Sepia Saturday 412: Paula and Pip

SEPIA SATURDAY 412 : 31 MARCH 2018

Anna Finlayson, Miss Vancouver, Miss PNE and Miss Grey Cup packing her bags for the Grey Cup - 1959

PACKING  :  SUITCASES  :  DOGS  :  BEAUTY QUEENS

Our Sepia Saturday theme this week is a real beauty - incorporating travel, luggage, dogs and competitions. You could also include curtains, tables, and decapitated hands (if that is not a contradiction in terms). 

My closest match this week features my sister-in-law Paula with her dog Pip. Pip wins prizes at dog shows. Paula was a winner in 2017 for her newsletter for the dog club. They’re quite a pair.

Pip and her older sibling Min. So, it’s not a suitcase like the prompt photo but the dogs are in an unexpected place. If Paula did take a suitcase out of the closet, I’d bet the two dogs would be right there.

Here's a couple more photos of Anne Finlayson, beauty queen. She's wearing a fur stole in the photo below. 

This may be my favorite photo of the PNE exhibition where Anne was named Miss PNE. They all have almost identical dresses from the back. All were the same dyeable pumps (I think). The photo, like of life at that time, was dominated by a man crossing the stage. A metaphor, of sorts. 

 It's been a sad week around here thinking about my good friend Valdyn Jonina Anderson who died of cancer after a long illness. I always think of her frozen in time at 17 or so as one of our high school cheerleaders.  May she rest in peace. 

And finally Pip, truly a beauty in her dog show categories. She doesn't need a fur stole or a crown to look regal and like a winner. 

Check out Sepia Saturday for more interpretation of this week's theme. 

Sepia Saturday #411: The Sad Bride

SEPIA SATURDAY 411 : 24 MARCH 2018

Florence Timms on her wedding day - 1928

WEDDINGS : GARDEN PORTRAITS : BRIDE : FLOWERS 

Like the other Sepia Saturday theme images for March, the theme image for Sepia Saturday 411 comes from the Flickr Commons stream of the Vancouver Public Library. This 1928 photograph of Florence Timms might put you in mind of weddings and brides, and flowers and ... whatever you can come up with.

This week I looked at the photo of the bride and saw sadness and tension. I hope Florence was happy on her wedding day, but it doesn't show in her face. I made up a little scenario to fit the photo. My apologies to Florence wherever she may be (I couldn't find her on Google)  and I hope her wedding was a happy event.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Any word yet?” asked the bride. 

“No dear. But don’t worry,” said Aggie, her mother, straightening the scalloped hem of her daughter’s dress. “They’ll be here soon.” She tried to keep her tone light and positive, but inwardly she was losing hope. The scalloped dress hem mirrored the course of her daughter’s relationship with Charles—up and down, down and up, on and off like a roller coaster ride.

“Come on sweetheart. Let’s have a little smile,“ said the photographer. “Try to relax!”

Sandra, sister of the bride, looked at her watch again. The two bridesmaids were beginning to sweat. It was 2:59 and the ceremony was to begin at 3:00.

The bride shifted in the seat and licked her lips. She wondered why the photographer had set the chair on a piece of carpet. It was unsteady and she was uneasy, like she could tip over with the slightest wrong move. As if she wasn't nervous enough!

She pulled her feet close together, squared her shoulders and clutched the bouquet to her chest. Maybe he's not going to show up. And maybe it would be for the best, she thought. After all, she was a modern woman and it was 1928. Charles wanted her to resign her beloved nursing job to stay home and keep house. They'd argued and argued over this. It wasn't the only on-going disagreement they had.  

In these modern times could she be happy living as a single, independent woman?

But, left at the altar, would be a terrible humiliation! She’d be a reject. Her lip trembled. Should she get up, throw the bouquet aside and walk out—be the one who left, and not the one left-over and betrayed? While she thought over her options, she looked up and into the camera.
                                **********************

And from my own cigar-box of family photos, my husband's beloved aunt Frankie's wedding, about the same vintage as our prompt photo today. Unlike Florence, Frankie was a happy, smiling bride. On the extreme left is Frankie's sister Lorraine. My mother-in-law, Patti is on Frankie's right. The women all hold elaborate bouquets, each one different. Frankie's husband was a musician who worked in various LA studios writing music for films. I don't know who his best man was. 

