Father's Day

Father's Day is just a day away and it's the first one without him. Well not really last year was but that was just a blur because we had just lost him in May. Lost really isn't a term I like. He and other loved ones who have passed, aren't lost, I know where they are, they're in my heart, so they are not “lost”.
Anyway, back to my Dad. He was a typical dad from his time, went to work, got home late, did yard work on the weekends, and so on.
The things I remember best about him, were his love of pets, which is where I probably got it from, golf and fishing.
When we were younger, I didn't get to golf on a course with him, but he taught me how to grip the club and how to swing, so I practiced hoping I'd get to play with him. We didn't golf together until I was an adult and Mom had taken up the sport with him, and we'd play a couple times a year when they came to visit. He did take my oldest brother to the GMO(Greater Milwaukee Open) one year, my brother had a great time.
The times I remember best of all were the vacations with fishing. Dad taught all four of us how to fish, first with bamboo poles and then how to cast. There was one trip up to Canada, that's the picture, it's my brothers and my Dad after a day with a guide, Mom, my sister and me stayed back at the cabin and fished off the pier. Mostly the trips were up “North” to my grandparents cabin (his parents), where we fished from the wooden row boat. He'd motored us out to a spot, get us set-up remind us to watch what direction we were casting and fish. We catch mostly perch, sunfish and crappies with the occasional walleye or northern. Those were some of the best summers.
Happy Father's Day to all Dad's.

Grandma - Auntie Lou, Louise Luetzow Beck

I want to write about my Grandma, but didn't know how or where to start. So I asked the advice of a friend who is a writer, her advice was right. Those of you who know Grandma B., knew what a kind, gentle and truly wonderful person she was. She was born in 1903, the oldest of two children, she lived to be one hundred years old, but that doesn't really say who she was and why she made such an impact on my life. She was my best friend, always at my side, always in my corner, always letting know what I meant to her, never asking for anything in return. Grandma, didn't have a bad life, but it wasn't always easy either. She lost her father to a heart attack when he was only 35 and she was 12. She continued her education and helped her mother with the household and with her brother. She graduated from Milwaukee's trade school for young woman, she learned how to manage a household and learned the trade of millinery. Life went on and she married my Grandpa. Grandma, brought up to do what was right, brought her mother and brother into their home and her mother lived with them until her death (at 53) and her brother struck out on his own when he came an adult. Along with taking care of her immediate family she helped other family members, she found it in herself to help her brother-in-law with his children, when needed, and continued nurturing as “Auntie Lou” to Bud's children. I've been trying to think of a saying that Grandma used to use to inspire me, but I don't think she said any one thing. She used to “tsktsktsk” and kind of wag her finger at bad things. What I really took away from knowing my grandma, was honesty and gentleness. She really lived the saying “Treat others as you would want to be treated”