Best Dessert for Father's Day

Cattle grazing on the prairie.

Hello everyone! It is a beautiful morning here on the high prairie. The sun is shinning and the cows are grazing in the pasture. There is nothing quite like looking out the window in the early morning to watch the sun rise. We recently moved to the country into a house that my husband built. It has been a long 4 years but it has been worth the wait. The house, the view, it is incredible! I'm very proud and thankful for all his hard work.

Sunrise on the prairie

With Father's Day approaching I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my daddy. It's kind of funny that I always called my dad, daddy. My sister on the other hand called him 'dad'. My daddy's mother, my grandma, called her husband 'daddy', which I thought was odd when I was young. Never quite got that until I was older. It was just her form of endearment for my granddad. Maybe that it why I called my dad, daddy. Who knows but I had a really wonderful father. He was a good provider and loved my mother dearly.

My parents 1940's

My dad was from the Greatest Generation era. He served in the army during World War II.
He was a no nonsense gentle kind of man with a dry sense of humor. Growing up, as a family we would always eat supper together at the kitchen table and he would always say the prayer. Same prayer every time. 'Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let this food be blessed'.

My daddy. 1940's

Growing up I didn't have a real close relationship with my daddy. He was a hard working man and when he came home from work, it was time to for him to rest, or do some work around the house, or read and then enjoy the meal my mother had made. It wasn't until after my mama passed away that we became closer.

He did like to tease my sister and I. I can remember him passing the butter plate during a meal to one of us girls, only to have our finger "accidentally" get stuck in the butter. When we would squeal, he'd give us that little twinkle of a smile that came out of his eyes. He was a little bit on the ornery side but for the most part, he was a quiet man with few words.

He also taught my sister and I the value of hard work. There were always chores to do around the house that we were required to help with. Mowing the lawn, trimming the grass around the house foundation, digging dandelions and helping our mom. There never was an allowance for doing chores around the house. It wasn't even heard of back when I was a kid.

Daddy 1960's

When my mom was alive and I would phone the house to talk to her, if daddy answered the phone the conversation would be 'hi, daddy, is mom there'? Rarely did he and I have a lengthy conversation. After mama died I had to learn how to carry on a conversation with him. My husband did much better than I in conversing with my daddy maybe because they were similar in personalities?

My daddy and my husband. 1970's

In the house I grew up in, in the backyard, were 2 cherry trees. Every year those trees would produce a nice crop of cherries. When harvest came around, our mama would have my sister and I sit at the picnic table and help her pit all those cherries by hand. Cherry juice would run down our arms to our elbows. It wasn't all that fun but when she would make cherry pie it made it all seem worthwhile. Mama would also make cherry preserves, cherry nut ice cream and freeze up a few bags of pitted cherries for future pies with those cherries from those trees in our backyard.

From time to time over the years after my mama passed on, Daddy would make his own cherry pie from scratch. Pie crust and filling both. I like to think he would make it so he could remember a little bit about my mama.

My daddy lived 20 years after my mother passed away. I'm thankful for that much time with him after the death of my mama. Over those years daddy and I grew a closer relationship, even though I still had to carry the conversation. Ha! I remember him fondly and consider him the best daddy I could ever have.

So, to celebrate Father's Day this year, I think I will make my daddy's favorite dessert but I'm going to change it up a bit. Instead of a cherry pie I'm going to try my hand at a batch of cherry hand pies.
I think my daddy would like them just the same.

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I found a handy dandy hand pie cut & seal gadget. What a great little invention. I used to make the circles for the hand pies. And it will even crimp the edges of your pie crust dough when you are ready to seal your hand pies.