This photo of my Grandma, Mary Margaret Ellis, comes from a bundle of negatives found in her collection. She has an engagement ring on, so I am guessing this was taken sometime while my Grandpa was on his LDS mission in New Zealand. I need to do a little digging to nail down those dates.
I love the details of her dress. She made most of her own dresses. I wonder if she made this one too? It’s a little bit fancy, I wonder what it was for? They got married in June so I don’t think it was for any wedding festivities.
Great photo—but I can’t believe she’s standing in snow in those shoes!
Big smiles over here! I grew up in Washington with one set of experiences with cold weather attire. When we moved to Utah 8 or so years ago I was shocked by all of the kids and teenagers who wear shorts pretty much year round. I tried to use the same weather rules with my kids here that I had in Idaho but it didn’t last. (Things like no shorts unless it’s supposed to be 70 or higher, hoodie or jacket under 65, coat under 55.) Even I have adjusted. We Utah folks don’t usually dress very appropriately for the weather. If it’s above 40 I generally wear flip flops or shoes without socks. Above 30 and under 40, generally shoes, but no socks. Under 30, it depends on if the wind is blowing. I wear capris about 9 months of the year and don’t wear a coat very often. We are crazy around here.
I’m guessing she went out because of lighting, just for the picture. She probably didn’t even get cold. It’s so dry here that it takes a while to get cold. 😉
Wow, that is so odd for this New Englander! I don’t wear shorts unless it’s 80 degrees!
It is really strange. The flip side is that everything dries out almost instantly. If you get bread out for a sandwich and get interrupted before you finish making the sandwich, the bread dries out. My poor skin is constantly dry and during the winter it cracks and bleeds. But humidity is difficult too. Give me the cool and rainy Pacific Northwest any day and I will be very happy.
As one of my colleagues used to say, there is no ideal climate. 🙂
There really isn’t. My favorite climate is terrible for preservation of photos and records, so I could be happy there but my treasures would not be. 😉
I was about to say the same as Amy — only not just the shoes, but no coat either. Still if she had been rugged up we wouldn’t have seen the dress, which is gorgeous. It’s a lovely photo 🙂
Thank you Su. This is what I said to Amy: “Big smiles over here! I grew up in Washington with one set of experiences with cold weather attire. When we moved to Utah 8 or so years ago I was shocked by all of the kids and teenagers who wear shorts pretty much year round. I tried to use the same weather rules with my kids here that I had in Idaho but it didn’t last. (Things like no shorts unless it’s supposed to be 70 or higher, hoodie or jacket under 65, coat under 55.) Even I have adjusted. We Utah folks don’t usually dress very appropriately for the weather. If it’s above 40 I generally wear flip flops or shoes without socks. Above 30 and under 40, generally shoes, but no socks. Under 30, it depends on if the wind is blowing. I wear capris about 9 months of the year and don’t wear a coat very often. We are crazy around here.
I’m guessing she went out because of lighting, just for the picture. She probably didn’t even get cold. It’s so dry here that it takes a while to get cold. 😉”
I’m so not used to dry weather. Auckland is at sea level and either cool and rainy or hot and humid. Our clothing choices are probably quite similar to yours, though I only really abandon the flip flops when the ground is so wet my feet would get really muddy.
I noticed how quickly my skin dried out last week when I travelled through the mountains to visit my dad. And I get what you mean about taking a while to get cold, though I thought it might just have been that the boy and I were having so much fun in the snow we just hadn’t noticed the temperature 🙂
Humidity really changes how the temperature feels. I bet you were having fun AND benefitting from the dry air.
LOTS of fun 🙂
Great picture – I’m also amazed that she was out in the snow with no coat. Ah. . . the joys of being young.
Thank you Sheryl! I’m guessing she just went out for the picture. Better lighting probably. It’s so dry here in Utah that she probably didn’t get cold – just out for the photo and right back in.
When I first moved here I thought everyone was crazy. Hardly any kids wear true coats, just jackets or hoodies. Lots of kids wear shorts year round. The cold isn’t quite so cold here.
Great photo. Was it taken in the 1940s? It reminds me of photos of my Mom. My Mom made her own dresses too.
Thank you Colleen. It wasn’t dated so I can’t know for sure but I think it was in the 1940s. She married in June of 1949. She was engaged for about 2 years so I think this photo would have been taken between 1946 and 1949.
I am trying to trace up my own geneology, but this photo is really beautiful!
Thank you! 🙂