Have you got a relation that you never got to meet that you would love to have met? The one I would have liked to have met is my Great Grandmother Gladys Mae (Holden) Nash. By all accounts from the stories I heard over the years she was a bit of a laugh, and like me LOVED COLOURFUL THINGS! So that must be where I get it from.
Gladys was born on the 18th of January 1888. This is her with her parents Louis and Kate.
Kate (in the wheelchair) and Louis (crouched next to her) with a bumper crop of Apricots from their Orchard in Waiomu, Thames, NZ. They lived in Te Aroha because of the thermal springs which were therapeutic for Kate. I am not sure but Gladys is quite likely to be one of the young ladies in the photo.
Previously they owned a farm in Feilding on a farm called Ridgelands. Louis imported the 1st Poll Angus bull in New Zealand, seen above.
Gladys married Ernest Octavius Nash on the 16th of June 1909 in Te Aroha. Ernest is the gentleman to the left of her behind her mother. Gladys's sisters were her two bridesmaids. Her grandfather William is the man second from the left and her grandmother Jane is the woman in black on the far right.
I love this photo as it has my great grandparents, great great grandparents, and my great great great grandparents in it!!
Ernest and Gladys had three daughters and then my grandfather William Ernest Nicholas Nash, known to us as Grandpa Bill (my mothers father). This photo shows two of his sisters with his parents.
Gladys passed away in 1957 five years before I was born. She was a dab hand at needle work and I have a box of her old embroidery cottons in all my favourite bright colours.
So yes, if I could meet an old relative it would be Gladys.
I think she would have approved of my cobalt blue and more than likely would have loved my bunch of girls and all their antics they get up to.
Hi Gladys, bet she would have enjoyed swinging and nattering in my garden on a warm summers day. She was an ample sized woman, another thing I have in common with her, apparently I am classed as a big girl, a larger lady, curvy, XL which I am pretty sure stands for extra luscious!!
I have plenty of pockets!!
There has been a bit of shopping this week as I stumbled upon a pop up shop full of glorious colourful things yesterday!! I don't often buy brand new but when a SALE RACK is conveniently parked at the door of a shop and it is bursting with COLOUR, like a moth to light I was drawn to it in some mystical way. Maybe it was Gladys guiding me?
Somehow I bought both these divinely colourful things.
Is this not why I work?
Oooops!!! I found this dress today, and somehow it came home with me. I think I am ready for SUMMER now.
When I had my hysterectomy 10 years ago my doctor said "your metabolism could speed up or slow down". I actually think it was removed with all those girly bits that were no longer any good. So I have CURVES, pretty sure there are worse things in life I could have.
Today was lovely but started off cool so I was striping of the layers as the day went on. Layers of second hand lovelies!! I am having a bit of a love affair with cobalt blue and aqua at the moment.
In Vinnies today I scored an entire paper mache' Nativity set at 20 cents per piece. I am not remotely religious but I quite like Nativity sets, so I finally have one. Santa was also only 20 cents and the books were all $1 each. My Summer reading supply is looking good.
These three were very pleased when I finally got home today and sat still long enough for them all to join me.
When did the world become obsessed with SKINNY?
Not me, I'm not obsessed with anything that isn't colourful and happy.
The weekend is about to start in four minutes, and I should go to bed! Have a brilliantly happy relaxing fun filled, smile worthy weekend.
14 comments:
Great to see and hear about your ancestors Sue, I love that polka dot dress Gladys is wearing. I did meet one of my Great Grandmothers, she died when I was a few weeks old but apparently she wasn't a bundle of laughs and was as tight as a duck's arse.
Those photos from the past are such treasures. Ridgelands, if you Google it, some advertisements come up. Imagine wearing all those heavy gowns and more, and think of the washing and ironing!! Gladys would have so loved you, your colours and your girls. Did you know Ridgelands sold poultry??? Maybe there is a real family connection.
Fabulous post - how neat to have all those old photos and know who the people are in them!!!! Your summer wardrobe is really rocking, curves and all :-)
Love the old photo's, I can just imagine the colours....almost! You are set to take on the world with your wham of colour and your pockets!
I look at old photos and just shake my head at how people went about in the clothes they did-imagine how hard it must have been getting dirt out of the hems of all those sweeping skirts. Unpaved roads kicked up a lot of filth-I do not take easy-care fabrics for granted! That said, I enjoy seeing your family photos-that one at the wedding is so wonderful with all the generations represented.
I can't decide which of the three new summer dresses I like best-they're all so beautiful. You know I approve of the blue and aqua combo-my lifelong favourites.
I stopped worrying about my size a long time ago. I've been skinny, I've been fat, and everything in-between. I'm the same person beneath it, I just have a more extensive wardrobe to accommodate all the weight shifts! Not that I need an excuse to shop but...
You have yourself a super-duper weekend Sue.
What a great old fashioned name is Gladys. I think it would suit one of your girls. Would she like that?
Love the connection fabric and thread gives to the generations. And so personal!
Your layers all work so perfectly and such gorgeous colours.
So funny about touching thighs or was that thighs to touch?....oh thighs THAT touch! Kidding ;-)
Happy Summer in your colourful floaty dresses, your prolific reading matter, and your GORGEOUS garden. Sigh!
Xo Jazzy Jack
Wonderful photos! I agree with Goody that your kinswomen would ooh and ahh! over your colorful, comfortable and easily laundered wardrobe. I once interviewed a very aged lady who recalled when streets in Richmond, Indiana were unpaved: "...we tacked panels of buckram inside the backs of our skirts because just walking to the stores we'd kick dirt all over. Then we snipped out the panels to wash the skirts. Wore them with high-collared blouses called shirtwaists." Lucy loved bright colors, TV dinners stacked in the freezer, and indoor plumbing with huge hot water heaters. And she admired my curvy figger (at the time waifs were fashionable).
Seems like the colour runs in your line. How wonderful. And the old photos are still so full of life at at time when not moving often produced very frozen expressions. An obsession with skinny is simply convoluted! We are who we are. Your shopping finds are stellar! Have a great weekend.
I just love the old photo's....they're lovely.
Cheers, Anita.
I love old family photos … even when they're of someone else's family :0)
I'm sure your Great Grandma would thoroughly approve of your colourful choices :0)
xx
I love to hear about people's family history and see all the photos. There's a little girl there in the three generation photo who looks rather like you! You look stunningly beautiful in that photo next to the saying about the smile. Colour is a very wonderful thing. Xxx
Extra Lucious indeed! I love the cobalt blue on you. The bright colours suit you so well and I think of you as a tropical flower. How wonderful to have those photos of family and some stories to go with them. I often ponder how I am like my grandmother in many ways, though I definitely did get to spend the first twenty two years of my life with her. I'm struggling to get around and visit everyone but reading your blog is always such a delight. xoxo
I am just nuts about old photos. You are so lucky to have these. You know I can actually see a family resemblance in your grandfather's sister. A sweet little Sue face if I ever saw one. Let's hear it for color!!
Love it love it Sue! What a great post - and photos. You are fortunate to have so many old family photos around. Don't they come up well too when they are scanned. I have been saving a lot of my old photos - and even the little tiny ones scan well. Technology eh!? You certainly are colourful and brighten up the day. cheers Wendy
Post a Comment