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Wednesday 31 May 2017

Trees, Seasons and Memories: Sepia Saturday

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt features a tree in full leaf with rustic fencing  round about.   Memories of family and home in the Scottish Borders, with trees as the backcloth is my theme.  



I wonder how old  these trees are at the ruined Roman fort of Houseteads on Hadrian's  Wall in Northumberland?   Here I am treading in the footsteps of the Romans who manned this northern windswept outpost, of their empire. Spanning 80 miles across northern England, building began c.AD122 and took six years to complete. For almost three centuries Hadrian's Wall  was an important defensive frontier between England and Scotland, with Housteads one of 15 forts built along the wall.   The Wall is now a World Heritage Site.


Moving onto the early 20th century - two  vintage photograph of my village of Earlston show  the old village pump well  which was demolished in 1920 to make room for the War Memorial.  

 


A leap of 50 years to more recent family photographs: across the seasons.

SPRING 
 1974  - with my daughter,   beside the River Teviot in Hawick 
with  the trees of Wilton Lodge Park  in the background. 




Easter 1975 -  daughter a year older, with my parents on a sunny day in our local park.
 I am still  sporting a miniskired dress.



 On an April walk around Earlston where we now live - 
looking east across to the Lammermuir Hills


SUMMER 

1981 -  a special photograph as it is the only one I have of my mother taken with her three grandchildren  - at a family wedding. 


The War Memorial in Earlston Square  - a reminder of our ancestors lost in conflict.



My brother at Ironbridge over the wooded Severn Valley in Shropshire  
Our father spent his childhood in the area. 
The cast iron bridge, the first of its kind was built in 1779 and the gorge became known as the "Cradle of the Industrial Revolution".  Now a World Heritage Site.

No family connections here, but another lovely scene in the Scottish Borders at Yetholm which marks the end of the first long distance path in Britain. - the Penine Way.  Here looking towards the Cheviot Hills across the English/Scottish border.


 AUTUMN 

2010 - little  granddaughter enjoying a walk through the woods at Earlston. 
Two autumn scenes in Cowdenknowes Wood, Earlston 

On a  woodland walk, with the carpet of leaves 
and the Leader Water a streak of blue below.


 WINTER 

1990's   - Daughter on the hill above our homer in Hawick. 
2012 - Little granddaughter trudging home in the snow, 
with the trees on the appropriately named  White  Hill ahead.

 

2012 - my husband lending a touch of colour  to the winter woodland scene 


And to finish with two more photographs of  trees and rustic fencing. 

Autumn in Earlston - round the corner from our home.


On Mill Meadow walk  in Earlston 

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful  part of the country

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Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share 
their family history and memories through photographs.


Click HERE  to see how trees this week have inspired  other bloggers

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8 comments:

  1. Your tree photos are very beautiful.

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  2. All perfectly lovely photos and in tune with the prompt - especially when the trees are coupled with rustic fences. Nice job. My favorite is the first photo. There's just something about it that really catches the eye. Love the snowy winter scene with hubby in red. Leafless tree limbs outlined in snow have a particular beauty.

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  3. A beautiful local tree photo selection. My favourite is the one in April where those fluffy clouds almost look like blossom on the tall roadside tree. What would we do without them?

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  4. I love seeing the seasons through your family/tree portraits...it's a well condensed year! And the border country certainly looks like it's survived well through a lot of conflicts!

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  5. A positive arboretum Sue! Housesteads has always fascinated me; I used to have a book full of wonderful drawings of how Roman life would have been there, by Roland Embleton I think. I am also reminded of 'Roman Wall Blues’ by W.H.Auden.

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  6. Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I enjoy taking photographs of trees, whatever the season - there is a beauty even in winter with the shapes of the bare branches, so I had quite a lot of images to choose from.

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  7. You have some really lovely photos here!

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  8. Your thoughts on the first photo are much like mine when I drift into wondering about the people who had walked there or wherever before me.

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