Happy Belated Anniversary to your parents. I am sure they had a great time and enjoyed the meal. Wow! 56 years!
Have a great week!
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
A Father's Day poem for you, Wonderful Father and Friend, a day late. I'm up at my cabin for a night doing a little work and getting away from the insanity. Things have gotten worse, if you can believe it, I will update my thread soon. For now just sending you a poem gift and another nod to your fatherly goodness.
- Gerda
Natural History
Sam Hamill 2018
Late afternoon, autumn equinox, and my daughter and I are at the table silently eating fried eggs and muffins, sharp cheese, and yesterday’s rice warmed over. We put our paper plates in the woodstove and go outside: sunlight fills the alders with the geometries of long blonde hair, and twin ravens ride the rollercoasters of warm September air out, toward Protection Island.
Together, we enter the roughed-in room beside our cabin and begin our toil together: she, cutting and stapling insulation; I, cutting and nailing the tight rows of cedar. We work in a silence broken only by occasional banter. I wipe the cobwebs from nooks and sills, working on my knees as though this prayer of labor could save me, as though the itch of fiberglass and sawdust were an answer to some old incessant question I never dare to remember.
And when the evening comes on at last, cooling our arms and faces, we stop and stand back to assess our work together. And I remember the face of my father climbing down from a long wooden ladder thirty years before. He was a tall strong sapling smelling of tar and leather, his pate bald and burned to umber by a sun that blistered the Utah desert. He strode the rows of coops with a red cocker spaniel and tousled boy-child at his heel. I turn to look at my daughter: her mop of blonde curls catches the last trembling light of the day, her lean body sways with weariness. I try, but cannot remember the wisdom of fourteen years, the pleasures of that discovery. Eron smiles.
At the stove, we wash up as the sun dies in a candle-flame. A light breeze tears the first leaves of autumn from boughs that slowly darken. A squirrel, enraged, castigates the dog for some inscrutable intrusion, and Eron climbs the ladder to her loft. Suddenly I am utterly alone, I am a child gazing up at a father, a father looking down at his daughter. A strange shudder comes over me like a chill. Is this what there is to remember – the long days roofing coops, the building of rooms on a cabin, the in significant meal? The shadows of moments mean everything and nothing, the dying landscapes of remembered human faces freeze into a moment. My room was in the basement, was knotty pine, back there, in diamondback country. The night swings over the cold Pacific. I pour a cup of coffee, heavy in my bones. Soon, this fine young woman will stare into the face of her own son or daughter, the years gone suddenly behind her. Will she remember only the ache, the immense satisfaction of that longing? May she be happy, filled with the essential, working in the twilight, on her knees, at autumn equinox, gathering the stories of silence together, preparing to meet the winter.
I believe I will see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord with courage. Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
Thank you Gerda. I was wondering how you are doing and what you’re up to. Glad you are getting some time away at the cabin.
For my daughter’s birthday - her now being a home owner - I got her a cordless impact driver and hammer drill. Good quality tools that will last a lifetime. The same brand name I’ve been using for three decades. Heck, I’m still using the same tools. Although the hand grips are becoming quite worn down. Some of the fatherly talk I passed in to her: Good quality tools.
I also got her a set of hand tools. One of those 500 piece sets with all kinds of tools, plus drill bits, screw driver bits, and so on. Much more quantity over quality in this case. Again, the fatherly talk was some of the tools that you find you use often, buy those as good ones. Lots of these you’ll likely never even touch in your entire life. Invest into that which is utilized.
She is working on lots of projects and upgrades in her abode and yard. When her and I have done a few fixes around her place, and she’s paid close attention and asked questions. It is interesting the shift in one when they become home owners rather than renters. Now a garbage can or shower head is an excellent gift. Lol.
There are times I realize, I’m teleported back, to me working side by side with my Dad. Such importance this mentoring. And yes, as child gets older and moves away, those times become far less. The projects in these next years, the time side by side, are pure gold - for both. I, of course, could not see the depth of that when I was the youngster working with my Dad.
My second oldest son has also become a recent homeowner. In fact, I am going there this weekend to help him build a shed. Loading up my tools. And preparing for his upcoming birthday. Son and I have talked, and he would much appreciate such quality tools as well.
My oldest and his GF have owned their house for a while now. And yes, I have easy gift ideas for them too.
