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.

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.

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.

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.

Tuula in Tampere, Finland sends this beautiful reproduction of a vintage Estonian card, showing the Tarvastu Bridge, near the city of Viljandi. I suspect that the border around the picture was embossed on the original, but this modern reproduction is not.

This scene is very reminiscent of scenes near my own home; there are a great many places over Lake Lanier where the only sign of man’s presence is a bridge like this one. Ironically, Lake Lanier is itself man-made.

Omran sent me several nice cards from Tripoli last month; while I was able to blog about his postcard of a Libyan woman at Girls Go Postal!, I haven’t had a chance to post any of the others. But Evelyn’s A Festival of Postcards, 7th Edition provides a great opportunity to post two well-lit landmarks.

Pictured above is Saraya al-Hamra, the “Red Castle”, a fortress built into Tripoli’s ancient city wall and dates from at least the 16th Century. In 1988, it was renovated and reopened as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Museum, a place where one can find Libyan cultural artifacts throughout history.

This second postcard shows Myadan al-Jazair Mosque, also in Tripoli. “Al Jazair” is Arabic for “the islands” and is also the Arabic name for the city of Algiers.

Shirin sends along these vintage views of Singapore and reminds me that the Hotel Raffles, pictured at the top, is the birthplace of the Singapore Sling — meaning folks were sippin’ on gin and juice long before Snoop Dogg had something to say about it.

Also pictured are a Chinese junk, a snake charmer, and the Golden Sultan mosque. All of these things can still be seen in Singapore today — even a snake charmer, if you look hard enough.

For Christmas, my neighbors, the Lopez family (Mom, Dad and mis nietos mexicanos), were able to go back home and visit their extended family in Guanajuato, Mexico. Within a week or so of their return, the attic of their house caught fire, at 4:00 in the morning on Saturday, January 9.  Although everyone got out of the house without injury and the structure was saved, their house will be unlivable for about three months until repairs can be made. The vast majority of their clothes and other possessions were destroyed by fire or water.

I spent most of the weekend with them, trying to salvage anything and everything from the house, but it did not amount to much.

They came by the house again last evening. In a suitcase that hadn’t quite been unpacked from their trip, they found three undamaged postcards that they had picked up for me from home. You can see the cards below.

While the house is repaired, they will need help with the expenses of temporary lodging. The kids will need new clothes, books and toys. I would be very pleased if, instead of going to Starbucks one morning, you could chip in a few bucks to help them recover. Please visit (link redacted) and contribute just a little. If a lot of people can send just a little, it will add up to a lot of help.

“The Boilermaker Special with the familiar Purdue Union Tower in the background, has been the official Purdue University mascot since 1940. Operated by the Purdue Reamer Club, the Special appears at pep rallies, all home football games in Ross-Ade Stadium and most away games.” The Purdue Reamer Club was apparently formed in the 1920s to organize those Purdue students who were not members of fraternities, and thus had very little say or representation as far as campus activities. The Boilermaker Special as a mascot (entrusted to the Reamer Club) seems a little odd, being mechanical, but it represents the school’s engineering heritage.

Tim, who sent this in, is a fan of both Purdue and postmarks. In fact, he is a member of the Mailer’s Postmark Permit Club and possesses Mailer’s Postmark Permit No. 1 in Buck Creek, Indiana. Here’s the thing: there’s an obscure law that allows you to cancel your own mail. In the days before automation, pre-cancellation saved the Post Office some work. I’ve been thinking about getting a permit myself; I’m not a big fan of the inkjetted postmarks that have been appearing more and more frequently in the U.S. If I do, I’ll let you know; maybe I’ll have a “first day of use” event for the postmark.

“This image is a photo of the UT Tower taken after the 2006 National Championship. It is the Central Administration Building of the University and on special occasions of academic achievement and athletic victories, the tower is lit up orange. Photo by Dr. Marvin L. Hackert.”

This postcard arrived yesterday from Kathryn in Austin, Texas, who says that she’s in her last year of university. Also, she says, “I love your website!” Now that’s the way to win me over. Finally, and most importantly, Kathryn is involved with The Sense Corp Texas 4000 for Cancer and plans to ride a bicycle from Austin all the way to Anchorage, Alaska next summer, to raise money in the fight against cancer. Click on the logo and see if you can help. If Kathryn can pedal 4,500 miles, surely there’s some small thing that you can do.

This reprint of an old postcard seems to be one of a series published in Nördlingen, Germany, entitled Alte Ansictskarten von Nördlingen (“Old Postcards of Nördlingen), and came to me from Beate, who grew up not too far from there. Pictured is one of eleven gates in the medieval Stadmauer (“city walls”), which are still very well preserved.

Beate also gave me a tip for dating older German postcards. The manufacturer’s address shows a four-digit postal code, and she tells me that Germany started using five-digit codes in 1993. Copycats! Maybe that’s why we expanded to nine digits. (As it happens, this postcard is labeled “Reprint 1984″.)

Unlike most postcards I received, this one arrived in an envelope — an actual air mail envelope! I didn’t think they were used much anymore.

Speaking of air mail, why don’t you fly on over to Postcard Friendship Friday and take a look around?  Today’s in-flight menu contains extra cheese.

