Making Connections

I received this photograph a couple of days ago from my brother.

It shows paddle steamers docking at Clacton Pier in 1938. This is before the Second World War. Clacton is in Essex on the East coast of England, about one hundred miles northeast of London. From the photograph, it looked to be quite prosperous.

Fast forward to the late 1950s. My grandfather, Harry Ballard on my mother’s side, was a taxi driver in London, driving a black cab. On his retirement, he and his wife, Jane bought a bungalow on the cliff tops at Holland-on-Sea.

Our family of five used to go there to visit during the Summer holidays. We would walk, bicycle or bus to Clacton, go out on the pier and watch the fishermen (and ladies) cast their lines into the water. Other days, we would go North to Frinton-on-Sea, again along the coastal path.

Meanwhile, on my Father’s side, John Maher and his wife lived nearby in Hampton. He was a nurseryman, growing and breeding chrysanthemums. They would be sold at the Covent Garden market in London.

Today, I find myself combining a taxi-driver sense of place with a nurseryman’s interest in plants.

The yellow variety was named after his wife. They seem particularly happy in the woods at the foot of the slope of South Mountain.

These connections come together in the study of Biogeography: place and plants.

Acknowledgements

Peter found the photograph of Clacton Pier (1938). I snapped the photograph of the rhododendron. Heather works hard, sharing the gardening. Edward shares the blogging.

Postscript

Check out Brain Pickings, May 5, 2021, David Whyte, A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader. “Collection of 121 original illustrated letters to children about why we read and how books transform us.”