Wishing for one last talk with Dad

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Four years ago yesterday, I lost my Dad.  We have longevity in our family. I expected he’d live well into his nineties. He was 79, just a few weeks shy of his eightieth birthday.

My Dad was smart, savvy, well-traveled and seemed invincible, larger than life.

If I could change one thing, it would be to have one more conversation with Dad, albeit a long one.  I’d let him know I was proud to be his daughter and though we were sometimes at odds, I always knew he loved me – and that I loved him.

I’d thank him for being a good provider, for having so much to do with sparking my love of travel from a young age and for singlehandedly getting me to see the wisdom of starting a 401k.

I’d tell him how much I admired his leadership of our family business and those jobs he created and kept in our community.

I’d let him know that his approval of my choices and when he told me he was proud of me, meant the world.

I live in the home that was built by my grandparents when my Dad was a boy. He has everything to do with my moving into this home 30 years ago. He was so happy knowing that I love living here with a passion. I wouldn’t have to tell him that, it was something we spoke of often.

I still have talks with my Dad and feel his presence, though I no longer can hear his voice.

If you still have your Dad, have the conversation now while you can, leave nothing unsaid.

59 Candles, 59 Things – part twenty five

 


Thirty-third thing: Spence builds a great, roaring fire and this, our first of the season makes me so happy. Before leaving for Aruba, we had wood delivered and our chimney swept.  As the temperature has dropped with two nights below freezing, tonight was the night to break it in.

The smell of our fireplace on a cold damp night used to be so welcoming after long days at work. Spence, retired for years, would have the fire set about 30 minutes before I returned home, a glass of wine poured and candles lit. After parking in our unattached garage, coming up the sidewalk and inhaling the aroma of burning wood filled me with anticipation and gratitude for a relaxing evening with my guy and our cats, Tipper and Biscotti.

Since retiring, it isn’t uncommon for us to get up on a wintry day with no need to go out into the bitter cold. Those days, we start a fire late morning and keep it blazing all day as we watch the swirling snow.

So many happy memories spent in our cozy little home enjoying the fireplace. It had to make the list of my 59 Candles, 59 Things.

This series, 59 Candles, 59 Things is my way to commemorate my 59th birthday earlier this year by sharing things that make me happy. I’d love it if you’d check out more of this series, under Categories, click 59 Things. 

Spence’s Girl Receives Liebster Award!

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How exciting is this?

I just learned that I was nominated for the Liebster Award by the immensely talented http://incahootswithmuddyboots – thank you, Sabine!  This is especially exciting as I near the one year anniversary of launching this blog – on Halloween to be exact.  It has been gratifying to receive three awards now and from bloggers I so admire.

Please check out: http://incahootswithmuddyboots! Such a great blog including travel adventures, cooking, gardening and photography.

By accepting this award, I was asked to answer the following questions:

  • Your favorite book? Hard to choose one favorite but a truly remarkable book is “Memoirs of a Geisha”
  • Your favorite movie? Again, just one?  “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” – have watched it countless times and it never gets old
  • Your dream vacation?  After seeing all those commercials for the European River Boat Cruises while watching Downton Abbey, that is a dream vacation.
  • Your favorite flower? This is a hard question as I am such a garden geek, but I adore Hydrangeas (which I strangely have no success in getting to bloom)
  • IOS or Android?  I’m Apple all the way!!
  • Which languages do you speak? English, Spanglish and I can read what I call “menu French” as the five years of French I studied in high school escaped me eight years ago when I  traveled to France. (epic fail – ask Spence)
  • Coffee or tea? Tea
  • Favorite color?  Teal blue
  • If you were reincarnated as an animal, which one would you choose? I’d like to be a well-loved cat
  • Are you an early bird or a night owl?  Early bird
  • What is your favorite breakfast?  Everything Bagel toasted with Light Veggie Cream Cheese and a glass of cider (and the aforementioned tea of course)

Now for my nominations for the Liebster Award:

  1. http://lovingleisuretime
  2. http://dawns-ad-lib.com
  3. http://bubblyBEE
  4. https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com
  5. https://curvylouise.wordpress.com

These blogs are so well crafted. I’m always happy to see a new post and have featured their posts under my category “From Blogs I Follow”. I invite you to check them out. I promise it will be time well-spent.

Now for 11 questions for my nominees:

  1. What is your favorite birthday cake or pie?
  2. Peanut butter – smooth or crunchy?
  3. What is your least favorite household chore?
  4. Curly, wavy or straight hair?
  5. If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?
  6. Left-handed or right-handed?
  7. What is your favorite adult beverage?
  8. What talent do you wish you had?
  9. What made you decide to blog?
  10. Best decision you ever made?
  11. Person you admire most?

Here are the rules for accepting the Leibster Award:

  1. Make a post thanking and linking the person who nominated you.
  2. Include the Liebster Award sticker in the post too.
  3. Nominate 5 -10 other bloggers who you feel are worthy of this award. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can also nominate the person who nominated you.
  4. Ensure all of these bloggers have fewer than 200 followers.
  5. Answer the eleven questions asked to you by the person who nominated you, and make eleven  questions of your own for your nominees or you may use the same questions.
  6. Lastly, COPY these rules in your post.

My Mission – Find these Products

For those who’ve visited my blog, it’s obvious that I’m food obsessed.  I admit it freely. I love to cook and (pat on the back) am really skilled at it. Since retiring, Spence has benefited more than ever from my endeavors. I frequently cook from scratch, often make up recipes and even before I started the blog, photograph my culinary creations. My Pinterest page is a testament to my obsession as are the countless cookbooks and voluminous recipes I’ve clipped or have on cards in my old-school recipe box.

It is rare that I need to buy food staples at the grocery store as my pantry and freezer hold a myriad of items.  Recently I started a list of things that I needed to replace. To my shock, several mainstays and comfort foods were missing when I visited my local Kroger store.

  • Campbell’s Cream of Shrimp Soup 
  • Stouffer’s Spinach Souffle
  • Stouffer’s Welsh Rarebit

Out of a shopping list of ten items, this seemed a dismal failure but I chalked it up to the condition of the store which has been undergoing an endless “renovation” and is in a state of turmoil.

Perhaps they are so disorganized that they don’t even know what they need to order” I surmised.  I went online and let them know of my concern.

A few days later, we traveled north to Traverse City for a few days with family. Since Spence had to make a beer run I asked him to look for these items at their local IGA store. Struck out – not one of the missing items to be found.  My concern was escalating. Gloria, their next door neighbor, stopped by and heard my tale of woe.  She’d be at the Traverse City Meijer store that day and offered to do reconnaissance for me. If she was successful, she’d buy every can of the elusive shrimp soup and report back on the frozen items. It’s a huge store but that evening we learned the sad truth.  NO LUCK – not one of the items to be found. I felt a rising sense of panic but not to be deterred, committed to searching all grocery stores in our county upon returning home.

Last Saturday, I was on a mission. I drove to the nice, newer Meijer store in the neighboring community of Davison.  STRUCK OUT.  Next, I went to the Davison VG’s and while the soup and Welsh Rarebit eluded me, I hit gold with the Spinach Souffle, snagging six of them!

I was encouraged.

Recalling that there is a Kroger in Davison, I trudged on.  And to my delight, snagged the last six Cream of Shrimp soups and five Welsh Rarebits.  As I drove home victorious, I declared “I must blog about my quest“.  Spence was impressed with my coup but said “don’t put this in your blog“. What does he know about blogging?

Please watch in the future for a post of the recipe – my Famous Shrimp Bisque – using the elusive but not discontinued Cream of Shrimp soup as the base!