Flickr Favourites: August 8, 2015

{Playtime togs ~ kristine}




{Vegetable sandwich~ Sara Domjan}



{Model in striped wool jersey dress (c. 1946) ~ Arnold Kabini}




{1959 Dole Pineapple ad ~ Totally Mystified}



{I'm feeling a little blue today ~ Steve Wilson}



{Good Housekeeping Mar 1951 ~ File Photo Digital Archive}



{1957 Saxone ad ~ Totally Mystified}



{1958 Admiral Stero ad ~ Totally Mystified}



{Baby Hérisson ~ Swann Chedemail}



{Blue and gold (1946) ~ Roz Leibowitz}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.} 

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August is a bold time of the year - brazen, some might even say. As a general rule, it's summer's last great stance, and indeed, is the final full month of the season. It's hot, fun, and full of rich, captivating, beautiful colours, amongst which gold, blue, dusty brown, and black always spring to mind for me.

They make me think of everything from dips in the lake when it's a sultry 35C at 11pm to evenings spent watching stars pirouette across the heavens to the colours of the sand and sagebrush strew hills that flank our town.

I love August and its intoxicating heat. I use it to nap, to talk walks, to wear my favourite sundresses, and to simply sit quietly and do nothing sometimes, in the great tradition of summers and porches everywhere.

August might feel like it flies by in the blink of an eye, but its rarely rushed and it loves to take the wheel, dictating, happily I might add, how you spend a good chunk of it. Thankfully, most of us so want to soak up every last ounce of sunshine while it’s still here, so that’s rarely a negative thing.

Stores are already starting to make room on their shelves for Halloween decorations and while I adore fall and its wonderful holidays with an unending passion, I am nowhere near getting my rake, plastic pumpkins, or Thanksgiving recipes out of storage yet.

Nope, no siree, no way. Right here, right now, I just want to watch the sun set over Okanagan Lake every night in a captivating, alluring, soulful palette that rather resembles the one featured here in this month's edition of Flickr Favourites. Coincidence? Just between you and I, not in the slightest! :)

Flickr Favourites: August 17, 2014

{1950s orange juice advertisement ~ Christian Montone}


{Summer School Spanish Language Program Festivities, 1951 ~ Duke Yearlook}


{Farm fresh ~ Magalie L'Abbé}


{Rose 'Love' raised in USA ~ naruo0720}


{57 Ways of Summer Eating with Heinz ~ alsis35}


{Beach Blanket Bingo 1930s ~ Vintage car nut}


{Vegetables ~ katinthecupboard}


{Beach Bum ~ Ross Harvey}


{Montgomery Ward summer 1959 catalog ~ Capricorn One}


{Sarasota Sun-Debs training at Lido Beach, Florida ~ State Library and Archives of Florida}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}

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It's human nature to find ourselves constantly looking forward. Even the most die hard of nostalgists amongst us are prone to setting their sites on tomorrow far too often sometimes. I count myself amongst the guilty there at times, but this week isn't one of them. No, as we savour these last few weeks of summer, the worst of the dog days behind us now, though the temperatures still feel warm enough to bake a cake on the sidewalk, I am incredibly content to live right here in this glorious moment, the sizzling August breeze that blows off of Okanagan Lake some days tickling my skin through the open bedroom window.

Soon enough, it will be my favourite season, autumn, but as much as I madly adore it, I have no desire to turn my thoughts in that direction yet. I'm too busy buying succulent peaches and late season cherries, walking barefoot on the dry summer grass as the heat baked straight into the earth rushes up to caress my soles, and flat out delighting in the fact that I only need to wear one layer to be more than warm enough when I go outside.

I'm star gazing, yard saling, watching Annie jump merrily through the sprinkler, feasting on barbequed foods like there's no tomorrow, sitting in the sand at the many local beaches and holding my darling husband's hand as we gaze at the almost hypnotic little waves lapping eagerly at the shore, enjoying sunlight well into the early evening still, and reminding myself to soak up every last precious moment of summer while it's still here. That famous Canadian winter sets in swiftly and rarely shows mercy, and when it does, though I love that season in many of its own ways, I know that I will pine for these days immeasurably.

They, like fall however, are not now, and I am very grateful for that. No, now, is alluring, resplendent, and scented with wisteria, honeysuckle and generously sized roses. It calls for ice cream cones, boat rides, long walks as the wind rustles and plays with the still green leaves, and as many memories created in the great outdoors as humanly possible.

All of these things are reflected in today's Flickr Favourites images, which serve as a powerful visual reminder to let tomorrow be tomorrow. You and I and all of us need to just enjoy, appreciate and savour today. Glorious, sun drenched mid-August gem that it is. And on that note, I'm off to take my beach towels out of the dryer, pack a picnic lunch in advance, and spend another magnificent day out enjoying the Okanagan at its very best and most beautiful while summer is still here.

Welcoming August with open arms

✯ Day 213 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

A new week, a new month. There is much to take comfort in from the start of something fresh, unmarred by days and weeks of events perhaps left best forgotten. Of course a new beginning doesn't have to erase or replace negative events, it can be a continuation of something fantastic or the last chapter in a saga of awesomeness. Yet, whatever today means to you, the fact remains that it's a new beginning, if only on the calendar.

August can be a challenging month. Easy to both love and hate (adore in the icy depth of January, loath in the moment), to praise and complain about in nearly equal measures. It's a strong month (which, perhaps, is part of the reason those born during much of it get to have a lion as their zodiac mascot) that makes no bones about its power and summertime prowess. Yet like a battle hardened warrior encountering a fair maiden, it can also show its gentle side when presented with the right circumstances.

This month makes me think back the sunny-kissed days of my youth, spent in a town that boasted not one, but two rather large lakes. Swimming until it would have seemed natural if I suddenly sprouted fins, eating sandwiches and bags of potato chips sprinkled with the distinct texture of taupe hued sand, falling asleep under a cloudless sky, the buzz of a thousand water frolickers resonating in my suntanned ears.

The eighth chapter of the year is resilient and beguiling. Few months can even come close to presenting the world with the beauty it houses. Think of a glistening sunrise, a sublimely warm, silken soft evening breeze. Fields of proud sunflowers, gardens teaming with hearty produce. Light that can be glaring one moment and tame as a lamb the next.

{Cute vintage garb, a fun book, time spent outdoors, those are the simple, beloved pleasures of this sultry month, as seen in this marvelous August 1956 cover of Redbook magaine. Image via CapricornOneVintage on Flickr.}

August is rarely the time for massive new projects, but is very well suited to adventures of all magnitudes. From travel to parties, planning for the new school year to putting up preserves, August works well when we balance dog-eared knowledge with a dusting of the unknown.

I'm grateful that this month is here, able to take July and throw it into the storage closet of the past with its arrival. Was July unmentionable? No, thankfully, but it had some points that I won't be chatting about anytime soon and a heat wave that would make a desert dwelling lizard melt.

No one knows what August holds in store, but my husband's upcoming birthday on the 6th gives me something extra special to look forward to. I hope for a month of tranquility and possibility, of answers and time to daydream. Of corn-on-the-cob eaten while practically too hot to hold, and nearly tooth-numbingly cold beverages sipped under the wise sun of summer's last truly full month.

As we launch into August and this glistening new week, I wish you each a month ahead that is precisely as you hope it will be. If you want to see the open road, may you be able to do so. If all you long for is evenings spent curled up in a hammock, your favourite reads by your side, so be it.

August is a splendid, exciting, incomparable month, and I hope deeply that is treats you all to a fabulous thirty-one days of summery bliss!