This week is the 200th ‘birthday' of Sepia Saturday – a great achievement. I have only been
participating this year, and not every week. To celebrate we revisiting our Sepia Saturday posts and choosing a
favourite one to republish.
The post I have chosen is my response to prompt # 190 (17 Aug
2013) and was one of my most commented on posts. This post represents some of
the main reasons I am writing a blog – I have so many old family photos and by
posting them it prompts Mum and Dad to tell their stories (and produce more
photos).
For example, they recently tracked down the exact place where the first photo was taken!
Fri 16 Aug 2013
Sepia Saturday – A Family of Picnics
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| Sunday School picnic at Terang c1910 my Uncle Bill (8-year-old) is just right of centre with a handful of cherries on his way to his mother, my great grandmother |
I have so many photos to go
with this prompt I hardly knew where to start.
We are a family of picnickers
over many generations. Australia certainly has the weather for picnics, and the
space.
I guess many families have
picnics but ours not only photographed themselves on picnics, leaving the
evidence many times over, but they also kept the photos for generations and
generations.
This week’s photo prompt, as
usual was accompanied by some ‘word’ prompts:
- picnics (check),
- kettle (does a billy
count?),
- primus stoves (does a
campfire count?),
- teapots (again the billy
but I think I have a silver teapot),
- chickens (well they always
ran around in our backyard / farm – just too fast for the photos, but I'm sure we ate chicken),
- gardens (Australia’s ‘big
backyard’ was our garden, but here is one of my Nanna in her garden),
- straw hats (and white hats
and bowler hats and more at the Terang Sunday School picnic),
- blankets (also plentiful),
- shy girl (that’d be my mum)
So here's way less than half the picnic shots I have:
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| Pretty ladies in white with flowers in their hair in the garden at Watch Hill (my Nanna is in the centre) |
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| No blanket here - tough country people. My mum (right) hiding behind her mug |
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| Waiting while the billy boiled - Nanna, her daughters and their cousins. Mum hiding (again) behind her mum. |
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| Mum not hiding this time, but a new picnic trick? Balance a bottle on your head? |
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| A typical birthday party in the 1960s, card table, plastic tablecloth, Mum's hair! My brother trying to cut the cake with a boomerang! |
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| Great grandfather sitting on the running board surrounded by ladies |
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| Great grandfather, his sons and friends picnicking in the sand dunes |
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| Much younger great grandfather (left), next to his mother and sisters c1895 Black Rock, Victoria (his niece, the baby was born in 1894) |
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| Author, Lindsay Russell (centre), 2nd cousin of my grandmother possibly on the 'shores' of Lake Corangamite, Colac. Can you spot the silver teapot? |
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| I love the happiness in this photo! My Nanna is centre back. My grandfather's brother (Uncle Ricky - see Anzac Day blog) is at back. |
And a couple of extra photos for good measure:
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| Another shot of the fabulous attire (and hats) at the Sunday School picnic |
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| Another birthday picnic on the farm, this time I'm the shy one! Happy Birthday Sepia Saturday!! |
Lots of good picnic snaps here. I remember this post. I especially like the Sunday School picnic and my favorite: the happy laughing ladies picnic - although the gentleman in the back has a pretty good smile on his face too! :)))
ReplyDeleteThis blog put a smile on my face. There's something about a picnic:)
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to balance a bottle on my head...:) Great Photos/Great Post.:)
ReplyDeleteMake sure you post a photo on your blog when you succeed :)
DeleteOh, I remember these photos. So much detail and so much fun to study.
ReplyDeleteI remember these photos as well!! So many of them, you are very lucky.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent choioce Jackie. I remember it from first time round.
ReplyDeleteYou sure were an outdoorsy bunch! I love that you have all the photos to document your family-pastime. We have loads of dining-room table shots in my family. Not as exciting, but the food was always good!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Aussie picnic food was always good - too many flies usually!
DeleteWhat fun to have so many picnic photographs. I'm wondering if picnics like these would have been impromptu events or if they would have been events that were very well planned in advance. In the next to last photo: I love that swing on the tree limb. It would have been great fun when there weren't so many people around. It was also fun to see the cars in the background of several photos.
ReplyDeleteI have a huge collection of car photos too - just waiting for the appropriate SS prompt!
DeleteA big collection of picnic photos that we could not hope to match. I wonder if the weather has anything to do with it. I've lost count of the number of picnics inside a car.
ReplyDeleteGosh I've got many old birthday photos all similar to your's. Was your brother successful at cutting the cake with a boomerang? Great post for Sepia Saturday 200!
ReplyDeleteHaha my brother was always finding interesting and different ways of doing things. I doubt Mum would have let him touch the cake with the boomerang!
DeleteA delightful post. I think every family should develop a photo style, so a picnic is good theme to celebrate. Is a boomerang a traditional Australian eating utensil?
ReplyDeleteMy boomerang throwing brother has a unique theme all of his own - quite the clown in photos. I'm sure he would have followed through with the cutting and eating - if only Mum had let him - not likely!
DeleteI do remember this post too, it wasn't that long ago either. Picnics are perfect get-togethers. All of these photos sport the many various kinds of picnics too! Well rounded post a great share for our book!
ReplyDeleteI can see why you had so many comments on this post the first time. It is a wonderful collection of picnic shots. The different eras all share wonderful things.
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this post first time round? Although I don't believe that I have seen it before, may of the sights are so similar to those in my grandmothers album. The boy on the right with the cup (Black Rock c1895) looks familiar. Have your written about him previously?
ReplyDeleteYes, written about him a number of times - my great grandfather Lewis Garrett led an interesting life and there are lots of photos of him from a young boy to an old man.
DeleteI remember this post from its initial go-round, and enjoyed it both times! :)
ReplyDeleteI enlarged the pictures and enjoyed each one. It was fun to see the fancy VW Bug convertible too. Your family is like mine in that there are tons of pictures and they were all handed down, lucky for us!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post for the book; lots of picnic pictures over a long period of time. Thanks, Jackie.
Kathy M.
You certainly have a significant collection of those moments shared among family and friends.
ReplyDeleteThe 1895 certainly is my favorite, due to the formality of their dress in such a setting
and the mood prevailing in that photograph.
Well done!!
:)~
HUGZ