Saturday Snapshots: March 20, 2010

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." ~ Michael Leunig

{An attractive young couple smile gleefully for the camera, dressed to the nines – complete with lovely lapel accessories (I especially fancy his little floral brooch, it takes a dapper gent to appreciate such an elegant piece of jewelry), in this cheerfully fun shot from the 1940s.}



{The breezy, serene spirit of summer echoes through this forties snap of a young woman – sporting a cute jumper that would be very much in line with today’s fashion trends – and a poised, beautiful dalmatian. There are some darling details in this shot such as the thin dog leash and little envelope she’s holding in her hand, plus the fact that it appears her shoes are two different colours!}



{An amazing wealth of fashion history resides in this fantastic hand tinted class photo from 1934. From the fact that nearly every fellow is wearing a tie to the ladies’ immensely pretty assortment of skirts and dresses, each of these young students is impeccably – and inspiringly – dressed.}



{Four WAC (Women’s Army Corps) members clown around for the camera in this 1940s shot, though some of the gals seem to be in better spirits than others. Aside from the gals' uniforms, what really draws me into this great snap is the menagerie of ephemera and photographs on the wall behind them.}



{Grace, beauty and a sense of youthful vitality flow through this gorgeous hand tinted portrait of a woman (named Louise) whose hairstyle I would jump through hoops to be able to duplicate exactly – complete with darling white bow.}



{Four members of the Steiniger family are kitted out in lovely traditional costumes which I suspect maybe Austrian (as a different photo in the same stream shows a large group of people who were members of an American Austrian club). Don’t you just adore how sweet – almost like characters from a fairytale – the children look?}



{Ooh-la-la, three pretty young ladies flash their gams (and garters!) for a group of servicemen in this flirtatious WW2 era photo. No background information whatsoever is provided for this shot, which has left me deeply curious as to where this image was taken and who these titillating women were.}



{Pssst...I have a secret, I’ve always adored guys in classically tailored overcoats (only a perfectly fitted suit tops them on my list of favourite menswear pieces), just like the ones the five Spanish gents (who worked in a local mine) in this 1943 photo are sporting.}



{The colours in this slice-of-daily-life street scene photo – taken in Bakersfield, California – could not be more ironically 50s if you painted them by hand (which I really like, especially the hearty dose of coral pink).}



{A trio of lovely young women embrace their military beaus in this endearingly sweet 1940s photo. I wonder if the fellows were shipping out soon, home on furlough, or returning from action?}

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


The words in week’s quote really drew me to them because March 20th just happens to be my love-i-versary. What, you may ask, is a love-i-versary? It’s a homemade word I use to describe the anniversary of the day that my husband and I first met.

Today marks six years since our first encounter, and what a jam-packed, amazing half dozen years it’s been! From a whirlwind courtship (we married almost seven months to the day after meeting) to living abroad, finding our way through the Canadian immigration system, several moves, medical issues, family visits, adopting our cat Stella, and a million ordinary (but not necessarily prosaic) everyday events that all work in harmony to create the beautiful life we share.

Yet Leunig’s words apply not only to couples. Their simple, immortal message that love begets happiness is something that I’ve always felt was true of humanity the world over. The more we love, the more we stand to make both ourselves, and the lives those went bestow our affection on, more joyful.

As we embark on the beginning of spring, it’s my heartfelt wish, sweet friends, that each of your worlds is filled with copious amounts of both love and happiness, now and forever.