My father died early wednesday morning, 10/14/09.

He taught me how to cook, and to think, and to camp, and was immensely proud of me and my brother, and loved my mother very much.

I really don’t want to write the rest of this.

I keep being asked “what can I do to help,” but having all of you, the emails, the calls, the texts, the tweets (i’m serious), and knowing you are all there is more meaningful than you know. If you need to do something physical, send food or flowers to my mother’s house (because she does not know how to cook, easy recipes also helpful) at

1014 German Rd
PO Box 343
Paw Paw, IL 61353

Or, in lieu of stuff, donate to your favorite animal rescue shelter, youth in music charity, sierra club, or public radio station. Any of those would be fitting.

I’ll be in paw paw till monday and if you would like to visit, please do.

We’ll plan some sort of memorial service in a few months and I would love anyone in the area to come.

Lastly, I’ve enabled comments on this blog for now, so if you’d like to share stories, you’re welcome to, or call my mother at (815) 627-9180 or pat.hollingsworth at gmail.com