23 Comments

I love the colorful horticulture allusions:

tomato-vine, cucumber-slice, sage green. Nicely done!

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i love that too. so many rich connections in this story 💗

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Thank you so much! Whenever I catch the scent of a tomato vine in the air, I think of him!

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It’s amazing how the most ordinary of objects can illicit the richest memories and connections. I love the photo of you and your grandfather (him in his tie), lying under the dining room table together. Wonderful story!

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that photo is priceless ❤️

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Truly--the ordinary holds the extraordinary, as The Keepthings shows us weekly!

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Thank you for sharing Deeda with us. He was a kind and gentle soul.

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you can tell in every detail how good he was ❤️

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He truly was. Thank you for saying that. He was so self-effacing--I can hardly imagine what he'd make of the Internet, much less being written about here!

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Wonderful.

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Thank you, dear Elana! This week, I've been thinking so much about your parents' things--your mother's two-handled egg pan, for instance.

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I know Oakeshawe well. And my Dad was Gilbert Sandler. Thanks for the memory!

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I never met him, but what a darling man he seemed to be! And what a long, productive life!

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Love this story. I grew up in Mt. Washington in Baltimore, but I can picture everything you are describing. My father wrote for The Baltimore Sun for many years.

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Oh wow! Mt. Washington is so beautiful. We were in Oakenshawe--near the JHU campus. Was your dad Gilbert Sandler? If so, I ADORED his "Baltimore Stories" series on WYPR.

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Sweet. Just absolute sweetness... and I love his name, Deeda.

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Thanks so much! I don't know how I arrived at that name. My grandmother was Meema, so I guess Deeda was the natural pairing?

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Wow. You can really see how he loved you . Grandparents are the best.

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They really are. I knew this at the time, kind of, but I REALLY know it now.

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I absolutely love this and the picture of you and your grandfather under that dining room table.

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Aw, thank you! As a middle-aged person now, I am amazed that he was up for doing that. He must have been about 70 years old in that photo!

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What a beautiful story amd what a wonderful gift to have that time with your Deeda, thank you for sharing.

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Thank you! I so appreciate your reading this and commenting. I feel him with us today.

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