From the Barefoot Files...

I can't believe it is Friday again so soon!

Today the photo from the file is of my father in law with his college buddies. Last November we lost him and this past Father's Day was kind of sad at our house. My father died right after I got married -- so my father in law was the only father I have had for years.

He was a Navy veteran and a pharmacist.

Sometimes I believed he could do anything. He refinished furniture pieces for me that seemed too damaged. I remember one piece that came from my Aunt Anna's home. The wood on the top of the piece was cracked and bowed up severely. He used steam to flatten the wood and make a repair that no one would ever know about it they had not seen the piece before he worked on it.

He loved to work in the yard. The back yard of their home was filled with azaleas and boxwoods that he had propagated. He had a special little 'hot house' built to keep the babies until they were ready to go into the yard (or into my yard!).

We have a grandfather clock that he made with his own hands. I remember seeing him carving the details for it. The rosettes (that are actually dogwood blooms) on the top are very ornate and beautiful. He made a clock for each of his children.

He loved pound cake. I used to make one for him on holidays. This past Father's Day when we had pound cake it was the first one I had made without him around to have any.

It was always nice to have him in our lives. If we had a question about how to do just about anything -- we always knew we could call him and get an answer. In this photo he is in the front row, second from the left.