Sepia Saturday 281: 30 May 2015


Alan from Sepia Saturday says:


our theme image for Sepia Saturday 281 (is) a 1972 archive photograph from the Flickr Collection of the Cloyne and District Historical Society of Canada. It may put you in mind of baking, kitchens, or pies.
Oh I do like a kitchen - so I do.  When I was young, my parents used to love tramping through exhibition homes in new estates to get ideas for home.  The kitchens always used to be a source of fascination.  "Oooh.  Aaah. " we used to say...."I like that" or "How did they get that so wrong?"  or "They were doing so well until they chose those tiles or that finish."  And then as I got older and went to parties, this was a popular song....




Gawd, we were all so serious then....

So many kitchens to remember.  There's all the ones in all the homes you've ever lived...your friends' homes....the ones you've tried to create when camping...the ones at work...the ones at school or in sports-fields or after school care or pony clubs...so many kitchens...some archaic...some modern....

Here are a few photos of the kitchens I have been in over the years....in pre-remembered babyhood and more recent memory.


Kitchen Edinburgh

Now I know this isn't a very good image.  It's a scan of a proof so was tiny to begin with.  It would be nice to think that I had the original negative somewhere...cough..cough.  Anyway...here's another photo showing what's above...


Washing in kitchen in Edinburgh

And yes, that's a great big piece of paper stuck to the print...all of these proofs were glued together in the album - it's the best I can do for the moment.  When I enlarge the photo I can see that the shelving under the sink had curtains in front of it.  So quaint.  I can also see an electric kettle and I think an electric frypan.  And I'm going to guess that its red and white checked contact stuck on the kitchen counter top.  And the obligatory newspaper on the kitchen table.  Does anyone NOT have a newspaper on their table.  Perhaps that will become a thing of the past. And is that a teapot in the bottom right hand corner?

So these photos were taken in the early 60s in Edinburgh - 2A Cargill Terrace Trinity Edinburgh to be precise.  It was a flat.  We moved in here in about July or August 1963.  This is what my father said in his letter to his mother at the time: 


We are tickled with our flat.  The shops are so handy over the road, and the fire in the kitchen which heats the hot water is very easy to keep burning at night and day on only two shutes (sic) of coak (sic) and provides large quantities of hot water too.  ...Barb has a good modern gas stove in the large kitchen where we eat our meals at a table in the centre of the room, and right now there is a roast cooking ready for tonight's tea.  
And my mother wrote this to her father:


I don't mind if it rains all the time as long as I can get the clothes dry and I can here.  It is the custom in Scotland to have a line on a pulley in the high ceilinged kitchens, so I never take any clothes downstairs at all as this is a marvellous quick way to get things dry.  The fires keep me busy, they burn day and night just very low...
A note from a previous tenant or perhaps the owner reads as follows:





All very different to the kitchens my children know now.  

Views from kitchen windows are important too aren't they?  Here's the view from the kitchen window at 3 Nungara Street Aranda back in the 1970s.  My mother would hang a red teatowel out the window to signal it was time for me to come home from the park.  We were more relaxed in those days. You can see the park to the right of that house across the way on Banjalong Crescent.


3 Nungara Street Aranda circa 1974

Here is Robbie in our first shared house in Brisbane all those years ago in a contemplative mood...now that kitchen saw a few parties.....


21 Carrington Street Rosalie kitchen circa 1982

21 Carrington Street Rosalie was memorable for many reasons - the pantry in the corner behind Robert in which everything had to be stored in V formation because of its placement.  The glass louvres on the west wall which had to be shut at sunset to stop the American cockroaches flying in, skidding on the linoleum and then making their way across the purple shag pile carpet in the living room - ewwww.  Those were the days.  What's on the table?  Mugs, glasses, flowers and Ponds facecream I think.

And here is our kitchen in another rental property in Chelmer - 88 Leybourne Street.  I'm looking in the paper for houses to buy I think.  The house has been demolished now I think and a very smart new townhouse is in its place.  


88 Leybourne Street Chelmer circa 1985

I must say I like all the display cupboards where you can see what's in them although I realize that is now very old fashioned and probably painful having to reach up to get things but at least you can see what you're getting.

31 Equinox Street Taringa Kitchen c 1989

Second last one I promise...this was our kitchen in our first home - as in first purchased home...31 Equinox Street Taringa.  It used to back on to bush.  Note the separate hot and cold taps.  Crazy.  Note the mess...yes, well...I was never known for my fabulous housekeeping skills I must say.  Have I said that I miss the display shelves?  I can see our old Tandy radio/cassette player peeping out from the bench there. Another obligatory item to stop you going mad with loneliness in domestic isolation - the good old radio.  We had lots of baby fun in that kitchen.  A bit like this photo from Picture Queensland.


Baby being bathed on the kitchen table, ca. 1918 State Library of Queensland 

What are your kitchen memories?  Share them on Sepia Saturday with us, why don't you?  We can have a party in the kitchen.  I'll open a bottle...you bring the French Onion Dip.

Or if you want to get out and about may I recommend a couple of exhibitions at some local museums?  You'll need to be quick to see The Finishing Touch at Redcliffe Museum - the last day is tomorrow - you can see it today and Sunday 31 May - 10am until 4pm. This exhibition features examples of embroidered and crocheted pieces from Australian homes - doilies, milk jug covers and table linen.  


Ethel Conner (nee Carrett) at table.


