Last month I finished off another batch of my ‘imaginary toadstools’ for my shop - these ones are darned and patched with various threads and vintage materials. When I create more natural toadstools, such as these...
...I give them folksy names, which are fanciful but not totally unbelievable - ‘Angel Eyes’, ‘Spice Ball’ and ‘Scarlet Bonnet’ are just a few of the toadstools that dwell in the woods in my head.
However, even I have to admit that I have never come across a toadstool with visible mending on its cap, so I let my imagination go wherever it liked with the naming of these. And here we have my favourite, ‘Aunty Dora’s Bedroom’.
Now, bear with me, while I explain. I had (as some of you may have) several ‘aunties’, all of a certain age, some of whom were bonafide aunts, some who were a kind of cousin or just friends of my mother’s. I had an Aunty Dora, who lived in Yeovil, Somerset and she was a proper aunty. We didn’t have holidays as such, but usually once a year mum and I would go to stay with Dora for a while. I loved her and always looked forward to our visits. Apart from the novelty of being in a more modern, comfortable household than ours, with a television, proper wall to wall carpeting and a dining table, she was very kind and fun to be with. She always had a little gift for me; just simple things, but I was easily pleased and when she gave me a small plastic box full of brightly coloured map pins (the kind with fatter ends, which I’d never seen before) I was thrilled; she’d brought them back from her job at the Milk Marketing Board, I think. Once when we arrived, she gave me a empty blue glass perfume flagon which still smelled fragrant and every time I sniffed it afterwards it reminded me of our stay with her. And a matchbox sized green plastic television which had a blank grey screen, but when you looked in the peephole in the back, it showed a photo of picture of Spain or France or somewhere exotic, and when you clicked the button on the top, the picture changed.
So, to return to her woolly namesake; I used typically 1970s colours, as that was the era in which I saw her most and although I don’t think she had such outlandish colours in any of her bedrooms, somehow it reminds me of those kinder days. I can only find one photo of her, (which is not the best) of us both enjoying a summers day in her back garden when I would have been about eight or nine, I think. I seem to be sucking on an ‘ice pop’ (another treat) and I am wearing some new and ever so trendy (I thought) espadrilles which were turquoise canvas with a bit of a chunky heel and woven hessian down the sides. New shoes were few and far between, but these were special ‘holiday shoes’ and I felt quite the thing.
Wherever you are Aunty Dora, thank you for those lovely memories.
6 comments:
Lovely post. It reminds me that as children we were very happy with even the smallest treat, as they were few and far between. I remember popping to see my Mum's aunt, who lived round the corner from us, just before going on a camping holiday. She gave me 3d to spend and I bought a chocolate lolly. It was heaven.
And the memory has stayed with you all this time - so it was a double gift.
When I was about 6 I used to go every week to tea with an honorary aunt - to watch Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound as our tv didn't get that channel. She would make egg and tomato sandwiches and serve bought fruit cake and I would be subjected to a third degree grilling by her elderley mother. But they were incredibly kind and I loved them dearly.
Reminded me of holidays deep in the new forest, with no bathroom or television but wonderful food and wild ponies coming right up to the garden gate . Uncle Percy and aunt glad were friends of my mum and dad it was a world apart from where we lived in Coventry and I loved it .
My memories of occasions like yours take me right back to the 50s and yes, a small gift, given with love, meant so much to a little girl who didn't have a lot! Best of all were the "aunts" who liked to spend time with me - showing me how to sew and knit - skills that have lasted a life time. Your little toadstools are lovely and I especially like the mended ones! xx Jo
How nice she sounds! YOu were so lucky to know her, and I'm not surprised she made such an impression! The kindness of some of the old people I knew, sticks with me too. There is something very sweet and cosy about it.
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