Me

Me My Heart My Losses Contact

Me

I guess if you have come to this page because you are curious as to who this person is. Well sadly I am likely to disappoint you I'm just one of the masses of people who have done a few things over the years but who now are retired.

I guess I can say my life has been very good thus far; I have only had one period where I can say I was unhappy. I should have seen what was happening and got out but I didn't because I was too involved in the technology. It's that love of technology, science and machines that has driven my life. I remember as quite a young child taking an old vacuum cleaner to pieces, cleaning everything and putting it back together. After I finished my mother was delighted because it was working again and I was ecstatic, not because it worked, I expected that, but because I had put every clip and every screw back in the right place; there were none left over! However, as my wife will testify at every opportunity I am anything but tidy.

I guess that defines me I want to make things work properly, be it the vacuum or the latest system. If it does not, I will not settle!

If for some reason you want to contact me follow the link.

My Heart

My family is the heart of my life, my wife and my children occupy the bulk of my time but that goes for most of us. My Art and My Work have occupied most of the remaining time. However, I do enjoy giving something back to the community being a good citizen.

When we first got married I build a wardrobe and a cupboard in our bedroom as we couldn't afford to pay for someone to do it. The other day I worked out that over the years I have now built five bedrooms worth of wardrobes, countless shelving systems and other bits and pieces, all from dowels and MDF. The surprising thing is they are all still in use years later. I guess once an design engineer always an engineer, it's just the design that changes.

Music plays a very big part in my life and I guess one of my fears is loosing my hearing. I don't play anything worth talking about but many of my best friends do or did. However, when I look back at the years I find music and particularly the human voice in all it's forms is pivotal.

My Losses

Sadly this page just seems to grow, I guess it's just a sign of my age but I hate it!

My father-in-law and mother-in-law have joined the growing list of people including both my parents we have lost so I am now the oldest member of the immediate family. As part of his legacy my father-in-law left behind a lathe, chisels etc. I have for my sins decided to add to the list of things I want to do, wood turning. To this end I was bought a days wood turning with Gerry Marlow a lovely guy and an excellent wood turner. If you want to try wood turning I highly recommend Gerry he lives up by Sheffield and does demonstrations at clubs around the country. Needless to say I will somehow get the lathe working. However, mixing molten glass and sawdust is very bad news so how is at this time a mute point.


Some time ago we lost a very good friend John, none of us had realised how deeply he had become involved in our lives until in a very short period of time he went from a healthy person to a memory. He had a number of postings on the web but sadly the ones here at Domestic Zoo are the only ones that are now complete with all his photographs. So if you go look at blogspot please do not be disappointed at the missing pictures.

The two pages linked directly below are kept just as they were originally designed. At the time computer monitors were smaller and lower resolution, so just size your window to the content and enjoy.

The third link here just shows how raw the emotions were at the time.

John - thanks for the memories good friend.

John is off on his world travels again and yet again he has spurned our offer to host his blog. This time he is favouring BlogSpot and can be found at aSmithOnTour. So now he is not only taking very good pictures, in exciting places but he is also running his own site! Life only gets better as you get more adventurous.

He has been to Africa on tour a number of times and has now written a number of Blogs; all are full of his wonderful pictures as he trailed for miles across country in his Disco(very) which was specially modified for the trips. Read about the first trip here and the Second here and the current rash here at A Smith on Tour over at Blog Spot.


Pets - Dogs, Cats, Rats, Fish

I guess you could call us animal lovers in the sense that both of us have always had pets. Tracey is a cat person and I am a dog person but that does not stop us loving the other. We all like horses but we don't have the room even for a pony, we do however give a little to a horse sanctuary to help look after old and mall treated horses. The kids had Rats and a cat so the house is never empty or quiet, whoever it was who said cats are silent hasn't heard ours.

The fish don't talk about the fish, there are more of them than the rest of us and they are breading.

Anyway, we found this little poem years ago, and I don' remember where it came from but it reminds me of the dog that saved my life, the dog I gave away because the neighbours would not stop tormenting him, the dog that Tracey had when I first met her and now the dog we have just lost - sleep well Bugs (Buster). Happy memories but sad.....

So get the tissues out for a poem by Admiral Courtney Anderson from a long time ago.

Parting

He is an old dog now, said the vet
Glancing surreptitiously at his watch, thinking of all the people and animals
In the waiting room - and the time the telly started ...
‘There's really nothing I can do for him. It would be kinder to put him down ...’
Brown, pain shadowed eyes watched us gravely,
Eyes that had laughed, made every coming home a celebration, shone with love.
Eyes that knew we talked about him and were sad ...
Tentative, a paw came up and I held it, pulling an ear in the special way he liked,
Thinking how many questing miles that paw had travelled to here -
the end of his road
On a tin table in a white tiled room
So far from that first, warm puppy basket, so finally bereft of walks, trees,
Grass, rabbits, bones and afternoon naps in the garden ...
Trusting, affectionate, patient, he watched the charged, beaded needle,
Looked up into my face with faith as the deft, quick fingers pushed it in ...
I drove home in my empty car. There was still mist on the glass
Where he had looked through the window and hairs, as always, on the upholstery.
Unfastened, unwanted, an empty collar lay by my side.
I saw the pointless green of unwalked fields. And I cried ...

I'm not a soppy person but I cry every time I read that; I'm just glad that the Vet came to Buster and that we did not take him to the Vet.

With thanks and loving memories

Frank


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