Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth or the Harvest Season
This is my dad during hay carting season – note the reinforcement patches mum has sewn on the fronts of his trousers to protect him from grass-seeds and chafing. Photo taken the very late 1950s.
This photo is also a very belated Family History Friday Post.
Dad is heating up a frypan over a small fire he has made in a roadside culvert. He was a great one for improvisation. I’m thinking that is a sauce bottle resting on top of the culvert, not a bottle of beer. It is probably the lunch time break, or even a late breakfast if the men began work at dawn to beat the heat.
In the background, on the other side of the road, is a paddock gleaming in the light. This could be a wheat or oat crop waiting to be harvested. Perhaps it is a paddock dotted with hay bales ready for being tossed on a truck by a gang of labourers.
Christine R 
A very compelling photo… something about it… his smile, for one thing. Is it a smile? Or is he squinting in the sun or smoke from the fire?
Who would have been the photographer?
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I believe his brother was haycarting with him and took the photo. Dad is looking downwards, Maggie, and could well be squinting with a combination of sun and smoke. I think he would be smiling, the corners of his eyes would crinkle up when he did that. My youngest brother is the image of him, but hasn’t the dark red hair. Thanks for dropping by.
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The paddock in the back looks like a shimmering lake. Wonder what the menu for the day was.
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I must ask mum what he would likely to have had. The frypan isn’t very big.
Oh Sue – I’m just thinking – that MIGHT be a lake. I just remembered what mum said when I asked her about the photo. So much for fields of wheat or oats. Geez, you’re good! 😀
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Your Dad has a very congenial face and he is a good looking man too! Lovely photo. What a great place to have a fire.
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Dad was in his element with any sort of camping. He swept mum off her feet. He had the most amazing blue eyes. 😀
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OH GOSH, NOW I’M GOING TO GET A BIG HEAD
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Talk about a photo that tells a story. Wonderful!!!
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I thought I could sneak it into the theme, Cee. Thanks. 🙂
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What a wonderful photo and a wonderful memory Christine.
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I was thrilled to get this photo from a cousin only recently, Kayti.
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What a lovely photo Christine. I would so interested to know what he might have been frying up. My Dad was a farmer but I can not imagine him taking the time to cook.
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I’ll have to phone my mum today and see if she knows. My curiousity is aroused. Probably sausages. Thanks for dropping by Sue.
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Hi Sue & Sue, I don’t know who is going senile – me or mum – but she doesn’t remember the photo. She said something like ‘the bastard was always off somewhere, living like a tramp’, said the trousers could have been for rabbiting. I vote for her losing her memory as she has told me the same story three times now like it happened last week. I’ll have to look into the correspondence from my cousin. He must have told me. If I had any brains I would have recorded it in the photo properties. ❤
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Did you look on the back? But, to give your mum her due, she may never have seen the photo, it could be one that his brother took and never passed on, that’s why your cousin had it.
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It was always only the digital image from my cousin. If there had been writing on the back, he would have scanned it too. Since my mum dosn’t remember, if I can’t find the correspondence, then I’ll have to ask cuz.
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