Noelle and Rosamund Ffrench Photograph This photograph of Noelle and Rosamund Ffrench was taken at Hill’s Studio in Galway city around 1903. It is a fairly typical child portrait of the times, though a little more relaxed than most. I love the way that they added a country feel by the use of props, like the gate and spade. Props were very important in those days and helped to convey the story behind the image. Indeed photographers often used them to distinguish between girls and boys at a time when very young children of both genders wore dresses. That is why so many vintage photographs of girls include dolls, while…

Bushy Park House: Ivy Clad Thank you so much to my mother, Helga Weiss Mullins, for supplying me with this picture of Bushy Park House.  The photograph of the house, covered in ivy, comes from her own personal collection.  This is what the house would have looked like when she arrived from Germany in 1946 and, indeed, it retained that facade well into the 1960’s.  Eventually my father , Larry, decided that the ivy had to go because it could cause structural problems with the building. Tractor Pulling My mother once told me the hilarious story about the day the ivy met its’ end. Larry, on the tractor, tugging at…