Sepia Saturday 157 : Christmas 2012

It is Christmas time here on Sepia Saturday and, as usual, we are having a Sepia Season by having just one call for the entire Christmas and New Year Season. So you can post your contributions to Sepia Saturday 157 at your leisure and add a link to the list below when you get a few minutes between eating the mince pies  and pulling the Christmas crackers. You could even join in the singing with Santa Claus on this tram in Stockholm in 1950, or you could give us your own take on Christmas based on your old photographs, or ignore any pretext of a theme and just share a fascinating old photograph. Just post your post, link your link, and have a wonderful Christmas. The normal Sepia Saturday will return on Saturday 5th January and here is a quick preview of our next two theme images.

Before I go, I would like to wish all Sepia Saturday followers and participants a most happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. In particular, can I take this opportunity to thank the two people who have helped me so much in keeping the Sepia Calls coming each week by taking over the reins when I have been away : Marilyn Brindley (Little Nell) and Kat Mortensen. I know many of us have had Marilyn in our thoughts over recent weeks as she has had to cope with the loss of both her father and her sister-in-law. Marilyn e-mailed me the other day and asked me to pass on her thanks to all her Sepia Saturday friends for their support in this difficult time and to say that she will be posting again in the new year. 

Over the years, Sepia Saturday has become a wonderful supportive community, one which I am very proud to be a member of. Thank you all for making it so, have a splendid Christmas and New Year.

Alan

Sepia Saturday 156 : 15 December 2012

As we move towards the Festive Season, it is time to get out the mistletoe, hang it from every doorway and encourage an epidemic of kissing. Not that these two seem to need too much encouragement : the photograph was taken in the late 1920s and has been made available from the Australian National Maritime Collection via Flickr Commons. As always, you can go where you want with this theme image, or if you prefer, you can ignore it all together. We are not asking for a passionate kiss, nor even a peck on the cheek : just an old image and some new reflections to be published on or around Saturday the 15th of December. Once your post is up, add a link to the list below and join in the fun.

Please remember, that there is just one call over the Christmas and New Year period (Sepia Saturday 157) and then we will be back as normal on the 5th January with Sepia Saturday 158. Here is a quick preview of the next two archive images:

All that lies in the future. For the moment, "give us a kiss for Christmas".

Sepia Saturday 155 : 8 December 2012

It is true to say of my old family photographs - and from what I have seen over the years, the same is true of most other Sepians (I love that word but it was invented by Ticklebear and not by me) - that photographs from the first half of the twentieth century either feature one's relatives in their Sunday best, or in their overalls. Well so often in Sepia Saturday we have turned our spotlight on the Sunday finery,  so this week I want to focus the spotlight on the humble overalls (and, workwear of all types). Now regular Sepians who are members of the Royal Houses of Europe - and there are several of them, aren't there your majesty? - may have trouble finding a working relative, but I suspect the rest of us won't find it too much of a challenge. And you can always interpret my archive theme image - which is from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia - in any way that you want to. All you need do is to post your post on or around Saturday the 8th December 2012 and add a link to the list below.

And as we approach the festive season, the advanced warning of what is to come might be particularly useful. As usual, I have made SS157 a Christmas Call rather than focussing on a particular day so people can have maximum flexibility during this busy time. The normal weekly Sepia Saturday service will resume with SS158 on Saturday 5th January 2013. Here are the next two archive images :

But all that is in the future. For the moment, roll up your sleeves, put your overalls on and get working hard with your contribution to Sepia Saturday 155.

Sepia Saturday 154 : 1 December 2012

Bridges have always had symbolic meaning. When discussions were taking place on the design of the first Euro notes, it was decided that the common illustration on all denominations should be a bridge - to symbolise the joining together of people, communities, and nations. Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week is entitled "Rough Wooden Bridge Over River, Group With Dog on the Shore". It comes, via Flickr Commons, from the Phillips Glass Plate Negative Collection, at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. The Museum provides no further information about where the bridge is, but the brilliance of on-line communities such as Flickr Commons (or, indeed, Sepia Saturday) is that such information is soon forthcoming : the footbridge was in Mosman Bay on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. The location of the photograph is not the only question posed by the title - it takes a sharp eye to spot the reported dog. 

