Monday, May 7, 2012

Still ripping and sticking my way through my magazine stash (it fills in time when I'm waiting for tradies who never turn up when they say promise they will!)

Whilst flicking through an old issue of Dwell (great mag if you like Modernist design, but far too many ads) this advertisement caught my eye



and it reminded me that I have my very own original copy of that Better Homes and Garden Book. I found it in an oppy a couple of months ago (two dollars, shrieks of joy!) and it's full of the most gorgeous 50's gardens and retro images.

" a year round guide to practical home gardening"
1954 edition

Back in the 50's men smoked pipes while they were mowing the lawn, they wore crisp white shirts and rolled their sleeves up nattily. Their perfectly coiffed wives wore pretty dresses and high-heels while they attended to their pot plants on the terrace (not a tracky-dack or boardy in sight!)



Or so it seems...
We all know that life in the 50's (or any era for that matter) wasn't quite as idyllic as vintage books like this would have us believe, but it's nice to pretend sometimes, and I also find it interesting to see, that the saying "everything old is a new again" * not only applies to fashion, interiors and architecture but also to gardens, too.


mmmmm, nice chairs.


this pic's entitled "a good looking baby corral"!
so, for a laugh, 
I thought I might show you a photo of me in my baby corral

apparently it wasn't too long before I learnt to lift my playpen corral and escape. Look at the size of me! It would've been easy, I'm a baby Summo wrestler!

(spot the Kewpie doll and my crocheted dress - what did I say about everything old being new again?)




Oooops, here's another photo of an obese infant. Me! With my next door neighbour at the time, who was three months older than me! My Mum was so proud that I was bigger (fatter!) than him. Really. 

Look at my Mum's cute little rockery in the background, not the baboomba in the foreground. I think it's very sweet. She painted the dead tree branch white and grew ivy atop it. I also see some succulenty cactus things growing. Funny, because today these are the very plants that make up the bulk of my own garden.

Tea towel tomorrow and then I'm going to have a bit of a bloggy break. To tell you the truth, I'm getting a bit bored with Lucy Vi at the mo, and you know, when you're bored with your own blog you'd be silly to keep writing it.

Thanks so much for reading this and all my other posts - you've been, and are, lovely x



 *  "each time history repeats itself, the price goes up"
Author unknown 

13 comments:

  1. Baby Kylie doesn't look too happy in the first photo!
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  2. Ahhh, don't go! I'll miss you! But if you need a break, you need a break, so though I might sulk a bit, it's OK!
    I love that final quotation (sooo true!) and wonderful photos and illustrations.
    Little Kylie is very on-trend in her crochet! I think it was the thing for babies to be chubby back in our day (I think we are about the same age, right?) I was also a fat baby, but my mum recorded what she fed me in a diary, and it's not surprising, loads of fat and sugar! I think parents who had lived through post-war austerity and in my mum's case, the war itself, with rationing and scarcity of any treats, believed that to have a chubby child meant they were healthy and well-fed. A "bonny" baby was the desired baby shape! xxxxx

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  3. Gosh so much comes back into fashion again- stacked stone retaining walls and cement pavers in the lawn.
    I hope your little blog break brings a whole lot of inspiration your way. x

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  4. Oh, not too long a break I hope. Totally understand though. And then you'll return all refreshed. Little baboomba!!!

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  5. I will have to check out dwell.love these pics - something so simple and sunny about them.

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  6. Loved the pics - those old fashioned gardens are lovely. What I also remember is that men often wore ties even when 'relaxing' at the weekend or doing jobs around the place. I think we all had those mini prisons! I had one too for a while - most of us were clever enough to break out!! Sorry to hear you are taking a break but I know how you feel - I often think I should give blogging up for a while as it does take up so much of my 'free' time! xxx

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  7. You were such a cute munchkin!
    I love that baby corral yard. *hehhe*

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  8. I was a caged baby too. :)

    Imagine if people still used those wooden pens today...the outrage! (Pffft!)

    Difficult to keep blogging fresh - unless you're writing a daily journal type of blog - so I can say I totally understand where you're coming from. (I am tired of having to photograph every wretched thing in order to have a decent blog post - I'd like to just write, sometimes.)

    Anyway - hope you don't go forever and come back at some point, revived.

    Take care of yourself....toodles. x

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  9. Hey Kylie, You can activate as well! Come up with a spiffy t-shirt logo. I would like to be one of those quick minded people who can just rattle off some slogans, but I am dull-witted and can only come up with that awful picture of a clown that you had on a pillowcase? Slogan, something like "Go away BOOZO!
    I am in fits over my lameness!

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  10. Hi Kylie,
    Great post, I must check out the link for the "dwell" magazine. I just love the 50's, how great that you found that Better Homes book in an oppie, where would we be without oppie shopping!
    Loved the baby pic of the Kewpie doll and little crochet dress, reminds me to look out for one of those kewpie dolls in some oppies for my baby's nursery, things sure roll round again to be popular don't they!
    Great reads on your blog
    Kate :)

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  11. Enjoy your hiatus!.....but do return...what will I do without tea towel Tuesday?....I know I'll hunt Melbourne for more tea towel treats! :)

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  12. i know what you mean about needing a bloggy break, and definately think you should...but we'll be here when you get back! :):)

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  13. I loved this post so much - and yes; my dad did mow the law in a crisp shirt with the sleeves rolled up! My mum wouldn't let him leave the house without clean underwear and a clean shirt! He went to work in clean overalls (over a clean white shirt) every single day and mum hand washed them all. Once washed they were put through the mangle and hung out to dry. If anything was really dirty, she would boil it in a saucepan before hand washing. Those were the days!

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