Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Sunday 13 July 2014

Sunday Selections #180

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.

Like River I usually run with a theme.   It is winter here - and I am loving it.  And remembering winters gone by.  So I have dug out an old photo album, scanned a few photos and am presenting a few shots from a wonderful winter day probably forty years ago.

I was a school girl and a few friends and I had a day at the snow.  Remember black and white photography?  And only taking a few photos because processing them was sooooo expensive?  The quality of these photos is not wonderful - but the day was.




That is me with my behind in the air - and I still remember the bruise when I landed.  Spectacular - and painful.  And worth it.


My feminist self was starting to emerge.  I said that I was tired of only seeing snowmen and insisted that we create a snow woman.  So the Snowslut was born.  I have shown her before - but she still makes me smile.

115 comments:

  1. The Snowslut looks like me!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The photos are wonderful! I wish it snowed here. I'd certainly make Snowslut 2.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Myrna R.: It rarely snows in my city, though we can often see snow on the hills. Mind you, it is only 60 miles or so to the nearest snow fields. I should go back. Soon.

      Delete
  3. I wish it was winter here right now! A great blast from the past! Love your snow woman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen: Winter is so much kinder to MS bodies and minds isn't it? I hope you aren't melting too badly.

      Delete
  4. As a child I used to ride down dead man's hill where there were two hills with bumps in them. my sister and brother and I flew into the air over those so many times. once we ran into a metal clothesline pole and had the bejeezes knocked out of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda Starr: Sometimes I am amazed that we survived our childhoods - but didn't we have fun!

      Delete
  5. I saw the little thumbnail and thought, "EC and snow! In Australia?!" So, I looked it up. My goodness. And, every winter sport known to mankind. In June, no less. I guess I'll never think of June as winter, anywhere.
    Wonderful pictures. I've seen a few Snowsluts gracing lawns here--in winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne Noragon: Oh yes, we get snow. In a very few places. And I always love to see it.
      I have troubles with your white christmases. Christmas here is always hot. Sometimes very hot.

      Delete
    2. White hot, so almost a "white" Christmas.

      Delete
  6. All these photos made me smile EC, the one of you mid bum bump and the snow slut. Such a hoot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DeniseinVA: It was a wonderful day - and I still smile remembering it.

      Delete
  7. I just love SnowSlut!!! Yes, I remember b/w pictures and the flash bulbs that went with them. I have an editor who wants an old picture...but alas, it is hard as my mother's house burned taking almost all them a few years ago!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bookie: I am so sorry. Photos are some of the hardest things to love. Photos and other mementos with no monetary value - and a HUGE emotional one.

      Delete
  8. Thank you for sharing yourself so beautifully and openly with us! ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cloudia: I am so glad you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

      Delete
  9. Memories are not unlike the seasonings we add for flavour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. dinahmow: And there are so many flavours to mine...

      Delete
  10. What fantastic photos! Especially with the one with your butt in the air (great timing) and the Snowslut :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wendy: It was very lucky timing wasn't it? I am not sure which of my friends took that one - but her timing was immaculate. It was probably the laughing loon pictured in two of the other photos.

      Delete
  11. I think I can honestly say that's the first time I've seen a snow-woman! lol

    It's a little nippy up here on the hill at the moment, too...and I love it, as well. A very nice change from the stifling heat of our summers. I love being rugged up for a change, and my two furry rascals snuggle in even more.

    Great pics, EC...there's some special about black and white photos, I think.

    Have a great week...keep warm. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee: Yet another area where women are ignored? I don't think I have ever seen another snow woman (in the flesh as it were) either.
      A good frost here this morning and the cats went out - and came back in very rapidly saying 'sod that for a game of soldiers'. I hope you and your furry tyrants have a wonderful week.

      Delete
  12. Lovely snowslut you did, and brilliant of you. 40 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob Bushell: She was fun wasn't she? And I am pleased to be able to enjoy her still.

      Delete
  13. Wonderful memories and great B&W images. Thank you for sharing. I can feel the happiness in this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol in Cairns: It was a wonderful, wonderful day. Huge smiles and lots of laughter. And I enjoyed going back in time to it as well.

      Delete
  14. This was my first introduction to SnowSlut! She is simply... the best. Thank you, EC. And yeah, I'll bet that bruise was a shiner. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DJan: Snowslut has charm doesn't she? And yes, it was a very, very big bruise. And the bruise is long gone, and the memories of a very happy day remain.

