Dad's Birthday, July 27th, 1914

Clambake at Lake Chautauqua

It's hard to understand how easy it is to forget about anyone after they die, even your parents.  I do think of both of them fairly often, however, especially on special days like holidays, birthdays, and occasions which they might have loved.  The cliche you don't appreciate something until it's gone seems very true for Mom and Dad.  Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to talk to them one more time, to tell them how you feel about them!  Dad was such a easy going guy, happy enough, so it seemed with his life, wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  He kept  his emotions inside, rarely allowing any of us children a peek inside.  But you knew he cared, loved being around his family, Linda's deck, our yard at Chautauqua, especially with a martini in hand.  We miss him and promise to think of him more often and celebrate his being a great father.

An amazing morning, cool, about 59 degrees, with a high of 80, and sunny all day.  We meet with Nan Cohen at 10:00, the only thing planned other than boating, tubing, enjoying the water and sun.  It amazes me how much the grandchildren love playing in the water, on the various inflatable water toys.  They played tag with Evie for at least two hours yesterday.  Then, after our dinner of barbecued chicken, corn, and noodles, we went out and fished. It was a beautifully cool night, even had to go inside and get my jean jacket.  Marisa just kept dropping her line, with or without a worm, off the dock and would catch either a sunfish, white bass, perch or bass, almost instantly.  She must have caught at least 25 fish in little over an hour.  Neither Tyler nor Mitch had similar luck, catching only three or four a piece.  It was fun to watch, though I spent most of my time taking the fish off the hook.  All three are able to put a worm on albeit, without trying to touch the worm...they put the worm on the deck and work the hook  through it without touch.

After the fish off, Evie took the kids to the playground, then put Marisa to bed, as Tyler and I watched a movie PUSH CART MAN, a film set in NYC about a Pakistani immigrant, who works in a push cart selling coffee, donuts, and bagels.  We get the feel of what it's like to pick up your cart each morning about 4:00 AM, take it out into the streets, push it to your corner, at least at mile or two away, sell your wares, push it back, take the train, for an hour, to your apartment, probably a squatters, then do the same thing the next day.  He does befriend a young woman, who works in a similar kiosk, a  couple successful Pakistani business men and we learn he once was a famous pop singer back in Lahore, who left Pakistani to flee to the US with his wife and child, or just come here, but she died a year ago and his son now lives with his mother in law, who blames him for his wife's death and won't let him see his son.  We live the routine of his life, are not allowed into his interior, and don't find out much about why he now pushes a cart instead of trying to remake his career.  The movie just ends, nothing tied together, as his cart is stolen, his woman friend goes back to Spain, and his connection with a couple of caring Pakistanis is ruined by his asking for money.  As the film ends, he's sitting  on a stoop, looking out at the night life of the city.  Slow moving, but poignant, as you have to admire his gumption in sticking to a simple task, saving his money to buy the cart, and regain his son.  Sometimes, though, things do not work out.

A great day of tubing in the morning, then fishing, while Evie got lunch ready.  We took a cruise toward Bemus, eating our lunch in the boat, and ended up towing a Baja speed boat to the Long Point Marina.  The guy was so grateful that he wanted to give us money.  We said, forget about it, and went back to cruising.  We then spent the afternoon on the dock, kids and Evie playing in the water, and Beth and I took a long kayak ride up almost to Snug Harbor and back, about an hour  I would say.