My dad was an interesting character. He seemed to have very definite "stages" of interests that he went through. While I was in junior high, he was an avid coin collector. He spent countless hours going through bags of coins in hot pursuit of specific pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Next, he moved on to cars. He collected antique cars and restored them. It was great fun going to car shows with him. He often won "Best of Show".
After cars, he moved on to antique glassware. His collection started off with tumblers and exploded from there! I was married by this time, but I remember visiting my parents when their condo basement was overflowing with Depression Glass and Carnival Glass. My parents went to many glassware conventions and my Dad was often a featured speaker.
But woven through each of these distinctive hobby stages, there was a hobby that remained constant - photography. My Dad loved taking pictures. And even with photography, he had unique stages! One time he took pictures of mailboxes! He would walk or ride his bike and look for unusual mailboxes. He found mailboxes in all sorts of weird and wacky designs!
And then there was his "sign" stage. He and Mom traveled a lot in their RV. Every time they came to a state sign, he took a picture of my Mother and the sign!
But I remember most his love for taking pictures of flowers. It was fun is to hear him go on and on about the azaleas and Magnolias and wisteria that he enjoyed when he would visit us in Mississippi.
I think I am just starting to appreciate his fascination with flowers. Last Saturday, Bill, David and I drove to Brenham,Texas. Brenham is the home of Blue Bell ice cream. (Be still my heart!)
Ice cream, however, was not what we were looking for on this trip. On this trip we were in search of the beautiful Texas wildflowers. We were not disappointed! We were treated to acres and acres of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. The blues and oranges, the yellows and fuchsias were truly breathtaking. With each stop of the car to try and capture snapshots of the beauty we were enjoying, I found myself growing in appreciation of my Dad's love of both creation and the Creator!
Please make plans to visit us next Spring so we can share these beautiful scenes with you!
2 comments:
It's a deal-I can even bring along the 13 banana boxes that are full of Dad's slides. Many of which are the 'travelogs' that he would show at nursing homes and elsewhere. Boxes of memories!!
Last year you travelled all the way to Holland to enjoy the tulips and here you had all these beautiful flowers practically in your own back yard!! Beautiful! I just might start saving for that trip!! Btw, your father really knew how to enjoy life and live it. I think that was the most important example he had to teach you :)
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