Tag Archives: dad

rummaged…

09 Sunday Sep 2018

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odd weather today… went from cloudy to sunny, to rainy, and back again a number of times… ended with sun shining through the clouds…

the poor morning glories took a beating early on… nearly every time it rained the drops were huge…

thinking of my dad today as I took hours to make fresh tomato sauce to go with some spaghetti for supper… I keep buying grape tomatoes to make caprese salad and then never use them all up… he would add all kinds of condiments to add flavour and it always ended up delicious… as I rummaged through the cupboard, I remembered watching him do the same thing, lol…

it turned out great and was a lovely treat as I don’t often have pasta… made some homemade coleslaw to go along with it and have a bit of both for lunch tomorrow;-)…

welcome…

17 Sunday Jun 2018

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spent some time this morning thinking about my dad…

he really raised us as mother and father as my mom spent so much time in hospital during my early years…

he would have loved the garden and did get to sit on the main deck a few times… his dad was a master gardener, but I don’t remember dad doing much in the garden, but he loved seeing beautiful well tended flower beds…

he always welcomed others into our home and we often had people staying with us as they were going through difficult times…

he was a great cook… I can remember one night when he was draining the spaghetti over a sink full of dishwater and the strainer fell into the water… he picked it up, rinsed the spaghetti off and continued with the meal prep… we couldn’t afford to throw it out… it was served with his famous meatballs and homemade sauce… one of our guests went on and on about it being the best he’d ever had… Dad and I laughed about that for years…

he always had candy in his pockets… maybe that’s why I always have candy on my desk, and chocolate inside it, lol…

he loved athletics and we went to events whenever we could manage… he cheered for everyone and taught me that a good job deserved praise… it didn’t matter if it was your team or the other team…

he looked forward to parades and we sat on the curb at Portage and Strathcona for every single one that went by…

in his later years he would take me grocery shopping for my family and would treat us to a lovely roast or steak… took me a while to accept without protesting… I realized that he was no longer able to do physical things to help us due to his health, but he could treat us to groceries…

he taught me to be kind, treat everyone equally, work hard, and do my best…

thanks Dad…

pieces…

24 Saturday Feb 2018

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recently I’ve been thinking of my dad…

many in my circles are struggling with parental illness and loss…

which has brought me to the place of thinking of the end of my dad’s time on earth…

he was a very special person and I loved him to pieces…

he was in Deer Lodge Hospital for quite a while as Mom couldn’t care for him properly at home any longer…

I visited him every day… the hospital is close to home so it just took minutes to get there… it was a busy time in our lives… the girls were in elementary school and I spent a great deal of time volunteering as well as looking after them…

when I think back I can remember very little of what happened… I was with dad when he died… I remember that… I don’t remember much else of the next few days… I think I went to pieces inside, although that wasn’t visible on the outside…

I do remember that the afternoon of his memorial the kids were in the car on their own, which they weren’t supposed to do, and it rolled down the driveway and across the street hitting our neighbour’s classic car… thank goodness no one was hurt because it was a beautiful spring day and there were tons of kids playing out there…

interesting because that’s all I can remember…

this is the last picture that we took of him…

without his teeth in, lol…

enamoured…

10 Saturday Feb 2018

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someone recently asked why I am so enamoured with the Olympics…

I’ve been thinking about that a bit…

at the time I said I loved to watch all sports… then I noted that I am not as fond of the big team sports… hockey doesn’t really excite me… and curling isn’t my favourite…

I really enjoy watching more individual sports… like all types of skiing and skating… short track skating is very exciting and the new snowboarding categories are fun…

my dad was a great sports fan… he had been quite an athlete in his day but developed a chronic illness during his years in the service so he couldn’t participate in anything as he got older…

he instilled a love of sport in me and I remember attending many events with him… he particularly liked athletics and we would watch running and jumping and pole vaulting… he also liked speed skating…

so maybe when I watch the Olympics I am feeling his presence;-)…

he always cheered on everyone, whether they were a favourite or not… his feeling was that if you did well, you deserved accolades… and even if you didn’t have your optimum performance but tried your best, credit was due…

that is something that has stayed with me to this day… a good performance deserves applause…

been up since around four because that’s when the action starts… such fun…

dad…

11 Sunday Jun 2017

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been thinking of my dad a lot lately…

he died nearly thirty years ago… he lived with emphysema from the time I was a teenager…

he did as much as he could, but spent the weekends recovering from the week and trying to build up the energy to make it through the next week…

when I turned sixteen, he and I bought a new car together and I began driving him to and from work every day… which also meant that I got to drive to school each day;-)…