You Sepia Saturday theme for this week could therefore be bridges, lakes, rowing boats, dogs (present or absent), or whatever you care to make it. Just post your post on or around Saturday 1st December 2012 and add a link to the list below. 

As usual, here is a sneak preview of the next two Sepia Saturday images :

Overalls and kisses are for the future, however. For the moment, step onto the bridge to the past that is Sepia Saturday and post your images for Sepia Saturday 154.

Sepia Saturday 153 : 24 November 2012

Old photographs are wonderful aren't they? I know I am preaching to the converted, but isn't it wonderful how an old photograph can send you on a journey : a fascinating journey of discovery. Take our archive image this week which comes from the Samuel Bell Maxey Collection at the Texas State Archives and is available via the wonderful Flickr Commons service. The only information provided is that it is a photograph of  Lala Williams and Elgie Crook, but with just a few Google clicks you can discover that ...... Well, I don't want to spoil the journey for you, so go and click your own Google and take your own journey of discovery.

And so this is our theme image this week - post your posts on or around Saturday 24 November and link them to the list blow - and there are one hundred and one theme strands you may care to follow. All you need to do is to look into those two faces and let your imagination run free.

So that your imagination can shop early for Christmas, here are the next two Sepia Saturday archive image prompts.

But for the moment look again at the photograph of Lala and Elgie and let it work its sepia magic.

Sepia Saturday 152 : 17 November 2012

Our Sepia Saturday Archive Picture Prompt this week comes from the collection of the New York Public Library and features a group of children avidly reading their books following a talk about books by the staff of the Library. The picture dates back to the 1920s (note : there is not a Kindle in sight) and offers a variety of potential directions for Sepia Posters to take (books, reading, kids, libraries, ridiculous check jackets ... or whatever). The only instruction, as usual, is to post your post on or around Saturday 17th November 2012 and include a link on the list below.

Now I know we had a reading prompt fairy recently and you may think that the Sepia Saturday archivist has once again lost the plot (especially as there was a strikingly similar image previewed for SS153). And you would be right. However, I have swallowed a couple of those little yellow pills and things seem much clearer now. Therefore I have decided to withdraw the prompt image for SS153, replace it with a new one, and forget the whole episode ever happened (I suspect I need a holiday). So here is a preview of the next two Sepia Saturday prompts for those who like some advanced notice of the confusion to come.

You can, as usual, read into those two images exactly what you want to, but don't start reading until you have completed your submission to Sepia Saturday 152. Now, are you sitting comfortably?

Sepia Saturday 151 : 10 November 2012

So here I am, back home again, safe and sound on dry land. Let me first of all thank my good friend Kat Mortensen for looking after Sepia Saturday in my absence. From the look of things, Sepia Saturday has been in very good hands indeed. I still haven't unpacked the cases yet, so I will get straight on with this weeks' call, and for Sepia Saturday 151 the subject of our call is .... calls. Or telephone calls, or exchanges or whatever you would like to interpret the above photograph from the US National Archives which is entitled "Photograph of Women Working at a Bell System Telephone Switchboard". As usual, all you have to do is to post your own old image and add a few new reflections on or around Saturday the 10th November 2012. Once you have posted, add a link to the list below and then try and drop in on as many other Sepia Saturday callers as you can.

For those who like to think about future calls in advance, here is a quick preview of the next two Sepia Saturday archive photographs.

But this week it is the telephone exchange. I suppose, when you think about it, Sepia Saturday is a kind of graphical telephone exchange. So dial up, plug in and give us a call.

Sepia Saturday 150: 3 November 2012

Anyone up for a little deciphering?  Can you make out what the (albeit reversed) hand-writing says on the right-hand side of this image? Here's a snip, rotated, enlarged and cross-processed. Any luck now?

Click to enlarge

Once again, I'm afraid we've got MEN, or at least men and youths.  Now, I've not seen it before, but I know in Ireland they have an odd sport called, "hurling".  I'm pretty sure that that's what's been going on here.

I would love to know what those buildings are in the distance.

Lots of hats - men's hats this time, and as someone mentioned (might have been Marilyn, I can't recall) that one fella looks like he's on a cell phone, but since this image is from  the 1920s, that's quite an anachronism!


This is actually Irish Revolutionary Leader, Michael Collins, at the Senior Hurling Championship match against Dublin on September 12, 1921. He's talking to the Kilkenny hurlers at Croke Park in Dublin.

