summer traditions

I hope your summer has been good. August is so close and it seems hard to believe. I have done some summery stuff, but never as much as I want to. Right now I really need to buckle down and work on my zines for the zine sympoisum. Last year at this time I was doing my zine about postcards.

Last week I got to help out two different couples who were planning a wedding very soon and they wanted a guest book of all vintage postcards that people write messages in and then place in a mailbox. It was so fun to pick out ones that were pretty and appropriate. One of the couples wanted 160 with a general theme of travel. I got a mix of mid-century and early century, photographs and illustrations. I think the collection was a nice variety of pretty and kitschy. Here is picture I took before I sent them off.

If your interested in this service, you can find out more on this Custom Vintage Post Card for Weddings Etsy listing.

My garden is blooming like crazy. You, too? I am in love with my hydrangea bush this year. It was double in size since last year and has a ton of big firework-like pink blooms. This plant started as a potted blue version from Trade Joe's. When I put it in the ground it bloomed the next summer as pink.

I've been admiring all the hydrangea bushes I've seen all around town, too. Some are quite big. When I was kid we had a blue one on the side of the house and I kind of always thought of it as a big weed. It didn't seem like a flower to me because it was a bush. Now, I see the appeal of them.

I recently got this vintage postcard from 1911 because of the hydrangea bush. Lovely! 

This postcard was sent in Jan 1911 from Ann in Anaheim, California to her mother in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most likely this is the house she lived in, in fact probably where Ann lived before she moved...or maybe she is just on vacation.

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I recently bought a photograph on Ebay, which I seldom do. I like double exposure photos and this one just looked too neat to pass up. It shows a typical summer day for some.

This beach looks a little too crowded for my tastes, but it sure makes a neat picture.

What are some of your favorite summer traditions? I hope you can enjoy more of them before the summer is over. 

beach weather

Everyone in Portland knows (although they seem to forget each year) that summer doesn't really start here until July 5th. Although we have had many nice sunny days we also have had a record amount of rain, which I loved. A couple days of hot sun and then a couple of rain is perfect for me. But, soon it will be dry till October.

In honor of summer almost coming to Portland I wanted to share with you these neat old beach photos that I have had for a very long time. I got both of these when I was still in California, so that's over 12 years ago.

This one says L.A. Beach 1930

Hope you can have some time this summer to relax and enjoy the day like these people seem to be doing.

gathering

I love this small collection of photos I have come across recently. I have always admired the idea of gathering flowers, seashells, fronds, pine cones, rocks and other natural things that you find in nature, usually on the ground. I sometimes forget to do it. My mother and sister are gatherer's. I think that is why I admire it. As a kid I would watch them picking up pine cones and twigs and think, wow, what a great idea.

souvenir from the sea shore

I am back from my beach vacation. I made a pretty picture post about it at the PonyBoy Press blog. Here are some postcards and an old photo from my collection inspired by my lovely time last week.

to the beach

I am off for the rest of the week to the Oregon Coast. The place has no internet or tv. I am excited to read and stare at the ocean - although I may have withdrawls...

This is my first attempt at a layout with my old images. The background is a photo I took of the ocean in November.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

breezy

It has been a warm and sunny weekend here in Portland. I have been mostly inside, working around the house, which had been neglected for too long. I was out today for a while, in the garden and it was so very lovely outside. In honor of a warm weekend I thought I would share these beach photos with you.

I can't decide if this is the same group of friends. The photos are on different paper, so it makes me think, if they are the same group, that these were photos from two different people's cameras. The first one has the date on the back July 19, 1938.


I was interested in the magazine that the young woman is reading. I looked it up and Breezy Stories was a pulp fiction magazine known for some racy covers. The thing is, though, is that that cover is not racy. This makes me think that the photo is not from the late 30's , however, the bathing suits look like the 1930's. So, it is a small mystery.