Siblings - My Mum and Uncle John

Over the years I unfortunately haven't seen much of my extended family, especially since the death of my wonderful Nan Peck six years ago. So I was really thrilled to hear that my Uncle John was coming to stay with my parents and that they would be visiting us.  The last time I saw my uncle was at my Nan's funeral back in 2008, before Freddy was even born.  So we were all really looking forward to seeing him again and introducing Freddy to his Great Uncle.

It was lovely to see him!  My kids all really enjoyed his company and we chatted and reminisced.  I showed John photos of my two eldest, Joe and Megan, my niece Kate, my nephew Tom, my grandson Ted and great nephew Michael, updating him on all the family news.  Freddy proudly showed him all the certificates he had won at school and drew him some pictures to take home. He loved having a new grown-up to impress.

I took some photos of John with my family.  Taking photographs and preserving memories is so important to me, adding some updated images to my collection of family pics, so the children (and their future children) can see their own history through photos.  

I found an old picture of my mum with her little brother taken in about 1940 and compared it to the photo I took last week.  Now, seventy years on, my mum is over 80 and John is just a few years behind. But they are still that same brother and sister that sat for the photographer all those years ago, dressed in their Sunday best.

In hindsight, I wish I'd recreated the original pose, with John looking a bit cheeky and my mum having a protective arm around her little brother...definitely something to do next time!!

The Invention of the Selfie

While looking through my dad's photographs I found some wonderful old photographs from 1951 when my dad was serving with the Coldstream Guards in Egypt.  Among these photos we found a 'selfie' that my dad had taken.

I think of the selfie as being a very modern thing, born out of the ease and immediacy of the digital camera functionality of mobile phones.  But here is my dad, over sixty years ago, armed with something like a box brownie in the middle of Egypt, pulling a respectable selfie! Without a doubt, my dad was clearly a trendsetter paving the way for the millions of selfies that have since found their way onto Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr!

This is my dad when he was just 19 years old taking a selfie.

And if we were in any doubt that he had indeed taken the photo himself, the writing on the back is confirmation.  "Taken by Myself - Stan Jones".  

This is just one of the many fabulous and precious family photos we have recently discovered.  I love old photos which unlock the past and give us a window into our family history.  It's amazing to look at a photograph of my grandmother taken pre-1920 and see my own cheekbones looking back at me.  I feel such a sense of connection to my family's ancestry, with photos going back five generations, which depict my grandson's great great great grandparents.  I feel so blessed to have these images...and equally blessed to have a husband prepared to scan them all and save them on a hard drive for me :)