flashback friday! easter parade 1983

flashback friday! easter parade 1983
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

I remember being so proud of this bonnet with the rabbits all the way round. I was quite cranky that day when I saw that lots of the kids hadn't made their bonnets/outfits themselves... I think you can see it all over my face in this photo!

Not quite sure why Mrs Bell (one of our teachers) was wearing a balaclava... but each to their own I guess!

flashback friday returns! around winter 1982?

flashback friday: rainbow over the next home town
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

Have gotten a bit of a team effort happening, with rels from all around scanning in photos and emailing them to me... so flashback friday is officially back!

I love love love this photo. Goes to show, you don't need a whizzbang camera, photoshop, or any of those other things... just the ability to capture a gorgeous moment. Nice capture mum!

This photo of me (in pink of course) and my brother was taken in the winter school holidays, when we were visiting a huge town with a population at that stage around 30,000. (Our town I think was not quite 2,000?) I am not entirely sure, but I think none of us knew we would be moving to this big town the very next year.

I love this story... knowing that this was the town I ended up growing up in, that I loved so much, and with that gorgeous rainbow in the background... seems that the universe had it all organised really!

Happy Friday everyone! Off to the Stitches and Craft show tomorrow, looking forward to meeting dear fii (see link on left), and perhaps another couple of you crafties out there?

Happy weekends to all! x

flashback friday! "christmas special"

Hello all

This is most likely going to be my last flashback friday of 2007, and what better way to end than to focus on christmases past.

The photo above is of my cousin Chris, me and Papa (my mum's dad). I don't have many photos with Papa, and I really love this one. My memories of Papa have really faded over time, but I can still feel how I felt about him, and am sad that I didn't get to know him for longer. as a kid, I always thought my cousin Chris was just incredible, and it is lovely that we are now "grown up" (in theory, anyway!) and are still in touch. This eat-in kitchen was the heart of this house for me. I think this is why I am so excited about our eat-in kitchen at our new house, hoping we can create the same warm, loving and fun environment in our kitchen and make it the heart of our home, too.

This next photo is of Mum, Dad, me, my brother, and our dear friends Fiona and Laura, all snuggled together and singing along to Carols By Candlelight on the TV (I'm at the back of the green beanbag). This is something that happened every year, and is one of the highlights for me at Christmas. I actually got to a Sydney Carols By Candleight a few years ago and it was a magical night... I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

Anyway, in case I don't pop my head in here again to say hello before Christmas, wishing you a beautiful, wonderful, magical Christmas and a fabulous and safe new year. Thankyou for visiting and chatting this year... I have enjoyed your company!

Chat soon, xx

flashback friday! dressing up for a wedding....

Hello!

I am thrilled that we are no longer doing themes for Flashback Friday... it was all getting way too difficult to find photos to fit the theme!

This is a photo of me with my brother, all dressed up for my uncle's wedding. I reckon this was early-mid 1980s.

Check out the hair! I remember the day before, mum tied so many rags into my hair, I felt so special, and how exciting it felt to then go to bed with them still in!!! I felt quite different though when she had taken them all out the next morning, and stood me in front of a glass door so I could just see my reflection... I cried! But I am sure I got over it, and I remember how my hair felt, it was lovely and soft. I am not sure if it looks cute or if it is appropriate to laugh at this photo!

In this photo I am wearing my favourite blue dress with my favourite pale blue socks and gorgeous metallic blue Mary Janes.... my mum shopped incredibly well for this outfit! I wore it at every opportuninty, and remember wearing it in summer (without the shirt underneath) and in the winter... how sad when I grew out of it!

Now, looking at my brother, how cool was he in the brown and the cardi...? too funny!!!

Have a great weekend, xx

flashback friday! my stylish mum

Hi all

Sorry, one day late with this post... dad's visiting from interstate at the moment which is lovely, keeping me away from the internerd!

So for flashback friday this week we are talking about our stylish mums. This one is tricky for me, given that it was always my mum behind the camera (as I have mentioned before, mum looks like she was MIA for much of my life... not many pics!).

The photo at the top of this post is just a beautiful photo, and mum looks gorgeous. This was taken in Nyngan (NSW), in our front yard. This must have been around 1981. Sadly, like many of our early family photos, the photo has not travelled well over time. But it is still a beautiful photo and one of the few we have with all four of us together. Look how happy and relaxed we all look! Love it.

