Our Sepia Saturday prompt this week features a dog presenting a bone for the salvage effort during World War 2. My picture this week can match the decade (it was taken in 1949), it can match the dog; but it falls short in the bones and the rag and bone man. In their place you get Auntie Miriam and a boat on the Norfolk Broads. And as a bonus, I can tell you the name of the dog - Trudy.
I can be reasonably certain about all these details because the photograph was taken by my Uncle Frank and he was a paragon of annotation, an archivist disguised as a factory worker, a chronically of the mundane. It comes from an album which is entitled "Yarmouth Holiday July and August 1949". Great Yarmouth is a seaside resort on the east coast of England in the county of Norfolk. The area of countryside inland from Yarmouth is characterised by a network of navigable rivers and lakes which is known as the Norfolk Broads. Frank even gives us a short rhyme, which could almost become the official mission statement for Sepia Saturday.
"We went to "Broadland" - here and there
These snaps remind us where"
The particular photograph has a title added beneath it in the album : "Trudy likes Mimi" (Uncle Frank would always refer to his wife as Mimi).
One or two people have suggested that the prompt image bears a similarity to me and my faithful companion Amy. Marilyn even asked whether we could try to recreate the pose, a suggestion I decided to go along with. Whilst I managed to acquire a suitable costume and box full of bones, Amy flatly refused to adopt a "begging" pose (she suggested it would be demeaning and inconsistent with her status as a freeborn dog). The best I could come up with is the picture reproduced here - which features Amy with her "what kind of family did I end of living with?" look on her face.
If, like Uncle Frank, you want to be reminded of places by looking at some old snaps, you could do far worse than go to the Sepia Saturday Blog and follow the various links.
Brilliant Alan I'm so glad you rose to my challenge. As a bone-us people might like to know that it created an interesting thread on the Sepia Saturday Facebook page, where we have a lot of fun. perhaps more SS contributors or followers would like to join us there.
ReplyDeleteHa!Good for Amy. Wish your uncle's annotation talents had resided with my grandparents. And he even did fancy lettering.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you had changed the prompt picture at first. The dog is pretty convincing, but your head is at the wrong angle. I always think of "Mimi" as a dog's name because the first Mimi I encountered when I was young was a poodle.
ReplyDeleteHello Alan:
ReplyDeleteGood for Uncle Frank noting down all those details on the photographs. It really does make for interesting reading and placing people, places and times.
We are amazed that you have altered the image to include yourself and your dog. We have no idea how you did this but it is such fun!
I guess I'd never make a good witness to a crime because I clicked on almost every link on this page looking for your re-creation of the prompt. You rock, Mr. Photoshop!
ReplyDeleteI wish Uncle Frank was my relative -- he'd have saved me a lot of work.
Trudy is a great name for a dog, and very fitting for this particular one. I don't have a post for Sepia Saturday, but it has been a doggy week. An animal control officer came to my door and informed me that our black German Shepherd had been implicated in a biting incident. If we had a dog I guess it wouldn't be so amusing.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of amusing, the photoshopped Sepia Saturday prompt is hilarious. Fine job!
With a nod to your Uncle Frank, I think the photo-shopped poster is a clear case of Mimicry :)
ReplyDeleteOh Alan, so funny, I did a double take on the doctored picture of you and Amy. I like the picture of your aunt, you have good looking ancestors.
ReplyDeleteYou and Amy make quite the poster!! (Great job!) Your Aunt and her "Trudy" make a fine pair:)
ReplyDeleteYou've done a lot of work on this interesting post. People who leave notations like your uncle had no Idea how much value it would be.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your post - I caught the change in the picture immediately. Thanks for the laugh - you did a great job with photoshop.
ReplyDeleteI missed the altered post, then realized that the dog was gone and now realized that you added Amy later. Great job! And good for Amy to refuse to beg. Beg, indeed. She probably has you trained well enough that just a look will give her a biscuit. And Trudy is adorable!
ReplyDeleteToo funny! ...and this post is a fine example of why everyone loves you so much! ...not to forget your very humorous side!
ReplyDeleteI love those Rs and Ps, Alan. Oh, and the hat, by-the-way.
ReplyDeleteUncle Frank has left you lots of family history snippets, and good for Amy refusing to demean herself ;-) Great prompt pic, too, Alan!
ReplyDeleteI love your Uncle Frank's little rhyme! Oh, and that photoshopped image of you and Amy?...Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteAn inspired post as every dog deserves an annotation. Two colors and a rhyme! We should all be so lucky to have such an scribe.
ReplyDeleteI have so many old photos with no annotations and I am wondering who is who.
ReplyDeleteSo, Ami was not prepared to play the part; yours is brilliant, perhaps a second career?
Not just Amy, all Wheaten terriers are too laid back to beg.
ReplyDeleteYes, you fit perfectly! Nice shot of Aunt Miriam and pup!
ReplyDeleteThat last picture made me laugh. It fits you well :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great story, and a reminder of how important it is to label the back of each photo. The little rhyme does go well with S.S.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alan!
Kathy M.
I wish I had an Uncle Frank as my family pics are usually devoid of any annotations... Sigh... I think Trudy is a good name for a dog, not too soft so they can respond to it readily. Great pic!! Must have been fun times riding like this.
ReplyDelete:)~
HUGZ