Sunday 16 June 2019

Father's Day

Today being Father's Day and none of the four of us being young enough to still have a father (oldest 98 and youngest 73) we went out to lunch in our usual place at our usual time.   It did seem as though the vast majority of the other tables were occupied by folk bring their fathers out for Sunday lunch as a treat.

But it is a good time to recall our Dads even though mine has long gone.   I had a very happy childhood and loved both my parents.   But because my mother was in her mid forties when I was born (I had a sister twenty two years older than me) my father took special interest in me - possibly to lessen the work load of bringing me  up for my mother. 

Many of my interests hark back as far as those days.   He had a shelf or two of Poetry books by his arm chair (I have them now) and often quoted poems to me.   I have never lost my love of poetry.
He loved walking in the countryside (we lived in what was then a small village in Lincolnshire, a village on the banks of the River Witham which eventually flows into the Wash.)  And he loved all kinds of wild life and natural history so that we would walk along identifying wild flowers and grasses, listening for bird song and looking where the birds were nesting. 

He was a mild-mannered man and never raised his voice or as far as I can remember reprimanded me (he left that kind of thing to my mother).   I think of him every day and whenever I see a familiar wild flower - or even many of the garden flowers I am growing again now - I try to remember the Latin name (which he was fond of quoting). 

So thanks Dad for contributing so much to the full and rich life I have managed to have and wherever you are now - Happy memories on Father's Day.

20 comments:

justjill said...

Good memories. I too have good memories although different. My Dad and I shared the same sense of humour which my Mother could not understand. Sadly my Dad went at 56 my Mother continued to plague my life for many more years. Your Dad sounded lovely. As was mine.

Bonnie said...

Wonderful memories of your Father. Thank you for sharing.

Jules said...

Such warm and happy memories you have, Pat. He sounds like a kind man and a loving father. X

jinxxxygirl said...

I treasured my Father Pat.. He had a nervous break down when i was 3... So i never knew the father my brothers had.. they are 12 and 14 years older than i'am.. He was bipolar with manic highs and lows.. But somehow i managed to let the bad times fall away from memory and treasure the good times. Like the one time he took me horseback riding... the one time he took me swimming .. the one time we went hiking... I knew what it took for him to pull himself together and do something like that with me... Happy Father's Day Dad..

Love reading your memories Pat. Hugs! deb

Gail, northern California said...

I love it when you write this way...about days gone by when things were so very different.

angryparsnip said...

I always enjoy your blog but today was wonderful. The world would be a better place if the children had interested parents like your father.
parsnip

Bea said...

Lovely remembrance, Weaver. My father, too, had a green thumb. He staked everything he planted with its Latin name. I recall his planting a moss as ground cover that smelled of banana when rubbed between thumb and forefinger! His garden of rotating plants was a treat for the senses.

Derek Faulkner said...

I had a very unhappy childhood until my teenage years, when I could fend for myself. My father worked very hard and his off time was always spent round the pub, not getting drunk or violent but he never shared any time with myself or my younger siblings. I spent a lot of my childhood quite withdrawn and can remember very little of it.

thelma said...

Lovely memories you were very lucky.

Rachel Phillips said...

Did he work?

Librarian said...

A lovely tribute to your father, Pat!
What better way to be a good father than to teach a child about nature, and to help them acquire a taste for the beautiful things in life such as poetry?

Heather said...

I didn't see much of my father during the war years (until I was 9) and then had to get to know him all over again. He was wonderfully patient and we became close again. I remember walks through beech woods on Sundays to visit his parents. He knew the names of all the birds, flowers, trees and taught them to me. He was also a very good gardener and passed on his love of nature to me. I didn't realise until I became a parent, just how wise and patient he was. I hope he knew how much I loved him. We didn't voice our feelings much in those days.

the veg artist said...

Too painful to write this yesterday. My father didn't die until a few weeks after my 12th birthday, but he'd been ill so long that I can't remember him well, so I don't know what sort of man he was before.
It was my brother, 8 years older than me, who fulfilled that role, wonderfully. We are still close.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone.

Mary said...

Lovely post about your Dad and years/times you spent together. Dads were different in the good old days, especially coming back from WWII - they were involved with their families and homes on a more simple level, I think just thankful they made it home! We had to struggle as money was tight, and both my parents worked very hard - but I recall on Sundays Dad would walk into town late morning to meet his best friend Bill for a pint, and then come home on the bus for Sunday dinner and a bring a Mars bar, a Crunchie, or a Cadbury Fruit & Nut etc. for an afternoon snack when Mum and were doing the weekly ironing in the kitchen.

My dad died in 1976 of pancreatic cancer. I made that sad journey across the pond to see him in hospital, he died a couple of weeks after I returned to Massachusetts where we lived. I remember him with love and affection - a simple, honest man who grew up in a foster home, with little schooling, but served in the RAF, and was loved by all who knew him.

Mary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

This is such a lovely post to honor your father. You are very fortunate to have these sweet memories.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Mary what a lovely post about your father too - I really enjoyed reading it. We were both lucky weren't we?

Gwil W said...

I don't think we need Father's Day. I think it's a racket got up by the folks who invented Mother's Day. I remember my dad many times throughout the year, especially if I anybody pass by on a motor cycle with sidecar.