Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Friday 12 July 2013

Two Shades of Blue

Two shades of blue,
Tangled up in you.
Rod Stewart

Here's my Mum in the Summer of 1926, aged five and a half. The lady perched behind her is my great aunt Maud, who you my remember from my post 'Where was Maud?' back in January. She was my Mum's spinster auntie, with the hobby of photography. At the time of the picture above, Mum had just had her tonsils out; Maud was going to Mablethorpe for a few days to stay in a friend's guest house and she kindly took her niece along to get some sea air and help her recover from her operation. Maud bought the parasol as a present for Mum to help shade her from the sun, but also because it looked pretty and decorative, just the things to please a little girl.


That paper parasol certainly came in handy on the beach too. There was no factor 25 suncream in those days. Apart from anything else there was an ice cream cone to protect! Mum has made an attempt at a sandcastle using her little metal bucket and spade. I'm not sure where this is as Mablethorpe doesn't have a pier, but it's obviously a jetty of some kind. I think the paper parasols were a popuar holidaymaker purchase as I found two more pictures on the internet, of little girls in 1920s Mablethorpe, sporting similar models.

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt is a lady with an umbrella in pouring rain. I don't have any umbrella pictures, so parasols it is. There are bound to be all sorts of  shades and shelters from the family albums of our creative contributors though, so do join us there.


Meanwhile, here in Lanzarote, I need all the shade I can get!



I can't tell what colour Mum's 'shade' is, let's hope it was blue like mine!

21 comments:

  1. Great minds -- I have a paper parasol in my post today too. No tonsil story though.

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  2. Your Mum looks very pleased to have the parasol. She must have been pretty well recovered from having her tonsils out. I remember that horrible sore throat and nobody even gave me a little parasol or took me to the beach to recover.

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  3. From Mablethorpe to Lanzarote, quite an improvement (although I prefer the design of your mother's parasol).

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    1. So do I Rob; it looks far more sturdy than my modern fabric number.

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  4. That's a charming photograph of your mother and great-aunt on the gunwale of a boat at Mablethorpe. I can imagine both parasol and ice cream did a good job of soothing the post-operative throat.

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  5. At first glance, I read sunscream instead of suncream. Around here we call it sunscreen. Except for my kid's who called it sunscream when they were little. Maybe because that's what they did when I tried to get them ready for a day at the pool. Such cute pictures of your mom and her parasol.

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  6. Amazing that two photos of your mother with the same parasol survived all these years so that you could post them on these week's Sepia Saturday.
    Nancy

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  7. You must not have much wind there, or your parasol wouldn't last long.

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    1. Ha! Lanzarote is known as 'The Windy Island'! There are very few months of the year when we don't have the trade winds a blowing. However, they are nice and warm (mostly). Have you seen where Lanzarote is? We're only 100km off the African coast.

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  8. Great post. But can a smile be a parasol as well as an umbrella? Much better protection than sunscream.

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  9. Your photographs connect the generations perfectly. Do you know I have never been to Mablethorpe. Strangely enough there was a kind of east coast demarcation line for holidaymakers from the north and the midlands and exotoc places like Skeggy and Mablethorpe were on the wrong side of the line.

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  10. That's a lovely shot of your mum with her great aunt, Nell. I think wee may soon see the return of the parasol, particularly if this weather continues!

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  11. Wonderful pictures! I used to have a large paper parasol that I bought in San Francisco in the late 70's. I wonder whatever happened to it.

    You look so pretty.

    Kathy M.

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  12. Your great Aunt Maud sounds and looks life an aunt who is fun to be with. And your mum is a cutie. I always fancied a paper parasol. Maybe one of these days then.

    Hazel

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  13. We only went to Mablethorpe and Skeggie when we lived in Lincolnshire; the Humber seems to be the demarcation line mentioned by Alan now. I've never owned a parasol but have been glad of a golf umbrella, especially in Stavanger where it rain over 250 days in the first year I was there - non-stop. it seemed.

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  14. That is a lovely blue parasol. Makes me want to buy one. I usually just use an umbrella in the summer if I'm going to be in too much sun. Being I seldom actually get to use it in the rain I'm guessing a sunny day is second best. But it's not a lovely shade of blue.

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  15. Lovely old photos of your mum with a parasol. Good choice for the theme and adding the modern photos make it fun too.

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  16. A very nice "now and then" sort of thing.
    The ice cream took prevalence over sand,
    as it should in this case...
    :D~
    HUGZ

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  17. Lovely picture of your mum on the boat - what a kind Auntie she had! I bet she always remembered the parasol....

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  18. Such a cute picture of your mother and her pretty parasol. I wonder who took this photo since your aunt was usually the photographer? Obviously she wasn't this time.
    Barbara

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  19. Yes So Pretty.
    Plus I Remember tonsils+ice cream ! I remember being totally cheesed-off as a ten year old in hospital.I was in for six weeks with my leg in traction.....all the other kids were in+out having their tonsils out.I remember the hospital giving them all (but not me!) ice cream to sooth the pain.I bet the NHS cant afford ice cream these days!

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