for Elizabeth

Another trip down memory lane  my two sisters and their friend Kim  celebrating at some long gone family party  the ones that merge into one another as time becomes  a bit cloudy! I remember vividly the excitement as two new dresses were brought out of their carrier bag each picked with great care. Both my sisters loved clothes but Jackie  the one in the black dress was obsessed ! I remember if she didn't want to wear something she  would stamp her feet and refuse.....one vivid memory of my mother trying to force her into a banana yellow siren suit and my two year old sister  hysterical!!!Legs and arms flying and for my great nieces who read this blog google siren suits!!!

 

The two massive influences in my life  my auntie Blan  her name was Blanche  but me and my brother always called her blan i don't know why......the woman who taught me to grow flowers and  learn all their names  who looked after us  at lunch time while my mam was at work. she took us on holiday to Wales  let me and our Janet do anything we wanted which we loved!  I remember endless Sunday teas with Edam cheese and beetroot!!something my mother never bought! and my darling mother  who instilled into us morals , manners  kindness and how to be decent  human beings. We have been so lucky as a family to have the mother and father we had . My auntie and uncle were the same ....and i feel truly blessed to  have had and have the family which is mine....................

Omg look at that face it typifies cheekiness!! My baby sister Joanne or Jojo as i called her for years. The beauty of the family  and the naughtiest one of us!!! One day I walked into the back of the flats were we lived to see my poor mother frozen with fear and as i followed her eyes skyward seen my little sis sitting on the window sill two storeys up dangling her legs out the window!!!  Needless to say i dashed upstairs crept behind her and dragged her to safety !!!!

 The three sisters ! or should i say sisters in law.....Auntie Joan one of the funnest women i ever met , auntie  Iris warm and homely and always welcoming she was a fab cook,  both were married to my  mams brothers who were regimental Sergeant majors in the army for years!   My mum  was the much loved baby sister and  her brothers adored her . There were always  holidays going on with family get togethers   LOVE THE TEA CUPS!!!!

My two sisters my first models who got so sick over the years of having cameras in their faces!!Jackie was  turning into a proper Young lady  Joanne was still  the funny little girl who had a mind of her own.....Love the hair styles! the  fashions of the seventies and eighties...this was taken in our front garden  on a sunny day i have endless images taken in that garden...sunny days winter days parties weddings Christmas time  memories i wonder who's living in that house now. It was certainly filled with love and laughter....................

Another wedding with my auntie Glady  and auntie Blan  doing kitchen duties. My auntie has a home perm done by my mum i can still smell the stink of the chemicals and the bated breath as my mother  gingerly  removed the tiny metal rollers. The relief when the perm was OK and not frizzy!!!!My auntie sitting draped in towels and my brother complaining of the rotten egg smell. Shed had her hair styled at the hairdressers for the occasion Loads of backcombing and lacquer ...hair as hard as rock that didn't move at all!!happy days !I remember the kitchen paper was orange everything seemed to be orange!!or brown! But everything seemed to be right! We were hard up . short of money but life was good we didn't have a care in the world and there was an innocence as we grew up.....i wish i could say that now x