(Dublin won the match 4-4 to 1-5 to a crowd of 17,000)

(Collins would be assassinated only a year later, at the age of 32, on August 22, 1922) Now I'm wondering what that other fellow might be reaching for in his vest pocket?

Go political, go sporty, go fashionable, go inventive ... just GO!

Kat



Here's a sneak peak at the next two weeks! (Alan's choices.)

By the way, don't forget to sign up to "follow" me and other SS participants, and I'm sure they will do the very same, as will I.

Please post your links below, and visit all our fellow Sepia Saturday members to read what they have come up with as the result of pondering this image:

No S.O.S. required!

NOT Alan and Isobel!
(original image borrowed from Flickr)

Dear Members: Yesterday, I took it upon myself to contact the "S.S. Azura" via e-mail, to ensure that our beloved host, Alan and his GLW are indeed ship-shape, and have not been adversely affected by hurricane, "Sandy". I expressed our concern as a group, for their welfare and I am delighted to report that I have had a response this morning. To wit:

Hi Kat,
Your kind message has just been passed onto me by the ship's reception. We are all fine and by now we are on our way back across the Atlantic and well out of harms way. We were really touched by your message; it once again illustrates what a real community Sepia Saturday is. Internet connection is dreadfully slow and intermittent and frighteningly expensive so could I possibly ask whether you could put a message on the SS Blog and Facebook Page assuring all that we are safe and well and extending all of our good wishes to all those who are facing the perils of the weather at the moment.

Alan and Isobel

THE S.S. AZURA, LEAVING SOUTHAMPTON WITH ALAN AND ISOBEL ON IT!

Sepia Saturday 149: 27 October 2012

Men, Men, Men, Men, Men-dee-Men-Men!

So, you're tired of men, are you? Well feast your eyes on THIS beauty!  ( I jest, so I do.)

Here's another Flickr Commons photo from the National Library of Ireland, and what have we here?  Not one, but TWO women! Hurrah!  (I was greatly relieved to find the second lady in the background with the lovely hat, but I'll be honest, even I am going to struggle to come up with a photo that follows this theme!)

This picture is of "Twin Wells" on the banks of the River Aille at Lisdoonvarna in County Clare, taken around the turn of the century (1900).

Apparently the waters were acclaimed as restorative and this place was designated a spa.  By the looks of things, the old lady in the photo has not benefited, or isn't drinking them. Ha!

Go on my dears, and make what you can of this, be it spas, water, old ladies, young ladies, tourists, umbrellas, homeless people.  Go on!

I cannot possibly think of this spot in the south of Ireland without  giving you a little related treat. Here's a YouTube clip of a somewhat famous tune entitled, "Lisdoonvarna" by the equally famous, Christy Moore. Bear with the brief advertisement at the beginning.

Here we go!  Another couple of teasers for you - and look, in two weeks, not a man in sight!!!

I have made an effort to visit everyone who posted last week, and if you had a method whereby I could follow your blog, I have done so.  I would be most grateful if you would reciprocate.  A hearty thanks to all who have done so, so far.

Don't forget to visit all the undoubtedly stellar interpretations of the photo below, by visiting the Sepia Saturday blog (beginning on Friday) and clicking on the links.   Thank you!

Sepia Saturday 148: 20 October 2012

I have finally made it round to everyone's posts from last week, and I must say, you all exceeded expectations.  I think we learned a great deal about various troops, and soldiers and battles.  Those who drifted from the theme were no less enlightening and entertaining. Thank you all!


I'm posting a bit early again to give us all some extra time.

Here is another Flickr Commons photograph from the National Library of Ireland and I know what you're all thinking ... more UNIFORMS???  Well, yes, sort of, but it's what is going on in this image that really struck me, and there are a few directions one could go with this - say, bikes? Or perhaps, guns (since there appears to be an exchange of one going on here). How about "nosy parkers" in the backgrounds of photographs? What's that term where someone or something usurps a shot? Oh yes! The PHOTOBOMB.  (Google it; you'll have a right laugh!)


Then there's the obvious tack with the Police, or "Coppers" as you Brits like to say.

So, on your bikes, get set ... POST!  (And don't forget to link back here on Friday, so we can all have a gander.)

