Happy June, fellow CDHMrs!

Last month we celebrated Mom, this month it's Dad's turn with Father's Day. If you want to know about miniature projects, just ask my Dad. He lives in fear of the phrase "Hey, Daddy..." because it's inevitably followed up by a help request.

He has - with only minimal rolling of eyeballs - helped cut out both sets of plywood walls for my two dollhouses in addition to many other household projects. I think partly because he wants to know where his tools are. Contrary to suspicions on his part, I DO put them back where I found them, unfortunately it's not always where he believes he left them.

Kind of like the time my mother wished aloud for an alphabetized spice rack only to have a hissy fit when I fulfilled her wish. I don't think she ever did get them back in "usage order" on the rack again. But they were in alphabetical order. And she's made certain to clarify certain wishes ever since then, always followed up with "not like the spice rack." At least it made a lasting impression. Just like "Hey, Daddy."

Father's Day tends to be a Do Something With Your Daughter Day here. One year we built a massive bookcase for my kitchen to hold my cookbook collection. Another year it was a deck at the rear of my house, and so on. And inevitably there is eyerolling and a 'discussion' (Dad's Italian, our 'discussions' can get a little loud and sound a lot like arguments to an uninformed observer) on the proper methods of measuring.

As in I tend not to and he was born with a ruler in his hands. And he is an amazing carpenter, building his three-story garage from scratch, pretty much by himself from hand drawn plans and the help of the almighty ruler. Carpentry was one of his first jobs before he shipped out to serve in WWII.

But it wasn't his dream career of working on automobiles. He can still listen to a car engine and tell someone exactly what is wrong with it and how to fix it - any make, any model. But more often than not it's the woodworking serving as the Daddy-daughter bonding experience, complete with difficult circle cuts, arches and unmeasured bits that somehow turn out right without the assistance of a ruler.

For all these times and so much more, Daddy, Happy Father's Day.

And Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!

Editor