a post in honor of dad's birthday

Bon anniversaire papet!

on aimerait bien etre avec toi, papa. tout pleins de gros bisous de ta fille et de tes petits enfants qui t'aiment.

i would have liked one picture of us together, but this is the best i could find. it had to be the boat, why? because, of course, that is where dad and i have had our best times. from olympia, we sailed around puget sound, visiting all the different islands; sometimes taking road trips instead of boat trips. highlights were fresh oyster dinners cooked in the galley, or sausage barbecue, jaunts in 'noisette' the fatty knees (the last picture was cropped specifically to keep the sight of the dinghy bobbing behind us in the shot).

here dad shows how cool he is by jamming out to a mixed tape of the cure (in case the walkman wasn't enough to date the pictures for you.)

memorable times included sitting as still as we could, in the deepening evening, among the pines of one of the islands (dad will remember the name), as deer approached and eventually encircled us, going about their business of nibbling among the shrubs. this happened quite in spite of our taking our shoes off to walk more stealthily. we meant to be quiet, but i doubt the indian braves accomplished that by uttering ouch and ooh on every pebble and sucking wind between their teeth over an encounter with a pinecone.

other lessons learned? don't light fireworks from a floating dock unless you desire to have your eyebrows remodeled by singeing (i think dad stayed on the boat for that little episode as he has some sense). and, no matter how much you want your father to be right, don't let him convince you that there exists such a thing as a sea potato; telling yourself that it must be a species in addition to the sea cucumber, whose existence you are sure about. remember english is a second language and it just might be possible that dear old dad (but not that old dad, don't worry) mixed up his veggies in translation.

happy birthday dad.