vintage everyday: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Old Fire Trucks

Old Truck with this fine specimen from 1912

The picture was taken in Washington DC, and it shows another truck from the Woodward and Lothrop Department Store.

[via]

Friday, April 29, 2011

This week I'm grateful for... memories

How was your Easter? Did you get a chance to put your feet up and eat way too much chocolate?

I did!

We enjoyed ourselves silly down at Gran and Pops' house in Fibrotown. We always do. Gran and Pops still live in the house I grew up in and it's always going to be 'home' to me. I love that I can tuck the Tsunamis up for the night in the very room that I used to be tucked up in. I love that they can go wild with their adored cousins in the very backyard where I went wild with mine. I love that there is a memory around every corner (mostly because my dad is one of those dads who refuse to throw anything away, but more on that some other time!).

So, this week I'm grateful for...

118. Memories - and the time to indulge in them. My memory isn't the best, but I love those flashes of certainty you get from time to time when you remember something that you thought you'd forgotten.

119. Chocolate - what would Easter be without it? But I'm especially grateful that these days chocolate is a genuine 'sometimes' treat for me rather than a 'most day's indulgence. And really, who cares if 'sometimes' I eat, like, car loads of the stuff... That's still 'sometimes', right?

120. Support - I'm still a bit choked up over the support my blog received on her (she's definitely a girl) first birthday. Sob. What an honour it is to play a little part in so many wonderful women's and Glen's blogging life. Thank you.

So, what's making you smile today? Add your I'm Grateful For post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random), add the button (grab the code from my sidebar and paste it into your post) and pretty-please add a link back to me. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.

Happy weekend to you!

[Image by Soup and Sunday]

World Wish Day - April 29th, 2011

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."

Maya Angelou

Today we join Make A Wish Foundation in celebrating "World Wish Day".

Please take a bit of your time to read the stories

and find out about the work that the foundation is doing all over the world.

“I’ve traveled the world over eight times. I do as many hospitals and orphanages as I do concerts. But, of course, it’s not covered [by the press]. That’s not why I do it - for coverage. I do it because it’s from my heart. And there are so many children in the city who haven’t seen the mountains, who haven’t been on a carousel, who haven’t petted a horse or a llama, never seen them... So if I can open my gates and see that bliss, an explosion of screaming laughter from the children and they run on the rides, I say, “Thank you, God.” I feel I’ve won God’s smile of approval, because I’m doing something that brings joy and happiness to other people.”

Michael Jackson

World Wish Day

http://worldwishday.org/en/index.php

Make A Wish Foundation International

http://www.worldwish.org/

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Century Of Britain’s Royal Weddings

Duchess of York (1923)

Duke and Duchess of York (1923)

Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (1935)

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh (1947)

Princess Anne with her father, Prince Phillip (1973)

Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips (1973)

The good, the bad and the blogly

Quietly and without fanfare, Maxabella loves... turned one yesterday. A whole ONE. Of course, I wanted a street parade (with bunting) (and a brass band) (and probably some marching servicemen – no, wait, that was Anzac Day), but foolishly I elected to have a mini-blogging break instead. The whimper approach to celebrating.

Devastatingly underwhelming to an over-celebrator like myself. So I've come back a day earlier than anticipated, just to say 'yay'.

'Yay,' she said.

I’m that amazed that a whole year has gone by in Maxabellaland that I feel the need to mark the occasion somehow. A quick whip around some favourite ‘older’ blogs tells me that the traditional first anniversary thing to do is a ‘what I’ve learned about blogging’ post. What fun! I’m always up for a chance to show off – however ungrounded in reality the showing off may be. But since I’m not particularly wise as to what makes my own blog tick - and honestly I'm hopeless at all that SEO and meta tags and traffic stats and hyperhystericalwhyamIblogging testing (I made that up, did you notice?) - instead I thought I’d post a bit about what I like in other blogs.

I like a short post

Long posts are hard to make time for. Long posts tend to waffle on a bit. I confess that I will probably skim read any post longer than about half a page. Sorry, but I do. We need to remember that as bloggers we are both the writer and the editor. I think the editor bit gets forgotten a lot.