he loved sports and we often attended athletic events at the arena and watched whatever sport might be on tv… 

he was the person who taught me to appreciate each person or team’s efforts and applaud everyone’s performance, whether they were the one you were rooting for or not…

to this day I do the same…

he started me on my love of office supplies… when I was young I would occasionally spend a weekend morning with him at work and organize his desk, lol… 

he spent a good portion of his working life helping people figure out what type of work they would be best at, and he was very good at it…

when my beloved and I were first married, he would go grocery shopping with me and add a roast or some other treat to my bag… at first I felt bad that he did this, until I realized it was something he could still do for us… by that time he couldn’t manage physical things like home repairs any longer… buying us a treat was his way of supporting us…

he was a very special man… my girls were not yet teenagers when he died, much like my grandsons who were so young when my beloved left us… maybe this is why I try to keep memories of George alive so that the boys remember him…

a very rare professionally taken picture of mom and dad…

camaraderie…

15 Saturday Apr 2017

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been thinking of my dad a lot over the last few days…

he was ill my entire life and his last four years were really a gift… 

he died on Good Friday nearly thirty years ago… I don’t remember the date but it was in March that year… I had been called to the hospital and realized he really was dying… I left for a short while to pull myself together and after talking with a friend went back and sat with him as he moved from this world to the next… a privilege to share those moments with him…

always amazes me how something brings back the sadness and grief, even after all this time…

he was a special man and taught me so much about being a kind and gentle person and always seeing the good in people…

I remember the times he would sit on the deck and enjoy visiting with family and friends…

today I put the screen into the upstairs hall window, which looks out on that deck… over the winter I take it out so that I can take better pictures, lol…

feels like it is Spring now that the screen is in and the window is open… had the screen door open and enjoyed the gorgeous weather while I was cooking and doing prep work for tomorrow’s Easter dinner…

dad always had candy in his pocket… you could almost hear the wrappers rubbing against one another when he walked, lol…

and as I prepared the space and table I was missing my beloved… he was so good at helping me get ready for special meals… he would have picked up the flowers and anything else needed and looked after a good portion of the cleaning as I worked in the kitchen…

I miss that camaraderie… 

I have been, and continue to be, blessed with the men in my life…

sports…

18 Friday Nov 2016

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spent a good portion of the day thinking about my dad… he was born on November 18… took this photo of a page in Then to Now: The History of La Salle, Manitoba…

like so many veterans, Dad never talked about the war… this article is the most I ever learned about his time in the service…

in his youth he was quite an athlete, and although he struggled with lung issues from the time he returned to Canada, he always loved sports…

I remember going to many events at the  arena to watch with him… he encouraged everyone… didn’t matter if they were our team or the other… if someone did something good, he clapped and cheered… and I still do that… what a wonderful life lesson…

a few nights ago I was invited to my grandson’s volleyball game… for the first set he was on the sidelines cheering on his teammates…

later he did a great job serving…

this shot came out kind of cool because he moved so fast, lol… 

my dad would have loved watching his great grandchildren play any sport… 

it is from him that the most important question I always have for the boys is did you have fun?

tiny…

02 Sunday Oct 2016

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this afternoon I made some tiny meatballs…

felt like I was channeling my dad… he made the best meatballs ever… and the tiniest, lol…

haven’t made meatballs since forever… of course now that I’m not supposed to eat pasta I haven’t bothered even with meat sauce…

remembered the times we made spaghetti from scratch with my parents, Aunty Minnie and her mom, Mrs. Jenetta… tasted amazing and we had such fun… 

to make the meatballs tiny, I used a melon baller that the wonderful Jacqui Eade had me purchase for a great dinner party that she cooked for my friends and I…

great to remember these special moments… 

maybe I’ll make spaghetti for supper tomorrow…

sardines…

04 Saturday Apr 2015

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busy day… out and about early to get groceries and a few things for tomorrow’s dinner with the kids…

picked up sardines for lunch with some lovely herb and garlic bread…

made me think of my dad… he loved sardines and would mash them and put them on crackers…

he died on Good Friday in 1988… interesting that I would be thinking of him today…

 he was a very special person… in my entire life I never heard him raise his voice to anyone… you knew if he used a certain voice that you were in serious trouble… 

he looked after my mom who struggled with depression for the greater portion of her adult life… and he looked after us for many months of the many years she was in the hospital… 

I still remember driving him to and from work every day as he became more and more affected by emphysema…

he taught me that every individual ‘s effort should be celebrated… he had been a great athlete in his early days and we spent many hours at the arena watching sporting events where we always cheered for everyone’s performance… 

I still love to watch many sports on TV, lol…

lovely memories…