Memories near the holidays, my dad and "Squirrel Brains"!

Found this old picture of the Messere's in front of old Tubbert's Restaurant
one the old North side of Syracuse. I am the little girl in the middle sitting down, 
my cousin Gerri on my left and my brother on the right!

Around the holidays people tend to talk about  their family who are now gone.  Remembering their mom or dad with a bit of a tear here, or sadness... because they are gone …Not me, as many times as I think of my father it is not with sadness.  No I don’t tear up with remembrance,  I usually am breaking out in a laugh.  This Sunday morning while I cleaned the kitchen was no exception.

When dad retired he used to work with me helping with my little contracting company or helping me with the new house I bought to refurbish.

When I lived in Syracuse he used to come over early for coffee because he claimed we had the best water (Skaneateles water) and his Solvay well water was far too chlorinated to make a good cup.  Of course… we also had a Mr. Coffee and not mom’s boiled and perked until it was dead coffee.

One morning he showed up while I was making toast and the toaster kept popping up.  In truth it had been doing it for more than a week.  I would punch it down and it would pop back up.  Chris’ cousin Donna had given it to us used and we had worn it out I thought.  I asked my father if he could take a look at it. 

He drolly replied, “Have you ever cleaned it?”  I said. “What do you mean?”  He said,  “You know cleaned it?”  With that he turned it over and there on the bottom was a little door that once opened dropped a pack of bread crumbs onto the kitchen cabinet.  He then gave me his most dreaded statement … the worst criticism that I could ever hear from my father if I screwed up…”Squirrel brain!”  Yes “squirrel brain”….Ouch!

Well today I was making toast and the same thing kept happening... I put the toast down… it would pop up!  Eureka! I knew what to do… turn it upside down and open the little door and shake it clean… This was an easy solution. 

So I turned it over and at that same moment realized I had the fan on the counter on high to move the heat around the room from the wood stove.  Just as I shook the crumbs (tons of them) out…bam!  The air filled with crumbs that were sent over my entire clean kitchen… and so l started laughing and laughing.  If someone saw me they would for sure have thought I was daft.   But I was thinking about my dad.  I knew that somewhere.. up above…ole dad was saying…”Squirrel Brain!” Ouch!