I always thought Mum's hair was amazing. In the 70s it was long, in the 80s she had a bob with the spike/mullet top.... so cool. I really wish I had more photos of mum so I could have included a hair mosaic here... mum's hair has pretty much always been great. And at her 50th birthday it looked amazing too - good hair for mum wasn't limited to the 70s and 80s.

I wish I had copies of these photos to share here:

1. A wedding photo: mum had the most gorgeous wedding outfit. It included a stunning lace coat, which had a wide hood. Stunning. And very 1972...

2. Mum in her purple kaftan. Very cool.

3. That photo that mum and I were looking at just two weeks ago with the white top with the embroidered detail.

4. The 1980s blue dress with "wings" (batwing sleeves... very "in the moment"!). Mum definitely did the 80s with style. She was the shoulder pad queen, and had some great clothes in the 80s. But this was my favourite.

5. A photo of mum from the Miss Industry pageant (Broken Hill). Noice.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xx

ps. Hope you are having a good weekend Mum, we will return Dad soon xo.

flashback friday! favourite activity

on the trampoline around 1984
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

Yep, we really loved this trampoline!

Here we are again, and I think this is probably around 1984-1985, judging by my hair and the appearance of a small Laura in the background!

Happy Flashback Friday!!!
xx

ps. I have worked out that at the moment I can upload pics through flickr-based blog posting, hence the two posts for flashback friday (can only post with one photo at a time this way)

flashback friday! favourite activity

on the trampoline around 1982
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

Here we are on the trampoline at Cliff, Mal, Fi and Laura's place. I think by my bad hair and lack of teeth that this must have been around 1982 (I am in the middle). I love Mally (Fi's mum) in the background of this photo! I also love my brother's pose in this one (nice one Rhys!).

This was their place in Gunnedah when we were living in Tamworth... it felt like such a long way as little kids. We would catch up with them probably nearly every school holidays, and in between, Fi and I would write letters to each other (I think I still have these somewhere).

This photo just reminds me of all of the amazing times we had together as kids, and all of the good times we are still having together now (Fi is the mum of the beautiful boy Jye who had his baptism and 1st birthday last weekend).

I can't help but smile and feel incredibly warm looking at these shots, and thinking just how lucky I am to have had friendships which have lasted for so many years.

Happy Flashback Friday!
xx

flashback friday!!!!

I'm back! and apologies for not fitting with the theme this week - I don't know if I have any photos of me with my littl pup Barkley (yes, after the big Barkley on Sesame Street).

Barkley was lovely - I think I was about five when we had him, and I clearly remember his smell (of course!). Barkly had that real puppy smell... a bit like you would imagine dry crumbled weetbix would smell if it were out in the sun for a while and grew warm. I love that smell! I remember creeping out the back door to visit him when he was whimpering one night (he was still spending the night in a big box at that stage)... I remember he was so hard to reach to pat! I felt as though I was going to fall into the box!

I also remember very clearly that a dalmation got into our yard one day and bit Barkley's ear. I was so worried and upset. I remember the smell of him being washed, and the smell of Dettol. He was really shaken, poor little thing. I still don't trust dalmations.

But, sadly, I have no photo to go with this story... mum/dad - do you have one at home? Can you scan one in and email it to me?

Happy flashback everyone!
xo

flashback friday! sunday best - 1984

Okay, so this flashback friday for me really is about Sunday Best... these are photos of my first holy communion.

I remember these classes after school each week in the lead up - there were lots of people I didn't know in these (we went to public schools but then went into the catholic schools for all of the "training" for the big catholic events). My favourite thing about the classes (and scripture at school) was the singing. I think perhaps if there had been a greater focus on music in the church at that time, then I may have stayed involved for a little longer. I barely remember this day at all. I remember standing out the front with Dad, having mum take these photos, but don't remember much of the actual day at all - I think I must have been nervous (I tend to forget these times when I am really nervous).

I remember that after the day I got into trouble from the nun Sister Eileen, because once the photos were printed, she had discovered I was looking at the photographer in the church when he took the photo of us all lined up to receive communion... apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to the priest!

