summer sepia 7

This Saturday's sepia photographs are all pictures of previous Lettuce holidays, which seems appropriate as I'm off on holiday soon.


This photo is one of my favourites, I think because its such a lovely picture of my mother, and her mum - my nan. And it looks properly windswept as English beaches tend to be.
I'm looking quizzical there in the background, and my brother and sister in the front.




This second photo brings back memories of the sand creations my father used to make for us to sit in - cars and boats especially. And I remember that spotty tunic I'm wearing, it was towelling and would have been scratchy with the sand.




And here we are - mid-to-late-60's - with a family we holidayed with frequently. Before the days of factor 50 sun screen for kids I guess, we all look pretty tanned.






happy sepia saturday

summer sepia 6

This week's sepia summer family photos are of my brother and sister, who I love very much and don't see or talk to half often enough.




My sister followed my brother's arrival by 18 months.







I remember these little collapsible beach seats

















And by the time these photos were taken, I'd have been sleeping
in the shade somewhere, as I followed my sister's birth by only 17
months....

Brown

This is a rather too autumnal theme for me, I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer just yet.
Though there is plenty of parched summer-brown grass around in the UK just now.


However, I've enjoyed revisiting some of my numerous photos of beautiful Suffolk brown countryside, taken while walking with a best friend and her dog:










This birdbath was in my father's ex-garden



and this door knocker was spotted in the South of France (Domme, in the Dordogne/Lot region).



This is Eastbourne.....




A couple of lost browns:



(apologies if you've seen this photo before, but I couldn't not include this particularly bizarre brownness)



Cob nuts, snapped and then snaffled last autumn...



and lastly and most favourite, a pint of delectably brown Old Speckled Hen.




more Theme Thursday brownness over here

the garden i grew up in

Its beautiful weather here in London at the moment and I plan to spend some time in the garden this weekend.

And thinking about that led me to choose these photos for today's Sepia post - photos of the garden I grew up in.

This is the garden from my bedroom window - the bedroom I shared with my sister:


You can just see here the garage which we were occasionally allowed to climb up and sit on, one of my favourite photos which I've already posted here. Just off to the right of this photo, this side of the garage, was a pond.

And here you can see my bedroom window. And it had bars! I don't know if they came with the house (which was new when my parents bought it) - or if they put up the bars. I guess it would have been pretty unsafe and would have had to be locked without the bars.

I like the random wheels in these 2 pictures - I don't know what their story was.


My mum - with my (big) brother. Behind her you can see the beginnings of the copper beech hedge. Mum and dad sowed that when they first moved in - in my memory, it was always taller than me and was perfect for hiding in, and for birds nests.



This is just outside the back door, by the swing. My brother is facing the camera, and with backs to the camera are my sister - on the left - and me in the middle on the chair. We saw a lot of the friends we are with here, their parents were good friends of my parents.



And the swing. We loved the swing so much. It was a climbing frame - and sometimes a substitute for a tree house, we used to put planks across it and make a den. And sometimes it was just good for swinging...




And here are my parents, who loved gardens and gardening - and passed the love on to the three of us.

Sepia Stan Part 2

Two weeks ago I posted a photo of my great-uncle Stan in his Home Guards uniform and promised more to come....

..... so here is a little bit more.

I don't know much about Uncle Stan's family. He married my father's Aunt, and we saw a lot of them but I have no memories of seeing or meeting any of his own family. However we have quite a few photos of them.

This is his mother as a child, with her parents and nurse. I guess they were fairly well off.


Mabel Nellie Boswell, I don't know her date of birth.


Here Mabel is, all grown up and with her husband,

Arthur Cornelius Woodruff, born 21st November 1878.

And this is Uncle Stan - back right - his mother front left, and to the front right is his brother Ray who died in WW2.




Stan was born in August, 1906.
I thought this was the earliest photo I have of Stan, in his choir boy robes...


...but, though this photo is labelled (by my father) "unknown", I think that Stan is here, middle row 2nd from the left. What do you think? or maybe it is Ray.

sepia stan

This is just a quickie, as I am off to a seminar all of today.

Last weeks Sepia pics. were of Uncle Stan's mum and grandparents, in great hats.
This is Uncle Stan - my great Uncle.

I think he stayed home during the war because he worked for Ford, so was counted as essential to the war effort in that role - but here he is in his uniform. Looking, I thought, a little bit Bing!

I'll post more about Stan next week.