Caravans and Beasties - Sepia Saturday

I was in danger of going overboard when I saw this weeks prompt.

I knew I had some caravans from another North East fair that I had shown before.

Yarm Fair Caravans c 1949

Apart from goldfish I was a bit short on beasties until I remembered my sons at a seaside fair over 40 years ago.

Little Monkeys (No, not my sons)

When it comes to animals there is no need for me to go far from home. I just need to keep an eye on what moves in my garden,

Woodpile Inhabitant ( Frog or Toad?)

For some reason or another our bird feeder gets raided from time to time; if I am quick I can catch the culprit in the act.

Squirrel Attack - May 2008

I wouldn't mind if the beggar didn't bury his walnuts in the lawn.

Young rabbits also take liberties with our plants.

Rabbit eats its fill - July 2008

This year I have  different strategy for them.

Got the little blighter

Before I let it go I gave it a good talking to. I dropped it back over the wall you can see behind us - with strict instructions to warn its friends that "In that house they eat rabbits."

Having had an operation on my leg earlier this month I have not been very mobile. Today has been the first day for three weeks that I have been permitted to walk the two miles to the local garage to fetch a morning paper. This is what I met along the way.

Caravans in transit.

I was tempted to hitch a ride.

Now I suggest you do that a take a look at what other Sepians have done for Sepia-Saturday-179.

Messiness - Thematic Photography

When the River Tees is in flood, the flow is controlled by the Tees Barrage at Stockton. Debris brought down river backs up along the banks and the inlets. A sodden mess results. This seemed just right for Carmi's 'messiness' theme this week.

A Cormorant surveys the mess behind the boom.

Not bothered at all by the mess.

But he/she will not dive in there!

To see messiness left by others you need to visit Thematic-photographic-245.

Memorial Day - Sunday Stamps

Today happens to be the anniversary of the day in 1940 when the order was given to evacuate Dunkirk. There has been a memorial service earlier today in Liverpool to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic; 1943 was the year which marked the turning point of the battle in the Allies favour.

So I have chosen today to show Great Britain stamps commemorating the birth and death of our greatest wartime leader.

Winston Churchill

Churchill died in January 1965. This stamp was issued on 6 July 1965 along with another of a similar design at 4d and a different stamp at 1/3d (i.e., before our currency was decimalised)

Churchill had been born on 30 November 1874. To commemorate the centenary of his birth Great Britain issued a set of four stamps on 8th October 1974. I have two of these.

Churchill Centenary

The other two with him in different headgear were 8p and 10p denominations.

These were s for Viridian's Sunday Stamps suggested theme of  stamps commemorating or memorializing someone or an important event.

Let's Face It - Sepia Saturday

You will have seen these faces already but I could not resist showing them slightly differently than before to meet our faces theme.

My very first Sepia Saturday post showed Amy in a head and shoulders view; this time it's just her face.

Amy

Amy was my mother-in-law; the photo was long before I knew her of course.

I have to confess that I have tinted Amy's parents a bit but here they are relaxing by the sea.

Mary Hannah and George Albert

Somehow it did not seem right to separate them to show their faces. The same applied to my son-in-law's grandparents photographed in Warsaw.

Maria and Tadeusz Alfonse

And here's a boy old enough, now, to be 'sepiarised'.

Cody

To see a further selection of mug shots you can do no better than taking a look at Sepia-Saturday-178.

Finland - Sunday Stamps

Again I have to go back and show some old stamps from Finland. I must admit this is the first time I knew what they depicted.

Finland

From left to right these are:

• Church at Lammi - 1957; the stamp reappears later with the denomination shown as 0,50
• The Häme Bridge, Tampere
• Pyhakoski Power Station - 1959; later the denomination is shown as 0,75
• Helsinki South Harbour - 1958
• Helsinki South Harbour - later

The building on the South Harbour Stamps is the Cathedral of St Nicholas which appeared on a stamp in 1950 commemorating the 400 years anniversary of Helsinki (I believe)'

For more Finnish views cross over to Viridian's Sunday-Stamps-123.

