June 19, 2011
July 1966/..near 25th Wedding Anniversary/How did my father get my mother fishing AND have a photo taken holding fish and fishing pole?.
Father’s Day June 2011
It’s been nineteen years
since my Dad died
one cold March Day.
.
Today is his kind of day…
Sunny, warm, a breeze,
a good day to take in a ballgame,
or listen to one on the radio
sitting outside in a comfy chair.
.
My Dad,
his motto,
“Work hard, play hard”…
.
I mostly saw him work hard:
long hours with little time for play.
He had his annual hunting and fishing trips
“with the boys”…friends and male relatives,
no women need apply.
.
He did teach me how to bait a hook,
where to fish on the lake
where the fish may be hiding and hungry:
and how to cast a line
to that very spot.
The solitary time together,
waiting for the bite on the end of the line.
.
He’d clean them
and
mom would be ready for freshly caught
fish for supper,
.
If Dad didn’t catch them,
or someone with him,
we didn’t eat fish,
not frozen
or from the fishmonger.
.
My Dad.
Work Hard. Play hard
.
The Milwaukee Braves
arrived in town about the time
we moved to West Allis.
.
It was fun to go to the games
with my dad…
six years older than my brother,
Eleven is what I’d have been.
I got to go along
and cheer the Braves
Til the last out was played.
.
Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews,
Warren Spahn, Joe Adcock,
too many to mention…
and
there were All Star Games,
and World Series Games…
Micky Mantle,
Jackie Robinson,
all the greats of those years.
.
We sat in the beachers…
fifty cents.
I learned to keep score…
to keep busy and learned to
enjoy the game.
.
My father had a small transitor
radio, with an ear piece,
to listen to the broadcasters…
“Hard to believe it’s the same game”
he’d say !
.
My Dad,
his motto,
“Work hard, play hard”…
.
I don’t know if my brother even got to
go hunting…
in the Northern Wisconsin woods,
for deer and pheasant.
We seldom ate venison…
“‘Too gamey,”
I remember my Mother declaring.
.
And the pheasant feathers
were a treasure for the hats
that were the style of the day.
.
I can still hear him grumble
the day he was told,
” Be carefull where you shoot
the pheasants,
I need those feathers for a hat”
my mother’s sister announced☺.
.
.
My Dad.
Work Hard. Play hard.
☮ ♥.
June 20, 2011, From my brother about the Father’s Day Photo of our Father and Mother Fishing
.
.
.
4 Comments
June 19, 2011
Unique, to me, dingy sail boat…taken for a breezy ride, back to the converted lobster boat …Sorrento Yacht Club
.
The process
Recuperated/pain improved/hip recovering/sigh
Margret/surprise visit/Bill/Patty/exhibit/Library
Sad/Bill sick/hospital/Boston/cancer
Bill/artist/cartoonist/funny/bear hugs
Patty/don’t know/artist/CNA/Portland
Margret/busy/Don/dentist/house/repair
Phone calls/Jane/Sabrina/talked long
.
Six Word Journal 6/18/2011
Quiet day/Margret/Jane/Sabrina/joyful
siggiofmaine 