Dad on top of a beautiful mountain who knows where...in his favorite gloves....he only wore glasses when he hunted... always too good lookin for glasses. lucky me and christine look like you. lillys got those ouellette eyes too :). i know every single time someone says i look like him its a huge compliment. and they say it to chrissy too...she looks just like him....a funny story about him and his good looks lol.....during parent teacher conferences i would go with him to show him where the rooms were.  The following day i would always razz the teachers some sarcastic way he would have taught me....I said to our latin teacher Mrs. Sullivan...."hey now you know where i get my good looks from"  she turned to me as serious as can be and said "Your Father is a very good looking man".   i smiled and didnt know how to take it but as i look at pictures and hear stories i get what she meant :)

tomato.......

   one thing about dad was he had a love for gardening.  He used to plant tomatoes, broccoli, radishes, squash, cucumbers and strawberries amongst many other things.  SOme of the best dinners we had were stir frys from the garden.   I remember stopping by his electrcian friend donnies house to steal tomatoes from the garden on our way home from a job near his house.  In fact he told me one time that he and donny had a beer after work and he didnt eat much for lunch so he caught a buzz and had to eat a few tomatoes and hang out for a minute before he drove home...Hahahah.  he cracks me up.  He even used to plant a garden at my sisters ex-boyfriend terrys house and tend to it every year.  At his wake a friend of his mentioned to pop that he like the acorn squash my dad gave him, he said the next day when he went outside the porch musta had 10 of them on it.  Dad just started liking squash a lot but his thing was tomatoes.  I will always remember fondly when, during the day at work, we would discuss what we were gonna eat for dinner he would always describe with such admiration his love for tomato sandwiches.  he would tell me his recipe a few slices of tomato miracle whip wheat bread and salt and pepper...he loved them.  he loved to be adventurous and travel the globe but he was also a man who enjoyed the simple things in life.

the pinch

every morning almost while id be half asleep or day dreaming in the seat next to him he would pinch the back of my arm to wake me up....man ill miss that

softball.....

     Dad joined a mens fast pitch softball league when i was around 12 years old.  The team was a bunch of guys from a local carpenters or plumbers union or something.  A lot of times we would go to the field only to have 6 guys show up and forfeit the game.  That wasnt so bad because he made a few friends on the team.  One guy was a blonde, loud, Finnish electrician named Olli.   Olli had 2 kids eric and zachary.  Erick was around 6 i think at the time and zacky was just a baby.  after most games we would go to Ollis house to watch the then just emerging Ultimate fighting championship on pay per view.  Well Ollis wife Lynn worked nights leaving olli alone with an infant who would never stop crying.  well my dad would pick up the little ball of tears and rock him to sleep like it was nothing.  he wasnt just a good dad to me and my sister he extended that love to so many other kids.  He quickly went from Joe to Uncle Joe in that household and has been ever since.