Railings - Sepia Saturday

It's a long time since I have used all my own photos in a Sepia Saturday post, but I've managed it by choosing to use 'railings' as the link to this week's photo.

The railings in my first picture are the wooden fence at the bottom of the garden when we moved to a new house in Yarm back in the early 1970s and before either ours or next door's garden had been cultivated.

Our youngest son - well behaved for once

I'm surprised that he was not hanging upside down. Earlier in the 1950s it was his future mother's turn to do just that,

Over the top rail on Stamford Recreation Ground

Then there are these 'elegant' shots of my future wife climbing a ladder to the walkway on the top of the pier at St Andrews at the end of the 1950s when I was at University there.

Straight as a die, those stocking seams!

A little less elegant as she reached the top.

Note the railing to the right

The pictures really should have been in colour as I have never forgotten that green 'felt' skirt!

Meanwhile in Copenhagen in 2007 the railings were merely a vantage point.

Copenhagen, Denmark

What was the big, or should I say small and well formed, attraction? None other than -

The Little Mermaid

In 2012 the railings of a local pier were invaded by Olympians.

Saltburn Pier Olympians

Just two of many erected in secret by The Saltburn Yarn Bomber

Before I go off the rails and you begin to rail at me just swing yourself over to see what others have done at Sepia-Saturday-177-18-may-2013 - Bob's birthday.

Frozen - Thematic Photography

It seems strange in Spring to hark back to frozen times but with her curly coat Pippa is well protected against the snow and ice.

Pippa - with frozen whiskers

Back in December 2012 spray from cars created this curtain on a roadside fence.

Frozen Fence

And icicles from the eaves,.

The Longest Freeze

But for ice cubes and frozen fish there is only one place to go.

Freezer compartment

Finally two old boys enjoying a rest.

Ice Cream Break

Cody just knows that if he waits, and there are no other dogs around, that he will get the end of the cone..

For other frozen wastes you need to skate over to see what is to offer on Carmi's thematic-photographic-244.

Children, Games and Toys - Sunday Stamps

I found stamps from several countries that met the theme this week.

Dubai -  Children's Day - 1968

And the Year of the Child:

Ecuador - 1979

For toys I found a Teddy Bear

Sweden - 1978

And then one of my daughter's favourite bears all the way from Peru.

Great Britain - Paddington, 10 Jan 2006

"More About Paddington" by Michael Bond with Peggy Fortnum's illustrations was first published in 1959.

These four stamps were what I originally meant to post until I found this presentation pack of mint stamps on my favourite market stall.

Great Britain - 16 May 1989

The stamps depict from left to right;

• 19p - Toy aeroplane and train
• 27p - Building bricks
• 32p - Board games
• 35p - Toys

The information card is a gem in itself covering the history of toys. The pack also contained a second set of the stamps and a Stamp Card for each one, like this;

Royal Mail Stamp Postcard

To play more children's games and with more toys please go over to and follow the links at Viridian's Sunday-stamps-122.

School Days - Sepia Saturday

As chemistry was my favourite subject at school I thought this week would be ideal for ma as soon as I saw the laboratory photo.

However when I looked through my photo archive it was more difficult than that. From the age of 11 I went to Stamford School in Lincolnshire, then an independent school, Now it it is part of Stamford Endowed Schools along with what back then was Stamford High School for girls.. [Note to Facebook - Stamford School, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England - NOT Stamford School, Lahore, Pakistan as you insist it is on my profile and won't let me correct]

Stamford School & School Chapel

The buildings are situated on St Paul's Street; on the other side of the street are more school buildings.

Brazenose House - 2007

(Richard Croft - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Geograph Project Collection)

Brazenose was built in c 1688 and rebuilt in 1723 and is now part of the Stamford Endowed Schools campus. In my day the upper floor contained the Staff Room and class rooms; the two bottom windows on the right were those for the School Prefects' Study. The entrance at the right hand end led down to Brazenose gardens. 