Check out Sepia Saturday for more interpretations of this week's interesting photo prompt. 

Sepia Saturday 410. Umbrellas and Rainy Days

SEPIA SATURDAY 410 : 17 MARCH 2018

Japanese Canadian children being escorted by Vancouver policeman - 1942

RAIN : CHILDREN : POLICEMEN : NIGHT

My umbrella memories are mostly happy. I'm sticking with happiness even though the photo prompt recalls a horrible time in our past. 

 

In Switzerland with friends. we'd been eating for days -fondues and raclette. It was wonderful but we were stuffed like geese ready to be converted into foie gras. 

Saris, steps, umbrellas and rain. It was very hot and humid near Madurai in S. India. We welcomed the drop of a few degrees in temperature. I think you can feel a vibe in this photo that's far from a "rainy day" mood. People were cheerful and nobody was running out of the drizzle. I think they, like us, were enjoying it.

 I added the rain using Lunapic. 

 This is a watery effect and a crop.

Lunapic is like a time-sucking trap for me. There are hundreds of effects available and they're easy to try and discard. I can spend an hour or two with a single photo. Last one--a reflection. 

This beautiful, moody photo came around on Facebook without attribution. 

 It was boiling hot in Jodhpur on this particular day. We climbed up several many staircases to reach this viewpoint. I was gasping in the background taking the photo. Richard, part mountain goat, wasn't even breathing heavily.

Last, my favorite of all umbrellas, the Indonesian variety. And my favorite Bali villa in Srinigar, a heavenly place to stay for a while. 

Check out Sepia Saturday for more stories. 

Sepia Saturday #408: Paperboys

The prompt this week is a fine group photograph from the 1920s of "caddies at Shaughnessy Golf Club". 

My dad was about twelve in this photo of the paperboys for the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The paper was delivered around 5:00 pm, after school was out for the boys.  Most of them pulled their papers in sleds during the winter, although I think my Dad carried a pouch. There wasn't any extra money in their household for such an extravagance as a sled. They'd recently moved from the farm in Ontario west to Winnipeg. Fortunately, jobs were plentiful and the whole family went to work.

Having the paper delivery job was a rite of passage for boys for decades. My husband delivered papers on his bicycle in S. California in the fifties. They learned about responsibility, being on time, customer service, negotiating and working as a team.

I took a little editorial liberty and added snow to the photo via Lunapic. The scene looks like January or February to me–just a wild guess. I know it was cold, very cold and the boys would not have lingered on their butts in the snow for the photographer - he must have been good and he must have been fast. You had to keep moving in that climate in the winter.

And the final shot is how the scene would be photographed today, about 107 years later.

"What's a paperboy?" I can hear my great grand nieces and nephews asking.

My Dad is the lad at the top of this cropped-out photo. The dog isn't his but they look like they belong together. When I used this picture for another Sepia Saturday prompt, people remarked that Dad looked like a girl. He would have cringed to hear it but I have to agree. He's almost pretty in this shot. He morphed into a good-looking man. The prettiness evaporated when puberty set in. 

Newsies, the musical, is set in 1899, the year my father was born. It's still being staged here and there, and Disney's made a movie of it. The starring roles are Crutchie, Race, Specs, Finch and Spot. Those names. No kidding. They don't seem PC enough for Disney today.  I'm an old fuddy-duddy now, stuck living in the past where characters had to have believable PC names like Sky Masterson, Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Harry the Horse. Well, maybe Harry the Horse was a little cruel. 

The little bit I've seen of the show on Youtube seems unbearably corny with hackneyed music (is it me? or do all these show songs sound alike) and banal themes, but it's won several awards. 

Join the crowd and visit Sepia Saturday for more interpretations of this week's theme.