Elder Walker

Holy cow.  Does this young man look like his Dad or what ?  Many emotions flood me.

Big Small Things

Dad and me

This is my first time in Las Vegas.  Unimpressed.  But I am getting paid by the N.B.A. to provide security for the N.B.A. D League Select team.  Can't beat getting paid to watch basketball and hang out with great upbeat people.

I am sitting in my hotel room between gigs.  I took some watermelon out of the refrigerator for a between gig snack.  I immediately remembered being with my father picking out watermelon.  He would "thump" the different watermelons waiting to hear just the right sound for ripeness.  I never could tell the difference in "thumps" but he would always delight in having gotten just the right watermelon as he cut it open.  I would always share in his delight both emotionally and physically by eating the watermelon in large half melon slices coating my face with the juice.  (He always "joked" that the best tasting watermelon was one stolen out of the neighboring farmer's garden.)

Speaking of delight, my train of thought continued on to his wonderful "Spanish Delight".  He would put all sorts of stuff into a skillet depending on leftovers and what was available.  Then he would cover the contents with his famous dumplings.  We would all be sitting around the table and he would bring the skillet (it was electric, of course) and open the lid and would say, "Ta Da !".  We would all "Ooh" and "Ahhh" salivating in anticipation.

And then there was his cherry upside down cake.  This specialty of my father had several stages of enjoyment.  First, smelling the cake cooking in the kitchen was wonderful as anticipation increased with time.  Then eating dinner knowing the cake would soon follow.  Of course, the best part was eating it with ice cream, rich cream or plain.  I liked mine plain so I could fully appreciate the texture and taste.  He never spared the cherries.  The final stage was having cherry upside down cake for breakfast after the cherries and juice had soaked into the cake.

I hope there is cherry upside down cake in heaven.  I miss my Dad every day.

Weeks Bunch 2012

Dell, Verna, Dennis, Belva and Glen