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