My Golden Childhood XV

Remembering Good Times!

Last time (My Golden Childhood XIV) I posted this pic of me as a nine and a half year old. I thought I would share the whole photograph of my family with you. Aren't we a handsome mob? there is a great family story attached to this photo ~ isn't there always when you have a great family!

This family photograph was taken in June, 1972. It was Show Day and one of my sisters had organized with a photographer friend to take a family portrait to mark the end of an era. Our eldest sister was getting married in October so this would be the last family pic before the big event.

We had all come to town for the Show and then gathered that night for the photo shoot. I can't imagine the amount of teasing and hairspray that was needed to get Mum and the older girls hair to sit like that! I was nine and a half years old and I was adamant that I be positioned conspicuously to show off my new long boots. They were brown patent leather and long boots were all the rage. I had pestered my parents until Dad finally agreed to buy them for me :-) Dad was not in good humour getting ready. He insisted that the girls in the "Bum Freezers" should not be standing on the outside in those immodest clothes! Ah! 70s fashion ~ ya gotta love it. As you can see neither Dad or I got our way that day!

My Mum was always a slim woman. Ladies of her era always wore a good foundation which probably helped but Mum had a fine figure all her life ~ and still does. She normally wears blues and greens and looks good in them so I don't know why she is wearing that drabish outfit. Perhaps it was because, having so little Winter here, she only had one long sleeved outfit?

My younger brothers look so angelic! Butter wouldn't melt in those sweet little mouths. But looks can be deceiving and believe me they could be terrors! I am certain Dad would have given them some fairly stern instructions before hand, too.

So, here we all are 37 years later.

This is a repost of the pic from Mum's 80th birthday.

Do you think we have aged well? I think some even look younger in the more casual hairdos and modern clothes. Dear Mum and Dad are beautifully seasoned.

They always were a handsome couple!

(You might remember that one of my sisters died in 1969 and is not in either

of these family photos.)

As we posed for this photograph we roared laughing about the top photo. The clothes we wore and the Bum Freezers! Dad is 85 now and uses his age and patriarchy as an excuse to conveniently forget such stories!

One of my sisters called the "little boys" to sit down the front and replicate the old photo!

I thank God for the wonderful family he placed me in...