Father's Day

Glorious afternoon to you all.
Today is Father's Day, yet both my Father and Grandfather are in Heaven.
I am certain they are also enjoying a glorious afternoon from above.
I am gazing at a photo of both of my 'fathers' as I compose this entry and all is well..
"God's in His Heaven, All's right with the world"...that's from a poem I had memorized as a child...still true.



When my husband was much younger he grew and tended a quite large vegetable garden each Spring, Summer and Fall. We also had a fig tree (hey, we are Sicilians) a peach tree, strawberries, lots of flowers---and LOTS of veggies. We ate lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini/squash and eggplant until Thanksgiving!
He is too weak now, but it is easy to keep modified deck and patio container-gardens, and that, I can do!



My Dad, also kept a large veggie/herb garden for about a quarter century. Every summer, it was Zucchini-a-rama. He insisted upon growing them big as Shaleleagh..by then they were filled with SEEDS..lol..But, the joy on his face when he brought them to my Mom in the kitchen, priceless!



My Dad enjoyed cooking a lot and even outdid himself in some yearly traditional Holiday baking.
He was the chef on a "Destroyer" (ship) in the Italian Navy during WW2.... a little known fact, actually.
My Dad was the first person I knew (Circa; 1968, when we moved from NYC to "the country") who actually plucked-off -the-vine, washed, stuffed, fried and ATE zucchini flowers~~~~ So delish ! Although my Mom thought it somewhat "peasant food"..ironically..what goes around, comes around. Now they are "nouvelle cuisine"! (along with "verdure" and cannellini beans) "Everything old is new again". Then, we ate escarole, broccoli rabe and polenta while our "American", and so much cooler friends, down the street were eating LaChoy Chinese and Swanson TV dinners. An uncle even suggested we make a roadside stand called "Cumpare Cucuzze". If you are Mediterranean, you are laughing now.

But, I digress...


When my Dad used to come over and sit out on our deck, amidst the plum tomato and basilico plants that threatened to overtake the place....He was content. I would cook and afterwards we would play cards, with some quiet, background Neapolitan songs or Operatic arias, eat, talk and chill for the afternoon. I am happy about whatever I did to please him and engage him in conversation. I never saw him as a warm and fuzzy type of Dad, but I knew he loved me. He called me "Contadina"whenever he came by and chuckled because now I was the one with the garden, and snipping off the herbs and veggies to make dinner. And like for my Grandfather, before, I made certain to be up to my elbows in soft warm yeasty dough to make the braided egg breads for Easter , and made sure to prepare 7 Fishes for our Christmas Eve dinners .  I had a little Anisette and a nice zest of lemon rind, at the ready, for the espresso (Ok, so I BOUGHT the Cannoli.....). But see? It's the traditions of family, food, music, gardens, the Art of story- telling from the "Old Country",  that make precious memories and good family roots, to anchor the generation to follow us.


There is a lesson in all this.
 I am looking at a 31 year old wedding picture where my Dad is lifting my veil to kiss me good-bye (as it were).
There are 13 people in this photo........Dad, me and 11 people sitting o the Groom's side in the Church pews.
Twelve are gone now... 
These were common folk.
No one (except me) graduated from college.
No one was a brain surgeon.
But, every one of these good people prepared a big family dinner and went to Church on Sundays.
No one had to work, that day, as all stores were CLOSED on Sunday.  No baseball practice, either.
As a child, we knew better than to answer back ANY adult, even a neighbor.
We had a teeny black-and-white TV in a BIG mahogany Magnavox cabinet.
There were 3 Networks and 3 lesser stations and PBS.
At a certain hour, the TV screen would show the American flag, waving in the breeze, play the National Anthem, and then show "TV snow" until the following dawn.
The only objectionable thing I ever saw on TV growing up occured when theVietnam War began to be broadcast on the nightly news. 
No video games, no Internet, no Mac, no PC, not much in the way of electronics.
On summer evenings we would go next door to visit our grandparents on the stoop and wait for "Mr. Softy" to ride by to (hopefully) have an ice cream.  
People took evening walks.
They strolled and stopped to share a few cordialities as familiar friends walked by.
No one ran, jogged, nor power walked. No one carried hand weights. 
No one was plugged into an MP3 player, or an IPOD or a Blue-tooth.
No one was texting.
Just walking .


We lived in a NYC neighborhood where virtually every Mom, Dad, Nonna and Nonno from the elder generation, were naturalized American Citizens. Many came thru Ellis Island. Our neighborhood was composed of Sicilians, Maltese, Czechs, Neapolitans, Irish and Greeks.
All the men went to work all day everyday and most of the ladies were Moms and homemakers and that was just fine.
I am grateful for the simple lives we enjoyed together.


So, that's that.
It was a day to reminisce, I suppose, and I have..
A perfect Spring day to give thanks and pay homage by continuing, both lovingly and joyfully, the good life that is our privledge to keep alive. It is truly ours for the taking.......Rather, for the living!

And guess what?
I believe they all had gardens.