Today’s Sepia Saturday prompt suggests groups in uniform, soldiers, and jaunty hats.
I’ve been dithering with this all week, but just haven’t been able to finish what I started. I think I’ve been making it too hard.
I reread what Kat Mortensen said about her selection for this week and this comment caught my attention: “This photo has been borrowed from the Flickr Commons National Library of Ireland (I’m also a bit partial to anything Irish, since my dad was born in the the North of that country.)”
Ah ha! A new direction – soldiers and something Irish!
In with my grandmother Eveline Coates’ papers and photographs were several sets of postcards from World War I. I don’t know how she came to have them, but I have two theories. One is that George Elgey‘s mother, or one of his sisters, sent them to Eveline. The other theory is that Eveline’s brother John (she is pictured in his uniform in last week’s post) collected them during a visit to England. John was stationed in Germany, but took a leave to visit his father’s family.
If you go here you can listen to a great old recording of “For Killarney and You”. (Sorry I don’t know how to embed it.)
Or, here is a later rendition:
March on over to the Sepia Saturday blog to see what the troops are doing today.
Beautiful cards. What was so hard about that?? I’m surprised you didn’t think of these immediately. But I know how you feel when something isn’t working. And then BING – everything starts to click. I like when that happens.
Yes, this was easy. I don’t know what my problem was. Probably all the Sepia Saturday bloggers that put so much effort into theirs! I am sometimes amazed. Thanks for being the first to comment, Wendy. I’m way down on the list today!
I really like your postcards. I like the newer recording better. It was fun looking at the words on the postcard as I was listening.
I’m glad you enjoyed them. I have been waiting for an excuse to dig out some of these postcards.
I just loved these postcards and the music too. I’ve been thinking this week about how lonely the life of a soldier can be. They spent much more time waiting than in battle. Love the way these postcards capture the soldier’s daydreams!
This week’s prompt did nudge us to consider the life of a soldier – with so many variations on that theme. Thanks for your comment, Liz.
These are beautiful and quite moving postcards. You have to feel for that soldier, who really represented soldiers in real life, missing their sweethearts back home.
Yes, I have a couple of different sets of these postcards and they are all quite sentimental. Thanks for your comments, Jana! Have a good weekend.
Absolutely warm and delightful post. I couldn’t get the video to work, but then blogger has been strange lately again. I really like the stunning colorful postcard too!
Sorry the video didn’t work for you. I really like the colors of these cards too. Thanks for stopping by, Karen!
Lovely postcards and nice music selection. A perfect match! You did a great job with this week’s theme. Are you still busy teaching the English class? I’ve missed your weekly posts – hope you are doing well.
I’m still teaching, but off the hook for preparing lessons now – at least for a couple of weeks. A combination of preparing lessons, exploring (and then spending lots of time with) Evernote, working on this prompt with something I didn’t use and still haven’t finished, and a couple of other things, I just haven’t gotten posts done regularly. Now I’m thinking of going out of town, so I’m afraid I’ll still be off my schedule for a couple more weeks. I am missing it, though. Thanks for noticing that I was missing in action! 🙂
There is so much drama in these cards! If you think of those situations in real life about a century ago… Thanks for showing these.
Now our troops often have access to Skype with family back home. A different world in so many ways. Thanks for your comment, Peter!
I do like these sentimental cards. I have a set, but I framed them long ago and it’s hard to photograph behind glass. It’s easy to scoff at them these days as sentimentalising the war and ignoring the harsh realities, but I think these must have meant so much to the recipients.
I am lucky to have several sets. I’ve thought about doing something “decorative” with them, but just haven’t done it. I bet they look great framed. Maybe I’ll get around to it one of these days.
Lovely postcards; a pleasure to see them and to listen to the song. The cards are real treasures.
Thanks, Bob. I’ll be watching for another prompt to use some of the others. I hadn’t paid attention to the musical aspect until I prepared to post them.
These are lovely postcards! I haven’t seen any like these before, with the two scenes like that.
Thanks for sharing them with us.
Kathy M.
I had not seen any like these either until I found these with my grandmother’s pictures. Thanks for stopping by, Kathy!
What utterly and completely romantic postcards, with a “lovesick” lover right out of late medieval poetry of “true love” (fin amor). Excellent. I read last week’s post about the handsome George Elgey and his cousin Eveline, and your fond wish that a relative might be found to share with you Eveline’s part of the correspondence. And now we have either George’s mother/sister sending this cards to Eveline, or Eveline’s brother George obtaining the cards from his father’s family (I assume that’s the family with George in it?).
To me (and I’m new to reading your blog), this story has “forbidden love” or “lost love” written all over it — that is, love forbidden between first cousins. Is that idea off the mark? In any case, the medieval tragedy of Abelard and Heloise is what the title of your blog, abbieandeveline, reminds me of. Is that intentional or just a coincidence?
Thank you for a fascinating story!
I had never thought of that possibility. My grandmother was a bit of a romantic as a young woman (you can read her “autobiography” if you want to know her as a 17-year-old “old maid”) in one of my early posts. I’m sure she thought it romantic to have family in England, as she lived in a very small town in Iowa and never traveled anywhere too far from home. And having such a handsome cousin – well, who knows? As for the name of the blog – I named it after my two grandmothers, who were very dear to me. Thanks for you interesting comments, Mariann!
Well, Kathy, I for one, am so glad you went in this direction!
Loved the song – the Irish music always strikes a chord with me, of course. I can’t help but laugh at the image of his “colleen” though – she puts me in mind of Red Riding Hood!
I get shivers when I see those rifles/bayonets. What an awful thing it must have been to drive one of those into your enemy in battle.
Kat
Yes – I think Red Riding Hood every time I look at these! I know what you mean about the bayonets. A terrible thing to consider. Hope you are feeling better!
That audio file you couldn’t embed is a better fit with these lovely postcards.
For someone who had a hard time with this theme,
I think you did brilliantly.
🙂
HUGZ
Thanks, Ticklebear! Yeah – that old recording has the feel of the time. I’m still going to post my original idea in some form. This week’s prompt is a 2-fer for me.