Each ride brings revelation; this ride brings two.
“Concrete is an aggregate,” my father would say. “Cement is an ingredient.”
It took me years to learn to recall this correctly.
To this day: refer to concrete as cement in my father’s presence, and prepare to be corrected. Likewise, when hanging around his workshop, don’t call a motor an engine; know the difference.
My dad suffered-long my childish mechanical ineptitudes. He tried to teach me to be a Man. I remember being instructed in the use of hammers, saws, lawn- and power-tools. I remember participating along side him on dozens of projects. But I also remember him saying, “Here, give me that; just do it like this,” and then sighing “John, that’s not how I showed you how to do it.” He was patient while coping with my innate inabilities, but he was also, by training, compelled to make sure the task got done right.
