The Hammock Papers: Dad.

20 June 2010

Dad.

Thanks Dad!

My Dad has been a wonderful guide to me. I love the way my Dad does things, the way he goes about things.

Dad's an engineer. Everything has "a way." Figuratively and literally, Dad has "a way."

His "system." Grill, garage, garden, yard, ... packing! Mom and Dad take extended expeditions to see me here in Ohio and my sis in Virginia Beach. Dad can pack a vehicle, boy! Organized, accessible, practical ... with a cat.

My Dad gave me my love, respect, and appreciation for many of the things that are important me.

Food ... unmatched on the grill. U-N-M-A-T-C-H-E-D. He uses gas, but this is Father's Day so we won't go there. Besides, the things he can do with a box of wood chips will make you think he cooked over a campfire! U-N-M-A-T-C-H-E-D. And, he is always "experimenting." Ask anyone who's had it about Dad's Higgins Lake Chicken.

Here's a shot of Dad and his brother, my Uncle Fred. Up North, frying perch old school ... no turkey fryer, no Fry Daddy. No, these boys banged it out in frying pans atop the charcoal Weber, Jack!

HA! Look above at the lawn chairs in the background ...

Speaking of Up North, as a kid, I remember everyday seemed like a field trip! Woods, water, sky (we had cloud charts and Beaufort scales posted in the garage), fishing, boating, camping, sports, bikes, radios, airhorns, flags, cameras, tools ("Use whatever you want, just put it back" ... did you ever leave a hammer outside, in the rain, at a friend's house?!), fire pits, PIE IRONS!!!

As I've said before, Dad and I don't always see things the same way. We're wired differently ... sometimes I'm sure he wonders if I'm wired at all! He's a wonderful teacher ... patient. He shows, then you do.

For all of his systems, mannerisms, and regulations, it may seem like Dad's a tough guy. Nope. My cousin Sally sat me down one night and told me story after story about my Dad. Tales of family get-togethers and emergencies, jokes ... after she was finished, she grabbed me, looked me in the eye with a huge, warm smile and said, "That guy's got soul."

Yes, he does.

Thanks Dad.

I love you. Happy Father's Day.

No comments:

Post a Comment

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

"When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say travelling in a carriage or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence, and how, they come I know not ; nor can I force them. Those ideas that please me I retain in memory and am accustomed, as I have been told, to hum them to myself. If I continue in this way, it soon occurs to me how I may turn this dainty morsel to account, so as to make a good dish of it. That is to say, agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of various instruments etc. All this fires my soul, and, provided I am not disturbed, my subject enlarges itself, becomes methodised, and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind, so that I can survey it like a fine picture or a beautiful statue at a glance. Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them, as it were, all at once. What a delight this is, I cannot tell."

MARCUS AURELIUS

"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?' neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility."

VINCENT van GOGH

"What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity or an oddity or a disagreeable person — someone who has and will have no position in society, in short a little lower than the lowest. Very well — assuming that everything is indeed like that, then through my work I’d like to show what there is in the heart of such an oddity, such a nobody. This is my ambition, which is based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Even though I’m often in a mess, inside me there’s still a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest little house, in the filthiest corner, I see paintings or drawings. And my mind turns in that direction as if with an irresistible urge. As time passes, other things are increasingly excluded, and the more they are the faster my eyes see the picturesque. Art demands persistent work, work in spite of everything, and unceasing observation."

DAN CAMPBELL