Saturday 21 November 2015

Memories from a Photo

I am joining in an idea created by Louise H at Life in the Scrap Lane. She took an old family photo and drew old memories from it.
I have chosen a photo taken at the bottom of our garden with my mum and brother. That's me in the front and my brother peeping round mum's head. I wonder if my sister took the photo with the little Brownie camera I had.


We moved to this house when I was five and the bottom part of the garden remained fairly untamed for some time. We had an Elder tree in this wild area long before anyone thought of making their own elderflower cordial but my uncle did come and pick them for Elderberry wine. We children were far more interested in the small "den" we made under the roots of the tree. 
This area was our jungle where we played for hours. No computers and iPhones for us! There were old creepers hanging from the trees which we would swing on and play Tarzan! I was the middle one so had the privileged position (not that I thought it at the time) of having an older sister and younger brother 2 years and 4 months apart from me. What amazing family planning that was mum! I therefore had two great playmates. 
My sister and I spent HOURS excavating the garden when we first moved there. The house was new and the garden in the process of being developed. We had an amazing stash of pieces of china and clay pipes. We were going to make our fortune. We would piece these valuable items back together and sell them! Imagine our horror when mum threw the whole lot out!
We made the most exotic perfume from rose petals collected around the garden. Only ones that had tumbled off, never shaken from the bushes or pulled off of course (don't tell mum!). We stored our fragrance in bottles in the shed. Alas within weeks it sadly turned to the aroma of rotten cabbages. Bang went another opportunity to make our fortune!
My brother and I often made camp fires. I think we were a little older by then. We collected piles of stinging nettles to make a gourmet dish to eat. We boiled them up but we're not over impressed by our smokey spinach.
Focusing back on the photo I smile to see mum's anorak.


She and dad had virtually matching anoraks that they both wore for years and years. Both navy and padded. If you look closely you can see mum is holding her glasses in her hand. Mum wore glasses for as long as I can remember but off they came when the camera came out!
My brother Andrew is waving something which I can't identify. I would guess it was a toy. A car or something similar. He always had some kind of toy next to him on the dinner table or not far away. He hasn't changed today except that nowadays it's the latest gadget!
Happy carefree days in a wonderful safe environment. How lucky we were to have what many children today just don't experience.






7 comments:

  1. Wow: I can almost feel that anorak..it's really of its time, isn't it?

    What a wonderful read this is (and you know it's scrapbooking, right? lol)

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  2. A lovely trip down memory lane. I can tell the little girl is you! In our front garden there was a weeping cherry tree and my sister and I would creep into it and make a real mess digging a hole, pouring water in and stirring it up with acorns and grass and anything else that would go in our "soup" to feed to our teddies. Bonkers!

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  3. Oh what heaven - a den amongst tree roots. I remember making 'rose water' - boy did it pong. We also used to make mud pies ... similar to Lady Ella.
    Our garden used to be similarly overgrown, infact the very bottom still is - I like to call it a wildlife haven! When my son was little he used to love using his toy metal detector down there - I may still have the old bed spring and rusty shed nails that he found.
    And clothes had to last back then they weren't cheap - my Mum had one best blouse and skirt when we were young, you see it in every birthday and Christmas photo we had for about 5 years!
    Thanks for joining in, I loved finding out a bit more about you x

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  4. Lovely memory recap. The gardener in you came out early.

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  5. Happy memories! Yes, I think I took that photo, I remember others from the same set. Goodness knows what Andrew has got there, maybe just a leaf? Do you remember the red crocheted hat that Mum sometimes wore with that anorak? I saw it on my last visit home!

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  6. I too remember collecting rose petals to make perfume, happy days!

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  7. I too remember collecting rose petals to make perfume, happy days!

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