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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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| 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.....
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 31 Equinox Street Taringa Kitchen c 1989 |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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