I have many more memories of my other grandfather. I tended to be a pretty obnoxious teenager and I'm pretty sure he didn't know what to do with me then, but as a boy, I remember things like learning how to steer a canoe from him, (I'm still going to acquire one some day)
listening to him recite rhymes, quips and stories, picking blackberries in the garden in his back yard (now prime real estate in NJ), the comforting scent of pipe tobacco, and accompanying my grandparents to visits with relatives and friends like "Uncle Charlie" with his massive train collection. Oh, and if we slept over at his house, he'd say, "The first one who falls asleep, whistle." I never did figure that one out. (=But for as long as I can remember, one thing that stood out about my grandpa was we ALWAYS had pie (not cake) to celebrate his birthday. Personally, I like cake---A LOT. Probably too much. I'm not really big into store-bought, but pretty much anything is good. A friend in college even used to call me "Mr. Cake".
However, for the past two years, my beautiful and talented wife has, once again, enriched and expanded my life with some DELICIOUS strawberry pies for my birthday. Being a June baby has made me predisposed to loving strawberry jam, ice cream, shortcake etc. anyway. But this year's pies (made fresh from 4 gallons picked locally by B, C, L, and IZ in the blazing sun last week) were the BEST, sweetest, most delectable strawberry pies you could ever dream of. YUM!! Many, many thanks to B and the
ski-bums who put forth much effort to bless me. I love you all very much, especially you, B!I'm also proud and grateful to carry on small pieces of both of my families like nicknames and pie for my birthday.
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