A cheerful, summery Sunday greeting

Hi my wonderful dears, as this last Sunday in July kicks off, I awoke with the thought that it’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post at the forefront of my mind. I apologize for the absence, but as many of you know, my health is not in top shape at the moment, and far too often it keeps me from perusing the activities both online and in the real world that I’d dearly like to.

While the past couple of weeks were rather rough, I’m feeling a smidge better this weekend (yippee!), and simply could not let another day pass by without blogging.

Before I go any further, I want to sincerely thank everybody who left comments – heartfelt, beautiful, joy inspiring comments – for me on my birthday earlier this month. I am so blessed to be amongst such a wonderful group of online friends.

I wish that I had exciting stories, tales of recently found (vintage) treasures, or other exciting news to regale you all with, but alas, the bulk of my days lately have been anything but adventurous. Like many parts of the globe recently however, Toronto was hit a massive wallop of a heat wave earlier this month. At its worst both extreme heat and smog warnings were issued, as the temperature soared sky-high and rolling blackout hit part of the city (though, fortunately, not our area).

During the peak of the hotter-than-the-surface-of-the-sun wave, (taking the infamous Toronto humidity into account and thus determining the humidex or “feels like” temperature) we reached (according to the Weather Network) a staggering 43°C (109°F).

Luckily the worst of this heat blitz has since passed, being swept out (as I’d predicted to my husband that it would) by a brief lightning storm. Still, as is to be entirely expected at this time of the year, we’re still a very long ways off from building snowmen anytime soon!

Still, even on the most suffocatingly hot of days, when one’s skin feels like it’s going to slide from your frame and melt like an accidentally dropped popsicle on the searing hot ground, I can’t help but focus on the idyllic side of the third season of the year.

Summer draws out the gypsy in me, the desire to traverse lands both near and far (if only as a whilom traveler for the time being, content to venture through my memories and daydreams alike, the open road left to others better fit for its demanding paces), to wax poetically about the beguiling beauties of this incomparable time of the year.

There is a lingering depth and undeniably majestic quality about summer. It’s often the boldest of seasons, the loudest of extremes. Summer is rarely pensive, preferring to embrace the upbeat and optimistic. Indeed, if one thinks back to the days of childhood summers, weeks of unbridled possibility at your feet, it seems as though anything could have taken place under the ever watchful eye of a glistening sun – and sometimes, if you were especially lucky, it seems as though it did.

It is this captivating spirit of possibility and desire, excitement and fervour that always endears me to summer, no matter what I may – or may not – be doing, where I am, who I’m with, or what’s on my mind. As a Canadian, knowing full well what the icy depths of winter are like, I need the almost manic heat and vivacious energy of summer to work like a reserve of fuel that will see me through as the brief weeks of autumn give away to the frozen, grey world of winter.

And when those days of slashing cold and endless ice do arrive, I’ll warm my mind my looking at sun-smooched images depicting the fiery elegance of summer and all it creates, such as the ones below, and be reminded that once again there will be blistering heat waves, electrically warm breezes, meditation calm nights, and wickedly beautiful days to look forward to once more.


~ * ~ Hope is a ray of sunshine ~ * ~


{ 1. Untitled, 2. Old Fashion Lemonade bench, 3. Sweet Carousel, 4. summer of 48, 5. It's just another manic Monday, wish it were Sunday 'Cause that's my funday! HBM :), 6. the ties that bound us, are still around us., 7. Untitled, 8. Antique Rose Farm, 9. proud to be pink, 10. In a summer morning, 11. Summer, 12. You have got a long way to go., 13. al mio amore...}


Wishing each of you a day, a week, and a lifetime that sparkles with the passionate splendour of summer!