Thursday 4 December 2014

Of cowboys, steps and stairs




A small boy dressed as a cowboy has lassoed a man who is likely to be his father in this week's Sepia Saturday prompt photo. I have some photos of cowboys and stairs, but not together.  

The photo below shows my mother's two youngest brothers, Graeme and Peter, dressed up in their cowboy outfits, at their home in Aylmer St Christchurch, c. 1942. No lassos in sight, but they look to be pointing their toy guns straight at  the photographer, and were probably saying, 'this is a stick-up'!



Our family moved to Australia in 1956, and this next photo shows my brother aged about 2 or 3, sitting on the stairs with his toys in Canberra, ACT, and sporting a bead necklace that he probably threaded himself. I don't know if he ever had a cowboy suit.



To the early 1960s, and here's a group of three on the front steps. My neighbours Gerlinde and Elfriede lived across the street from us in the suburb of O'Connor. It was a brand new development when we moved in, and it looks like my father had roped off the garden in order for his newly sewn grass to grow, so we may have been restricted to the steps.  I'm not sure what we were doing, but Gerlinde appears to be holding up something, maybe a drawing or some other handiwork. I remember  spending a lot of time after school with Gerlinde and Elfriede, and playing games on their veranda like hopscotch and elastics were some of our favourite activities. Years later my parents were invited to Gerlinde's university graduation ceremony, because they had encouraged her to to achieve her best when she was a school student.


Here's my sister Louisa in a party hat, posing with her favourite dolls on those same concrete steps, and the garden has grown a bit



Meanwhile Guy and his friends Mark and Robbie the cowboy were playing out on the footpath with their billy cart. No sign of any lasso or gun though.



One more family photo taken on the steps in about 1964, this time around the back door of the house in Swainsona St, with our cat Phoebe, who had a litter of kittens that sadly all died of feline enteritis within a few days of being born. We never owned a dog, so I can't show any photos of them, although Mark and his family had a pug puppy that we enjoyed visiting. My mother was not keen on dogs and even confessed to once using my stroller, with me in it, as a shield against an intimidating Alsatian that we encountered when out walking! 


For more takes on cowboys and stairs, and maybe a dog or two as well, just click here to go to Sepia Saturday #257

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cowboys and Indians, and billy carts, they belong to an earlier time than this one. I wonder how many parents these days have a No Guns on their toys-the-children-can-have list.

Boobook said...

The big cowboy hats are great! The boys must have been proud of their outfits.

Postcardy said...

Your sister with her dolls looks like she might be a big doll herself.

Kristin said...

The same outfits and looks around the world during that time.

La Nightingail said...

Those were the good old days when kids ran, jumped, and twisted about playing all manner of imaginative make-believe games outside!

ScotSue said...

Such a lovely group of family photographs, showing children having fun with simple pleasures - they remind me of my childhood in the 1950's, though unfortunately the camera was never present.. .

Little Nell said...

A happy series of cowboys and steps! I really like the one of the boys on their billy-carts (we called them geordies for some reason); they were great fun, if a little dangerous.

Unknown said...

Your uncles seem to have fringe on their chaps...very classy cowboys! These are great photos!

Anonymous said...

This is a delightful group of cowboys and stairs. I am partial to your sister and her dolls? :)

Alex Daw said...

That billycart photo is a great shot!

Wendy said...

I think Robbie was born for cowboy hats. What a natural!

These are wonderful photos and memories that sound much like my own although I don't think my mother ever used me to shield herself from a dog. That's hilarious.

Rosie said...

Love the little dolls on the steps.

Bob Scotney said...

Those were the days indeed. Funnily enough I can't recall a house in my village that had any steps outside. Wonderful photos.

Teresa Wilson Rogers said...

Stairs do seem to be a common place to pose people and you have some wonderful childhood memories on your "stairs!"

Unknown said...

Well the cowboy was there near the end, overseeing or watching, with or without holster! Nice photos...stairs, hadn't thought about those, most homes had them...and such cuties on these stairs.

Alan Burnett said...

This weeks posts are so full of memories. Not just the cowboy outfits, but the photo of that cart (Billy Cart?) took me back decades. I had always wanted one but never managed to get one.

diane b said...

Great old family photos on stairs and in cowboy outfits.

Jofeath said...

Also two cowboys in my first photo.