Sailing or Reading?

Has July found you sailing under blue skies?

This magazine cover from the July 1932 Woman's Home Companion is by

Maginel Wright Barney.

If you are a fan of Maginel Wright Barney's illustrations you might want to add this cover to your Pinterest board of her work. As far as I can tell it has not yet been included in her works there and it is one I love. It does typify July for me even though I've never been fortunate enough to sail. Maginel was Frank Lloyd Wright's sister. It is easy to spot her illustrations in old magazines before even seeing her signature as she had a style all her own, one I dearly admire.

No, I've not been sailing this July, nor have I been sunbathing like these beauties from the same time period as the picture above. 

These swimsuit models were in Vogue, January 1933.

My leisure time this July has not been spent sailing or sunbathing but in tamely reading. I read this one--I am a fervent Elizabeth Goudge fan and had never read it:

And I read these:

I won't try to review them for you but I enjoyed each one. Extra special was Michael Sim's book about E.B. White, showing clearly how White's whole life laid the groundwork for his writing of Charlotte's Web. He was truly destined to write the story of Charlotte and Wilbur.

And the three books about Alec Guinness, memoirs by the fascinating man himself, were my favorites. Reading about his acting career was absorbing but I most enjoyed reading of his love of home:

"Tomorrow home: beloved wife, dear dogs, intelligent cat,

outrageous rabbits, Himalayan molehills and 

the tumult of country noises."

Both White and Guinness are now in my Pinterest board named "In My Life I Loved Them All" because I do, I really do. 

That's my July leisure loves, friends. Have you taken time for leisure? Have you gone sailing? Sunbathed at the beach? Read something interesting? I have an enquiring mind and I really want to know.