Happy Father's Day . . .

 

Children do not realize
How deep is father's love, how wise . . .
They do not fully understand
The strength that's in his guiding hand.
And yet he's always held above
The childhood things that children love,
And as they grow the long year through,
That love for him keeps growing . . .
Until they learn the full extent
Of what a father's love has meant,
The worries he's concealed within,
How really wonderful he's been,
And here's to one beyond compare,
The Dearest Father Anywhere! 

I wanted to wish my father a very Happy Father's Day 2020.  I am sure that this Father's Day is quite different than any of the other Father's Days he has ever had.  I think he must have only been about 20 years old in this photograph of him as a young airman in the Canadian Armed Forces.  He is 86 years old now and still going strong.  I love him very much.

It is my father I credit with my love of reading, along with my love of music, my love of words, and my ability to roll with the punches. He is probably one of the easiest going people around. 

  

My father plays several musical instruments.  I can remember him playing the trumpet, saxaphone as well as the clarinet.  He also dabbled in Harmonica.  There was always music in our home.  When I was 13 I learned to play the clarinet also and we used to have fun playing duets together. I am not sure how much he plays his clarinet these days.  He always played in the Station Band on whichever Armed Forces Base we lived on and in the summer months we would travel with him to watch him march with the rest of the band in parades being held in small towns all over the place. I can remember looking at him as he marched by with pride, thinking to myself, that's my dad! 

 

This is one of my favourite picures of me with my dad. I was probably about 3 years old and he had been reading to me and we had both fallen asleep.  My father aways read to me.  He's always been a big reader.  We all love to read and we get that love from him. Mom was never much of a reader. She would read the newspaper from cover to cover and the odd magazine article, but never books.  Dad taught us to love books and I am grateful for that.   If you love books and can read, you are never alone, without a friend or bored.  

 

For as long as I can remember if we had to ask our father how to spell something he would tell us to look it up in the dictionary.  I LOVE the dictionary and learning new words, meanings of words, how to spell words, etc. I am a pretty good speller because of this. I always used to do well in spelling bees at school and always got 100 on my spelling tests.  We also used to play words games with dad. One of our favourites was a word game called Probe, which is still at my sister's house, I belive.  Each player had to pick a word and spell it out on cards, placed upside down in front of them and then the other players used to have to try to guess your words, one letter at a time. Dad would always win that game. This was because he would use electrical words. (Not fair!) We could never guess them because we were not electricians like him, but we did learn some new words that way!

  

Dad has always loved to laugh and we used to watch Jerry Lewis comedies together.  Dad would be almost rolling on the floor with laughter, although we thought them a bit corny.  He loved them. Its been a long time since I have watched a Jerry Lewis movie. 

 

"Two wrongs don't make a right."  That was my father's favourite saying when we were growing up and it has stuck with me through the years. He taught us to never to answer negativity with more negativity.   

And a whole lot more.

 

I guess I am the lucky one because I got to have my father and my mother all to myself for three whole years before anyone else came along.  Mom always said my dad was very proud of me and used to take me everywhere with him when I was small.  I do have quite a few memories of going places with him, like the circus, etc. My brother and sister never got to experience those things. 

I owe a lot to my father for who I am as a person.  I inherited more than just my good looks and bum chin from him. ( I say that tongue in cheek.  He was always a very handsome man, but nobody wants to be a handsome woman.)  That bum chin however, it carries on down through the generations and the first thing we/he wants to know with every baby that's born is does it have the bum chin.  Its like a mark of great pride for him I suppose, and most of us have it.  

We never went hungry, always had a roof over our heads and decent clothes to wear. We were loved. We were never in need of anything. Together my parents made sure of those things, and both worked very hard to provide them for us.

I love my father very much. I need to tell him that more often and I need to phone him more often.  His life has become pretty boring during lock-down, and he never has much to say these days. That's pretty understandable as he doesn't go out much. I'm going to call him today, but I need to time my call so that I don't call him during his watching Sunday Mass on TV. My sister is so lucky to be able to spend the time with him that she does and to get to cook for him and take care of him, etc.  I know he appreciates her very much.  We all do.

In any case, to all the Father's out there, a very Happy Father's Day.  I love you Dad.  I am so grateful for having you for  my Father. 

 

We have had so much rain over this past week. The sun is shining so far this morning, but that isn't going to last according to the forcast.  Oh well, it is what makes this country so lovely and green!

  

We watched this film last night. It had been a long time since we had watched it. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 9 years old or so.  I loved Haley Mills and I remember this film instilling in me a desire to visit Greece.  I was always my dream to do so, never fulfilled.  I doubt that I will ever have the opportunity to do so now.  I see our travel being hampered by this virus for a long time to come, especially if people keep being stupid and not doing the things they need to do, ignoring the safe distancing rule, face mask wearing etc.  

I read an article in the Guardian recently where it stated that our Government had hugely down-played the numbers of deaths when the virus was supposedly at its peak. Our official death toll passed more than 1000 a day for 22 consequtive days, even reaching more than 1500 on one day.  But that's not what our Government was telling us.  I wonder sometimes if we can really believe anything our Government tells us, but I expect it is the same everywhere. You know only what your Government wants you to know and on that note I will leave you with a thought for today!  

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *If you want to fly

give up everything 

that weighs you down.

•。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。

  

 

In The English Kitchen today, quick, easy and delicious Oatmeal Batter Bread.  Low fat, high fibre and fabulously tasty! 

Have a great Sunday and don't forget! 

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And I do too!