• Background…
  • Here’s the Scoop!

herbiggirlpants

~ the new reality of a "60 something"

herbiggirlpants

Tag Archives: dad

gentle…

09 Saturday Nov 2019

Posted by sulis303 in family, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on gentle…

Tags

big girl pants, blessed, dad, family, father, gentle, memories, picture, remembering, soldier, special, strays, widow, work

been thinking of my dad a lot recently… his birthday was in November and he spent time overseas as a soldier, so during these days of remembrance it just seems right to look back at some lovely memories…

this photo is from Then to Now, the history of La Salle, Manitoba…

a gentle man, in all ways… he spoke quietly but if you were in trouble you knew it… not that you’d be in trouble very often…

he always saw the best in people, which made him particularly suited for his work with Canada Manpower where he helped individuals figure out what type of work they were best suited for, and then found them an appropriate position… in those days you might only have one or two jobs in your career…

at home, he took in strays… not animals, lol, people… we would often have someone staying with us who needed a safe place to regroup for a while…

he was wise and generous… one of those people who always had a thoughtful opinion when you needed it, although, only when asked… and would give you the shirt off his back, or anything else he had, if he felt it would help…

he has been gone for over thirty years but I can still hear his wisdom…

I miss you dad…

changed…

15 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

athletics, best life, big girl pants, changed, dad, example, father, memories, sports, widow

been watching track and field on tv and thinking of my dad…

in his youth he was a runner and involved in many sports…

all that changed when he returned after the war… his lungs had been permanently affected from the time he spent in foxholes in the cold and rain…

watching sports on tv and attending the occasional event at the arena were fun times we spent together…

he never complained… he had a hard life, but always made the best of every situation…

a great example of how to live one’s life…

information…

26 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, dad, debilitating, flowers, happy, information, Lung Association, Spring, tulips, widow

we always know when Spring is on the way when we get information about tulips and daffodils circulating around the office…

we always order, and get, the tulips first…

they are a fundraising campaign of the Lung Association…

this is close to my heart as my dad lived his whole adult life with emphysema, a debilitating disease…

it is wonderful to see flowers everywhere in the office;-)…

sprouts…

11 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cook, dad, family, favourite, grandson, meat sauce, memories, remembering, shopping, sprouts, widow

whenever I grocery shop with my grandson and ask if he wants Brussels sprouts for dinner he always says yes…

they are clearly his favourite vegetable, although he also has a thing for raw carrots, lol…

he cooks them much better than I, so I always get them ready, set out the butter and garlic, and have him do the cooking… sometimes we add a bit of red wine, if there is any around…

this time they went with leftover macaroni that I added to some meat sauce… tasty…

while I was making the sauce I was remembering my dad… his meat sauce was delicious, partly because he added something from every bottle in the pantry, lol…

he’s been gone for over thirty years… always surprises me what might bring up a memory…

scrambled…

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, dad, eggs, fluffy, fork, purple, remember, scrambled, spatula, supper, widow

tonight I made scrambled eggs for my dinner…

made me think of my dad…

he always used a fork to work the eggs in the frying pan… he would have been using a pan that didn’t have coating so the metal fork would have been fine, lol…

he felt that the fork made the eggs more light and fluffy…

I use a spatula, usually a purple one…

always interesting what we remember, isn’t it…

down…

06 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

. soup, big girl pants, dad, down, flowers, friends, happy, memories, November, orchids, sad, widow

recently have had conversations with a few people about being down, feeling sad, being depressed… seems like many in my circles are struggling this month…

November doesn’t seem to be a particularly good month for me… not sure if it is the time change, gray days, cold weather or what… seems like many have similar feelings…

my dad’s birthday was in November… he was a great guy and I miss him…

I like to remember that where there are downs, there will be ups…

today I bought some orchids to brighten my space which always perks me up…

then I made a lovely pot of Thai shrimp soup which was delicious and a wonderful treat…

rummaged…

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, blessed, cooking, dad, dinner, family, flowers, memories, missing, morning glories, pasta, rain, raindrops, remembering, rummaged, sunshine, tomato, treat, weather, widow

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

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, blessed, dad, family, Father's Day, flowers, garden, lessons, memories, moments, treat, welcome, widow

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

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

big girl pants, dad, family, love, picture, pieces, remembering, widow

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

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

accolades, athletics, big girl pants, dad, enamoured, love of sport, Olympics, sports, widow

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…

← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 440 other followers

Previous

Tags

beloved big girl pants blessed breakfast camping chocolate Christmas cold dinner family fish flowers food friends fun garden George grandson grandsons happy hibiscus hot tub light lunch memories moments moon morning glories nature orchid photos pictures plants pond purple rain remembering shopping sky snow sun sunshine supper Technology treat trees walk water weather widow

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×