I used to love Sister Eileen, she was a bit intimidating, but for a while there (around this time) I really wanted to be a nun. That was until I realised that the Pope didn't allow contraception (even then I was worried about those women and families who felt having children was out of their control... public health leanings already?!?). I also remember thinking that most of my good friends were boys and how would I go living without them.

I really like these photos... I think I look really sweet in these... (hubby just thinks I look like a massive nerd!)... and I love my Dad's hair and moustache in the first photo!

Looking forward to checking everyone else out now.... happy flashback friday!

xx

flashback friday! (oops... monday!)... music

Well hello there! Apologies for the looong delay with my flashback friday.... I am rapidly running out of old photos (most are interstate still with my mum and dad), and then got absorbed in packing boxes (yes, we are moving!).

But, having now gotten myself organised, selected three (!) photos and sitting down at the computer I have realised that these photos are actually from 1986.... bother! Not sure if I am now officially disqualified (?) but will share the story anyway...

three little maids from school are we....

Yep, it's a young person's version of The Mikado! In this close up shot just above you can see me in the blue kimono in the middle. One of the things that really makes me laugh is the HIDEOUS makeup they piled on! We were told to white out our eyebrows and draw new ones on half way up our foreheads, and then, the eyeliner! (Terrible on so many levels) I remember being really worried about the top of my kimono popping open during the show, so I think mum pinned it up for me.

In the above shot is Lyndal (my best buddy for much of primary school) and ?Judith. Lyndal was extremely confident... at that stage in my life I was much more of a timid little thing, so Lyndal was great fun to be around. I also remember that her dad had the very best biscuits at his work... chocolate biscuits with marshmallows and Iced Vovos! (so exciting!)

Terrible that I can remember this level of detail, but can't remember everyone's names.

All of the people in this production were still at school. I remember the older boys and girls looked extremely old to me! The woman in the pink kimono was stunningly beautiful, and I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. I think her name was Sam, but I am not sure now... The older boys were funny - I remember during one of the shows one of them sat down and flashed his undies to the audience... absolutely accidental but it got a lot of laughs and he hammed it up to get more giggles out of it.

And I wanted to include this last photo just so you could get a glimpse of the very simple but lovely set. That backdrop was painted by one of the kid's mums, and the trees were branches with crepe paper flowers attached. Lovely!

Happy Monday everyone xx

flashback friday! tshirt theme

Happy flashback Friday!

Okay, this week's theme is tshirts, so this is going to be quite a stretch for me. Fashion has never been my thing, so the closest I think I ever got to a popular tshirt as a child was a Cats tshirt (yes, musical theatre... no where near as cool as ET or Star Wars!)... and this was in I think about 1987.

So, with the limit set at 1985, this is the best I could do.

This is a photo of me with my brother in 1985, sitting in the open air chapel of a Brownies camp called Tintuppah Gunyah. Brownies were junior girl guides... guides got to wear blue, we had to wear yellow and brown... very attractive! I am in the skivvy on the left - I told you... not a fashion victim - whilst my brother is on the right.

Still with me? Okay, here comes the stretch.... My brother is wearing a Tshirt which has the wording "NYNGAN Beyond the Black Stump" on it. Nyngan is a tiny little town with a population of about 2,000 people, 575km inland from Sydney. My family lived there until about 1981ish, before moving to the bright lights of Tamworth (a big country town of 33,000 people).
Whilst this is not a popular Tshirt (like ET, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake etc), it does make me laugh that we were living in Tamworth but still wearing Nyngan tshirts 4 years later! (It also makes me laugh that my brother is dressed in brownie colours).


While we are talking brownies, have a look at this hilarious shot of me in my brownies beret! I loved that beret! (actually I think I still have it...) How serious I look! Just hilarious!

Happy flashback friday, and a happy weekend everyone!

xx

flashback friday! group photo 1985

Ah, you can't get a whole lot more Australian than this! A good old backyard barbie on the grass.... perfect!

This photo was taken on my 10th birthday. My brother and I used to alternate years for our birthday parties, and it was his turn in 1985. Somehow I still managed to have this great party with all of these grown up (and a few kid) friends! I remember this day, I had such a great time... and I remember the smell (again, I know I go on about smells but this one is really fresh in my memory!).

