Today is.......................

......The 14th November 2006!

I know, if you are reading this you will be thinking that gourdongirl has finally "lost the plot" or that night shift has taken its toll! That might well be the case, but that's not why I have singled out today for special treatment.

There are a couple of reasons why today means a lot to me.

The first one being that a great man, in my eyes, was born on this day in 1912. He meant and still means a great deal to me, even if he is no longer with us. Well not in body anyway!

Who was this man? He was my maternal Grandfather, William Dorward, and today, had he been spared, he would have been celebrating his 94th birthday. From what I remember of him, he was a very hard working family man who loved his family dearly and always had a kind word to say about others, even when he had been hurt by those others, he always saw a good side to everyone.

He was one of 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls. His father worked on the railway, and had served with the Royal Scots in South Africa from 1899-1902, then again in WWI.

However my grandfather didn't follow in his fathers footsteps. After he left school he went to work as an agricultural labourer on a nearby farm, but money was scarce, so he followed one of his brothers down to London where he worked in the Fords car factory at Dagenham. He moved back up to Scotland sometime between 1937-38, when he begun working as a greatline fisherman out of Gourdon, on the East coast of Scotland. When the call came in 1939, he was one of the first in the village to volunteer for the Navy. During his time on Active Service one of the ships he served on was HMS Witch. After his time in the Navy he returned to fishing out of Gourdon, which he did for many years.

He just loved children and he would spend as much time as he could with his grand-daughter and grand-son. When I was very small he would come and spend time with me every night and he would hide a sweet under his flat cap so that I could knock it off to get it! He also taught me to swim in the local swimming pool at Montrose. He bought me my first "Sindy" type doll, her name was Tracey! He would take us off in his car for runs in the country and every Easter he would take us off to "roll our eggs". My brother played football and I just know that he would have been there cheering him on from the sidelines at every match, but unfortunately his health begun to fail when he was still in his 50's and he never actually saw my brother play. He battled for many years with ill health and sadly he died on 3rd April 1977, aged just 64 years. He maybe gone but he still lives on in our hearts, thoughts and memories.

I feel that I should end this post here as it doesn't really seem right to say what my second reason was. But, hey, I know he wouldn't mind me carrying on, so I will.

The second reason was that today is the first anniversary of my blog! It does not seem like a year since I tentatively begun posting, how time flies when you are having fun!!!! OK I think I did mention several posts back that I would try and do something to celebrate my blogiversary. Over the last few weeks I have been "racking my brains" trying to come up with something original!!!! I had thought about a questionnaire type thing, but Robin got in there first, well her blogiversary is before mine!!!!! So, I'm sorry this is the best I can come up with.

I am looking for you to email me a copy of your favourite lace sock pattern.

Why?

Well I bought the most gorgeous Regia silk sock yarn in burgundy at Woolfest, but I can't seem to find a pattern that I like.

The person that sends me the pattern that I decide to knit will receive a prize. My email addy is ggdesigns_edinburgh AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk (replace the AT and DOT with the appropriate symbols!!!!)

OK, time frame.....Well I suppose I could set the deadline for the 1st December 2006, that should give you time to send it and me time to send a package to the winner before the Christmas rush starts!!!!

Happy hunting!