Year: 2022 (page 2 of 3)

HELLO, October

Hello, October! We’re ready for cooler days and nights. The final weeks of September have already given us a taste of what is to come. We’re ready for crunchy leaves underfoot and freshly baked apple pies with heaping scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream and our home smelling deliciously of warm cinnamon. 

We’re ready for our world to be dotted with the golden mustard, rust red and burnt orange hues of autumn. We’re ready for pumpkins on the porch and mums cheerfully peaking out of pots tucked in between them. 

We’re ready to start watching some of our fall and Halloween favourite movies curled up with a bowl of popcorn on late Saturday nights. 

We’re ready for fall stews and cozy soups with crusty bread and salads filled with the bounty of fall, especially slices of pears, apples, raisins and roasted chunks of butternut squash. 

We’re ready for broomsticks and witch’s hats and hot apple cider on chilly afternoons. We’re ready for moonbeams and starry nights and magic on the wing.

We’re ready for the smell of woodsmoke floating on crispy air while we go for an evening stroll. We’re ready for all that you bring in this bewitching month and may it be more treats than tricks.   

{Ann Miller in an MGM Halloween Publicity Still, 1955. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}

HM Queen Elizabeth II

HM Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022) 

She was a constant in a world that continually evolved. She led a privileged life, but with that came great personal sacrifice. She was a woman of faith and a strong sense of duty. She lived a life of service and did that with grace and dignity. She had a quick wit and a kind smile. 

We have all lived through a historic moment, The Queen was the longest reigning monarch in British History. It is remarkable and something that will not likely come to pass again within our lifetimes. She was highly respected and very much beloved. 

May she now know true peace and may her family find comfort in the days ahead. 

Our thoughts, prayers and good wishes are with them all.  For the world has lost a remarkable woman, but her children and grandchildren will lay their heads on their pillows tonight for the first time without her.

Farewell, Your Majesty. Thank you Ma’am, for everything. You are now back with your “strength and stay”

{Queen Elizabeth II | by Baron (Sterling Henry Nahum) | glossy bromide print, 1953 12 1/2 in. x 12 in. (318 mm x 305 mm) overall | National Portrait Gallery Collection | Found HERE}

HELLO, September

Hello, September. You seem to have carried forward the cooler mornings that were August’s “goodbye”. The light is ever so subtly changing and evening is drawing in just a touch sooner than a few weeks ago. But the sweet potato vines are still spilling over our planters with their vibrant green and deep purple leaves and the ocean is still warm and there are still signs that summer is present. 

You bring with you today the return to a fresh school year, one I don’t think we are altogether ready for, but onwards and upwards we shall go. This summer has not quite been the summer we planned as life continued to happen, but we rolled with it all and still managed a few hikes, breakfasts on the beach, early morning swims, sitting with friends chatting while the wind whipped at our hair and lots of ice cream. 

We’re ready for that seasonal shift that you will most certainly bring, even though we will be teased with cooler than warmer days before you make the final push into a more autumnal feeling. We’re ready to still reap the last of the farmer’s market harvest of fresh corn and heirloom tomatoes before we move fully into embracing squashes.

We’re ready for those early days of school where we still might be able to slip away not too long after the bell rings to go for a quick afternoon dip and a lazy stroll home. We’re ready for our first taste of warm apple cider while a cooler evening breeze blows in. We’re not ready to wish away the summer as we like each season to have it’s due, but we are ready to see what you hold for us as we stand on the cusp of Autumn.

{Waterfall Valley by Charles Wysocki}

HELLO, August

Hello, August. We’re ready for those lazy, hazy days of summer to come into full effect. Now that school has wound down for the year and almost all the school related jobs have been ticked off the list, we’re ready to just be, to take the days as they come. 

We’re ready for early morning swims, when the world is still quiet and hopefully we’ll spot a seal or two paddling by. We’re ready to watch old episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, while feasting on PB&J sandwiches and salty potato chips for lunch. 

