June | 2013 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

This past weekend, I went to Savannah to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday.

90TH BIRTHDAY! That’s CRAZY. (A couple weekends before, I went to Savannah to surprise my mom for her 88th birthday. 88! Holy cow!)

I’m sure you can tell by the pic that my mom is a bit of a hoot and a ham, and you’ve heard me tell Mom stories. But this weekend is Father’s Day, so this Fun Friday’s all about Dad.

A Few Fun Facts About Father’s Day (and One Specific Father):

*July 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day was proclaimed by the governor of the state of Washington.

*In 1972, Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a national holiday.

*Apparently, men were not so enthralled with the idea of Father’s Day and the gift-giving and such. Mostly because the dads themselves had to (ultimately) pay for the gifts and such. (A tradition that continues in the Hall house today. So, really, the guys back in the 1920’s were pretty much right to balk.)

*My dad’s name is Fretwell (It’s a family name.) and my mom (and other friends) call him “Fret.” If you don’t ever want to talk to him again, call him Fred.

*When my dad was a little kid, he named his dog, Fanny. One day, Fanny went missing and he was distraught, looking for his dog everywhere. He ran up and down the streets yelling, “My Fanny! My poor, poor Fanny!” (His mother loved to tell that story.)

*My dad has been watching the Atlanta Braves since I was a little girl. But in the last–oh, 15 years or so, he watches with the sound off. So if you are with him, and watching, he (and my mom) will have conversations like this:

Dad: Oh, for crying out loud, what is this? Are they saying he was out?

Mom: I think they’re calling him out, Fret.

Dad: He was safe. How in the world could they call him out?

Mom: Well, it looks like they’re saying he’s out.

Dad: Ridiculous! What possible reason could they have for calling him out?

Me: WHY DON’T YOU TURN THE SOUND ON AND THEN WE’LL KNOW????

Dad: (Leaving the room) You watch it. I can’t stand another minute of this.

And with that, I’ll leave, too.

(Except to extend a warm and happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. And here’s my gift–a favorite poem by Edgar Albert Guest called “Only A Dad.” Technically, I suppose the gift’s from Edgar Albert Guest. But the sentiment’s straight from my heart. And P.S. Dad, it won’t cost you a cent!)

Remember Brenda Novak’s Online Auction for Diabetes Research? It’s over now–they had a stellar auction, broke records and raised a smashing amount of money for diabetes research. Yay!

Yesterday in the mail, I received the auction item I bid on–and it was pretty stellar, too!

Here’s a bit of info about the calligraphy and creator, Nikki Weston (courtesy of the auction site):

Inspired by her life in Ireland, Nikki Weston created this beautiful hand-calligraphy saying in both Gaelic and English.

The Gaelic language has for centuries captured the hearts and minds of many. An teanga gaelach is rich, vibrant, and spoken daily by many thousands of people on the island of Ireland. Gaelic lends itself to creating many a wise saying, or seanfhocail. Seanfhocail literally means ‘old words’. In days gone by, the working classes of Ireland fused philosophy with good humour during storytelling or educating their children, and it was there that seanfhocail were born. Having been passed down through the generations, these proverbs are just as apt today and are calligraphed attractively for your enjoyment.

Each piece is painstakingly hand-produced using Winsor and Newton calligraphy nibs and inks by writer and artist Nikki Weston.

Nikki Weston is a writer and artist in Dublin, Ireland. She produces non-fiction articles and short stories. Growing up in Clones, Co. Monaghan, Nikki discovered her love of words when she was just ten years old: “Christmas that year brought me my first calligraphy set, and with it, the patience and accuracy that penmanship calls for. Love of my country and pride in my language inspires me to create these calligraphed pieces exclusively for the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research. Please bid and take home a little Irish wisdom.”

I was thrilled to have the winning bid on this item! It was a lovely way to help fund diabetes research (and honor my big brother). And the saying called to my writer heart as well as the wee bit of Irish in my blood.

Plus, I love the connectedness (is that a word? I’m going to say it is) of it all. There was Nikki, all the way over in Ireland, creating and lending her talents to Brenda Novak’s auction, and here was I, all the way down South in the USA, in my little corner office, checking out items and bidding away.

It’s a small (and lovely) world, after all.