Sepia Saturday: The January Edition

This wintery shot of my Dad and my Uncle Wick was taken in Baltimore, MD in the late '30s.  Don't you love the pose?  Most of the photos in our albums from this era are carefully arranged portraits, either professionally taken for special events, or brownie camera shots taken at home with six or seven relatives shoulder to shoulder, smiling dutifully.  But this one is fun and playful and there's a gleam in my Dad's eye that makes me wonder if the photographer didn't get creamed with that snowball.

 I love the vintage quality of this photo, too, and how the snow has yellowed with age.  My Dad's brown curls peeking out from under his hood remind me of a couple of my curly-headed sons, and I wonder if my Dad was much like them at this age.  I'm guessing he was. In the fundamentals I expect boys are much the same now as they ever were -- but goodness how the trappings have changed!

Check out the 1930s snow day gear, for instance.  Young boys still wore knickers -- which couldn't have been any too cozy -- but I'm guessing my Dad's stripey socks are wool: warm, but I bet they were itchy.  The coat and little Uncle Wick's snow suit were probably made of wool, too, and though they were likely good and warm, I bet they were a bugger when they got wet.  Heavy and smelly.  Bet it took forever for them to dry, too!  Do you suppose they had a place near a woodstove or furnace that they hung their wet woolen hats and mittens and coats to dry?  I love the vintage "hominess" of  that image.  I can picture my Dad reading a book on the floor in front of the radio, listening to Jack Benny while his coat and scarf dry by the wood stove...  Everything sepia-toned and smelling like apple pie...

=sigh= The past is so romantic when it's lived in a scrapbook...

But, in reality?  Seriously --  I wouldn't want to go back in time, if for no other reason than I wouldn't want to wear all that wool.  No way.  I like our super light and waterproof synthetic coats, our nice warm microfiber scarves, and underarmor.  If it gets dirty, throw it in the washer; if it gets wet, throw it in the dryer.  Quick and easy. And you don't smell like a wet sheep when you come in after playing in the snow.

And this I say with the conviction of a mother whose little sons (7 y.o. Gabe and 6 y.o. William) went sledding down the muddy driveway into a big snowmelt puddle yesterday afternoon.

So, yes...  I guess we're pretty spoiled, but I'm convinced it's a good kind of spoiling, these modern textiles.  I like to be warm and dry on a cold day; I like my children to be warm and dry on a cold day.  And I would not like to have to wash my uncle's little wool snowsuit.  I love looking at the vintage photos, but wool coats  really only work well if you're outside playing in sepia-toned snow.

(No, not that kind of sepia-toned snow!)

Lots of great Sepia Saturday posts here.