it on the downlow. Covert has the best job for his lifestyle — he tests video games all day. If you like video games, this movie is for you.

Things come to a head when Linda Cardelini shows up to get the delayed game back on its release schedule, The head designer J.P. (Moore dressed up like Neo) seems a little jealous of his teammates. During the course of the movie, copious amounts of the herb are consumed before the action packed video gaming climax.  Even Grandma might partake…accidentally of course.

If you like those Happy Madison movies, but are sad they don’t make ’em like they used to anymore, give Grandma’s Boy a visit.

3/5 stars