Thursday, 22 April 2010

The Past Is A Foreign Country

The dressing up clothes are all over the floor, said The Small One, casually draping herself in a length of sparkly chiffon and perching a pirate hat on her head.

I was looking for a doctors outfit, I replied, and then I found all these..

It was true. I had started to pull things out and they had brought back so many funny memories. The Poison Ivy costume (felt leaves on net) which I could see coming back in an even shorter, even more poisonous teenage version. The Pink Princess dress (the sewing machine broke down and her long suffering auntie and I sewed it by hand, together). The Harry Potter Halloween party (Hagrid's wig moulted). The Charlie And The Chocolate Factory party (Willy Wonka recycled Hagrid's wig; but the Oompa-Loompa's orange paint went everywhere)...

Oooh, look! shrieked The Small One, interrupting my reverie by waving a toy pistol in front of my eyes. Horsey's not having this one..

That reminds me. I said. I found an old photo of your Grandpa G, dressed as a cowboy. Would you like to have a look? It's there on my desk. I'm sorry I can't tell you anything much about it. I don't even know where he was living at the time. I wonder..do you you think that might be a real moustache?

Probably not, The Small One shook her head. It's drooping too much at the ends. I wish I could have met him. Do you think he would have liked me?

Yes, my love, I said, looking up. I think he would have liked you very much indeed.

And that's where we left it.



Today I'm Loving..this stitching project. It sounds like a good one. Oh, and if you want to read another story about my dressing up, there is one right here

23 comments:

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Sian ~ Once again, a beautifully written (and touching) post.

And I loved hearing about your collection of costumes - we have a similar bag of them in our house.

Thanks for the dose of nostalgia this morning. xo

Rhona said...

Isn't it sad that we can't find out more about some of our older photos. I keep telling my Mum she needs to make notes about the photos she has because otherwise once she's gone we won't know anything about them.

This West London Life said...

Another lovely post! I'll know where to come when DS needs a fancy dress costume, won't I?!

Unknown said...

I am not sure why I am crying. I shouldn't. Beautiful layout and story. Thanks for sharing.

humel said...

Beautiful post :-) It's a great page - works so well, even though you can't tell the background story to the photo! Sounds like you have a fine collection of dressing up clothes xx

Maria Ontiveros said...

Love the layout and story - the title is particularly brilliant. The photo seems to me to have and early 1970's vibe? Would that fit with his age?

My kids are long since out of the best dress-ups they had (a small devil, a cave-baby and a beagle!).

Rinda

Sandra said...

So beautifully written, I feel like I was there, listening to the chatter :) ... love it.

scrappyjacky said...

I have a whole box of photos passed on from my mum.....I find it very sad that there are so many of them I know nothing about.

Amanda said...

I love your page title, how true that is at times. I'm lucky to have lots of old family photos whereas I find it kind of sad that we don't have any of my husband's family or of him when he was little.

My Nan must of treasured the photos I now have and I'm glad she did otherwise I wouldn't have them today.

Lizzie said...

I love your stories, Sian! This is another great one. We also have a big box of dressing-up bits - very useful. J. went off to Normandy with a "Homme Normand" costume for their fancy-dress evening - it included a useful red & white scarf from the dressing up (and one of my long-sleeved blue t-shirts, but never mind).
I like the layout you made too - great photo and a great title. It's nice that you added journalling, even though it's about how little you know about the photo. Many people would just put a little strip of paper saying "Dad dressed as a cowboy" and leave it at that.
I'm sure The Small One was glad to hear her grandad would have liked her very much. That is a comforting kind of thing to know.

debs14 said...

Horsey dressed up as Hagrid, I can see it now!
How lovely to find the photo of her grandad, I wonder what the story is behind that? And I wonder how many of our photos will cause people in the future to ask similar questions. This is why we need to scrapbook EVERYTHING!

Anonymous said...

I love your stories because they come straight from your heart.

Faboulous page love the layering.

Cheri said...

Touching story, well-written, almost makes me wish we hadn't given all of the girls outgrown costumes to Good Will - might have been nice for the grandkids I'm going to have someday.

Carmen said...

This was such a good post Sian, loved it. Can almost picture you both and the scrapbook page itself is fabulous. I really must start scrapping again!

Amy said...

I love the title you have chosen for the post and the page - it feels like that sometimes. I'm having visions of teenage poison ivy ;-)

Anonymous said...

Your writing is very special, Sian. I love the title of the layout, and it inspires me to scrap some photos I have that I know nothing about, but I would love to know the story.

Gillian said...

Such a lovely, moving post, Sian and a beautiful LO - you certainly have a way with words ( and scrapbooking!)
I have similar memories and photos of various dressing-up outfits and ballet costumes - mind you I still seem to be making them - spent countless hours slaving over a hot sewing machine bck in Feb making 15-yr old DD two dancing-girl costumes for Bugsy Malone!

Scrappi Sandi said...

Such a touching post...& isn't it lovely when some things just open the floodgates & all the memories come rushing in?!!

I love your previous post about the measles too & wearing that party frock till it fell apart...I'm afraid I have to admit that I didn't have a party frock...not in childhood anyway...I was too much of a tomboy, but I can identify with the PVC handbag situation!! Bought from Tesco Home'n'Wear if I remember correctly!!!

Cat said...

Fabulous LO and another beautifully touching story - thanks for sharing!!

Catherine said...

Am so enjoying stitching as well. Your story and LO are respectively lovely.

Catherine

Carrie said...

Aw, such a sweet story. Great layout.

Clair said...

Loving the page - and the story. I only ever met one of my Grandma's and have always loved stories about my other Grandparent's. Your page is a beautiful way to keep your memories.

The Scrappy Tree said...

So sweet :) lovely page

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