vintage winter

While searching for wintery inspiration images I came across this awesome Flickr photostream belonging to the Vintage Winter Museum and Shop, one of my favourite finds recently. Here are some of my favourite photos from their collection. I think my absolute favourite is the hairy backpack. I've never seen anything like that! But then again, I've also never seen a horse snowshoe before. Enjoy these ones and take a look at more in their photostream. You might also want to take a peek at their shop for more vintage winter awesomeness. I think I need a cabin in the mountains somewhere filled with their repurposed winter gear stat. (All photos from the Vintage Winter Museum collection.)

camping times

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Jeff and I are going camping this weekend with some friends and some dogs. Ever since I read the Bon Appétit feature on the Pacific Northwest I've been trying to make a camping trip to the Washington coast happen.

Quite a few years ago Jeff and I had a Washington camping adventure with two friends of ours. We went down to camp and search out a natural hot springs that we had read about. It was supposed to have a beautiful view from the hot pools and be well-maintained, though not commercialized. We drove down to Washington late in the evening, probably with no clue about how far we had to go and definitely without any idea about where we might camp. We stopped at a gas station for provisions: beer and cigarettes, if I remember my early twenties correctly. We forgot firewood.

I remember sitting around a single mini maglite flashlight in "candle" mode at a picnic table in a closed campground with Laura, Rosie, and Jeff. It must have been winter or late fall, because there were no other campers in the park at all. We all slept in a four-man tent that we had rented from the outdoor equipment store Jeff and I worked at in Vancouver.

In the morning we followed the directions we had to find the road to walk into the hot springs from. We followed a rough trail off a slightly less rough road and located the power lines that were meant to guide us through what appeared on first look (and second pass) to be completely impenetrable bush. Thwarted repeatedly by our inability to locate the markers meant to guide us to this hot springs paradise, we eventually turned back towards the car. Down the highway we passed a ranger station and decided to stop in to ask about the elusive hot springs. Turns out we had been on the right track, but the hot spring pools had been dismantled and the trail purposely destroyed by the landowners who were sick of risking litigation from hot springs users. Damn American tendency to sue! We would stick to Canadian hot springs for years thereafter. And there are some good ones.

It was kind of like this, but not really:

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Where do you go camping in your part of the world? We mostly stick to mountains and forest, so I'm looking forward to this coastal excursion.

today is the day: Jeff and I are getting married!

Yes yes yes. It is here! Today is the day that Jeff and I have been planning for for the last year, dreaming of for the last two years, and headed towards for the last ten. Yes, we've been together that long. So, while we're getting ready, exchanging vows, and celebrating with our friends and family I hope that you'll enjoy taking a look at some vintage wedding photos from my family. I love them all and think it is so fun to see the changing styles and advancing photography techniques. Thank you all for your well wishes, advice, and lovely comments! It's great sharing this amazing time with you all. Have a wonderful weekend!

my great uncle seward and doris brown (late 1950s)

my grampy and nana (grandparents on my dad's side), not sure 

about the date of this wedding, but I love my nana's style!

my grandfather and grandmother on my mom's side. robert and isabel fraser (1946-ish)

they were photographed separately for some unknown reason.

 my 92 year old grandmother still lives in that house. that dog...not so much.

my aunt shirley and uncle kenny (1967) 

love the colour photo.

my aunt fran and uncle clark (1972)

my mom, janet, and stepdad, dave (1988)

my beautiful sister kate and her husband aaron on their wedding day in Calgar

Gosh, I just love these photos. I think my mom looked so beautiful and I remember being at that wedding. Can't wait to share our photos...all in good time!

hippie kitchens

These photos are from one of my favourite tumblr blogs, Hippie Kitchen, sent to me a while ago by my friend (and wedding cake-baker extraordinaire) Camilla. One of these photos is actually a picture of my own extended family getting as close to a Hippie Kitchen as I could find today. Can you guess which one it is? Check out the rest of the tumblr stream if you need a pick-me-up. I can't get enough of these photos. Thank you, Camilla!

vintage double exposure

I found these amazing vintage double exposures in Christian Montone's Flickr photostream. I have a small collection of vintage photographs, but none this creepy and awesome! I think I'm going to start scouring flea markets and antique shops for happy photographic accidents like these. And these offer more evidence that many of the best double exposure images are portraits. Soon I'll share an accidental double exposure image with you in which my face is combined with the face of one of my friends. I have to warn you, though, it's difficult to understand and even harder to look at for prolonged periods of time. I'll be sure to post it later this week! In the mean time, check out Christian's photostream and let me know if you come across any other amazing double exposure images! (Oh yes, I just couldn't resist including the floating woman image in this post, too.)