Wild Postcards

So much fine print, and in Chinese! I’m not sure that this postcard/map is of a large enough scale to be useful, since I can’t even make out the characters without my glasses, and even then just barely. Clicking on the map gives me a scale that might be useful. Guess if I ever find myself on the subway in Shanghai, I’ll have to bring along an iPad. And a Chinese dictionary.

Check out some other great Wednesday postcards today at Postcard Perfect.

So much fine print, and in Chinese! I’m not sure that this postcard/map is of a large enough scale to be useful, since I can’t even make out the characters without my glasses.

As you can see, this beautiful view comes all the way from… West Virginia, after Julie decided to start a swap of postcards of places that you aren’t. I have a number of Singapore postcards very similar to this one, but this particular one is new to me, and gorgeous.

Receiving postcard, it offers you awkward English sentence.

This very clear view of Westminster Abbey (with Big Ben in the background) comes from Aimee Dars, a prolific swapper extraordinaire. This card was sold in England but produced by a company in Barcelona. Next to the stamp box, it has the phrase “the friendship post card” in ten languages.

A clear view of Westminster, with Big Ben in the background. Sent in by one extremely prolific postcard swapstress.

This is a postcard from Great Grandpa Phil’s collection; it was sent to him and Great Grandma Lottie by the Hodinka family, John, Helen, and daughter Charlene, from a vacation in Minnesota. It’s postmarked Rochester, MN, August 27, 1966. John Hodinka — “Sonny” — was my grandmother’s cousin; he passed away last Wednesday, September 22 at the age of 81.

Charlene tells me that her grandfather on Helen’s side had a cousin there. Her mother’s aunt corresponded regularly with the folks in Rochester, but they had never met, so this trip was part vacation, part family reunion.

At one point during the vacation, Sonny somehow wound up on a horse, with explicit instructions not to let up on the reins. Of course, he did, and the horse wound up riding in circles, with Sonny unable to get the horse to stop. Another rider had to sidle up to them to bring Sonny and his mount to a stop. Bear in mind that we’re talking about a man who made sixteen jumps into Italy with the 82nd Airborne Division.

For young Charlene, the highlight of the trip was a tour of the Hormel plant, where she was able to observe how ham is made. “Poor little piggies,” she says. “They hung them upside down (on hooks) and a knife stabbed each one in the stomach. The things you remember…. I got pig blood on my white sneaker.” She didn’t remember if Sonny had anything to say about it, but I think he would have found the humor in the situation.

So long, Sonny. I miss you already.

This is a postcard from Great Grandpa Phil’s collection; it was sent to him and Great Grandma Lottie by the Hodinka family, John, Helen, and daughter Charlene, from a vacation in Minnesota. It’s postmarked Rochester, MN, August 27, 1966. John Hodinka — “Sonny” — was my grandmother’s cousin; he passed away last Wednesday, September 22 [...]