Photo memories

There are some dates which don't need to be noted in a diary or notified by reminders. The 9th of March is one of these. It was my Dad's birthday, and it's a date I never forget (I also always remember my Mum's birthday, their anniversary, and my brother's birthday, of course). I suppose it's the growing up with the dates and the annual marking of each coming around which make them stick in the memory.

Anyway, I thought of my Dad today. He was a really keen amateur photographer, did his own processing in the dark room which his wife never approved of, delighted in doing what in his day was, I suppose, the equivalent of blipping, always encouraged me in my interest in photography, and even allowed me to take his pride and joy away with me on holidays. He also kept our family photo album.

Thinking of him today, I dusted off Volume 2 and had a look at it. This is part of one spread. That's me top left, Mum (and me again) top right, and the man himself bottom right. As can be seen, Dad painstakingly hand-lettered the titles/commentary with Indian Ink, occasionally displaying his wry sense of humour. 'Ah! They had gone away for ice cream' relates to another photo on the spread which isn't in this shot, which shows the deck chair and other seat from the there's-Mum photo unoccupied, with a caption which reads 'But where's everybody on this lovely sunny day?'. Also out of shot is the caption for the photo which shows my Dad: 'Isn't Daddy smashing? (Very fine effort by Mammy -- no camera shake)'. (Incidentally, these pages record a sunny day in 1955, when I was growing up in Carlow, a provincial town in the Irish midlands.)

It's great to have these memories to look back on, and it's good to think of my Dad now and again, as I still often do.