Where does time go? Where do people go? On this day 15 years ago (and it seems like such a short time) the mother of CJ and me died at the age of 93 with all her faculties. It was her decision to, as she believed, join her husband and many of her friends.
Today the father of a very close friend died. A few days ago a friend in New Zealand died. All during one's life people die but as one gets older it is those of the same age who start dying and somehow this brings one's mortality to one's notice quite forcibly.
This first photo was taken in the early 1930s by my Dad. Mum would have been in her 20s.
I have blogged this photo before. I took it perhaps over half a century ago and it's a photos of which I've always been quite proud.
This photo was taken in the caravan we had towed up to Scotland in about 1960 and somehow the dress doesn't reflect the fact that the caravan was in a waterlogged caravan site at the foot of Ben Nevis. Mum hiked (tramped) and camped all over the English Lake District and Wales but somehow always seemed to be beautifully turned out.
This photos was taken on the same caravanning holiday in Killin. I've spared CJ and me the embarrassment of our photos being shown.
How things have changed.
Thank you for introducing me to your lovely elegant Mother. I must have missed the last one. She is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure Kate.
DeleteHow things have changed. We lose our parents. Suddenly we find we are the same age as when our parents died and then we find that most people passing away are younger than us.
ReplyDeleteThat's just how it is Red and, doubtless, how it has always been.
DeleteShe was an elegant lady. It is amazing how time flies as we get older. Yes it is a bit spooky when our peers start dying.
ReplyDeleteYes, Diane, I find it quite amusing when youngsters say that time flies. "They ain't seen nothin' yet!"
DeleteI really like the dress in the first photo!
ReplyDeleteIn three of four pictures she looks warmly and directly at the camera. I suspect that sums her up
Yes, Kylie, I rather like that dress too although, until you mentioned it, I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't really looked at it properly. In the last photo Mum was probably looking at either my brother, father or a family friend all of whom were also taking photos.
DeleteYour mother was a real lady! No wonder both her sons are real gentlemen.
ReplyDeleteThe picture with the sparklers - you are rightly proud of it, it is great!
It's really kind of you to say so, Meike. Thank you.
DeleteYour mother was a good-looking woman...a lovely-looking woman. She looks like she was a kind, calm, intelligent lady. Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Lee. Mum was very kind and intelligent and, now you've made me think about it, she was very calm too.
DeleteLovely pictures. Lovely memories. She looked so contented. At peace with the world. I tried to see the title of the book she was reading in the caravan. I think it says "How To Deal With Naughty Boys".
ReplyDeleteThey were lovely memories YP. I have a feeling the title of the book was The Delphic Presence.
DeleteYour lovely mother was a lady of her generation, as was my mother, always turned out well and lady-like spiffy. Never would these ladies board an aircraft without their hats and gloves
ReplyDeleteJill oddly my mother detested hats and rarely wore one unless she had to but she would never have been seen without gloves. By the way how is the Volvo?
DeleteGlad you asked about "the vintage Volvo" ... she is 23 years old now and still going strong.
DeleteJill she is doing well. She makes my 13 year old Honda look positively youthful.
DeleteThe thing which strikes me so much about these lovely photos of your mother is that she seemed to be absolutely fizzing with life - as well as beautifully dressed.
ReplyDeleteJenny she certainly loved life and embraced it. She wasn't a party girl though.
DeleteThese are lovely photos, and somehow her smile feels familiar... :)
ReplyDeleteI also recognize all too well the feeling of time speeding up as we get older - in a couple of months, it will be eight years since my own mum died. Long time ago and "yesterday" all at the same time.
Like your mum I find it helpful to imagine death as a portal to another dimension of life - and a reunion with loved ones who passed before. (Without that diminishing the importance of here and now).
Monica when Mum smiled at you you knew she meant it for you.
DeleteWhat a lovely looking woman, Graham!
ReplyDeleteThank you Frances. I would have said that but then I'm biased.
DeleteMy mother died young, 47. Dad went a few years later at 60. Me, I'm 76 today. Maybe I'll beat my grandfather's record within the family at nearly 96. I have very few photos of either of my parents. Count yourself blessed.
ReplyDeleteBob, my family on my mother's side was exceptionally long-lived. My father lived until he was 94. My brother and I have more photos of our family than most people having had a father who was a photographer and who got us both on the same road when we were just out of nappies.
DeleteYour mother was beautiful and extremely elegant! 93 is a "great innings", as my Dad would say! My Dad is soon to be 88 and Mum is soon to be 83. Dad only retired in July last year and his mother lived to 96. Mum has already out lived her parents and still works 4 days a week (both are doctors). It's wonderful that you have so many photos of your parents!
ReplyDeleteThank you Liz and, yes, we are very fortunate to have so many memories recorded for posterity.
DeleteYour dear Mum has a regal air about her that I love....beauty and kindness also shine through.
ReplyDeleteSo happy you have photos to keep the memories fresh.
Thank you Virginia. I think between CJ and me and Dad there are a great many photos of Mum throughout her adult life.
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