Connecting to the Past

Over this past weekend, Sam and I were browsing a local thrift-swap-mercantile sort of store that has various booths within the establishment. Each booth sells their own wares of various sorts, but one in particular caught our eye as we strolled through the building. This particular booth had a basket full of old photographs.  As we browsed the photos, it became apparent that the photos were from a particular family or individual, but we were curious how they'd arrived here. We happened to catch the booth owner (which is not a typical happening here) who stated that the photos had come from an estate sale in Loveland, Colorado, and that many were from WWII. I think we saw just about every photo in the basket (which was no small feat), and even walked away with a handful for potential use in art projects. But, I thought I'd share a few of them here, as they were entirely interesting to see.

One of the pictures I thought was kind of interesting, was one that showed a bustling city square kind of area with bicycles all around. It was as though they belonged there and everyone was going about their business.

This photo was taken somewhere in England, and was likely taken during the summer of 1944 (based on the other photos I've found in the bunch). There were others similar to this one, such as the one below, which shows a woman pushing a stroller through town and bicycles all about.

I love the black and white imagery and it's a shame that I've had to take photos of photos, but I think that, even despite my poor photography skills, it is easy to see how much fun these pictures are.

A few of my favorites of the group are of a few friends who were traveling about England on their day off from their Navy duties. This one shows three friends riding through town. They happened to stop by a store and peer into it. I couldn't help but giggle, as this is such a "girlfriends" kind of thing to do together.

There's something entirely Lucy and Ethel about the photograph, I think, but I absolutely adore it. There is also one of the three friends who had stopped for lunch in the physical training clothes one day on an adventure through town.

I cannot believe these are the clothes these women worked out in during their Navy years! At least they were able to wear shorts beneath their dresses, as you can see if you look closely under their legs.

Another adorable shot is of two friends standing in front of a bicycle. The caption on the back of the photo indicates that the woman on the right had her dress caught on the seat and was trying not to show it in the picture.

There were so many other pictures in the basket of this flea market booth that I had hoped to take them all, but because of the era and subject matter (WWII military, and women nonetheless), they weren't exactly giving them away. However, I was happy to take my little piece of history to share with others, and I look forward to possibly utilizing these for a final painting project.