The Wild Reed: Happy Birthday, Dad!

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Happy Birthday, Dad!

In Australia today my Dad celebrates his 81st birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I've said it before but it's worth saying again: My brothers and I are very fortunate to have Gordon James Bayly as our father. He is a man of integrity, compassion, and selfless service to others. We experienced and witnessed such qualities growing up in our hometown of Gunnedah, and they're qualities that are still very much part of our father today.

I love you, Dad, and can’t thank you enough for all you continue to be and give to me, my brothers, our family, and so many others whose lives are touched by yours. I'm sorry I can't be with you to celebrate your birthday, but I sure do look forward to seeing you sometime later this year.

Above: The Bayly family – Sunday, August 6, 2017. When I was back in Australia last July-August I organized a belated 80th birthday party for Dad in Coogee, a beachside suburb of Sydney.

For more images of this very special celebration, click here.

In celebrating Dad's's birthday at The Wild Reed in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017 I've shared quite a number of photos from the Bayly family archives. In fact, I think I've pretty much exhausted my supply of such images.

So . . . since tomorrow is Earth Day, I'm thinking it would be fun to share a few pics of Dad out in nature.

Above: Dad as a schoolboy in the 1940s.

Above: Dad at a rest stop in the mountains between Port Macquarie and our family's hometown of Gunnedah – Wednesday, March 24, 2015.

Above: My older brother Chris and two of my nephews (Liam and Ryan) with "Grandpa Bayly."

I tok this photo as we were hiking through the Kelvin State Forest in December of 1998. This forest is located 20 kilometres north-east of Gunnedah. It’s an area characterized by sandstone ridges and steep bluffs that rise above the surrounding farmland. Isolated from the mountain ranges to the north and east, the highest point of these ridges is 885 metres. The forest contains a waterfall, numerous feral goats, a cave that is home to a colony of bent-wing bats, and (as you can see from the photo above) lookout sites that offer sweeping views of the surrounding forest and farmland.