Rockin' and Rollin'

Do you remember riding in the front seat as a kid? Or riding without a seatbelt, riding "backwards" in the rear seat of a faux wood-paneled Oldsmobile station wagon (that was the best!), or riding a bike as fast as you could, downhill, with your hands in the air and the wind blowing through your unfettered (er, we mean unhelmeted) hair. Ah, yes, those were the days. 

In honor of those days gone by, here's a quick look back at how our children used to roll. 

Antique baby stroller. via Freestyle Collection.

Turn-of-the-century wicker baby buggy.

1960s bike seat attachment in red plaid. via Time for Memories.

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Vintage Spring Poetry

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

     - Rainer Maria Rilke

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In the Navy

Quite a few former members of the US Navy have crossed our path recently, in the form of portraits and photographs from the World War II era. Today, we wanted to share some of these heroes with you. To those who have served, and who are serving today, we salute you.

We don't know who this handsome young man is, but isn't it a stunning portrait? 

At ease on laundry day. 

We believe her uniform signifies that she was a member of the
WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), 1945. 

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Vintage Sewing, Beautiful Photography

Vintage sewing. (via Mystic Explorations) 

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Nature's Brightest

Eye candy of the day. (we may deal in old-timey black & white and sepia most of the time, but sometimes the day just calls for a happy burst of color.)

European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), via Lingua Franca (with credit to Pixdaus.com)

Green gecko. via Madden Photography on Etsy. 

Sunflower, via Pixdaus.com

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Vintage Toasters: Utilitarian Beauties

1920s toaster, made by Landers, Frary & Clark. Photo via the Cyber Toaster Museum.

We ran across this photo of a 1920s toaster the other day. Isn't it lovely? We were immediately struck by the artistry and thought that went into designing an appliance that we 21st-century folks tend to consider rather boring and utilitarian. 

Naturally, we started wondering what other interesting toaster designs were out there. It turned out to be a pretty interesting trail to follow -- starting chronologically with old-school toast-your-bread-over-the-fire designs, followed by simple stovetop racks, and finally to the early electric models that evolved into what we think of today as the standard pop-up kitchen toaster. 

Below, you'll find a quick sampling of what we found. Which one is your favorite?

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