Recently opened is the last leg of a fabulous exhibition (and yes I am very biased in promoting this one) at Bribie Island Seaside Museum - Portraits of a Tea Cosy - an ode to the taking of tea and the making of friends and the keeping of memories by yarn artist Loani Prior aka the Queen of the Tea Cosies and professional photographer Mark Crocker.  The Museum is open 10am - 3pm on the weekends and 10am - 4pm Wednesday - Friday.  The exhibition closes 26 July and you'll be sorry if you miss it.  The Bribie Island Museum is truly fabulous - 5 years old this year  

There's something for everyone....blokes will like it for the exhibition of fish specimens caught nearby...historians will love it for the exhibition about early days and war time Bribie...arty types will love the retrospective on Ian Fairweather...kids are catered for too...there are even craft sessions on to brush up your crafts skills from granny squares to candles.




Go on - get out and amongst it.  Have a breath of fresh air and a giggle and mebbe some fish and chips.

Comments

I liked those old photos of kitchens you shared and the letters say something of how life has been in those days. How cute of the baby having a bath on the kitchen table! haven't we all had our moments like that with our grannies or moms? That lady by the table covered with intricately designed table cloth reminds me of my grandmother in Germany. She was quite a whiz in home-making and in the kitchen too, I could've featured her photos but couldn't find one. Maybe for next Sepia Saturday entries that will do. Enjoy your weekend! :)
Alex Daw said…
Thank you for your feedback and follow Christinchen. I hope you enjoy your weekend too. They are all too short aren't they?
Unknown said…
Love the Equinox Street shelving -- I, too, had cupboards EXACTLY like that in our first apartment in Boston...I had an ivy in a little pot that grew around the corner posts...what a flashback you gave me!
21 Wits said…
Ah yes, I truly relate and enjoy your kitchen stories and photos. We wouldn't be the people we are today if not for our kitchens. They really do sum up in a split second exactly everything about us! Bravo. There's so much more than food that makes up the kitchens in our lives.
La Nightingail said…
I have lived in 10 different houses & one apartment in my life & being someone who loves to design house floor plans, I have, simply for the fun of it, redesigned every kitchen in every one of those places I've lived. My folks, too, used to go to open houses to see what ideas they might glean from looking around. I love to do the same thing. Unfortunately, doing this now-a-days earns you the title of "Lookie-Lou" but I don't care. I figure my car in the driveway might inspire an actual in-the-market person to stop by, so I don't feel guilty about looking just to be looking - nor do I feel guilty about taking a cookie from the offered refreshment plate, either. :)
Jofeath said…
I'm amazed you have so many photographs of your family kitchen, and they clearly bring back great memories for you.
In the latest kitchens, they seem to be going back to open shelving and everything out and at hand which is great in a heavily used kitchen. Dusting and keeping it all clean seems like an enormous job when people have so little free time, but...that doesn't appear to be a deterrent. The baby bath photo is adorable.
Postcardy said…
I think open shelves are popular among decorators and neat freaks now. I need cabinet doors to hide my messy shelves.
Barbara Rogers said…
Wonderful post with pictures of your kitchens through the years! Now I think I'll have to go take a picture or two of my little kitchen, so I have it for years from now. I sure have never done that before.
Joan said…
Although I would be hard pressed to find photos of the kitchen in the houses that I have lived ink, I certainly related to yours -- laundry hanging to dry, baby bath on the counter, knick-knacks --- but I bet I have an image in my mind that would surprise you. After my husband's first year in Veterinary school, he had to do an emergency surgery on my mother's dog -- on the kitchen bar. Quite exciting -- and scary for non-veterinary-types.
Brett Payne said…
That's me, always in the kitchen at parties, avoiding the dancing
Alex Daw said…
Isn't amazing how our posts resonate with each other across the miles?
Alex Daw said…
Dear Karen - yes indeed Karen. yes indeed.
Alex Daw said…
Do you know La Nightingail that I haven't been in a display home for yonks and am feeling the urge to go back ! Particulalrly if they are handing out free cookies.
Alex Daw said…
It is a bit weird isn't it Jo but I think that's what comes from having house mad/architect/design type parents.
Alex Daw said…
I loved the baby photo too Helen.
Alex Daw said…
That's good to know Postcardy. I'll just have to release my inner neat freak ;)
Alex Daw said…
Do Barbara Do! You won't regret it. I have a shocking memory and am sad at how much I forget.
Alex Daw said…
Yep - I didn't see that one coming Joan! :)
Alex Daw said…
Brett - my confession is that I dance in the kitchen at parties ;)
Little Nell said…
I’m amazed that you have so many pictures of kitchens, but they’re all so interesting - even the ones with scraps of paper. I’d love to join you at the exhibition; as you know I’m a knitter and crocheter, but I fear it’s a bit of a stretch from here.
Wendy said…
I've never been to a party where everyone didn't end up in the kitchen -- maybe because there's always something to lean on or against. HA ~ As for newspapers on the kitchen table, no -- they've been replaced with cell phones and tablets.
You've made me remember the kitchen I had in Los Angeles. An apartment I shared with a college friend. Both of us artists, both of us hating to cook. So everything was covered with silly clippings from newspapers and magazines. I'm talking floor to ceiling. Everything was fine until the homicide detectives showed up to ask my friend a few questions and I opened the cupboard where I kept the coffee cups forgetting the inside of the cupboard was full of defaced photos of a particular tv star who annoyed the heck out of us. It was difficult saying that "No, she'd never be involved in anything like that" while standing in front of photos of a woman who had horns drawn out of her head and fangs for teeth. I actually don't think I ever took a photo of that kitchen and that's a shame. People would visit and spend lots of time in the kitchen just reading the walls.

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