Pronounced Addy. She was my grandmothers sister, the only other member of the Irish side of the family I ever knew.
She lived in Glasgow- the widow of a sea captain. She came to visit from time to time.
She seemed extremely old & stately to me. Large, well-corseted, well-dressed, hair done up in some kind of bun. She was an expert knitter - her Christmas present to me was usually a twin-set. I particularly remember one in soft grey with a royal blue zig zag pattern round the necks. They used to arrive carefully wrapped in tissue paper in a cardboard box wrapped up in a brown paper parcel.
I remember her teaching me to play Pelmanism. This is a card game where all the cards are laid out face down. You take it in turns to pick up a pair; if they match you keep them, if not you lay them back down again & try to remember where they are. The one with the biggest pile at the end wins.
When Aunt Adie died - I was 9 - she left my mother a beautiful folding card table. To me she left a piano. Also beautiful - walnut? - with an inlaid pattern of birds & leaves & 2 brass candlesticks which folded back.
I tried hard. But I lacked the co-ordination of ear, hand & brain to be able to play pleasingly or well. So I gave up after Grade 3 or 4.
Well, I had to. We were moving to a smaller house, in the city, & my mother said the piano had to go - there was no room. It was lucky that someone was found to pay me a pound or two for it - by then one normally had to pay someone to take a paino off your hands.
