My recent meta-blog entry about Top 100 Gardening Sites, visit counters, and other technical matters, has spawned some interesting conversation in the comments.

My father left the following comment on that thread. I have to say, I didn’t ask permission before raising it up to the level of its own blog entry, but it felt like the right thing to do. I think it stands on its own, outside the context of the original blog entry. In reading it, I think you can see a lot of me in him, or him in me, whichever way it goes. So it explains me a little bit without my having to do so. I present it here unexpurgated, unedited except for cosmetic white space.

BLOGS AND BLOGGERS, GOLDEN AGE AND GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES

I am the truly proud father of the Flatbush Gardener. I must say that I have no memory of naming an offspring as “Xris”. DNA samples worked out all the problems. My wife and I are in the @#$% “Golden Age”. We were “Depression” kids with all that implies. I worked for 43 years as an engineer. My first computer experience was with a single channel analog computer made by Ease/Berkeley. One of those room and a half thingies. This was around 1955. We had all the series “I” and “II” Apples, in order, and then IBMs.

Now my son has a group of computerists working for him in a Federal agency. He tells me how to do things.

We are up-to-date Seniors; our home has three computers, two desktops and one laptop. Not too rotten.

Then comes this email out of the blue in which Xris tells me he has a Blog ! …. So, I figure he bought some exotic pet, perhaps a crossbred frog. At least that would not have required so much care and maintenance.

I have been a fan of the “Flatbush Gardener” since he introduced me. When he was here in North Carolina two weeks ago, we discussed in great detail what a “Blog” is and how it is to maintain. It is a WORK… of love.

Luckily he is a high speed typist with great photo talent and a terrific organizer. He took over 500 photos here which he, of course, edited down to some that went on the Blog.

His Mom and I were both born in Brooklyn but we’ve lived all over the U.S. We are familiar with the locations he writes about. That part is fun, the recognition. We are faithful readers but are not always into the subject of every writing. GREAT macros of insects but I care no more about their breeding than I do my own. (Bugs have a whole SEASON ??……..Damn!…….OK, so I’m a little jealous.)

I can not read, absorb or retain data covering a broad field of interests the way he can. I can, however, continue to be a bragging Dad and so very proud of how the little Punk turned out.

So, his Mom and I get up every morning and first, read the obituaries, just to make sure. Then we check our e-mail, just to make sure. We skip the daily comics in the paper and go directly to Flatbush Gardener.

This is our source of learning (never too old), a status source for his garden, home, scientific news and occasional political disagreements. We find that, whether or not the subject is of direct interest, we are smiling as we read. Now THAT’S entertainment !

I am grateful to have a relationship with my father. It wasn’t always so. There were years of silence, and strained relations. I’m grateful that we’ve both lived long enough to heal and grow, independently and together, to allow us to enjoy each other’s company. I’m grateful for the friendship we share, as two grown men with a unique bond and shared history. I am also proud of him. I’m grateful that I’m able to feel all this, and know it, and celebrate it. And him.