sepia saturday – Page 5

Sepia Saturday 343-b

By Sheetar 12 September 2016 12 September 2016 0

Another one on the “Play” part of our Work and Play theme for this month – a little late, but better late than never, right? I know I posted a class photo from Doede Jaarsma’s technical school before (here), so this is likely the same class on a day trip to one of the islands off the northern coast of Holland. The back of the photo simply says, “Day Trip, Douglas,” so that helps narrow down who at least. In this photo, I believe Douglas (Doede) is in the next to last row, second in from the left, sitting next to the older gentleman who is likely their chaperone or teacher. They’re sitting on what appears to be a beach dune in front of some sort of observation tower or lighthouse, and if I were a betting woman, I’d bet it was the North Tower on Schiermonnikoog because it looks a lot like it, though the extra tower behind the lighthouse is gone now. I actually found another old photo on Flickr showing the tower, so I’m pretty sure I have my location! Doede was born in 1911, so if he’s about 13 in this photo, it was taken in the mid 1920s. Neat to have finally figured out the location, and it’s probably a safe bet that the boys in that photo were enjoying a good bit of play on the beach on their day trip away from school.

EDIT: There’s actually a great image here showing the extra side tower.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 343-a

By Sheetar 3 September 2016 31 August 2016 9

Another edition of our monthly theme starts this week, focusing on, “Work and Play.” We’re allowed a good bit of leeway with the theme and prompt image so, since I have nothing at all in my collection like the prompt photo, I went with “Play” to start and found a good reason to share this silly one of my husband’s grandfather, Douglas (Doede) Jaarsma. The back of the photo says, “Douglas and the Ducks,” and you can see him sitting on a toy spring duck with quite the grin on his face. The photo print date says March 1973, but I’d guess this was taken the previous summer and developed later since the trees are much too leafy for March! I’m not sure of the location either, but it was probably in New Jersey. The photo was taken when he was 62 years old, proving you’re never too old for being a little silly!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 342-d

By Sheetar 27 August 2016 27 August 2016 2

For our final choose-your-own-theme Sepia Saturday under the 342 prompt, I’m selecting this photo to coincide with what would’ve been their anniversary this past week. In this photo are pictured Romayne Louella Greenaway and Leon Joseph Kitko in a photo taken around their wedding date which was 24 August 1963. This was Leon’s second marriage, so while Romayne wasn’t a biological grandma, she was married to Leon long before I was born and she had always been my grandma. I found these photos in a trunk of old photos at their house after they both passed away. From the photographer’s stamp, these were probably proofs, and I know there’s a larger photo that was hand colored in the house. There’s something about this one that I love though – that stifled laugh on Leon’s face is one I remember seeing multiple times and makes me smile even just seeing the photo here now. Short and sweet this week, and even though Romayne and Leon have both passed away, I’m glad to have this great photo to remember them by.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 342-c

By Sheetar 20 August 2016 19 August 2016 3

For this week’s Sepia Saturday, again, we’re on our own to follow the prompt image for #342 or go off on our own. I guess I’m sticking with my little personal theme of couples to explore some photos that may not have made it into a Sepia Saturday otherwise. Above is a photo of Mr & Mrs IJselstein or Yselstein depending on how you spell the name. The Dutch “IJ” is more commonly spelled with a “Y” in English, but it’s not *really* a Y in pronunciation – it’s more like an “ay” as in “day.” This couple, identified only by their surname, was photographed, probably in Uithuizen in Holland in the 1930s. Assuming they’re about 70 years old, their presumed birthdate is 1860, +-10 years or more though. Without first names and some more background, it’s hard to be sure exactly who they are! I know that the IJselstein surname doesn’t appear in my husband’s tree, so I don’t think these were related, but they likely knew my husband’s grandmother who lived in Uithuizen. There’s something about the framing of this photo that I love – the way the man is sitting in the chair which I’ll bet he sat in every day and had regular chats with people who passed by. The dog, looking right at the camera while the woman holds his leash.

This was on a page with two other photos – one of Hilda Dijkema in a garden captioned, “Lunteren, Hilly,” and another of a family with a caption, “van Beek Fam.” Sometimes placement of the photos in an album helps tell the story, but I still can’t be sure where the photo was taken – it could’ve been while Hilda was in Lunteren (for what I’m not sure, though I suspect it has something to do with the tuberculosis sanatorium Sonnevanck where she was treated in the late 1930s) and not in Uithuizen. Still, it’s a really great photo of a married couple though I wish I knew more about it!