Kat

Incidentally, it has come to my attention that a few of you have issues with posting comments where an Open ID is required.  It would be simpler if comments were set up differently.  In Blogger, go to Layout; choose Settings, Posts and Comments and select "ANYONE".  With this set-up, visitors will have not trouble signing in to share their thoughts.  I know that everyone wishes to reciprocate when others have taken the time to leave a generous comment on their own blog.

To control who DOES visit, select "Always" under the Comment Moderation option, and insert an e-mail where notification for pre-screening can be mailed.

Thank you for your co-operation.

I myself, have made every effort to add your blogs to my sidebar, and would be appreciative of the same for mine.  I would also welcome any new "Followers", if you've found my posts of interest.


Now to next week's business.  Below are the preview photos for the coming two weeks.  No more uniforms!!!

Enjoy!

Make sure you check in on the weekend to keep up with all the current postings from fellow Sepia Saturday participants.  You won't want to miss anyone's interpretation of the photo below:

Sepia Saturday 147: 13 October 2012

Hello!

Well, we said, "Bon Voyage" to Alan last week, so here am I to step into his shoes for a spell.  I hope you'll cut me a bit of slack on a number of counts.  I have been absent from the Sepia Saturday circuit for some time, as I have been very occupied with cooking and  baking and posting recipes on a new blog. (No self-promotion, I assure you.)
I am new to the procedures for posting the calls for Sepia Saturday, so I hope I don't make any blunders, and I shall try to live up to the skill and erudition of our wandering host.

In any event, I will do my best to make these next few weeks enjoyable and up to par.

The above picture just caught my eye.  I suppose that's because my father was an Army man. As a result, I'm a big fan of military movies, and so anything with a regimental look is bound to draw my attention.  This photo has been borrowed from the Flickr Commons National Library of Ireland (I'm also a bit partial to anything Irish, since my dad was born in the the North of that country.)  I hope you like the image!

In terms of a theme, there are many directions one could go with this. You could deal with the military angle (of course, that's obvious), group photos, uniforms, medals and regalia, dapper caps, or even shiny boots, And well, it looks as if only one of the chaps above hasn't got a moustache, so that's a possibility as well, isn't it?

Other than that, you can choose to veer off this path entirely and do your own thing.  We are not judgmental here at Sepia Saturday; we'll read it all, won't we?

So, get your posts composed, and just post your link below, so we can all have a look to see what you've come up with!


See you on Saturday!

Kat


You can also put your thinking caps on and start pondering how to handle these images coming up in the next few weeks. (Don't they look like fun?)

Sorry folks, I managed to make the rounds to about 2/3 of your posts, but this morning I awoke with a severe pain in my right shoulder blade (repetitive strain from beating muffin-batter, I think) and will not be following up until tomorrow or later with the remainder of you.  I do apologize.

Watch for the next "call" on Wednesday morning!

Kat

Now to the task at hand. See what you can make of the "Sergeants" photo above (and below) ...

Cross your fingers, folks!  Here's my first crack at Mr. Linky.  Hope it works!

Sepia Saturday 146 : 6th October 2012

So, away we go. I am packing my bags and loading up my Kindle ready for my time away. Let's hope the seas are calm and the sun is shining. My archive picture this week shows the German built SS Imperator arriving in New York on her maiden trans-Atlantic voyage in June 1913. She was a fascinating ship, the Imperator; built for size, speed and luxury during the age of the great liners. In some ways she was a little too luxurious and a high centre of gravity caused her to suffer from poor handling and the tendency to list from side to side. This resulted in her becoming known as "the Limperator". The problem was eventually solved by the removal of the marble bathroom suites from the First Class cabins!

So your theme for Sepia Saturday 146 (post your posts on or around Saturday 6th October) is anything to do with ships, the sea, holidays, transport, crowds, or marble bathroom suites. As usual, post your posts and then add them to the Linky List below. As I mentioned last week, I am glad to announce that Kat Mortensen will be looking after things whilst I am away. I look forward to catching up with all your posts as my ship limps from side to side and I ponder on the space where the marble bathroom used to be.

For those wanting a peek into what will be coming up during Kat's stewardship, here are the next two archive image prompts.

So, off I go in search of another pair of socks and my best dickie bow tie. See you all on my return. And good luck to Sepia Saturday and all who sail in her.