We’re ready for long walks that end with an ice cream cone and we’re ready for quiet nights on the beach stargazing and listening to music while the waves roll in. 

We’re ready to be and live within the moment, to cherish the time together and to relish in this month, before our pace has to pick back up again in September. 

{Poolside, Janet Hill Studio | Found HERE}

HELLO, July

Well, HELLO, July! This month you bring with you the end of the school year and boy are we ready for that! We’re ready for our Fourth of July celebrations and watching JAWS in the dark after dinner. We’re ready for our Christmas in July party with a summer twist and watching old Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music and just generally feasting on Christmas happiness. 

We’re ready for the luxury of more warm days and chances to go swimming. We’re ready to eat our weight in all the gorgeous fruit that is in-season at the moment. We’re ready to make pies out of the fresh blueberries and cherries we’ve been greedily gobbling up, topped with a big scoop of homemade ice cream. 

We’re ready for lazy summer weekends in which we get to read on the beach and pack a picnic for lunch of ham sandwiches with heirloom tomatoes, salty potato chips and a thermos of iced tea. We’re ready for cheeseburgers and fresh corn on the cob from the greengrocers, smothered in butter and each bite has juices running down our chins. 

We’re ready to continue to dance to the 60’s and 70’s soundtrack of our summer that has us in quite the groove lately. We’re ready to watch evening fall as the breeze blows the curtains in the open window and we just get to sit and be. Welcome, July, we’re ready for all that you bring. 

{Image: “Maggie in snorkeling gear”, October 1958, Montego bay, Jamaica. From the third of three small “ektachrome transparencies” boxes, this set labeled “personal fair great / our wedding” by Nick DeWolf | Found via Messy Nessy | Pinned HERE}

HELLO, June

Hello, June! We’re ready for more of the glorious sunshine that May has brought us and to feel that warmth upon our skin. 

We’re ready for bowls of fruit for dinner when it starts to get truly hot and fresh heirloom tomato sandwiches, still warm from the sun when they are picked. We’re ready for the curtains to billow in the breeze while we eat dinner with windows open and breath in the salty air. 

We’re ready for early morning beach walks and finding a good spot to stop, read and drink a cup of coffee. We’re ready for the days to continue to lengthen and grow. We’re ready for Friday night pizza parties and watching old movies in the dark. 

We’re ready for the last stretch of the school year to come to a close and the start of summer to truly begin. We’re ready to relish the little things, to live within the moment, to keep on dancing and to have the wisdom to drink it all in.  

{American actor Sandra Dee, dressed in a bathing suit, with her pet poodle. She is filming ‘Gidget’ on the Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, California, USA. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images), 1959 | Pinned HERE}

Eighteen

Eighteen years ago today, you took my hand and placed it in yours and we’ve been holding hands ever since.

Here’s to the next chapter in our adventure.

{Publicity still of Myrna Loy and William Powell for “After the Thin Man”, 1936. Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}

HELLO, May

Hello, May! If you’re anything like your sister April, you will still usher forth chilly mornings that swiftly begin to warm up when the sun comes out. Offering us a minuscule taste of what summer shall bring, when the glow of the sun is on our backs. 

Today, you herald in May Day and the appearance of the Green Man who will parade through our village with his beribboned and festive court in attendance. We’re ready for the days to continue to gradually lengthen as we eat dinner with the windows open and a breeze blows in. We’re ready for the bounty that will begin to arrive in earnest at the green grocers and the taste of the first heirloom tomatoes and yellow squash of the season. 

We’re ready for longer beach walks and the hopes of catching a seal or two sunbathing. We’re ready for early mornings where we quietly read and sip coffee as the sky turns from purple velvet to a soft awakening pink. We’re ready to continue to appreciate the little things and we’re ready for the adventures that await us.

{An image from, Summer’s Coming In by Natalia Belting, illustrated by Adrienne Adams, 1970}