I like a focus

Be it your children, your art, your love of pretty pictures, your business, your dog (okay, probably not your dog, but that’s just me)... whatever it is, make something the main focus of your blog. Just so it all hangs together well. I guess your blog's focus could be product reviews and social service announcements and the like, but I'm sorry (snore) I'm unlikely to read them.

I like the unassuming blog

By that I mean that you assume I know nothing. So you’ve probably got a little ‘about me’ page or blurb somewhere. All the main characters in your blog are introduced and well-explained so if I’m new to your blog I can quickly see who’s who in the zoo. And if you refer to something you've blogged about before, please add a link to your old post so I can play catch up. This way, I feel like I can become part of your little community quickly and easily.

I like a story-teller

You can tell by my reference to ‘characters’ in the point above. Your blog is your story. Your posts are your (short!) chapters. Tell your story in an engaging, authentic way and I’ll always be back for more.

I like a topical blog

You’re posting about things that matter in your life right now. A rebuttal to a newspaper article you read on the weekend (Jacinta Tynan articles are always a good bet here); a reflection on the way a new trend fits in with your own life (wearing hot pants at school pick up – yes or no?); something important that’s happened in your life that you want to mull over a little with your blogging buddies. I want to believe that we’re talking to each other about meaningful things that are going on right now. And let’s face it, if your posts are topical, then your readers will really, really want to comment. And you’ll like that a lot.

I like engagement

I love to read other people's blogs probably even more than I like writing my own. I try to make the time to comment on most posts I read, most of the time. I go through lengthy patches where a quick read on the train is all I can commit to, but I do try. I adamantly believe that reading, commenting and engaging with other people’s blogs is the key to being successful on your own. So, make it as easy as possible for people to talk to you.

I like it on the blogs best

I like it when you email me a reply to my comment, but I don't expect it. I've never done this, it looks like a bit of a chore to be honest. I take on board all the comments I receive on every post and my response hopefully pops up somewhere on my blog in the not to distant future. I try not to be too neglectful by emailing you direct if you ask me a question - um, most of the time. I feel slack now... let me know if you need some email love and we'll sort it out!

I like secrets

Always be snugly comfortable with what you’re putting out there, but don’t be afraid to be a little bit raw. I like the pretty blogs with the pretty people and the pretty lives, but I think I would be just as happy reading about them in a magazine. I like the blogs that keep it real a whole lot more. Real is a beautiful thing in blog world.

At the risk of making this an even longer post (see how waffly a long post can be!) I’ll be off now. But thank you all very, very much for supporting Maxabella loves... through my first year. Only once (maybe twice) so far have I ever thought it might become Maxabella loved...

What sort of blogs do you most like to read? Why do you think they work so well?

What do you think works on your own blog? Do you care much?

_____________________________________________

edited later the same day...

I just want to say that, of course, some long posts are amazing.

[Image by sweet sweet life]

Chernobyl before 1986

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima I nuclear incident, which is considered far less serious and has caused no direct deaths). The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles, crippling the Soviet economy.

The disaster began during a systems test on 26 April 1986 at reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant, which is near the town of Pripyat. There was a sudden power output surge, and when an emergency shutdown was attempted, a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. These events exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, causing it to ignite. The resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive smoke fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plume drifted over large parts of the western Soviet Union and Europe. From 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were evacuated and resettled from the most severely contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.

Moscow in 1930s [more]

Anti-NEP propaganda

The Kremlin from the Bolshoi Kamenny Most

The Kremlin from the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Most

The Mosvkoretskaya street and the Vasilevsky spusk from the Moskvoretsky bridge

Kremlin, Granovitaya Palace

While in Toronto during the 1964 North American tour, a fan sent John some red and black striped pajamas. They are pretty silly looking, so for a laugh John put them on and was photographed wearing them. [via]

laughing

John Lennon

Monday, April 25, 2011

RMS Lusitania

RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland which entered service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907. She was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which is part of present day Portugal. During World War I as Germany waged submarine warfare against Britain, the ship was identified and torpedoed by a German U-boat U-20 on 7 May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes. It went down eleven miles (19 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.