Memories..

... in black and white.Those old family photos are priceless..This is one of my favourites ...but why post it and why today? Because I had no photo for a blip! That's why.

This all started with a text from my daughter last night showing me some old photos she had just seen on my home town's historical Facebook site..photos from 1939 and 1940 of the garage/gas station that my mom's family had owned back then and the little "pop stand" beside it where our mom worked when she was young. And was that mom in the take-out window? Yes, blurry, but we think that's her! It seems that my sister (the family archivist) had shared those photos with our cousin who had then posted them...Very neat! 

This required a phone call to my sister today to chat about said photos and what we remembered about that garage..and the pop stand where we used to trade empty pop bottles for candy..and then that led to remembering all the other old photos we had in our treasure chests...

One thing that came up was our frustration that back then, people often cut the photos up to make them fit into photo albums removing all the context clues in the background. It was frustrating because what we wanted to see were those very details they cut out.. what things looked like back then...the streets, houses, storefronts, cars, telephone poles etc..all the things that create the setting and give you an idea of the time frame. (And of course, it was also frustrating when no-one thought to label the backs of photos identifying who the people were!) 

But back to this photo...I sent it in a text to my sister during our chat to show her one of my favourites ...why is it a favourite? Other than that I am in it?  (That is me on the left, beside my grandmother, my aunt Edna with my cousin in the pram, then my mom with my baby brother in his pram and there ..centre front ..is my little sister licking the melting ice-cream) Yes, I like the photo because I am in it with my family, but also because it seems to really capture the time period. Considering that my brother was born in 1953, I figure it was probably taken in the summer of 1954, and it looks like it; it is ever so "fifties"! The style of those cotton dresses..the big buttons, the tight waists, and those baby carriages...and my sister's smocked dress. And the fact that I was wearing a dress? With lace trim? Boggles my mind...whatever was the occasion? 

And then began more detective work. I had always figured it was taken in front of the family garage, but wasn't sure..but now we had a reference with those posted garage photos, and yes..we could match the door, the thermometer and the window in the background to the posted photos...mystery solved. Context. 

But one mystery remains - who took the photo? I would love to know because I think whoever did take it captured so well what is now for us, a nostalgic moment in time....a snapshot of how things were...and one that gives us pleasure and brings back fond memories...

I would like to think that one day, the photos we take will do the same for those who come after us..