      Delete
  15. Snowslut - you have coined a new term!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: My politically correct self wouldn't call her that today - but that is how she is labelled in that old photograph album.

      Delete
  16. Hey! I know that snow-woman! She's French, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. J Cosmo Newbery: I don't think so. I don't think she is stylish enough - or thin enough...

      Delete
  17. Terrific photos. You were clearly having great fun. The Snowslut is very inspired.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew: We were, and forty years (at least) down the track I still smile remembering that day.

      Delete
  18. Oh, I love the snowslut! Often I wish that digital photography had been around 60 years ago to get more pictures of my mother and then again to get more pictures of my children. I had 20 rolls of color film I could never afford to process, so all that is lost of my children.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Practical Parsimony: I have no pictures of my grandparents (on either side) or of my parent's families. And would love them. And rather a lot of rolls of film never got developed by me either. It was so expensive and the results so unpredicatable.

      Delete
  19. B&W reminiscences have a certain appeal don't they?

    Love your snowslut - she's sexy, brazen and out there, like she don't care :)
    I can imagine someone building a snowman not too far away, with a carrot (or zucchini) placed where you don't usually see one ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vicki: Still chuckling. And I would have loved to have seen that snowman...

      Delete
  20. those snowy pics are cool breeze to my sweaty feet....thank you:)
    and THANK you for the sweet encouraging invite you sent me last crazybusy week! I was so pleased to meet new friends....thanks so much
    for being such a community builder. I had my kids all home.....first time since Christmas day. It was so sweet, Sue:) (((((Big glad hug and sorry I couldn't come out to play)))))) big love, Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennifer Richardson: It was my pleasure to tell people about your poetic, beautiful blog - and self. And I am glad you had your kids home. Busy - but precious.

      Delete
  21. Happy memories in black and white are wonderful aren't they?
    I'd not seen your 'snowslut' before. She is truly something else and looks very proud too. What a great idea, one I'd never have thought of but I only had the one chance in the snow (in NZ in 1982) so just a tiny snowman for me then.
    Thank you for sharing the fun you were having way back then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mimsie: I have rarely spent much time in snow either. Very occasionally it snows here - but not usually enough for construction work. And my snow-woman/snow slut was a heap of fun. Though she got some sideways looks.

      Delete
  22. Fabulous trip down memory lane! Love the SnowSlut!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. River: It was a delightful romp down memory lane. I might have to go back again and explore some other by-ways.

      Delete
  23. Fantastic shots to have - and thanks for showing us! Clearly you enjoyed the cold as much then as you do now - as you might expect, I keep as far from the snowy bits of NZ as possible :)

    Your snowslut is brilliant! And you have made me put "scanning as many of my old photos as possible" on my Things to do when I retire list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexia: I suspect then I felt the cold more than I do now, but yoof is not sensible about such things. And it was a wonderful day.

      Delete
  24. We always have a snowy winter, so sledding was a recurring part of my childhood. But when I went to university it had a new twist - sliding down a campus hill on a cafeteria tray, or if no tray available, on a flattened cardboard box. And as a mom with small children, my husband and I went to a grown-ups party where we had a chance to take that ride downhill again. I was afraid I would break something that time, though, so I went only twice :) I love your pictures. Something about having fewer pictures makes the ones we have even more valuable. And I remember Snowslut. One of the first posts of yours that I read! I am so glad I found your blog back then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jenny_o: I am very glad you found me too - we have been talking for a long time now - and thank you.
      We rarely get snow and I would love to live somewhere that got it more regularly. Some day.
      I did go skiing once - and discovered that I was much faster on my face going down hill than I was while upright. Chronic klutzdom.

      Delete
  25. Well I never snowslut that a first doesn't she know it's too cold to be naked but she does have gloves, a tree branch and eyelashes.
    Merle..................

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merlesworld: She was counting on admiring glances keeping her warm - and no-one was feeling generous enough to put any clothing on her. Those fluttering eyelashes didn't work on her builders...

      Delete
  26. I love seeing old photographs, and there's something about black and white ones that adds to the it all. What a marvellous day you had, (barring the bruised bum), that's quite a shot caught of you in mid-air, you look like you're in a fiendishly tricky yoga position hahaha. Great smile too *grins back. Great post, thank you for the flashback.

