Sunday 1 July 2012

Chelonian Chit-Chat

Layout detail - butterflies and twine
Welcome to the second half of 2012 - the first Sunday in the seventh month - which means it must be time for a story of sorts.

A story without a proper photograph; from long before I scrapbooked and took careful photos to illustrate our memories; from a time when snaps were just that - snapped fragments of a summer afternoon, with too much physical background, sometimes blurring, even obscuring, the point of the photograph!

I went to my monthly crop yesterday and enjoyed myself immensely: good company, "me" time, yummy cakes, free stash ... my friend Ally had had a clear out and was offloading unwanted papers ... some of which were just perfect for a cute little photo (heavily cropped to get rid of that excess of physical background) of two toddlers chatting together by the garden fence.

Layout - Chit-chat - Jimjams
{This page was actually done with a challenge in mind: ATDML asked us to scraplift their DT,
I chose Karen's page here, but life has got in the way and I missed the uploading deadline *sigh*}
These two little tots were actually chatting about "Timmy" the tortoise just the other side of the fence.  You can't see him though - but I know he was there.  Furthermore we don't have any photos of him - he was a pet at their grandfather's for over 30 years - just part of the (garden) furniture!  Timmy had travelled from Spain to the UK with my father's young family.  He was available for feeding with lettuce, cucumber and dog food (!) every  summer visit; somethingone to hunt for whenever he escaped; an exciting box to unpack from the attic during mild Easter holidays ... both for my (half-)siblings and I and latterly our own children.  But of course, this story is being told in the past tense: a couple of years ago Timmy did not come out of his attic box as usual.  It wasn't too cold for him.  It was simply time. Although Timmy never seemed to make it to centre stage in any of my photos, we'll miss him.

Layout detail - Buttons, butterflies & twine

Have you got a tale to tell?  Why not pop over to High In The Sky and share it so that the rest of the Sunday Storytellers can come and read.

18 comments:

scrappymo! said...

What a sweet story...and an equally sweet photo!!!

scrappyjacky said...

A lovely story....giving so much meaning to the photo.

Irene said...

What a gorgeous layout and adorable photograph. I love the colours and papers you have chosen to set off the photograph.

Beverly said...

Sweet photo and a wonderful story, seems Timmy had a positive impact on several generations :)

Kirsty.A said...

I had a tortoise called Timmy too!

helena said...

an adorable photo and lovely memories

MiniOwner said...

Just stunning! :o)
Sue xx

Jennifer Grace said...

Great story, I love that you took him out of the box each Easter holidays. The photo is so cute, it's great you got it onto a layout!

Thanks for entering my challenge -challenge! x

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Great story! I love your layout!

alexa said...

I've tried commenting a few times and will keep trying! I love this page, angles and all. Your use of colour is so assured and I especially like those threads across the page. Delicious to the eye.

furrypig said...

without the story/journalling we wouldn't know what was going on in that photo at all! Great one to share and love the idea of free stash!

Mary B said...

Lovely page who are the children, you and your brother?

Susanne said...

Cute story and your page is ab fab!

Unknown said...

That is a beautiful layout and such a lovely story. Even without any photos of Timmy, you have still shared the story which will stay with your family forever.

Alison said...

Great that Timmy has a Lo of his own..even if there ARE no pics of him!
Alison xx

Missus Wookie said...

Cool angle to scrap and great use of bits and pieces. Sad to hear of Timmy's passing but glad you've scrapped the story anyhow :)

happysnapper said...

Hope your story is hidden on that lovely lo.somewhere

Sian said...

A layout and a story worth coming home for! As I get stuck into the unpacking your story chimed with me - all holiday we have been wondering how Gary the hamster has been doing becasue we fear he might be close to his time too. Relief all round when we got back..

..and you have reminded me about the time we looked after a friend's tortoise (always wanted one of my own thanks to Blue Peter!). A lovely story and a beautiful page which I will pin without further delay.