I am the one with the long blonde hair (centre part, no fringe), facing the camera, in a very gorgeous pale mint green dress, holding a spare rib through a paper serviette (I am still a bit funny about sauces and other sticky foods on my fingers). I used to LOVE this dress! It had mesh inserts (very cool) and these great short sleeves that you could loop up and shorten if you felt like it... it was a great dress! Oh and eyelets for detail everywhere too.

My dad has his back to us at the barbeque, and mum is, of course, taking the photo. (Hang on a second, I think my dad still has that shirt!?!)

What I really love about this photo is just how relaxed a bbq really was then, there's no special outdoor furniture, no special outdoor crockery, we are not in an "outdoor room" but in the backyard (some of us were even sitting directly on the grass!), no one is all dressed up, dad is cooking on the barbie he built himself, everyone is eating with their fingers.... oh! and the hills hoist in the centre of it all!

Ah, the simple pleasures of the 1980s!

Have a beautiful weekend!
xx

Flashback friday! Fancy dress

Hi there - just arrived back from holidays a whole half an hour ago, realised it was flashback friday and jumped on to update my blog immediately! I have just checked with the new flashback friday flickr group , and this week's theme is fancy dress. What a terrific theme!!!

My mum was the queen of fancy dress... here you can see me in 1985 (whew! just made it) dressed up as Heidi for book week - think the skirt was made from just a rectangle of fabric with some elastic at the top, the vest is made from felt. My brother on the left is dressed as Hans Christian Anderson, wearing a homemade seersucker vest. Mum was amazing!!! On other book weeks I went as a witch (very cool - 1987), the queen of hearts, a princess (of course!), Pandora (1986).... loads of cool outfits and even better props (mum was also queen of props, and helped me top make a cauldron for my witch outfit, a box for Pandora etc...).

And, it wasn't all saved up for book week! We also had a fantastic dress up box, including some of the most incredible shoes!!!

Hats off to my mum who is imaginative, creative and fun and encouraged us to be the same. (Thanks mum xo)

Chat soon, and have a gorgeous weekend!

xx

ps. Mum just taught me the very basics of crochet while on holidays at her place... I will add some funny photos of beginners crochet once my camera is charged up again!

flashback friday! me in 1976

Yay!Flashback Friday again....

I am sure that if dad were in this photo, it would be the right era for him to have had a packet of smokes up the sleeve of his tshirt, and he probably had big sideburns as well. Mum would have had gorgeous long brown hair.

This is a photo of me back in 1976. What a round little face! So cute! (even if I do say so myself...). Funny how you can still see yourself, even in older photos like these... I don't know that my face has actually changed all that much! I guess when I think about it, it is not so surprising that I have such a love of sunshine and being outside. This photo was one of many photos taken at various barbeques with loads of mum and dad's friends about.

Do you have experiences from when you were very young that you think may have shaped who you are?

xx

Oops! Roll call... other flashbackers include:

http://visitatwhitsend.blogspot.com/

http://house-n-baby.blogspot.com/

http://lovelybutton.blogspot.com/

http://one-little-acorn.blogspot.com/

http://threebuttons.blogspot.com/

http://linoforest.blogspot.com/

http://chalk-jenny.blogspot.com/

http://craftedbykylie.blogspot.com/

http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/

http://isthatthetimealready.blogspot.com/

http://www.auntycookie.com/

flashback friday!

Ah, the days of sitting outside in your short terry towelling shorts, eating a sambo on the grass... I am the toothless wonder on the right, with the pigtails and short shorts! My lovely friend Fi is the one flashing her nappy, with the short hair (sooo cute!). I can still smell this day (or days like it), the smell of geraniums getting warmer in the sun, the smell of someone watering the garden (and the hot footpath!) next door.

(For those of you who aren't aware, we now have very tight water restrictions in Australia because of drought. We can only handwater on designated nights on the week according to your house number, between certain hours of the evening....times have changed!).

But I am not taking you back to pre-1985 land to talk about water restrictions...

This is all a part of the new Flashback Fridays initiated by Angela at three buttons. There are currently four bloggers involved, and you might like to check out the fabulous pre-1985 shots of Jacinta , Emma, and of course Angela. Ah, nostalgia! (I love it!!!)

Want to join us in Flashback Friday??? If so, drop me a note so we know you're in and I'll include you on our group list next week!
xx