Dad Was Here

At the beginning of October, my dad came for a visit.  He hasn't been here in a long time.  The last time he visited, the extension project was in its infancy. I don't think I had seen my father since my sister Katie's wedding.  That was too long between visits.

We had a lovely time together. I cooked a lot of his favourite stuff - mostly soup and cake.  :-)  He loves soup.  I took him to a couple of places that I like to visit.  Its great when he visits because we have the same interests.  If I take him to look at stuff I like, I know he'll enjoy it too.  As we wandered, we talked about stuff we used to do; fishing, nature walks, swimming.  I loved those conversations!  One of the reasons I like the things in the natural world is down to him in the first place. 


There was a visit to Caerlaverock Wildfowl and Wetlands reserve too.  We saw a family of four Whooper swans arrive from Iceland.  If the swans are just in from Iceland their feathers will be all stained from the tannin in the water.  There were some barnacle geese arriving as well.  At the end of November there will be tens of thousands on our Dumfriesshire shores.

The staff were really wonderful.  Dad was having mobility issues during his visit and they allowed me to take the car in and drive up to the hides.  It was a Monday morning and it was howling a hurricane.  There were only a handful of stalwart birdwatchers there (and an ITV news team) so my car didn't impact on any other birdwatchers.

The next day we went to the river Esk to see if we could see some salmon running.  We couldn't see any salmon but it was nice to sniff the fresh pine scented air and listen to the river run across the rocks.  I brought along a walking stick (Claude's) and a folding chair.  I'm glad I did - both came in very handy!

I love my dad.  His visit was all too short.  I hope it isn't as long as that before I see him again.