    Snowslut. I might start calling Snow that, see if he likes it *falls about for some time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All Consuming: It was a wonderful day - and I am happy to share it. I wonder whether Snow will be flattered that you thought of him in conjunction with my cold, hard woman. Perhaps not. But tough.

      Delete
  27. She was attempting some modesty with the tree branch so not really a slut. Were you acting "like a girl"? You can check about that at LL Cool Joe's if you haven't already been there today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Grannie Annie: No, not a slut at all. I have seen the 'acting like a girl' video - and was acting like a 'young girl', and doing everything with a heap of energy. Which is nice to remember.

      Delete
  28. I love the snowslut! :) You look like you were having a blast.
    Snow is lovely to look at...from a distance. The three years I lived in snow country cured me of the romantic notions of doing so. The stuff doesn't go away when you want it to!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. River Fairchild: Oh we were having a blast. And from memory we went down to the coast the next day. Soooo much energy.
      I don't see enough snow to be tired of it, but my father who grew up in Germany, would agree with you. Wholeheartedly.

      Delete
  29. Yeah, it was expensive getting the films washed and printed.
    Your Snowslut is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haddock: It was wasn't it. And you paid for the failures as well.

      Delete
  30. Hmm. I don't see my comment...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, still don't see the original. I wrote that this are such fun photos. Thank you for sharing them. And snowslut is an amazing idea. I will make one the next time I see snow!

      Delete
    2. Raquel Somatra: No, it seems your original comment was stolen by blogger. Thank you for coming back and trying again (twice). I hope you can create a snow woman for us - and take photos. Please.

      Delete
  31. Those are fun pictures. I do remember black and white, and taking care not to take too many pictures because the cost of developing them was high.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mail4rosey: I remember opening the package of photos with my heart in my mouth. Did they come out - or has the chance gone by... And there were too many failures in my early photos.

      Delete
  32. I've not seen the Snowslut before so I'm glad you posted it today. It definitely made me laugh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Furrries of Whisppy: She was fun wasn't she? Though as we were building her there were some disapproving looks and comments from other people. Sigh.

      Delete
  33. Wow - that snowslut is absilutely wonderful!! Her eyelashes are phenomenal. And she even wears gloves!! Fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carola Bartz: She had a belly button too. And her mouth was constructed from a gum tree leaf.

      Delete
  34. OOO!
    How I love seeing the photo of you laughing, playing in the snow, Sue.
    It made me smile.
    Also, the Snow-Woman is sexy. Love those false eyelashes.
    Even back then you were LIBERATING women! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Inner Chick: I was very, very tired (and still am) of the invisibility of women. Particularly women who don't fit the 'beauty mould'. And my snow woman didn't feel the need to apologise for herself.

      Delete
  35. That's a very fetching Snow lady! I'm especially impressed with her chest --- me of the 34 A cup.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Molly: Her living bra had died. And, I think at the time all of her builders were also A, or sometimes B cup divas.

      Delete
  36. Hey Sue,

    What a trip down memory ski hill. Slip, slidin' away.....

    What's the difference between snowmen and snowwomen? Snow balls.........

    Hope you had a nice weekend.

    Gary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. klahanie: Perhaps the difference is in the position of said snow balls. And the size...
      My weekend was lovely - and I hope yours was too.

      Delete
  37. Your snow woman was a dominatrix! Very feminist indeed ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Riot Kitty: And she was one of my first (overt) steps towards the feminist light.

      Delete
  38. I'm still smiling even as I'm typing this. The happiness radiates through those wonderful old photos. Wonderful! Thanks for posting them.

    Brings back my own memory of growing up in Los Angeles. Snow wasn't exactly a part of our lives. Some kind of field trip was once organized through the school, to take us Southern Californian kids to the hills to see actual snow. I remember there being some consternation how we would even dress--nobody had cold weather clothes. The outcome was similar to your day--lots of exuberant sliding down snowy hills. These days with all of the budget cutbacks and emphasis on only covering material that is on the standardized tests (Art? Science? Are you kidding?), I can't imagine them ever doing anything like that now…

    And you know how much I like your snowwoman… heh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen): Exuberant is the perfect word for that day. It wasn't a school excursion, which would have been MUCH more regimented. Something I didn't do well then, and am worse at now.
      And I love that you could feel the joy. Which it was.

      Delete
    2. PS: And, if the school had any part in the day, the Snowslut would have been soundly frowned upon. And probably dismantled.

