I'm not Kidding

The 3rd of 6 siblings, all different, the author thinks he is a normal Grandfather. His Parents and Grandparents play an important role as he shares embarrassing secrets about himself, so there are many lusty laughs along the way. Tips and insights abound from his travels, business experiences and other misadventures....In the after word; words to live by offers some clues to the interior of the book as well as just plain insights such as "just one earlobe is not enough to hold you up", or "Electric Shock is no substitute for Sex". You have to read the book to get what it means.....A word about the almost 200 photos in this book. Most of them were taken by Norman over the years. The ones from the army years were taken with an Agfa camera that he bought while in Germany in 1959. Most of the rest were taken with digital cameras from as early as 1983. A few excerpts from the book follow......At home, we kids used to have chores to earn our allowances. I remember washing dishes a lot. Alice wiped them and we argued over the spelling of wipe which she pronounced waip, and sternly said its W-A-I-P-E waip.... she had a few other priceless jewels too, like VAFUME cleaner and POP PUP toaster. We also had to feed and water our pet beagles which were really Dad's hunting dogs. Dad ran our/his dogs, and we got to feed, water and pet them........Mom who was not a chef by any means, could make the best French pot roast. The secret was to burn it a little which she probably discovered by accident, and the potatoes and onions, and all were just better in that burned gravy. She was pretty good with spaghetti sauce too. She had a recipe from Mrs. Reo (from Reo's Market where I dug the addition trench), for meatballs and torpedo sauce. I didn't get my favorite meal spaghetti very often as Dad liked beef, venison, and boiled potatoes without anything on them. They made me gag. Spaghetti made Dad gag, so we were at odds. Poor Mom, she had to make both, so me and Dad wouldn't starve to death. I wanted to send my Potatoes to Europe to feed the people starving there!.......Pepe Francoeur was born on May 18 1880. (I have his WWII draft registration). He was 61 when he registered for the draft. He always had a Hershey bar for each of us when we visited him in Foster R.I.. Later, after we built the house on Potter St. Pepe moved into the garage which had been built as an apartment........When Pepe was in Saskatchewan (Albertville), he was the only person that could read and write. (One of the perks of being an orphan in a parochial orphanage). They made him the Judge. He was the only educated person in a hundred miles or so, and people came from everywhere to have him read and write letters and help with whatever other business they had. They paid him with whatever they had, pelts, chickens etc., or not at all.....Grandma Emma (Mom's Mother) walked through the wilderness to town for groceries etc. and on occasion had to face down wolves with a stick. Pepe worked on the railroad and also as a lumberjack. He was about 5'6" and weighed about 125 lbs. He was something else! How this New Hampshire orphan boy met Emma in Albertville New Brunswick, We'll probably never know, but me and daughter Audrey probably got our love of traveling from him. I wish I had known Emma.......If you don't like reading picture less books, you are in luck. this book has 196 pictures strategically placed to make for easy reading. Many of the pictures have captions imbedded in them as well. Many readers will find themselves or their City or State or Country mentioned in this book or one of it's pictures......A few more excerpts follow..... I like to drive, and I no longer like flying. You never know what they might throw away, and if you protest, you could get arrested yada yada yada!.......Women today are doing more all the time. Whoever said they can't have it all was probably thinking of Air Travel..... Eat all your supper so the people in Europe won't starve.