Friday, April 20, 2012

Gardens

The theme for Sepia Saturday this week is gardens. I have many boring postcards of gardens. That's because it's very difficult to capture the essence of a garden in a small photo, especially a grainy black-and-white photo that then has fake colors added. I do like to look at those old cards of people on promenade through elegant gardens though. You get a sense of the social significance of gardens. They were places to play and socialize as well as places for quiet contemplation.

View from the other side

And then there are the family photos in gardens, a chance for a more casual portrait than might otherwise be acceptable. Here are some photos of my ancestors in their garden in Berlin at the turn of the century. When the city of Berlin was divided into two parts after World War II, this fell on the east German side and my family lost this property. Today there is an apartment building on the site. In the picture below, my great grandmother sits in the chair in front, while my great-great grandmother is on the very left.


Another photo (circa 1906)  shows what appears to be a greenhouse, with my great-great grandmother on the left and my great grandmother in the middle. The smiling young boy is my grandfather. He died during World War II, so I never had the chance to meet him. His sister Käthe is on the right.


And then there's this odd photo postcard, not in very good condition, showing my grandfather, the youngest, and his siblings.


Here in Oregon, we love our garden, especially during the warmer months when we can cook and eat outside. We look forward to that season with much anticipation during the rainy winter months. The benefit of all those rainy months is that everything grows vigorously here.


Even things you may not want to grow vigorously. For more on this plant, visit this previous post.



For a veritable worldwide garden tour, head over to Sepia Saturday.


19 comments:

  1. Gorgeous photos of your family in Berlin.

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  2. Family photos in the garden are a lot more interesting than boring postcards of gardens. Somehow even the best gardens usually look boring on postcards.

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  3. Hi Christine, you yard is beautiful ... that is one thing that I miss about the valley, the ease in which everything grows. It freezes here too often.

    Loved your family photos, especially the last one, which is very interesting.

    Have a super weekend,

    Kathy M.

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  4. Oh what a lovely family! I had relatives on my mother's side that lost property to the east as well, and my Tante Zellie still lived on the east side when I first came to visit my mother's family. I was too young at the time to really understand what Check Point Charlie really was, but my cousin Jorg tried to explain! But thankfully that all went away....Your garden that you care for now is simply stunning, and the perfect place for gathering around as well!

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  5. You are so fortunate to have those photos. My mom is from Berlin and they lost almost all their photos.

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  6. Your garden looks awesome! I hope the mailman didn't really send a CSI team to your house after smelling Voodoo Lily...

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  7. I enjoyed all these pictures, especially of your family - much nicer than the grainy black and white ones with added colour! Your own gatrden is a picture in itself and I was struck, by how it could so easily be an English country garden; I can see why you look forward to enjoying its pleasures so much.

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  8. I like family photos in gardens too. And family photos of gardens too. Your garden looks so green and peaceful.

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  9. I love your beautiful garden. Wish we had as much rain here in so. Calif. The family photos are real treasures.
    Nancy

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  10. Superb family photos from Berlin; you must treasure them. Your first postcard reminded me that I must have some photos of gardens in English stately homes - now I just have to find them. Your garden looks lovely, I could relax in that.

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  11. How devastating that must have been for your great-grandparents to lose their land. It's good to have those photos to remind you of what was. And your own garden -- wow! That's the look I want for my own fence line.

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  12. Thank you for sharing. Your own garden looks lovely!!!

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  13. I am wondering if you have anything on the old steamboats which parted the waters of the rivers in central US? I live near a town (Hermann, Missouri) which had a facility that built paddlewheelers in the late 1800's.
    A lovely passtime collecting the old views -- and I would suppose the old writings on the postcards.

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  14. Hi goatman. I'm not sure, but I'll keep an eye out for steamboat cards. A lot of the cards I have are unsorted, so I until I get them all sorted it's hard to know.

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  15. Hi Christine,
    Loved seeing your old, old family photos. How neat is it to have them and know who everyone is in them. Your 1909 family looked quite happy indeed. Hope you are having a great spring!
    Christine

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  16. Better lose property than freedom but they seemed to have enjoyed this garden I especially like the greenhouse. Those Voodoo Lilies are down right scary!!!!!!!
    :D~
    HUGZ

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  17. Was looking at your grandfather's photo.
    Did he ever think in his wildest dream that one day this picture would be viewed by thousands of people from all over the globe by the click of a button (or mouse)

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  18. Excellent family history. To know what your great- great- grandmother looks like! Blessed. I'll read about that Voodoo Lily later, it's kind of creepy.

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  19. Your garden is beautiful. And you get the lucky Oregon rains to keep it green in the summer. What green we have will soon begin to fade into the gold of California. I'm envious.

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