Saturday Snapshots – May 1, 2010

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." ~ Hal Borland

{Where, oh where, is the magic button I can press to suddenly find every single piece of this lovely woman’s fantastically pretty outfit – right down to the gorgeous flower bedecked umbrella – in my closet? From her lemon curd hued shoes to the matching dress and hat, everything about this stylish woman says pure 1950s fashionista!}



{A mom (named Bunny) and her daughter (Kathy) bundle up in thick coats to fend off the chill (perhaps coming from a cold ocean wind) in this wonderful snapshot that was taken aboard a ship in the 1950s. Poor little Kathy does not seem too pleased about the situation, however I think both she and her mother look lovely in their seafaring garb.}



{As if captured in a glamorous movie still, this shot from 1937 depicts a couple exiting a vehicle at a resort, a bellboy who's visible in the background carries the pair’s luggage – no doubt so that the pair could remain looking as crisp and stylish as they do. I wonder, was this shot (for which no information was provided) staged, or did someone simply spot an ideal moment to press the shutter?}



{A pair of brunette women, each in a shimmery bathing suit, share a patch of sand together in this sunny shot from 1946. The gal on the right (with her lovely tomato red nails) appears to be in a more chipper mood than her companion, but perhaps the other woman simply wasn’t a fan of having her picture taken while wearing a swimsuit ;)}



{Looking every bit a distinguished gentleman, a handsome young chap poses with the most sophisticated of airs around him in this undated photograph that I'd very tentatively peg to be from the 30s. Sauvé, confident, and, I’d venture to guess something of a heartbreaker, this unnamed fellow in his crisp bow tie, could truly have passed for a Hollywood star in his day – or in any era for that matter.}



{Timeless fun swirls through this photo like the snowflakes it captured in the background, as a mother and her two young sons stand beside the back of a car. In the snow that’s accumulated on the window, someone has carved the date and the words "Skyline Drive" as a way to permanently help them remember when and where this image was captured. The poster of this photograph has examined it for clues and likely determined a few things, such as that "Skyline Drive" refers to a spot of that name which runs through Shennandoah National Park in Virginia, and that the car’s license plate is probably from Delaware – both neat snippets of information that help give this wonderful photo an even greater depth of interest.}



{Numerous stylish models of men’s hats sit atop photographs (which I'm guessing are of movie stars or other celebrities) as a way of display them to passersby in this simple, yet engaging, vintage street shot of "Lindsey The Hatter’s" shop.}



{Three people stand close together, nearly bathed in dark shadows from nearby trees, and seem somehow out of place in their surroundings. Sharply well dressed – right down to the woman on the right’s fur coat and eye-catching earrings – they appear as though they’ve just come from a luncheon date, afternoon concert or social affair of some sort, though my guess veers towards that they were simply impeccably dressed tourists (as suggested perhaps by the camera around the gentleman’s neck) enjoying a local park on their way to someplace indoors.}



{There is much to relish about this fun, casual vintage portrait, from the floral print backdrop to fellow’s rather quirky expression, but what jumps out at me the most, is just how incredibly much this beautiful young woman resembled the actress Geena Davis.}



{Every vintage photo is a treasure, but some stand out like glistening gems. This incredible 1940s shot from the UK of a "Miss War Worker’s" competition is truly one such image. Women, dressed for the war work jobs in no-nonsense, practical clothing, their hair tucked up and out of their faces, stand side-by-side for as far as the eye can see, each holding her own number and no doubt hoping that it’s the one that gets called out as the winner! I’ve seen many vintage beauty pageant photographs before, but this is the first and only Miss War Worker image to have ever crossed my path.}

{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.}


There are times when life itself feels like the seasons. Some periods are light of burdens and rich in joy, reminding us of sublimely perfect July evenings. Others are turbulent and grey. Harsh days grow more common, but still all is manageable. Such spells may call to mind autumn.

Then there are times when tomorrow seems a bleak eternity away, doubt and worry consume your mind like a icy blizzard of the kind found only on the harshest of winter days. Lastly in this calendar of life, there are those moments when one begins to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel after such a storm (and believe me, sometimes these tempests persist for years on end), when the days become a little brighter, a little easier to bear. A certain sort of relief wells up from the recesses of your soul and slowly inches its way through your veins until you suddenly realize that the darkest moments of that storm have passed and spring has once again returned.

To my mind, author Hal Borland’s quote above speaks equally to the passing of real seasons as much as it does to the events and ongoing issues in one’s life we all encounter. These few words remind us that just as spring emerges each year, so too do the harshest periods of our life also pass.

Today on May Day, I wish you each a lifetime filled with far more days of spring than winter; of storms that pass in the blink of an eye, and of the sort of happiness that sooths the mind and lets you know everything really is going to be alright.