Dad has never been one to follow the crowd. He is fiercely independent, equally stubborn and also one of the most creative and innovative people I know.

There was a good period of time the conversation among family members circled around the topic of a broken toaster, an old kitchen appliance belonging to my grandparents. It’s funny the things we remember. It isn’t so much the old broken toaster as much as what it stands for.

Pumpkin Pie. A family favourite thanks to grandma’s talent in the kitchen and my grandpa’s creative solution in transporting goods to market…goods being the pies and market being us, his family. This creative solution consisted of a five gallon bucket and a stack of wooden circles spaced accordingly to allow each pie to sit on it’s own without getting crushed from the pie above. It was the pie pail and it quickly became a staple at our family dinners.