I thought maybe the booyah drew us to Hofa Park every year for their Father’s Day polka fest. Simmering from a giant, old school pot and so full of meat and vegetables you almost need a fork to eat it, that booyah is delicious. But, that’s not the main draw. It might be the music [...]
Here’s to the dads who carry the weight of the world and the tired five-year olds on their shoulders. Who tell never-ending bedtime stories. Who white-knuckle the U-Hauls. Who race to the ice-cream trucks. Who sing 27 verses of “Down by the Bay”. Who grill the brats and, sometimes, the child. Who wear the silly [...]
Sometimes, fatherhood looks like Opie Taylor on a Sunday afternoon in Mayberry, a warm spot on a river bank where it doesn’t even matter if the fish are biting because the river is nice and cool on your bare feet and you don’t have anywhere else you need to be. Other times, fatherhood looks a [...]
My husband Vince is a man of simple pleasures, difficult to buy for and easy to please. He loves his family, camp fires, river floats, booyah and smoked meat. Inexplicably, given his limited exposure to the genre in his childhood, he also loves to polka. Every year since he first discovered it, Vince and I, [...]
The son rose early on June 19, 2005, and frankly, he was not very happy about it. A recent high school graduate, Charlie would have preferred a more traditional Father's Day celebration, one that allowed its celebrants to ease into the day with waffles and a nice cup of joe. Still, he was game for [...]