Tag Archives: vintage

The ‘Teaser’ Parade for Autrefois Le Couserons in St. Girons, France

The light was thinning as we left the house on Friday night. We hadn’t realised that there would be an opening night parade — a teaser — prior to the multi-hour Autrefois Le Couserons spectacle that was scheduled on Saturday morning. But we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time once again.

Three generations of a French family watch the small opening night parade for the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, France

Up and down the streets of St. Girons, people gathered in the windows overlooking the small parade and they followed it on foot in some cases. The night was fast approaching, the temperatures were thankfully dropping, and there was an air of excitement all along the route of the parade.

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Come back soon for another slideshow from the hundreds of photos that I took over the weekend.

Coming up next? Tractors and farm vehicles from all eras!

Autrefois Le Couserons: Extended Coverage On The Way!

Hundreds — seriously — I took almost 200 photos last night (in spite of the people and cyclists who stepped right in front of my proposed shot again and again!) and well over 600 today. So I have a lot to wade through! Those numbers don’t even take into account the several hundred photos that Mark took, too.

Musicians in traditional dress at the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

It’s been a glorious two days of vintage vehicles, traditional music, and people in historical costume and we are all quite relieved that the weather stayed clear and bright. As the parades went through St. Girons on both days, people clustered high above the street in front of their windows to watch the spectacle pass by.

Watching from above as the Autrefois Le Couserons parade passes through St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

I think I’ll create a couple of slide shows of the (turn down your volume if you don’t want to hear the music track on this link!) Autrefois Le Couserons festival here in St. Girons in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. This is an annual celebration of traditional rural life in the Couserons.

Shepherd on horseback with his dog tucked into his arms at the Autrefois Le Couserons parade in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

We now live in such a fascinating place with layers of history and settlement over the centuries since its pre-Roman origins.

Stay tuned for more pictures from this activity-packed weekend!

Photo Of The Day From France: 1960s Advertising Art

Here’s a blast from the past with some vintage advertising.

For those of you of a certain age (ahem!), do you remember those tiny transistor radios that we used to take to the beach or the pool?

This charming old Coca Cola advertisement is on the window of a now-closed cafe at Utah Beach, one of the sites of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. The Utah Beach Museum is across the street from the out-of-business cafe and apparently both of them originally opened in the 1960s.

I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to have a flashback moment.

Enjoy!

Vintage Coca Cola advertising in the window of a now-closed French cafe

Photo Of The Day: Attack On All Fronts

Here’s another example of the vintage posters from World War II that are on display at the Caen Memorial Museum in Normandy, France.

Attack On All Fronts vintage Canadian World War II poster at Caen Memorial Museum in Normandy, France

This strikingly diagonal 3 person image from 1943 summoned up a spirit of patriotism and reminded the Canadian public that the war was fought on the home front as well as the front lines of the battlegrounds.

Vintage World War II Poster: Do The Job

A simple and gorgeous World War II poster recruiting women to enter the work force and do the jobs that the men had left behind when they went off to fight the war overseas.

This is on display at the Caen Memorial Museum in Normandy, France.

Vintage World War II poster recruiting women into the factories

A Wanderful Life

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