Grandpa Fitz

My grandpa Fitz passed away yesterday following a long bout with Parkinsons. It's very hard to let him go but it's better that he's at rest now.

Some of my strongest memories of him...

"DON'T YOU BREAK-A MY HOUSE!" he would tell us when he could tell we were about to roughhouse or otherwise get into trouble. ... not sure but I was probably about 6 at this point. I remember it being at least a little bit more scary than I'm sure was really intended.

Giving me pointers on shuffling and dealing while playing cribbage. I think I'd be about 8-10 at this point. I distinctly remember him showing me how I was revealing cards when shuffling - and revealing the bottom card when dealing.

Getting my hands washed... with Ajax or Comet. I don't remember what it was that we would regularly do at 701 E Ayer, but whatever it was: I remember hands caked with dried mud. Grandpa would scrub those babies pink with Ajax, but they would certainly be clean in the end! Not sure about this age, I'm going to with with starting at 5 ending about 20!

Smoke from his pipe - not sure how long ago he quit smoking but it was definitely a quite a while ago, so this is probably a very old memory. I definitely remember both the distinct smell as well as the actual pipe itself, sitting on the back of tobacco. Along with this, I remember him sitting out on the back porch of the house - I'd say he was reading or relaxing, but looking back on how many friggin kids were in the house: it was probably escaping!

Making cribbage boards out of Lake Superior driftwood. I remember him drilling the holes with the press in his basement - also burning the images of boats or sayings. I have two of these around the house.

This is obviously the short list. There are so many others that could be included.
It's definitely worth taking a minute to revisit a wonderful post from Maighie a while back on 701 E Ayer too.