Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Three little ladies in a caravan

(photo from flickr)

This looks like one of those old caravans from the 1950's and as you can see three ladies are having a good old natter. I haven't seen those sorts of diagonal shaped seats for quite a few years and it looks like someone has made some nice floral curtains for the window.

What do you think they are chatting about?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Days of the Brady Bunch

Here's a photo of my sister and I from the deep dark archives on my computer. My sister Meg is on the right and as you can see from my grin I seem to be sporting a hair-do similar to the mother from the Brady Bunch. Must've been the in thing at the time I guess.


My parents - I think my mother was expecting my brother so it must have been around 1976. Do you like my dad's sideburns and moustache?

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Growing up with my grandparents in the 1970's

I know I've posted this once before but I thought that since I'm such a retro freak I would highlight my late grandparents 2 bedroom unit. Growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's I was use to flower powered wallpaper and such knick knacks etc and when they bought this property in 1980 when I was 9 years old they still maintained the retro-ish interior until they both passed away last year.

My grandmother Dorothy Mavis Austen died in 2003 from Cancer and my step grandad Les sadly went into a rest home two years ago. These photos were taken when he asked the family members to sort out their belongings as he couldn't handle it himself.

My 14 year old son outside the front of their unit.

The kitchen - you can still see the creme yellow painted cupboard doors, the 80's lino and stove and the glass cupboard above.

I remember this flowery wallpaper being laid when they first bought the property. It's very 1970's don't you think? We had many family lunches and dinners around this table.

The bathroom - wow. Quite a small area with the shower around the corner but what I love most of all is the orange wallpaper.

I hope you enjoyed those photos. I think these and other family pics I have are a great reminder of how lovely my grandparents were and the love that we grew up with in their little retro house.

Listening to: David Bowie - Young Americans

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Vintage Thursday Thingies - 1976 NZ Womans Weekly

Sorry this week's thingies aren't exactly vintage but I'm hoping these ads from my copy of 1976 NZ Woman's Weekly are ok - check out some of these:

Remember when shelves like these were the in thing?

Gosh I remember the Wombles too - they were all the rage at one point. I'm sure that as a child I would loved knitted toys like this.

Oh my goodness - when I was growing up my mother always made a bowl of Bean Salad to take to barbeques we were invited to. I use to hate the taste but now I sort of like the bitter tang.

My father bought us a tent like this in the late 70's early 80's. I imagine they were quite expensive back then and from what I remember he diligently saved up for it.

Even now I still occasionally see the remnants of floor tiles like the ones above in houses that haven't been modernized yet. I'm sure these were all the rage like avocado benches and baths etc.

Check out this lady's groovy crochet homemade cardigan - my grandparents had the same coloured couch too as what she's sitting on. It's almost a burnt orange - very 70's!

Listening to: Rockmelons feat Deni Hines - It's not over.

Hope you enjoyed that - for more thursday thingies visit the Colorado Lady's blog.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Reform School Girl (1957)



Another cheesy 1950's film this time called "Reform school girl" which is about the Shocking True Story of Delinquent Girls!.

A young girl's boyfriend steals a car and ends up involved in a hit-and-run accident. The only witness is his ex-girlfriend, so he has her framed on a car theft charge and sent to reform school.

I'd sure like to see this one!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

What's happening around here - dark gloomy days

Winter is here in full force and I am loving it! We've had plenty of lightening and thunder - perfect for lying in bed with a good book listening to the patter of the rain on the roof.

Our kittens are just on 6 months old now and they're growing fast. They remind me of when I was growing up - we had 5 cats at one time, 4 of them were strays we adopted, two of which were called George (after George Michael - this was the 80's) and Suzy. These two were very close to each other and were usually together all the time. It wasn't unusual to find them both asleep on someone's bed with their paws wrapped around each other.

There were times when in the middle of the day we'd hear cars outside along the road furiously beeping their horns. We'd go out and find both cats cuddled up in the middle of the road completely oblivious to the cars trying to get past. We'd have to swoop out and grab them before they got run over.

Sadly Suzy at 8 years old was put down after another cat a few houses up bit her causing an abscess which got infected and George died a few years later after catching feline aids from another cat.

I can quite happily say that I've been a cat person most of my life. What pet memories do you have?

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