i am not sure why being handy is restricted to handyman--  there must be handy women---but if you find one... they are certainly valuable...

handy men know things like hammers and toilets-- i suppose a handy woman could hand make pasta--

 then i wonder about women like amelia earheart=. she must have had some mechanical capabilities to get as far as she did..

 tho maybe it was not enough to go all round.???

as for my relatives.......

my father was one of 5 children 3 boys 2 girls. lived on a farm--- the vegatable picking---- cow milking type farm.... harnessed a pony to get himself and 

 his siblings to school., where he and his dad had built a run in stall for the pony to eat his hay while they were in school.  in or around new rochelle/westchester county  new york.

he was clever- being a generation before duct tape, he actually studied and fixed things.  my grandfather  was decidedly short--- and his 3 sons towered over him.

where i am going with this....??? i never heard my father ( or uncles) swear,or raise their voices.  i did not inherit that capability.  altho my sister frannie (pagosa springs colo...)is pretty well behaved...

?coloradoi?  we have a camera person who has met her... i think the  same church???

 all i remember of my grandmother. was she made the most exceptional chicken gravey-- and used to play hymns on an ancient upright piano and sing.   i preferred the gravey. 

  i used to have to "run this over to your grandmother".  it was only about 2 blocks from  south street to roosevelt place -- and i think it was mothers way of putting a few miles on me.

now that i did inherit ----when janine had more energy than i could cope with , i used to have her go run  once around a big old pine tree at the other end of our one pasture...

i am of the opinion that is how new england's stone walls got built.. rolling rocks around woods improved the  dispositions of new england teen age boys.

physical work--- has a calming effect-- 

*******

 love what you wrote about the kitchen contractor and his sons so I immediately bought three bricks and asked that you give them the reward if my number is shat upon

 Knowing which end of the hammer goes to the nail is important!

Thank you,

Judy