Family Tree Frog

I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I ever wanted for Christmas was a swing.  Did I get one?  No.  And now I am old I would still like a swing - probably a more sedate one like this.  My grandmother had one of those swing seats and I thought they were grand.  I still want one.  If anyone is listening.  Anyone? Sigh. Here are some photos of people on swings for consideration, from my mother's albums again. Swings come in all shapes and sizes.  Look at this beauty.  Taken in Newcastle me-thinks. Dolly, Kit, Shirley, Barbara I have no idea who Dolly is.  She must have been a friend of Kit - my mother's mother.  I think Dolly has her back to us.  All you can really see of Barbara is a little face between Kit and Shirley.  They are on the left-hand side of the swing facing us.  At a guess, I would say this is taken about 1939.  Perhaps Belle, Kit's twin sister took the photo.  Maybe she...

I am having a great deal of difficulty staying on theme today.  Here is my photo which probably just scrapes in on the 30 years old Sepia Saturday rule; although the "rules" on Sepia Saturday have always really just been guidelines with plenty of room for wriggle. Jim and Alex en route to Melbourne circa 1990 I'm pretty sure this was taken on a trip to Melbourne with my parents just before I got married.  That is the weekend Australian I am reading and if I was holding the paper straighter, we might have been able to read the date.  Oops I'd better make it sepia hadn't I?  There you go. If you read my blog last week, I am excited to report that there is an update on the photo of my mother and the dog Pete and that we have been able to locate where the photo was taken so head on over and have a look at the postscript. Here are some other photos where I am unable to place them but they called to me this morning from the album.  All thoughts...

Alan from Sepia Saturday says: Our Sepia Saturday challenge this weekend is a little different. What we are asking you to do is to forget the foreground and look into the background. Take, for example, this pedestrian snap of my Uncle Harry, Auntie Annie and Unknown Man. The centre of attention is the three figures walking down some seaside promenade, but the interest in such a shot is probably limited to those fascinated by the everyday history of my family (a small and select group of people). But if your move your focus to the background there is a wealth of interest. Note the sailor in uniform, suggesting that this might have been a wartime shot. But there are still cast-iron railings on top of the wall and later in the war all such things were taken down and melted to make gun barrels or some such thing. Look at the hats, look at the sensible shoes : there is enough to keep you busy for a whole Sepia Weekend. This has been a great exercise for me in working out which ...

Joyce Wingfield (I think) circa 1927 - Location ? Australia

Julie, from Angler's Rest has devised a series of prompts for a meme that will run for 15 months and t his week’s prompt is –   Who Do You Miss? Having just gone through the Festive season our thoughts turn to those not with us.  Whether that is people who live elsewhere and that we will not see over the festive season People that have passed away. Who do you miss? Why do you miss them? Them as an individual Something specific to them Christmas at Nungara Street circa 1973 - I am seated between my uncle and my aunt.  My grandfather is to the right of my aunt. At Christmas time it is inevitable that I miss my mother who died 18 years ago.  Ghosts of Christmas past and all that. Mummy loved Christmas.  Her passion for getting things "just right" tended to drive us all a bit barmy.  She always wanted a bigger tree, a bigger turkey and inevitably burned the midnight oil cooking or preparing something.  W...

Shirley, Belle and Kit outside DJs Elizabeth Street c. 1930s Like David Jones Elizabeth Street. Here are the twins. And Belle's daughter Shirley.  Sorry Shirley - there's a bit of dust or summat caught on your eye. Kit being my maternal grandmother who I never knew.  Belle being her twin sister. My daughter Isabel Kate being named after both of them. Ah yes, shopping. I have fond memories of my mother and I picking up cousin Joy (Shirley's sister) who seemed to have an endless cycle of DJs bags of stuff that needed to be returned and stuff that needed to be bought.   Who else remembers the ker-clack-hum-ker-clack of the wooden escalators in DJs?   Now that's something that should have been captured on audio archives for posterity. I think I have a DJs creamer from their dining room somewhere in a cupboard - or is that a fantasy?  I do remember my Mother being very keen to purchase one when they decided to close it ...