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."

Saturday 16 November 2013

A Step Up


The youngster with the Marlon Brando gaze, is my Dad aged about eight or nine. He’s surrounded by assorted relatives, Mother, aunt, cousins, sister. I’ve no idea whose doorway this is, perhaps it’s his Aunt Sarah (Cis), the lady in the middle at the back. Cis is rather good at standing in doorways as regular readers will remember from ‘Open All Hours’, and now appearing in the soon to be published Sepia Saturday 200 book. I thought I’d used all my doorway pictures in that post and 'Doorstep Delivery’ (including the one below) but as luck would have it the one above magically appeared.


By 1950 Dad had graduated from Marlon Brando to David Niven/Errol Flynn, as he posed in a much happier mood, with Mum in front of their first real home together. Definitely a step up! When they married in 1942 they were both serving in the armed forces and even after demob they lived with my Grandma and Granddad until a council house in Nottingham became available to rent. I also lived in this house until we moved to Kendal in The English Lake District, when I was five.

There were to be many more doors for all of us over the next sixty years, and I’m pleased to say that they were all happy homes. It’s exactly one year since I last saw Dad, and he passed away a week later; I’m so glad that I have all these lovely photographs to remind me of him. Next week is also Mum's 93rd birthday and I’ll be flying to Nottingham and landing on her doorstep to give her a big hug. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

For more people framed in doorways step up to this week’s Sepia Saturday. There may be a Marlon Brando or David Niven caught by the camera.


17 comments:

  1. You are blessed with all those days, every minute and every second, and they are yours at every thought, every turn of a page, keep these treasures close to your heart.

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  2. Your dad was handsome, handsome! Have a fine trip to Nottingham; happy 93rd to your mother!

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  3. Two lovely family photos and I do like your Dad as Marlon Brando or David Niven.

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  4. I wonder why men seemed handsomer in those days?

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  5. Lovely photos. Have a good trip home. Will you be checking your email and FB account whilst you are over here? I'll be in touch one way or another.

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  6. Two fine pictures. So many occasions now forgotten required a pose at the door. Have a great holiday.

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  7. Your mum is doing very well and your dad also did well, if he was a similar age. I hope you enjoy your trip to Nottingham.

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  8. Great memories. Happy birthday to your mum!

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  9. Have a great trip. Thanks for sharing your doors with us.

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  10. Okay, the first shot makes me think of the comedy routines where more than one person is trying to go out a door at the same time and they both end up squished. This looks like the old phone book trick where people tried to see how many they could squeeze inside. Looks like six was the limit for this doorway.

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  11. I'm amazed at how SepSats have photos of people actually in the doorways. Mine seem to be in the general direction of the front of the house but not actually in the doorway. Well done.

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  12. A handsome couple. Have a wonderful visit with your mum, Marilyn. Wish her a happy birthday for me.

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  13. How they all squeezed into that doorway in the first photo. The second photo is so familiar to me, I have many ancestral photos with that same pose. Amazing haw similar things are across the world!

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  14. Nice doorway photos and memories of your Dad.

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  15. Errol Flynn -- yes! What a cute pair. From the photos you've shared, I can tell your dad remained cute his entire life as has your mom. Safe travels!

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  16. Was the house in the first photo one where you step straight out onto the road? Maybe that's why they're crowded in the doorway. Lovely photos.

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  17. You can see how happy they are with their first home!

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