TBT: just one of those English days circa 1972

Another one of the TLP scrapping challenges from March 2019. This one was to take a photo, split it and frame it as if it were two different shots. Yes, 1972 on my beloved red  couch, with the forest green walls in the background. How trendy I was with my velour animal print pillow covers! Old is new again.

One thing I hadn't noticed that a fellow scrapper pointed out...the extra large cuffs on my son's shirt. Yep, it was the 70s and I imagine his collar had had 'matching' long points. And his overalls were on trend then too. His hair was his own and I imagine he'd be glad to have half of that 50 years down the road.

What I love about challenges is that if often gives me a chance to tell old random heritage stories before I forget a lot of them.

TBT: England Summer 1972

Every time I think I have found all the photos that need sorting AND scanning I find more...aaargh. But this one tickled me as I'd forgotten just how large our side yard was in England. We were down at the bottom of the Close and had a much larger yard than many of the other houses. Nice, except when it was grass cutting time! Fortunately, not my job! lol

TBT: That Day in Dublin 1972

And Then There Were These

I love getting so many pages done in January.  A Month of Challenges sounds daunting but it's only an hour or two each day. Lots of fun too!

I've surprised myself by doing and liking a lot of white space on my pages. Perhaps this is the balance to that Project Life kind of page. May - be!

This has always been one my favorite photos of myself. It was four months after the birth of my 2nd child, my 2nd son. My mother and I took one of the Tulip Tours to the Netherlands when she came to visit us in England and take my Nana, her mother, back home to the US. I loved this dress - one made for me by our local dressmaker and I had shoes to match that cardigan. You know how it feels to be put together again after being pregnant for so so long? That's how I felt! 

TBT: The Netherlands 1972

When my 2nd child was due, my Nana came to England to stay with us. She arrived before Christmas 1971 and baby Iain was born the January 27, 1972.  After a month or so, Nana was ready to go back to the US but my mother persuaded her to stay until May. Her help was important to me because these were the months of the miners' strike in England when we only had power for a couple of 3 hour shifts each day. Fortunately, we had a gas cooker and we often stayed in the kitchen during the periods without power. My mother wanted to be sure Nana's return was smooth with the a flight change we weren't sure she could handle on her own.  However, my mother also wanted to go to Holland for the Tulip Festival at Keukenhof.  So Nana stayed and my mother and I went to see the flowers.

Here I am at the beach, probably Zandvoort on the North Sea. Do note that my hair, sweater and shoes are coordinated! I loved that dress, made for me by my British dressmaker, and it zipped up the front. It was so easy to nurse the little boy who was back in England with his great-grandmother! She did get to go back home later that May and sadly died in December of 1972.  There were a lot of family changes for us in the early 70s.

Yesterday to Today

One of the photos from yesterday became this page. Made for a challenge it could only have 3 analogous colors. Fine with me!



Hope you like it too.


Have a great weekend everyone!

TBT: A Yorkshireman in 1972

Ok, not a man but a little boy born in Yorkshire. After 30 years, I finally got some of my older photo albums from former husband.  I wonder if he has any memories of his children from these times. The one of me and #2 son is on Thanksgiving 1972 and the one with his father is later that year.

Remember when we had to pay for film and then developing?  I rarely shot in b&w but did at this time. A shame because my dress was a fine orange wool!

I suspect this photo is one where Daddy is bouncing him and asking "Are you a happy boy?" No doubt, he was. Hopefully he is as happy today.

TBT: An English "Knitter" 1972

While his sister in later years paid no attention to her knitting lessons, firstborn son was his grandmother's first grandchild. He did pay attention on her 1972 visit to England. I had just had son #2 in January and my mother and I were going off to do the Tulip time in Holland. My mother was an avid gardener and the tulip fields as well as Keukenhoff left her breathless.

My Nana ( my mother's mother) was still there in England, having arrived before Christmas 1971. The wise British felt that a husband was not enough help for a new mother and wanted another person (preferably female) to be in the home with the new baby and mother, especially if there were other little ones. My mother convinced Nana to stay until her May visit and they could return to the US together. Poor Nana had been ready to go home earlier but we bribed her with weekly bingo trips and one week she even won the jackpot. However, she missed her regular games in Maryland and her bingo buddies. I suspect she was also ready to give up being a 'mother's helper.'

May in England...look at the lad, socks with his sandals, overalls and a long sleeved shirt. Yep, that was late spring attire.  Who knows if Dad (on the right) was impressed with the knitting. However, I'm still reminded of how darn comfortable that couch was.

TBT - My Boys in Britain 1972

My two boys in England, back in 1972.  The younger one was born in January 1972 so I suspect this shot may have been done for the older one's birthday in August. Big brother is happy to look at whatever the cameraman was holding but younger one is happier to explore his toes. A great shot of both boys and one that always makes me smile.

I decided to use this image this week because the older boy is having a birthday next week.  Happy Birthday to my firstborn!

Flashback Friday - Younger & Thinner

Flashback to 1972.  How odd it is that 1972 is so long ago because the 70s seem pretty recent to me.  Galloping old age, as I used to say back IN the 70s. But here's me, in my red pajamas, having a cup of tea in my mother's kitchen. It was just after Christmas and my Nana had just died. Suddenly. Apparently she was feeling 'punk' as she used to say over Christmas and wasn't up for making dinner. That was a big red flag. Finally my parents took her to the hospital and she died on December 28th. She was 76 years old.

When my father called me in England where I was living, I burst into tears. Nana was really more like my mother. She was the one who raised me along with my grandfather during the war years of the mid 40s. My mother worked in Philadelphia, and could only come home on weekends. My father was in the Army in Germany. After that call, I tried to get a flight from the UK to the US, but a major storm had hit the East Coast. The storm moved eastward and airports in England all the way into Germany were closed. When I finally got a flight back home,  I found my mother just overwhelmed with grief. She was sure she hadn't 'done enough'.  It took me many years to see what a strong streak that was in my mother's nature.  But there I am, doing what we always did, even before I moved to England. Sit down and have a cuppa tea.  It didn't make everything right this time, but it helped. It always did.