I spent the day with my Dad last Sunday. It was the week between his 81st birthday and Father's Day, so it seemed like a great day to drive up to see him and spend the day...

Our daughter and her husband also joined us, and Steve and I took everyone out to dinner before we left. Well, not QUITE last thing before we left. After we got back to his house, we had coffee and the birthday pie I had brought him. We all left about 7:30 in the evening.

I am so lucky that he is alive and thriving. He had walked to church that day, just as he does any Sunday that it is not raining. It's a 3 mile walk, each way.

And, if I haven't mentioned it before, he has been busy building a 22 foot long sailboat in his garage. He plans to load it onto a trailer and launch it later this month. I wish I had thought to take a photo of it, it is just beautiful. He's even done some carving on the prow.

As for favorite memories, I think mine is the walks he and I used to take when I was a pre-schooler. He'd carved a walking stick for each of us, and I recall exploring the shore in New Jersey (near Trenton, as I recall) and then later walking some dirt roads in Northern Wisconsin and in Michigan.

We had wonderful conversations on those walks about topics like the clouds, the power of water, and why he felt that it was unladylike for me to imitate the sounds made by a horse we used to walk past... LOL