Project Time

After several weeks of almost non-stop scrapbooking, my cookbook project is done. I can't tell you what a relief it was, since it got added to my to-do list around Christmas, when younger daughter was here for the holiday and requested I make copies of all my recipes in my personal cookbook. Both daughters now have one.

Now, I am back to working on the letters my grandfather wrote to my uncle Johnny during World War II. Almost every letter seems to bring a new job for my dad, Johnny's brother Frank, or Hank as he was known to his friends and loved ones. The most unusual that I've found so far is the Greater Detroit, a ship of the line out of Detroit to Cleveland and Buffalo. Oddly enough, my dad didn't hang around long enough for the ship to sail with him on it.

At the time, dad was 17, and trying to find his own way. I think in a 3 month period he may have actually worked for Chrysler or Dodge, Ford and Cadillac. Eventually, in the 1950's he would find his niche as the custodian for a Catholic parish in a suburb of Detroit. It didn't pay much, but it allowed my dad to basically be his own boss and to dabble in electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling. Certainly his mechanical training he received in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, gave him a base upon which to build.

While I am anxious to finish this project, I am certainly fascinated by the content of these letters. A parent always has a different perspective than a child does of the same person.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes