1 EAGLETON NOTES: Thankful Thursday: Fifteen Years

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Thursday 13 October 2016

Thankful Thursday: Fifteen Years

Scriptor's and my father, Morris Edwards, died 15 years ago today.

In the past I have posted photos of Dad. Today I might post a photo but I thought that I would relay some of my memories of him.  

I can only recall two occasions when Dad got annoyed with me (there were probably lots but if there were he never showed it). One still strikes me as bizarre. I ate anything that was put before me as a child. Until one day at dinner celery appeared.  I remember nothing about how or why celery appeared (I can't imagine that it was a usual food 65 years ago) on the dinner table but it did. I wouldn't eat it.  Dad asked me to leave the table. The fact that it was so unusual can be demonstrated by the fact that I can still recall it.

Another memory is of climbing Moel Fammau as a youngster with Dad. I must have been very young because my brother wasn't with us.  We were descending from the summit when a squall with very strong wind hit us and I was blown off my feet and at danger of being blown down the hillside. Dad did a rugby tackle lunge to catch me and keep me safe. It was a long, wet return home!

Dad was also a very calm person. During the war he was in a reserved occupation so couldn't join the forces. I recall someone saying to him "Ah but you weren't in the war were you?". To which Dad's response was "Being a fireman on the Liverpool Docks with bombs falling all round you wasn't exactly a bundle of laughs." And that was that.

Dad probably never recalled any of those incidents once they had happened. They've stayed with me for well over half a century.

Mum and Dad leaving Childwall Church on their wedding day.






38 comments:

  1. A good way to remember your Dad! I wonder whether he really would not have recalled any of those incidents. Sometimes when I talk to my parents, I am amazed at what they remember - and how they remember a certain situation, compared to my own recollection of the same event.

    From all I know about your parents, they must have been very kind, good, decent people. No wonder their sons turned that way, too.

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    1. Meike, I shall never know. They were very kind, good, decent people. I'm not sure that I've always lived up to their example. I try though.

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  2. What she said :). And my Dad has a similar personality. I only recall seeing him angry twice and he and Mum have been married since 1951. Lovely memories GB :)

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    1. I'm happy for you Fiona. The memories of my parents are almost invariably good ones.

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  3. A lovely post. I think I agree about celery, Graham. Did you grow to like it?

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    1. Frances I love celery. Why I wouldn't eat it then is something I don't understand. Perhaps it was unusual but as Dad had an allotment we were very fortunate to have a lot of fresh vegetables as youngsters.

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  4. Wonderful to have such good memories.

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  5. Oh, Graham - what a PHOTO!!! I am so very, very glad you have that photo, and even more glad that you've shared it with us. I can't stop looking at it!
    P.S. Glad you got over your celery aversion. It really is a lovely, crunchy vehicle for soft cheeses, or peanut butter!

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    1. Marcheline wea are fortunate to have many photos of our parents throughout their lives (from their early 20s anyway).

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    2. I love celery with soft cheeses but have ever tried it with peanut butter. I guess that is a new experience to be explored.

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  6. Two incidents stick in your mind but you could probably write a complete biography of you and your Dad.

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    1. Red there are certainly many more memories I could recall and relate.

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  7. I love that picture of your parents on their wedding day. It is well-composed, sharp and relatively informal. The fellow near the door with his hand on his left hip is probably thinking, "Damn you Morris! I wanted that filly for myself!"

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    1. He might well have been, YP. I've been trying to work out who he was.

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    2. It looks like Aunty Maude and her husband in which case he most decidedly did! He was one of the two men Mum kept well away from!

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  8. Your father looks very 'dapper' in the photo. People don't look 'dapper' any more.

    The only thing I've ever refused to eat is Bread and Butter Pudding; I still wouldn't eat it today.

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    1. Cro I think dapper is out of fashion. I like dapper. I'm not a great one for fashion. I can cope with bread and butter pudding. Fortunately Dad loved the skin of the rice pudding. That is one 'delicacy' to which I'm not partial.

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  9. Lovely memories and photo Graham. I keep a photo of my late dad in his old greenhouse which I now use. I "chat" to him most days and imagine that I am getting his approval for my big plans for his old garden.

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    1. What a lovely thought Cath. If you have that sort of approach I'm sure you'll be acting in a way he would consider sympathetic.

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  10. I love the old black and white photos...a lovely photo of your Mum and Dad on their wedding day.
    My Dad was very cool too, he never lashed either me or my brother. He would just say what he had to say and we obeyed....now my mother on the other hand seemed to have the knack for making a belt appear out of nowhere when we were naughty.

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    1. Virginia we were fortunate in that I don't ever recall being hit by either parent. If Mum asked us to do something her gentle air of authority just meant that it was done!

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  11. A nice tribute to your Dad. Lovely photo too. It is funny the things we remember. My dad also wasn't a soldier due to a medical problem but he drove trucks to pick up meat from all the docks in England, where he also was lucky to dodge the raining bombs and watch mates get blown up in their trucks. He was upset when people said, "But you weren't in the war."

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    1. Thank you Diane. In my mind anyone who worked in those situations was 'in the war' they just weren't in the trenches or at sea or in the air trying to do the same to other people.

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  12. Really glad you blogged - I love hearing stories about my grandparents.

    No news from the south yet, but hopefully soon, xx

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    1. Helen there are lots of stories: it's just a question of remembering them and conveying them. I'm heading over the water this afternoon and South on Monday. Doubtless I'll hear the news as it unfolds.

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  13. Nice one, Bro.
    What always amazed me was his skill at manufacturing a tool for the job and using his hands whether it was creating on his lathe, fixing recalcitrant vehicles or general DIY. Skills you have inherited but the gene passed me by!

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    1. I think the difference between us, CJ, is that you inherited Mum's love of learning and academia and inclination to use those skills and I just prefer to 'do' because it involves less thinking. Thinking too much hurts! I do love 'doing' though.

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  14. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to your home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.

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    1. Yes Jerry I'm happy for you to do that. I popped over to your website: a useful reference tool.

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    2. Thank you so very much for giving permission. Aside from the All category and the slideshow on the Home page, you can see your header under Birding/Wildlife, Land/Sea/Skyscapes, Photography, Travel and the United Kingdom.

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  15. Morris was a lovely, lovely man. The sort of man you could totally rely on. He said very little, but he didnt have to, his presence alone gave a feeling of comfort and security. He had a beautifully wicked sense of humour, delivered very quietly and all the more effective. I was really lucky to have him as a Father-in-Law and I still miss him. I'm so glad you shared some memories of Morris.

    Jo

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    1. Thank you Jo for your lovely thoughts and words.

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  16. What a lovely photo of your parents. And it sounds like you and your dad had a thing or two in common (even if appreciation of celery wasn't one of them way back then).

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    1. Yes Monica Dad and I did have quite a few things in common although it's sometimes funny to compare certain traits. For example Mum loved the heat and Dad didn't. Now I love the heat and CJ doesn't.

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  17. I love the photo of your parents on their wedding day!
    And I am glad to read the comment from Jo about your father!

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