Trying to type this weeks blog with a beagle on my lap so please bear with if there are errors. Yes, I sit at the computer and type with a wriggling, furry, pesky dog sitting on my lap and I wouldn't have it any other way....PHEW....he jumped off. Thats better.

So you may be wondering about that ethereal photo above, wondering who that young lass is? That very beautiful lass happens to be my darling paternal Grandmother, Helen Hughes who posed for this photo in 1931 and will be turning the grand age of 92 this year and is still every bit as beautiful as she was back when this photo was taken.

I'm fortunate to come from a family who at least on the paternal side, has kept records and photos of the clan and while much of the nitty gritty has been lost over the years, the basic information of my roots is kept both in documentation and in the memory bank of my Uncle who is the history keeper. I often look back on the family heritage website and search the faces of my ancestors, going back as far as the late1800s at least with photos (although we have the tree tracked back to end of the 1700s) and I often wonder about them, what their lives were like and what they would think of their descendants.....I dare say they would think us very loose with our behavior and with potty mouths to match!

My beautiful Grandma has always had a strong sense of history, a deep commitment to making sure we know our past and she has been a tremendous influence to me over the years, especially as I mature and want a stronger connection with my family, my history, my roots. And of course as some know, she has greatly inspired the path I walk today in the field of vintage and antiques.

To loosely sum things up, Grandma herself had a strong love of antiques and in particular, she loved textiles - clothing specifically and through inheritance on both her side and her husbands side, started to amass items such as the wedding garments of her mother and grandmother, odds and ends that were handed down over years and stashed away while she raised her 6 hearty sons in South Australia. As those sons all grew and married and started families of their own, she finally had the opportunity to further her passion which branched out to various causes - vintage clothing fashions shows to raise money for charity, she took those fashions to retirement homes where even the most disinterested senior would perk up at seeing the clothing of their youth. And in her later years, she opened and established a clothing and costume museum in her home town of Lobethal which was quite an epic feat and it remained a town institution for many years, drawing in tourists and people with a love of vintage and antiques.

As a child, I'd visit my Grandparents during school holidays and would sleep in rooms filled to the brim with all things old - wander through a room filled with clothing and books - play dress ups with my many cousins and sleep with one eye open, fearful of the millinery display  head my sister saw fit to draw a face on. We thought nothing of it and didn't understand her passion or the time and thought she put into it all.

Flash forward 30 odd years and as I went through my life here in the United States, I was trying to find my footing and discovering ever so late the things I had a mild skill at, such as photography. Through the process of photography, I realized that with doing portraits, I wanted to control the vision and image that I was creating and thus, started to slowly amass garments and accessories for photo shoots. And one shoot I long wanted to do (and am yet to achieve) was a 1920s based look featuring a wool swimsuit from that era.

I googled, I researched and pored websites until one day I found what I was looking for listed on Etsy - a navy blue woolen swimsuit from the 1920s which cost me the outrageous price of $13.00. I was delighted when it arrived and even more so delighted when I saw the label attached which had the designers name "Annette Kellerman". Immediately called Grandma who shared my excitement and proceed to inform me of who Annette Kellerman was - which in itself is quite a story and best saved for another blog on another day.

So thats when the seed was planted, and it sprouted. And my love for vintage clothing took off like a rocket and I've never looked back. So I hunted, I prowled, I collected. I used clothing in shoots and if I couldn't find what I wanted, I adapted. I would sit online for hours on end and look at photos, I'd look at Etsy and study every inch of the fashions I'd see on there and if i was lucky, I'd stumble across someone selling a dress or a skirt or a suit for a fabulous price and I would pounce like a demented cat. No formal training here folks, just a natural instinct and a brain that soaks it all in like a sponge.

Time went by and as my collection grew, my house shrunk....now I'm no hoarder and thankfully have my mothers neat streak so something had to give. I met a wonderful lass who has an antique business who kindly allowed me to sell some of my excess at her store and as that happened, I fell further into the world of antiques - meeting people, going to sales, gaining more knowledge and somewhere along the way, Riley Street Vintage was born - Riley Street being where my Grandmother still lives, the house she raised my father and 5 brothers in - a house that is full of so many memories and is a huge part of our heritage.

Anyway, I really am not so great at this writing business and could just blindly type and yabber on all day long without rhyme or reason. But this records and documents how I meandered my way to where I am now. By collecting clothing, I started to look harder at all vintage and antiques and because the picking side of things is such a high, I guess I just landed where I am meant to be - selling goodies at an antique mall. It's been great, it gave me a purpose when I was feeling at such a loss of where to go in life, it opened up my bottomless pit of creativity and it's expanded and enriched my life more than I thought possible.

All because many decades ago, a young girl found her passion. And through fate and blood, that passion was passed on.

My beautiful Grandma - I owe all this to her. I'm proud of her for all she's done, for all she created - for believing in herself and achieving so much.

And that my friends is all for today - the beagle and the swiffer are demanding dinner. You know now the history behind Riley Street Vintage, at least the nuts n' bolts of it. And you never know, it may inspire you to delve into your history - you never know what your ancestors may have inspired or inspire you to do. If anyone shares a common love of something or a skill with one of their elders or ancestors, be sure to fill me in, I'd love to hear about it!

Cheers for now - have a great week ahead!

Sam.