I am my father in more ways than one

Hello Hello Silver Bloggers and indeed all Hivians

Surprise Suprise by the time I publish this it will be 4 consecutive days that I have published on the Hive blockchain.

I have fluffing well surprised myself.

However, I actually have an ulterior motive. Today well this morning I was looking through some of my photos from a walk I took at the weekend. I downloaded them from the camera memory card onto my Tablet. That is where I was looking and deleting etc ready to put onto a post today for Wednesday Walk.

Then, a squirrel struck!

I mean I got totally sidetracked, well there is no surprise there!

I was reading blogposts that were written to read and curate many posts that have been written for the Memoir Monday initiative that was created by @ericvancewalton
You can catch his original post here or the prompt for this Memoir Monday #21 (7/29-8/4)

This week’s Memoir Monday prompt:

What have been some of your life's greatest surprises?

Surprises! Now you see why I was reernecing surprises like a madman.

First things first ...

I am not going to mention material surprise like monetary wins or gifts got etc etc.

No no that would be too simple, nor am I going to mention the greatest but worst surprise is finding out that time goes faster the older you get!

No, rather I am going to mention how surprised I am that I have picked up so many of father's traits,faults and good points!

They say make sure you like your future mother-in-law! Well the same applies to the father-in-law if you are a female, as Mrs T says she liked my Dad from the day she met him.

The look ~ The nose ~ The jowels

By Photographer Walter L. Colls (1860–1942) in Public Domain

Okay so I am skipping a few generations this is not my father Edward but rather my great great grandfather I think or is there another great in there.... Sir Edward Charles Blount from whom I got my wanderlust for starters, scribblings and photography for another. He did write his memoirs and you can check his wiki if so inclined.

I have the Blount nose the straight aristocratic one @lhes... That is one thing Mrs T said when she met my great aunts, we have the Blount nose!

Ha, enough of that.

I was surprised the older I get how many ailments I have inherited from my father.

I have ankylosing spondylitus which is a 24/7 bastard of an arthritis which I have had since I was 12. It is the reason we don't have children. I refuse to possibly give this to my son. I got diagnosed when I was 18 thanks to a private doctor realising father had it to.

With all my father's good points I inherited, probably the biggest being a nurdling champion, which is the art of spinning a glorious lie into something belieavable or vice versa or as I put it, being a fantastic practioner in the art of gibberish! There were parts I hoped I would not inherit.

You know the term a mean drunk. Boy oh boy when he had too much whisky in him, then he was a different and a very unpleasant man.

Thankfully I rarely drink now, so the opportunity to be that mean man I snuff out now.

He was a charmer and it is no surprise I picked that upfrom him.

One big surprise and now of my greatest pleasures is something that he loved.

Can you guess what from this picture?

The charm and the birds

Isn't it brilliant that we get surprised by some of life's most little pleasures!

To my surprise I have developed his love of birds.

I suppose in hindsight it is only natural that a charmer would also appreciate the feathered variety of birds.

Growing up, my father spent all his holidays on an estate where a family friend was a gamekeeper, so he got know wildlife. My grandfather passed away when Dad was 10 so I guess this was his father figure.

So we always were shown nature, but it is only in the last few years that I have appreciated birds so much.

It is a great thing and even Mrs gets in on the act (well she comes to the park to feed them a few times).

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the new week ahead!