Wednesday, January 26, 2011

More oldies but goodies!

Some more old photos from my rather vast collection (only child inherits all!)

I'm not sure where this was taken; somewhere in Ontario, and judging from the swollen river, leafless trees, and my attire, it looks like spring. I adored my Dad! And I trusted implicitly that he wasn't going to let me fall in the water and be washed away to my death, although we do seem rather close to the edge. This was sometime around 1970 - 1971. I was so much more girly then than I am now. I mean, check out the PURSE.

And here is my maternal great-grandmother, Fanny, holding my very young mother, in England c. 1934. My mother used to tell me how Fanny was asked to be trained as a lady-in-waiting for the queen, but her own mother couldn't bear to be parted from her and so she was not allowed to go to the palace.   I figure this story is probably true, as my maternal great-grandparents had wealth until somebody (I think my great-great grandfather) drank it all away.



 Here is my mother, her brother, and her parents c. 1939 in Purley, Surrey England. My mother loved to tell me that her mother never ever wore a bra and it absolutely "ruined" her breasts. So I've worn a bra since I was three. Kidding! It was age 12. My grandfather was considerably older than my grandmother (17 years as I recall) and it was not, in the end, a happy marriage. My grandmother died on the operating table  at the age of 43, when my mother was 16.

My mother also told me my hair was EXACTLY like her mother's. I blow-dry it straight these days, but it's true that it's naturally wavy like my grandmother's.

Both of my grandparents were talented artists and I have some of my grandfather's drawings and a painting hanging in my house. My grandmother was a gifted pianist with a grand piano that my mother wanted to bring over to Canada when she immigrated. But apparently the climate here would have done it in, so she left it behind.



Two not-very-happy-looking little schoolkids! My mother and her brother, who was five years her senior. Neither of them looks particularly impressed with being photographed!

And now, some eggplant parmigiana calls my name. A good evening to you all!

7 comments:

  1. I hope you're going to keep some secrets!

    No! Go on and reveal all!

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  2. Sorry, I have just realised how my previous comment could be misinterpreted.

    I did NOT mean reveal ALL of you!

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  3. Well, I'm sure I'll reveal more things, but probably not much more about lingerie! ;)

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  4. What... no picture of the eggplant?

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  5. I love your cute little handbag, you look very ladylike.

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  6. Anonymous2:35 pm

    I find looking at old photographs, anybody's old photographs, very bitter-sweet and somewhat troubling, but fascinating all the same. You and your Dad look very happy with one another.

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  7. HWB, I bought the eggplant parmigiana at the Italian market in Ottawa, so no eggplants rolling around waiting to be photographed!

    Little Blue Mouse, it may well have been the last time I looked ladylike. Well, I guess I cleaned up well for my wedding! :)

    H. insciens, I was always close to my Dad. And he taught me how to hammer nails and catch a baseball. :)

    I love looking at photos and trying to figure out what's really going behind the expressions on people's faces.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!