Vintage Scrapbook
Oct 14, 2020 | by Becky Oeltjenbruns
My first thrift store find!
The last couple weeks I’ve been in a docuseries binge fest! First, I was following in Marco Polo’s footsteps along the Silk Road. This week I’m learning more about three cities that shaped the course of modern history. It’s always fascinated me to learn more about the things we now accept as common knowledge. For example: why were certain places given certain names or why were city streets laid out in a particular fashion?
Finding out what individual decisions paved the way for the world as we now know it is intriguing. (And learning what things almost happened is possibly even more exciting!) While these series focused on entirely different periods of time and locations, they were filled with imagery created by the people living during these eras. Getting a real glimpse into the past makes history come alive. This is perhaps why one of my favorite things to collect is vintage photographs. Generations may separate us, but a smile is contagious no matter where or when you are. Join me as we take a spin through a vintage scrapbook. I’ve paired this collection with some inspiring quotes and poems – let me know which one is your favorite in the comments!
Soaring
“Away, away,—to the mountains away,
Where the pine trees murmur and sway,
And the foamy waterfalls sing and spring
Over the boulders gray.
The hidden beauties will lure you on,
‘Till your heart from its dreaming is drawn,
And your eyes are bright with the free delight
Known to the fearless fawn.
Fear not to weary—you never can tire,
For the sunshine gives you its fire,
And your feet will follow the breeze with ease,
Higher and ever higher.”
– Climbing Song by Ruby Archer
“The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains – mountain dwellers who have grown strong there with the forest trees in Nature’s workshops.” – John Muir
Serene
“The sound of bank and water is all I hear,
The sad resignation of a weeping spring
Or a rock that hourly sheds a tear,
And the birch leaves’ vague quivering.
I do not see the river bear the boat along
The flowering shore flits past, and I remain;
And in the watery depths that I skim,
The reflected blue sky flutters like a curtain.
Meandering in their sleep, you might say the waters
Waver, no longer sure where the bank lies:
And the flower thrown in hesitates to choose.
And like this flower, all that man desires
Can settle on the river of my life,
Without teaching me which way my wishes lie.”
– On the Water by Rene Francois Armand Prudhomme
Besties
“My little dog – a heartbeat at my feet.” – Edith Wharton
“The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend.” – Lord Byron
“I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.” – Doris Day
“If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.” – Woodrow Wilson
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles Schulz
Summer fun
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” — F.Scott Fitzgerald, from The Great Gatsby
“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” — Wallace Stevens
“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.” – L.M. Montgomery
“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” – Henry David Thoreau