Heirloom Scrapbook Volume 6

My dad. (aka Ricky Ricardo – at the right angle…)

When I saw this paper I had to get it because it reminded me of my dad so much.  My dad always had a hankie in his pocket. Always.  And as a little girl, my mom kept me busy at the ironing board.  My job was to iron dad’s hankies. She adjusted the ironing board to my height, set the iron on low and taught me how to iron and fold his hankies to fit nicely in his pocket.  As soon as I was finished, I would excitedly take him a fresh clean hankie and he always responded so appreciatively.  When I was little and if I did or said something silly (aka...blonde moment), my dad always - lovingly - called me 'dough-head.'

While shopping one day, I found little tiny tools in the scrapbook section that I could incorporate onto the page because dad was always tinkering or fixing something. He taught me the difference between a Robertson and a Philips screwdriver and he taught me how to use both a skill and jig saw.  I think my mom liked it most when I was tinkering with him, because we were both out of her hair. 

My mom and dad had very dear friends; Marion and Bill Riley.   We always referred to them as our aunt and uncle.  Uncle Bill could fix anything.  That man would tear a brand new appliance apart, just to see how it worked, then he would put it back together again.  When we were all grown and gone from home, mom would call us and say, ‘Uncle Bill is coming next week for a few days, gather up all your broken appliances’.  We used to refer to dad and Uncle Bill as Frick & Frack. They had a blast together and both mom and Aunt Marion loved it when they had a play date because they knew they would each have 2 or 3 days to themselves with no one to bother them.   

My dad had some of the craziest sayings and I'll have to create a page solely for that.  If he were fixing something and it was ticking him off, you were hear him mumble away, "rootin-tootin-brickin-brackin-frickin-frackin-pot-licker!" 

Or if you asked him where something was he would comment, "down cellar behind the axe".  If you asked him where somebody was, his answer was always, "went for a shit and the crows got 'em".  If you asked him what we were having for supper, it was always the same answer, "pigs ass and cabbage".  The entire time I was a little girl I never knew how old my dad was because every time I asked him the answer would be, "as old as my tongue and older than my teeth".  Now you know why I am so crazy.

Now mom was always baking, knitting or crocheting.  You rarely saw her sitting still and when you did, she was always doing something with her hands.  Our coffee tables were accented with crocheted doilies that she spent hours creating.  And many a newborn babies were adorned with crocheted sweater sets.   The bottom left picture was taken when my mom was about 15. I love these old pictures – and actually, I think the coat is quite fashionable for its time.  You can see in this picture again how the photos were doctored to add a bit of colour to them.  I certainly did not inherit my mom’s long legs. Damn! The photo on the right was taken when all my sisters and my daughters went to have our glamour shots taken and we talked mom into going with us.  She had about 8 different photos taken with various outfits on and at Christmas she just wrapped up pictures and handed one to everyone.  It was hilarious when my brother received the one of her with a feather boa around her shoulders and he exclaimed, ‘ok somebody trade with me, because a son should not have a picture of his mother in a feather boa !!’. 

I always knew when my mom was upset with me because I would be greeted by her as 'Lady Hucket' or 'Lady Jane'.

Home Sweet Home  -  Hanging on the picture wall at mom’s is a trio of pictures of how our home has changed over the years; so I wanted to be sure to incorporate it into the book.  The top picture of the house is when mom and dad first bought it for approximately $800 in the early 60’s. They raised all the kids in this house which had one bathroom, a kitchen, living room and two small bedrooms and no basement.  After a few years, dad and some of his friends raised the house and literally dug out a basement by hand.  There was not enough room for everyone to sleep and for awhile, some of my sisters would go across the road to sleep at the neighbours, and as a baby I slept with mom and dad. Then about 1970 they put an addition onto the house to include two more bedrooms and another living room and eventually a new bathroom; but the old bathroom was removed so the wall could be torn out to expand the adjoining bedroom.  Now… tell me how many people would live like that now a days.  The front steps of the house offered many hours of fun in the winter when we would fill them with snow and use them as our toboggan run.

The next page is a series of family pictures taken from about 1947 through to 1998.   As you can see it’s the energizer family – it keeps growing and growing.   I love the old pictures and the styles of clothes and the changing hairstyles are hilarious.  It’s so funny how we think we look good then….

The bottom row of pictures; the first one was taken at my mom and dad’s 50^th wedding anniversary and the other two were taken at my dad’s 80^th birthday surprise party.  One brother is missing from the photo.. just in case you were counting.

Stay tuned for Volume 7 - the monkey years...