My fourth kids, the third oldest, is still renting. He has a few tools for the few tasks he needs to do. He did need a ladder though. And he was very happy with the new shower head to replace the one currently installed. His current project this last weekend was building himself a new computer. I’m getting his old one. Yay! It’s light years ahead of mine.
My Mom, with my and S22’s help, got a new computer. A laptop to replace her old desktop. This new laptop’s portability is part of her gift, her bucket list. Mom and I, in two weeks, are going on vacation. We are going to various genealogy important places to her. Where the family made landfall when immigrating. Where folks lived, married, and such. With her laptop, she can enter and look up information while there. And we will be visiting my sister and her family too. Just over three weeks this trip will be.
Next year, her and I are going to Ireland. Even more so a bucket list wish. She is a pretty excited gal.
Dad is still doing ok. Though it seems age is catching up to him. More and more, there are times when he find himself flummoxed with tasks. On Father’s Day we played a new card game, a variation of whist (like we often play), and he was getting frustrated trying to understand the new game play. He simply just couldn’t understand it, and he knew that. It’s worse when he can see his decline. And at other times, he is right there. I get that this is normal. Still, commonplace doesn’t make it less sad.
Anyhow, life is pretty awesome around here. I’m currently focusing on more outdoor tasks/projects while the summer weather is upon us. Grass mowing is still fun! Back when I was a boy, I always wanted to ride those lawnmowers you’d see displayed in the store. I wanted a big yard. One where I’d need to use such a mower. Haha, apparently be careful what you wish for.
Have a great day!
D
Feelings are fleeting. Be better, not bitter. Love the person, forgive the sin.
Yes, summer is in full swing. Grass is lush and requires weekly mowing until the fall. After my upcoming three week hiatus the grass will be pretty long. Daughter, who will be looking after the dogs, was considering mowing it while I’m away. Funny, how the chores of a homeowner become less chore-some to kids as they grow up and become owners themselves.
It’s so good to hear from you, and I look forward to your vacation update as well.
Take care,
D
Last edited by DnJ; 06/30/2303:34 PM.
Feelings are fleeting. Be better, not bitter. Love the person, forgive the sin.
Two days, 1700 km, into my travels. The main highway of Canada was under construction more than I realized. There were delays as Mom and I made our way through the areas where the crews are blasting the hills of granite for the twinning project. A lot of the transcanada highway is single lane each way on as it weaves around the hills, valleys, and lakes in western/central Ontario.
No big deal, we just arrive a little later.
Well, off to the next leg of the trip. Have an awesome day.
D
Feelings are fleeting. Be better, not bitter. Love the person, forgive the sin.
Back from vacation. It was a very good time. My Mom and I were gone for 22 days and travelled 8200 km. 2/3rds of that being the 3 days each getting to, and coming back from, the Toronto area; the reminder was our sightseeing riding around.
There was lots travelling the back roads finding old family homesteads and just seeing interesting countryside. Plenty of twisting turning roads with canopy tree cover too. We followed many a picturesque lakeside road instead of the nearby freeway.
A few attractions were also taken in. Mom and I explored a cave, a fort, and visited a couple of museums. While visiting with my sister and her family we all went to an aquarium, a couple of boat locks, travelled the go-train, and even did some go-cart racing.
Finding meals at times was troublesome. The internet is full of restaurant listings; businesses eagerly post websites but seldom remove such when they close down. And lots of places were closed down.
On night we searched for an hour until we finally found an in-business and open restaurant. My car’s navigtion system, web searching, brings up plenty of places yet the buildings are firmly closed with signs removed. I think these are more economic causalities of the Covid legislations; edifices of a government quick to act to limit, yet far too slow to act to remove, restrictions.
We had two different main base camps for our day trips. For each of these we did successfully find a nice family restaurant. And dozens of closed places, and not just some local Mom and Pop shop (in fact those are the ones that are open). Boston Pizza; Swiss Chalet; McDonalds were closed and boarded up. When McD closes you know something has gone awry.
Mind you at one of our lunch stops while travelling we did eat at a McDonalds and the bathrooms were only accessible by request to the manager. I inquired as to why, and he told me that the local clientele has become so bad with drug use and such, and the legal avenues to this decriminalized actions so ineffective, they simply had to lock the bathrooms to move the problem off the premises.
(And country mouse continued his way through the big city. )
Been back home a few days. Got the grass mowed down. And the laundry done. Life’s pace around here is much slower and serene, and you can see stars at night.
D
Feelings are fleeting. Be better, not bitter. Love the person, forgive the sin.
