Saturday, March 29, 2014

Sepia Saturday 221 : Digging The Fertile Soil Of History


Each week, Sepia Saturday challenges participants to go digging amongst their collection of old photographs in order to come up with something that - however obtusely - matches the set theme. For Sepia Saturday 221, the theme image features a lot of water : so I needed to go digging for water - and I came up with this recently discovered photograph of me as a young gardener. It must have been taken about 1954 and that is the small flower bed at the bottom of the garden in Oaklands Avenue, Halifax. I was given an early introduction to gardening : the couple who lived next door to us ran a flower shop and they gave me a little trowel and fork set for my birthday. I obviously threw myself into the hobby with enthusiasm and I have that look of happy concentration of a seasoned gardener. I must confess - and I realise that this confession will upset a lot of you - that the early exposure to the joy of cultivation has left me with a lifelong aversion to all things to do with the soil, flowers or vegetables (other than the noble potato which I worship with religious fervour). These days, I much prefer to do my digging in the fertile soil of history.

You can see what other people have cultivated for Sepia Saturday this week by visiting the Sepia Saturday Blog and following the various links.

25 comments:

  1. I would have thought that you would have turned into an avid gardner. Shame. But I must admit digging into collections of old photos is easier and fun.

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  2. Yes, you look very concentrated on the chore of watering your plants. I can't imagine why you didn't continue liking gardening, too many flies perhaps???

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  3. Anonymous11:21 AM

    I like both - grubbing around in the garden, and digging for information about our ancestors and the places they lived.

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  4. Well, you put on a good show. As much as I like having a good-looking garden, I hate running into worms and grubs ew gross. Gloves are my friend.

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  5. You weren't exactly flooding your garden there, but I hope that whatever it was you were watering appreciated your care, even if your gardening enthusiasm didn't grow correspondingly.

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  6. Are you sure that isn't beer in the watering can? No, wait... If it were you wouldn't be pouring it on the ground.

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  7. You look over happy to be gardening. Maybe you used all your joy of gardening up in that short period of time.

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  8. You certainly are a well dressed gardener. I hope it grew for you and time continued.

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  9. Ah, yes, I remember those sleeveless jumpers with those patterns; we all had those and short pants in the 50s.

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  10. When I was around 11 my Dad gave me a little plot of land to plant and I planted snapdragons & stock because they stood up straight so I could pretend they were a jungle & I crafted canals in between & around the rows of plants, then watered the heck out of the plot so I could float my toy boats. It's a wonder the poor waterlogged things lived & bloomed! Now the only planting I do is in pots.

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  11. Nice bit of dry stone walling there too, Alan!

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  12. You are going to be challenged when Sepia Saturday comes up with flowers , vegetables or soil !!

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  13. Far from upsetting me, I read this with a sense of relief. With me I don't think it's an aversion to the " soil, flowers or vegetables" themselves as much as to the physical labour that goes with it. I'm quite happy to plan and supervise ... Oh, and I share your fondness for the noble potato. I often plan my meals around the choice of variety and style of potato that I've decided on.

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  14. I like a little gardening. It isn't much work the way I do it.

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    1. P.S. A gardening prompt would be a good idea for Sepia Saturday.

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  15. Nice outfit, Alan! You were truly stylin' back in the day, eh?

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  16. I prefer to think of you as a digital archaeologist now, Alan. Maybe being a virtual gardener requires a thumb of a different hue.

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  17. An interesting and clever take on the theme - I wasn't that imaginative
    Did anything grow?

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  18. I agree with Jackie - a lovely "take" on this week's theme and good to see something more optimistic than floods - and I do like your pullover.

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  19. Anonymous12:51 PM

    Well, that was short and sweet, wasn't it. But balanced out by the quantity of comments. :-)

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  20. Love that you wore protective gear on your feet so the water would not mess up your socks.

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  21. That's a fine wall behind you Alan. Were all the walls in the area in the same style?

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  22. now that is some reflection about water down through these years....charming boy at work.

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  23. You certainly look very cheerful. Great take on the theme this week and I too was very taken with the wall behind.

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  24. I'm fascinated by that wall.

    That seems to be a common outfit for Brits gardening, at least when I think back on Python. There was the sweater and the boots. I always remember those. You look so dressed up to be out playing in the dirt. How kind of the neighbors to have instilled the love to tilling at an early age. And my grandparents best friends owned a florist shop. I loved going in there to look in the glass cases at all the flowers in the winter.

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