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!