The Sunday porch: County Armagh

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Bridget and Maynard Sinton at their family home of Ballyards, County Armagh, June 17, 1921, by H. Allison & Co. Photographers, via Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Commons on flickr.

That retractable striped awning emerging from the terrace roof looks very sleek and was brand new.  A ca. 1920 photo of the house in this biography of the children’s father shows the terrace with no cover. (You can read a brief history of awnings here.)

Ballyards was built in 1872 and sold to the father, a linen manufacturer, in 1908. He almost doubled its size and called it “Ballyards Castle.”

The children playing in a sandpile. (This photo has been printed in reverse from the others.)

Maynard was killed in WWII, but Bridget (age 7 in these photos) lived until 1975.

Among daisies

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Children in daisies, Library Company of PhiladelphiaWallace and Dot Boyd, Fossie, and “Mother,” with “Uncle Phil” (standing) in a field of daisies. ca. 1900, one half of a stereographic portrait by an unknown photographer, via Library Company of Philadelphia Commons on flickr.

Cheshire County, N.H.

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“Ladies playing croquet,” probably Cheshire County, New Hampshire, ca. 1900, by Bion Whitehouse, via Keene Public Library and the Historical Society of Cheshire County Commons on flickr.

Technically, they are playing roque, an American variant* of croquet, which is played on a hard sand or clay surface. Introduced in the late 1880s, it was extremely popular in the first few decades of the 20th century — and an Olympic sport in 1904 — and then almost entirely disappeared after the 1950s.

The roque grounds.

The photo above was published between 1900 and 1919, photographer unknown. It is part of the Termaine Arkley Croquet Collection and via UBC (University of British Columbia) Library Digitization Centre Commons on flickr.

There’s also a photo of 1918 roque grounds in Florida here.

*There is also a modern game of beach croquet.

New York City

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The finishing touch. . .

Schoolchildren’s victory gardens on 1st Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets, New York City, June 1944, by Edward Meyer for U.S. Office of War Information, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all photos here).


The first taste.

The location was St. Gabriel’s Park at the time of the photos. It is now called St. Vartan Park.

Please click on any of the thumbnails below to see a few more pictures of this garden.

In a vase on Monday: 1888

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Tea Room at the Crawfordsburn Inn, Crawfordsburn, County Down, ca. 1888, by R. Welch, via Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Commons on flickr.

I believe this is The Old Inn, built in 1614 and still in operation as a hotel and restaurant. The mail coach, on its way to the port of Donaghadee and passage to England, changed horses at the Inn. Among the travelers who stopped here were Swift, Tennyson, Thackeray, Dickens, and Trollope.

I’m recovering from foot surgery at moment, so I haven’t been able to make my own arrangement for “In a vase on Monday,” hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  But I did want to share this wonderful photo in which the whole room is an arrangement.  At first, I thought those were peacock feathers fanning out over the portrait of the Queen and on the right, but they are tall grasses.  I would love to have lunch here.

Please click on the picture for a larger view.