      Delete
  39. SHE made me smile too:) I love tobogganing. B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buttons: Welcome - and thank you. She was a heap of fun wasn't she?

      Delete
  40. Snow Slut! LOL

    Did you give her a big ass? And is that a hole where her vagina should be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Birdie: She did indeed have generously rounded buttocks. And that hole is her belly button (I think).

      Delete
  41. I saw that you mentioned a snowslut to Litte Lotta on her blog so I needed to come over and see what you were talking about!! :) Oh dear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Furry Bottoms: Do I detect you are not a fan?

      Delete
  42. I love, love, love that snowwoman. Well done, good on you! :-)

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Cuban in London: She is fun isn't she? And was at the time as well.

      Delete
  43. I just love those photos. I've been sledding and the same thing happened to me, a huge bruise. Love your snow-woman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clarissa Draper: Neither the snow nor the sled were precisely forgiving. Fun though.

      Delete
  44. I love black and white photos - these are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynn: Black and white photos have a charm of their own don't they? Or I think so.

      Delete
  45. OMG! This is my first vision of Snow Slut. I love her!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol Kilgore: I am glad you enjoy her icy magnificance.

      Delete
  46. Snowslut. That's hilarious!!! Yes, there is something charming about the pictures of me as a child that were in black and white. It's like a completely separate universe than we live in now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephanie Faris: Welcome - and thank you. Childhood is another universe - but often a much MORE colourful one.

      Delete
  47. Snowslut looks pretty hot (given that she's made of snow).

    Come to think of it I've met a few girls who were hot but also cold...

    Lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew Maclaren-Scott: And isn't it nice to see one who is cold - but also hot.

      Delete
  48. And the snowslut has to beat the snowmen off with a stick?

    ReplyDelete
  49. Love the b&w photos, EC, they have such a charm that isn't always found in our thousands of snaps we take now. It was a time to appreciate the miracle of photography.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol: And it was a miracle. Magic. And rather a lot of dismal failures as well. Somehow, even despite the lack of colour in these photos, the sheer joy of the day is present.

      Delete
  50. What fun! Snow is magical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ladyfi: It is, isn't it? And made more so for me because I rarely see it up close.

      Delete
  51. Competing with snow when ones livelihood is at stake, is a far cry from enjoying snow in the form of a recreation . Enjoying winter sports can come at a high price according to the figures of injuries and death which have occurred already in the snow regions of Victoria and NSW. And less than half the season gone .
    My worst vision of ice and snow was travelling as a 17 year old on a battleship to Murmansk in 1943,. never liked the stuff since.However, I liked your pics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vest: My father grew up with snow and never liked it. My English mother also saw a lot of it growing up.
      I didn't and I love it - knowing that it can make life difficult. I would still much rather be cold than hot.
      And yes, the death toll this ski season is high - and will no doubt get higher.

      Delete
  52. What fun photos of your long-ago happy day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snowbrush: I was amazed at how evocative I found them - and it seems that some of that joy was captured for everyone. Which is lovely.

      Delete
  53. I just love Snowslut and the imagination and fun that it took to create her. And the joy of sledding....I did take the 3 older grand kids sledding on our nearby Sugarbush Hill this season. In the beach I was swimming in off Lake Michigan the other day had ice balls floating in it just 12 weeks ago. Don't miss winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sue in Italia/In the Land of Cancer: I love winter. Crisp and clear and the elegance of tree branches against the sky... Swimming has charm too though.

      Delete
  54. I love your snowwoman. I have made two in recent years, bedecked in jewelry, a bust, flowers, and scarves. But you made one long long ago, very progressive. I do remember the days of black and white photography, and taking few pictures due to the costs of developing. In my younger adult days, I took slides because they were cheaper to process, all useless now and I may have lost all those slides, mainly of my years in Alaska, in one of my many moves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strayer: We virtually never see snow here, so I haven't built anything from it since those long ago days. But I wouldn't build a snowman. Have you ever seen what Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) does with snow? Now there is an imagination...
      And yes, I remember slides too. And have misplaced/lost ours.

      Delete
  55. I do remember seeing a reference to this snow-woman on your blog before, but after you mentioned her in a comment on my post, I had to come back and take another look. I'm sure she was the talk of the town! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan F.: Talk of the hillside perhaps. Briefly. She was fun though.

      Delete