Sibling Love

 My Father at the start of WW2

 My father had a big red book of Scottish songs and music in his possession for years and it was eventually passed to me. 

 

It was just a fixture when I was growing up and I never had a proper look at it. My oldest son, Christopher, looked after it for me when I lived in Tenerife.  It was only after I moved back to Scotland in 2017 did I take the time to have a proper look at it and I must confess it was an 'eye-opener'.

My father was 23 when this book was bought for him in 1941 by his youngest sister, my Aunt Minnie (16yrs old, nearly 17 yrs old then). She must have had a deep love for my Dad.

At that time my father and his brother Charlie, both of the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were in a german stalag having been captured at St Valery-en-Caux. 

My father is at the end, bottom left, and my Uncle Charlie is bottom, 2nd from the right.
 

Now she wouldn't have known at the time whether she would see either of them alive again and given her age and in the midst of a war, even buying it 2nd hand (it is a large and beautiful book) must have been an enormous commitment for her and she must have had a deep love and faith that they would return.

 She sent them a photograph (above) of her to the POW camp probably with a message that I don't have.

 

She had inscribed the book saying it was the property of Bertie Gibson, (my father's family called him Bertie and my mum's family called him Bob. My mum and dad were married in 1949)

 
 and if you look closely, whilst very faint, she drew an outline of her head and my father's head.

And also inside the book there is a pressed flower.

My Aunt Minnie then lied about her age and joined the women's army in England.

 

 My Aunt Minnie is 2nd from the right.

 

  And my father was the best man when she married before eventually emigrating to Australia where she is survived by her daughter Heather and her two sons Euan and Clyde and their families.

 

Learning, Knowledge, Wisdom, Fun, Pleasure, Excitement, Escape, Imagination - Reading

 

 

 

Stairway

To Wisdom

What do I find,

if I open my mind?

And how do I do this,

without feeling amiss?

It is in front of me if I look,

yes, without doubt, it’s a book.

This could be my biggest venture,

as I now enter a world of adventure.

I can lose myself here in this safe place,

as I move forward in pleasure at my own pace.

 

John

 

Ever since I was a child many years ago, long before computers and mobile phones, when TV and Cinema were in their infancy, the only escape from every day matters, other than playing with my friends, the only escape adventure readily available to me was in reading. My family didn't have much, every week was a struggle financially for my parents, yet we always had what we needed and were never short of love, understanding, compassion and the will of my parents for my sisters and I (the only boy) to be the best we could be.  My father who had been a prisoner of war for most of the  second world war in a German prisoner of war camp, loved reading and learning, he had a quiet, loving strength and a great understanding of life. My mum was the nurturer, who held everything and everyone together. They both came from very large families and were used to making the most of the very little they had.

So why say all that? Well they engendered these wonderful qualities in their children, at least they did their best to do so, and for me from a very youg age, I loved reading and our local library was the favourite haunt og my twin sister and I in our formative years.  Today and for the first time for many years I have 6 -7 books on the go at the same time, and in a change form my more recent reading habits, most of them are factual books, including history and (I cannot believe it myself) quantum physics (for beginners). But the truth of the matter is that I continue to seek understanding of life, and wisdom, and it can often be found where you least excpect it, even in fiction books. 

A month or so ago I visited a book shop which also had a small cafe, I had not done anything like this for such a long time and it was like reliving my childhood at our library, only this time I had to pay for my books, but on the plus side, I could also browse over books with a coffee and a piece of amazing carrot cake, with great care of course, for I didn't want to mark the book I was looking at.

I had a great time and bought a number of books which I am still working my way through. And I have been back to the book shop briefly where I nearly bought another book which I thought I was going to get on offer at half price, but it wasn't to be. Which brings me to my Amazon Kindle, I bought the same book for .99 pence on my Kindle. Don't get me wrong, there is no substitute for the energy that comes with the paper pages of a real book, but equally there is something nearly as good in the simplicity and overall ease of use of a kindle which can carry many books, so I am a big fan of that too.

Anyway the book I bought for .99p on my kindle, but found through the book shop, is a wonderful work of fiction that I am really enjoying and there is wisdom in it too:-

 

Excerpt from 'Six Crimson Cranes' by Elizabeth Lim

 

“Find the light that makes your language shine,

hold on to it, even when the dark surrounds you.

Not even the strongest wind will blow out the flame.”

 

I recommend it to you and hope you find the sense of adventure and pleasure in it as I currently am.

FYI my favourite books of all time are SHOGUN by James Clavell, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Harry Potter by JK Rowling (what can I say, I am still a child at heart). A good book is like a good friend, you can pick it up anytime and always  enjoy its company, which entertains and speaks to us in the language of love, it nurtures our inquistive nature and our sense of adventure as well as enlivening our mind and  imagination.

There is a selection of my art on canvas and other mediums available in my Bonanza Shop here.

 

I have two self-help stories available exclusively on Amazon, either on the Kindle or paperback, and I do hope that you find them interesting, thought-provoking, and, most of all, enjoyable: -

 

The Rock Philosophy

This simply written short story is aimed at those who seek to understand themselves, and through understanding themselves comes a greater understanding of life. 

 

The Life of Jesus

(as witnessed by his brother)

Much has been written about Jesus, and no matter your view on religion or Christianity, this person, whether he was as described in the bible or not, has singularly shaped, to a greater or lesser extent, the lives we lead today through his wisdom. There are many versions of the story, but there is only one truth, and is it not better to know the truth?

 

You are most welcome to visit my self-help youtube channel Advantage Subliminal

 

And you will find an excellent read in this story by my son Colin, and it is here.