Whitsuntide 1947 - Sepia Saturday 680

 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 680 (Old Cars)

As mentioned in a previous post of mine on the same theme, my grandparents Sally and Gustaf seem to have been more interested in where their car could take them, than in photos of the car itself. 

I think I have also mentioned that when they got their first car in 1947, Sally started keeping notes of the outings they made. For this post, I had a look at the first of her notebooks, from the beginning, and managed to match a couple of her earliest entries with these photos in my dad's photo album:

From Sally's Journal, started in May 1947

This spring I've had the opportunity to go on several outings by car in our beautiful county of Västergötland.

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Thursday, 22 May (1947): 
A sunny, summery day for a celebration: Bertil's graduation from 'Realskolan' (lower secondary school). How wonderful it felt to be standing outside the school to greet him, and then to have a little family feast at home, drinking coffee outdoors, surrounded by the lovely fresh greens of early summer. So I must add thanks to God, that I got to experience this bright day so filled with joy and happiness – one of my most beautiful memories.

My dad is (nearly) 16 years old here.

Saturday, 24 May – Whitsun Eve:  
We went on an outing to Gräfsnäs, where we had coffee in the vicinity of the old castle ruin.   

Sally and Bertil in front of
Gräfsnäs Castle Ruin (1947)

My own photos from Gräfsnäs castle ruin in 2015

Hildur, Sally, Gustaf and Bertil - I'm not sure exactly where, but as the photo is on the same page in the album as those from his graduation and the outing to Gräfsnäs, it's probably from the same weekend.

Whitsun Sunday (25 May): We went to Stackenäs at Karl Gustav, where we picked lilies of the valley.

Both days we travelled through beautiful scenery.

Photo borrowed from a tourist website for Kungsäter and Stackenäs Museum. 

I don't know if this was a museum already back in 1947, but according the website, the first floor of this building was built in the 1670s to accommodate guests for a famous wedding in a noble family in that neighbourhood. (The second floor was added in 1895.) The story says that it was a lavish wedding, but the bride wanted to be free, and when she found an opportunity, she changed into to hunting clothes and ran away from the party on her horse - but her bridegroom caught up with her in the morning. (Alas that's all the website tells us... I really just wanted to borrow the photo as an example of the landscape Sally enjoyed on this outing - but I think Gustaf (journalist with keen interest in local history and various folklore) would have appreciated the story as well!

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Från Sallys dagbok, maj/juni 1947

Tillsammans med mina kära har jag fått göra flera bilresor i vårt vackra Västergötland. [---]

Torsdagen d. 22 maj. En solljus, sommarvarm högtidsdag. Bertils realexamen. Så underbart det kändes att stå utanför Läroverket och ta emot honom, att sedan vid hemkomsten tillsammans med de närmaste ha lite festligt med kaffe I det fria, och omgivna av försommarens ljuvliga grönska. Så vill jag säga: Tack gode Gud att jag då fick vara med, denna ljusa dag så fylld av glädje och lycka. En bland de allra vackraste minnenas dag.

Lördagen d. 24 (Pingstafton) reste vi till Grävsnäs där vi drack kaffe I närheten av slottsruinen. Pingstdagen åkte vi till Stackenäs I Karl Gustaf. Där plockade vi liljekonvalje. Båda dagarna gick färden genom de mest natursköna trakter.

Outing with Nurse, 1948 - Sepia Saturday 678

 

Tingsholmen 1948

Gustaf, Bertil,
Sonja, Hildur, Sally

This week's prompt picture for Sepia Saturday made me think of this photo in my grandmother Sally's album, which includes a woman in nurse uniform. The name of the place written below the photo (Tingsholmen) doesn't ring a bell with me, but it's likely to be somewhere within the area of a daytrip by car. It seems that Gustaf and Sally bought their first car in the spring of 1947. The same year in May, Sally started keeping a sort of journal, which is mainly a record of outings they made - the main purpose obviously to help her remember where they'd been, when, and with whom. (There are very few more personal reflections included.)

From May to September 1948, there are several posts mentioning outings made together with Sally's sister Hildur and "Sister Sonja". (The Swedish word syster and the English word sister are alike in that it can either refer to a family member or be used as title for a nurse - or a nun.) As they did not have a sister named Sonja, and because of this photo, I conclude that Sonja was a nurse. There are also other photos of Sonja in the albums, though, dressed in private clothes; so she was probably also a friend. But I from what I've heard in the past, I know that Hildur's health was not the best, and that (at least periodically) she did need assistance from some sort of district nurse, or even a live-in carer. From Sally's notes I get the impression that Sonja was not a live-in carer though, because Sally sometimes also mentions them driving Sonja home, or visiting Sonja in her own home. 

But this photo shows Sonja in her uniform, and accompanying Hildur + Sally with family, on a trip. So to me that suggests that she was "on duty" here, rather than just coming along as a friend.

In 1948, my father (Bertil) was 17 years old; Gustaf 44, Sally 48, and Hildur 56.

Linking to Sepia Saturday 678