Friday, June 17, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! It's time celebrate all that Dad's are! And I have the best Dad ever!
He's just turned 83 years young. I've been working on his Memoirs, scrapping them digitally, so as to put a slide show together for him. The process is long, and seems to take forever, but it's a labour of love, to be sure, and through it all, I have certainly gained so much more knowledge of who he is and the life he's lived, had I not taken on this project!

We've heard the stories all of our lives, but there is something so special about getting it all down on paper, and supported with photographs. The project will end up as a multimedia presentation, with sound, and visuals. He's still working on it all, with every new big event in his life getting documented. He's saved so many old documents, passports, papers, birth and death announcements, and family history, it's mind boggling.

He keeps bugging me about getting his books back, but I've barely scratched the surface of this huge project! I need to seriously get going on it! I had hoped that I would have something for him as a gift for Father's Day, not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe a sneak peak??
Here are a few of the layouts I've done:












The thing is, Dad has Age Related Macular Degeneration. This is what got me started to begin with, he can't even see the stuff he's putting into his books without the help of his reading machine! He can, however, see the large screen TV, if he sits real close, and sits at an angle to it. People with Macular Degeneration usually retain some peripheral vision, the centre of the their vision is what's been impaired. So, I decided to put his pictures onto a Dvd, to be viewed on the TV. And of course, I can't just do things simply, being an artist, and creative person, I have to put my stamp on it, and I want it to be special for my Dad, 'cause he's special!

This picture is of a much newer type, but similar in design, they are kind of like the old microfiche machines we used to use in the library. Do they even still have them?


Dad was always the one you went to if you wanted something, 'cause Mom just said no anyway. At least that's how it seemed as a child! But my Dad has always had a very long fuse, he's slow to get impatient, and angry, and has a great sense of humour! But boy oh boy, watch out if he gets to end of that fuse, 'cause a big kaboom is waiting at the end of it! Thankfully, there's not been many of those, and it was usually our own fault anyway!

Dad loves the Lord, loves his family, Mom, his kids, grand kids, and now 3 great grand kids! And we have large extended families too. It's a crazy loud bunch when we all get together, a bit overwhelming if you first come onto the scene!

They have a great house for visiting, and love to garden, and take excellent care of everything.
They've made a point to make their house a home, and one that all feel welcome to enter. They've never taken the "spiritual gifts" test, but I am 100% positive that both my mom and dad have the gift of hospitality! Everyone is made to feel as welcome as possible.

They've also taken care to make it very kid friendly, (not kid proof, mind you! kids have to learn what they can can't touch!!), having a basement that has video games, board games and lots of stuff to do, a backyard that rivals any resort, with a large heated swimming pool, a hot tub, gazebo and lovely deck. My kids never complained about going to visit, as a matter of fact, it was a good one to use as a consequence for undesirable behaviour: Watch out, or you won't be going swimming, playing video games....

We're spending Father's Day at my brother's place this year, as he's singing (my brother, Dad can't carry a tune in a bucket, seems that's where I get my own singing ability from!) with the "Nylons" on Sunday at a Barbershop show. A little different, as Mom and Dad usually do all the hosting of parties. I think they deserve a break! It should be fun!

They have had company from Holland, and more to come next week! They love it, but it's tiring none the less! My Parent's gift of hospitality will be stretched once again this summer! My Mom and Dad's gracious gift is gladly shared, but I do worry how tired they get. Dad's 83, Mom's going to be 75 this year, but still their stamina puts me to shame!! I hope I'll be able to keep up! I'm looking forward to spending some time with my Dad's family, getting some great photos, then scrapping them!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Happy scrapping to all, and especially, a very Happy Father's Day to all the great dad's,
And to my Dad: I love you lots, you're the best Dad ever!

Marlene.

2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful blog post! Your layouts are great so far...I think your Dad will really love it!!!! :)

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