I am doing the Stacey Julian online, year long, scrapbooking class called Twelve. I have been impressed with the class and the materials so far and even though after just four weeks I am already behind I know it will be OK. What I have really liked is that it is making me think and really stimulating my ideas around topics to scrapbook. This week the topic is Everyday Life. At the end of her video presentation Stacey suggests we list the ten photos we would like to have of a departed loved one such as a grandmother.
I thought of my very camera shy Nanna and made a list of the photos I would love to have of her.
1. Nanna with her three girls
2. Nanna wearing her straw hat to hang out the washing
3. Nanna and Pop sitting on the front porch in the cool of the evening
4. Nanna standing cooking over her wood stove
5. Nanna sitting at the kitchen table in the evening reading the Chronicle
6. A colour photo of Nanna when she had red hair. Pop always called her 'Ging' short for Ginger
7. Nanna with her mother. Nanna was only 9 when her mother died as a result of childbirth
8. Nanna sitting in the front seat of the old Holden
9. Nanna wearing one of her many aprons
10. Nanna's particular style of dressing and her preference for always wearing a brooch
In particular I have wanted to complete a layout about Nanna and the fact that I very rarely saw her without an apron and a second about her clothing preferences and the way she always wore a brooch at her neck.
I have a lovely piece about the history of the apron that I thought I might like to include in a layout about Nanna and her habit of wearing a pretty, clean and ironed apron each day.
History of the Apron
I don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
After we had made the list Stacey urged us to go and take 10 similar photos of ourselves so that our families would have them in the future. I'll see how I go!!!
