At the last minute I picked up my little Lumix as I went out the door with Jinks for the morning walk. And luckily we passed a house where the front lawn was carpeted with little purple violets.
Today, 20th April, in 1920, my mother was born. She was a country girl so would have been used to seeing violets growing in woods rather than gardens.
On her birthday in 1945 my dad was one in a column of PoWs being marched away from the camps in Germany. (He eventually got home on 25th May 1945):
From his diaries:
"We carried on living on bread only and things became very bad. As soon as the bread came along each day, I ate it straight away and knew there would be no more until the next day. Rumours ran riot and it was terrible expecting the war to end any day and being almost starved in the meantime. Those rations were easily the worst in my whole P.O.W. life. We could walk about outside but only as long as we remained inside the factory. There were sentries on all the gates, of course.
The Englishman in charge of us was doing his best to secure more food for us. He went out every day and on Fri 20-4-45 he returned with some parcels in a lorry. When we heard of that, our morale went up considerably. We were told the parcels were from the Danish Red Cross and there was one between 3 men. They were certainly a relief to us and came as a God-send. Each parcel contained the following: 1lb Biscuits, 500 grms cheese, 1lb lump sugar, 1lb butter, 1oz syrup, 1lb Meat Roll, a small packet of oats and a bar of soap. Those parcels helped us over a couple of days and were greatly appreciated.
The days dragged on, each one longer than the previous. We continued on bread only until Wed 25-4-45 we received a so called skilly. That consisted of coloured water with a few chunks of turnip or swede floating on the top. It was very insipid but, after all, it was food. I managed to secure a few smokes for odds and ends of clothing but by this time I had very little left with which to barter! The four of us pooled everything we got and one day we managed to get some potatoes and had a good feast on them."
I imagine the folk whose front garden I saw them in have given up with control! Part of the lawn was covered and there were half a dozen dandelions to add to the colour!
@quietpurplehaze Don't mention dandelions !! I'm struggling to control these . Found some by the pond at the weekend and thought I got rid of them --only to find 2 more there this afternoon !! must pop out again and "exterminate them " !!
such pretty flowers! and thanks for sharing a passage from your dads journal. It was very touching to read, and I hope we never have to go through that ever again!
Great capture of this lovely flowers. Beautiful processed to a post stamp. ( Can you do it in real ? we can if we like to and pay for it.)
Thanks for writing the interesting chapter of you Dad`s dairy.
Absolutely fascinating excerpt from your father's diary, thank you so much for sharing! My oldest daughter turned 22 years old yesterday, 04/20; she doesn't like sharing a common B-day with Hitler either, but I can certainly understand why your Mother didn't like it. The violets are lovely.
In 2012 I 'hijacked' my second 365 album to serialise the last 3 weeks of my dad's war - possibly the most eventful time he had, on the run in Czechoslovakia, having left, with his mates, the column of prisoners being marched away by the Germans http://365project.org/quietpurplehaze/add-ins/2012-05-07
I imagine the folk whose front garden I saw them in have given up with control! Part of the lawn was covered and there were half a dozen dandelions to add to the colour!
I took my friend (and Jinks) out for a cuppa this afternoon and we passed three adjoining houses where the three lawns were one mass of dandelions!
Thanks for writing the interesting chapter of you Dad`s dairy.
nice purples
Love reading your Dad's stories too.
In 2012 I 'hijacked' my second 365 album to serialise the last 3 weeks of my dad's war - possibly the most eventful time he had, on the run in Czechoslovakia, having left, with his mates, the column of prisoners being marched away by the Germans http://365project.org/quietpurplehaze/add-ins/2012-05-07
Belated Happy Birthday to your daughter!