Later in 1957, two years after I left, a new science block was built at the bottom of that same entrance. Annoyingly, for me, the photos of the opening of the block and one of my old chemistry master in the lab are copyright protected on the members only part of the School website

Major Lamb (Algy) to us was the one who suggest that I go on to his old university at St Andrews. [Note to Facebook - In St Andrews, Fife, Scotland NOT South Carolina] St Andrews University is 600 years old this year.

St Salvator's Hall -1956

I'm perched on the railing on the top floor of the men's hall of residence; you can't see it in this shot but that is the North Sea behind the far hedge,

Not to be thwarted I managed to find a shot of a St Andrews lab that did not exist while I was there.

Nuclear Resonance Lab, St Andrews - 2009
(Shandchem from Scotland - CC BY 2.0)

Finally, definitely before my time, I finish with a shot of Paris from the Scientific American Supplement - Author L Page.

Drawing of the Lab of the School of Physics & Chemistry
Paris - 1884

For more of the best days of your life, schools, laboratories  - whatever, cross over to Sepia-saturday-176.

Chaos Reigns - Thematic Photography

I had no idea what I was going to show for Carmi's 'chaotic' theme until  chaos intervened. 

I was supposed to be making coffee when I needed a spoon and then...-

Bob's Hope Sinks

..the dummy drawer under the sink came away in my hand as the brackets holding it in place sheared off. I should have opened the next draw on the left which held the cutlery. To add insult to injury the dummy draw front was too heavy to hold by the knob; it fell to the floor with a crash clouting me on the knee as its way down.

My wife rushed into the kitchen, thinking that the crash she had heard was me collapsing - it had to be she said as there had not been a single curse.

Now I'm the world's worst handy man but I do have a hoard of things in a large container in our garden shed. Chaos reigned when it was emptied out to allow me to search for replacement brackets and screws.

Screw You!

Pick the brackets out of a chaotic pile of screws.

Twenty-four hours later the dummy draw front is back in place - sans brackets, sans screws. Thanks to the local hardware shop I've learnt a new trick. 

Should this happen to you just stick it back in place with,, of all things,, strips of Velcro.

Job done!

To see what other chaos has ensued  as a result of this week's theme go to Chaotic thematic-photographic-243.

China - Sunday Stamps

I only have a few stamps from China and none for Taiwan. To show you how old my album is Taiwan appears as Formosa.

I would appreciate some help in identifying the images on these stamps; so far I have been unable to identify them.

China -- 1950-1960

The stamp on the left has a denomination of 10,000 Yuang; the fourth one is 1 Fen. As 100 Fen = 1 Yuang. This makes the left hand stamp cost a million times more than the 1 Fen.

I suspect that others this week will show more modern stamps. Check them out by following the links at Sunday-stamps-121

Smoke Signals - Sepia Saturday

Our house has always been a no smoking venue so I have never used a cigarette vending machine resembling the one in this week's photo:

When I was a boy (11 years old) one of my mates had access to free cigarettes (his father ran the local pub). Those were the days of Gold Flake, Park Drive and Woodbine cigarettes.. I soon gave up having a secret drag. I suppose you could say I was a good boy for that. 

As I have no photos of people smoking, it was quite a coincidence to find another 'good boy' that fits the smoking theme.

Chief Good Boy - 1914

The Chief is smoking a long-stemmed pipe in Fairfax Oklahoma. He looks at peace with the world.

In the days when the cinema was an attraction visited regularly and smoking was allowed inside there was at least some respite if you got a no smoking seat. Ideally though people smoked outside before they went in just like these young Swedish men.

Outside Eskilstuna Grand Cinema - 1958

(By Lars iLoni Olsson - CC BY-SA 3.0)

Woodbine cigarettes were made by a company called H O Wills and you once could have bought some from a machine like this.

Wills's Woodbine Vending Machine

in Staffordshire County Museum (by Andy Mabbett - CC By-SA 3.0)

These days it's a common to see people standing smoking outside shops and offices as they are no longer permitted to smoke inside. As you approach modern smoke signals are plain to see.

I guess that is the signal for me to send you off to see what other smoking gems you can find at 

Sepia-Saturday-175