I find this photo postcard of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church at Trafalgar Square to be very striking.  What makes it more interesting is that it was taken from atop an empty plinth in the Square by Carol, who sent this to me.  As a participant in an art project entitled One & Other, which started on 6 July and ends on 14 October, 2,400 participants will each spend an hour on the empty fourth plinth in the square, and may do whatever they wish.  Many just stand around; many perform mundane activities; a few are outrageous.

You can read and watch more about the project, you can watch it live, and you can even go back in time and watch Carol’s time on the plinth, Sunday, 19 July from 3 – 4 AM.

Patty at Just Letter Rip stumbled across this blog and decided to send me a postcard.  (Always a good idea; you could send me one yourself.)  Of course, if you send something to Patty, too, chances are you’ll get something cool and crafty in return.  Patty exchanges both postcards and letters, whereas I usually get writer’s block when confronted with any writing space larger than the left side of a postcard.

This postcard shows “The Brooklyn Bridge seen from Brooklyn Heights soon after its completion in 1883.”  This looks like the kind of thing General George Washington could have used, when he was busy losing the first battle of the Revolutionary War (the Battle of Brooklyn, in August 1776).  The British destroyed two militias, but Washington was able to save the bulk of his force by rowing them across the East River under cover of fog, while the British lay siege to Brooklyn.

Before the battle, the British commander, Lord Howe, tried unsuccessfully to have a letter delivered to Washington to propose a meeting.  We presume today that Washington would not accept the letter because he doubted that any talks would be useful.  At the time, however, he used protocol as an excuse: officially, the British refused to recognize the Continental Army or Washington’s military rank, and so the letter was addressed to “Mr.” Washington.  Henry Knox, Washington’s artillery officer, wrote this account to his wife:

(Lord Howe) sent a flag of truce up to the city. They came within about four miles of the city, and were met by some of Colonel Tupper’s people, who detained them until his Excellency’s pleasure should be known.  Accordingly, Colonel Reed (Washington’s adjutant) and myself went down to the barge to receive the message. When we came to them, the (British) officer… rose up and bowed, keeping (on) his hat.

“I have a letter, sir, from Lord Howe to Mr. Washington.”

“Sir,” says Colonel Reed, “we have no person in our army with that address.”

“Sir,” says the officer, “will you look at the address?” He took out of his pocket a letter which was thus addressed:

George Washington, Esq.
New York

“No sir,” says Colonel Reed, “I cannot receive that letter.”

And you thought today’s postal addressing guidelines were picky.

I had sent Jenna, my favorite Finnish Postcrosser, a postcard showing the observation tower atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, and received this in return, in yesterday’s mail.  After seeing the mountaintop tower (which needs no pillar to stand on in order to be above everything else), Jenna observed, “Your observation tower is a little bit different (from ours).”  Actually, even at first glance, I would say that it bears a striking resemblance to another American tower.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Näsinneula is an observation tower in Tampere, Finland, overseeing Lake Näsijärvi. It was built in 1970–1971 and was designed by Pekka Ilveskoski. It is the tallest free-standing structure in Finland and the tallest observation tower in the Nordic countries at a height of 168 metres. The tower opened in 1971 and is located in the Särkänniemi leisure centre. There is a revolving restaurant in the tower 124 metres above the ground. One revolution takes 45 minutes. The design of Näsinneula was inspired by the Space Needle in Seattle (emphasis added). The idea of a rotating restaurant was taken from the Puijo tower in Kuopio.

So Näsinneula was ours first.  Sorry, Jenna!

Also in yesterday’s mail was an actual greeting card, apparently sent in lieu of a postcard, from 12-year-old Arttu in Hämeenlinna:

I had read about the Bendy Friends products out of Australia (“more than just a card, more than just a letter”) and was thrilled when Thea sent one from Queensland.  Unfortunately, some of the “postcard” didn’t make it all the way; compare my card to the silhouette on the right.  My culprit is the United States Postal Service; while the card was canceled by hand in Australia, the back of the card appears to have been mangled somewhat by a sorting machine.

Also in yesterday’s mail, another victim of the Postal Service:

The letter at the top arrived inside the envelope at the bottom, apologizing for the mishap in the handling of this piece of mail.  If, by “mishap”, you mean someone spilling their beverage on this piece of mail while it’s in the mail stream, then I guess it’s an accurate portrayal of what happened.  Fail x 2.

“Panoramic View of Hoover (Boulder) Dam: This colorful wide-angle shot of the mighty Dam spanning the Gorge of the Colorado River shows the main highway crossing the rim with Nevada on the right and Arizona on the left. The highest dam in the world by far, it is 727 feet high, 650 feet thick at the base and cost more than $125,000,000.00 to build during the 30′s.”  With a set of numbers like that, it’s no wonder that this postcard had to be stretched out a bit; the card is 11 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall (28 cm x 9 cm).  I’m not sure I’d want to trust a card like this to the Postal Service.  For that matter, I’m not sure that they’d take it.

Before construction, the project was known as the Boulder Dam project based on its original planned location in Boulder Canyon, but this was not the official name of the dam at this time.  (The location was moved to a different canyon along the river before construction began.)  Naming of important dams is basically up to the Secretary of the Interior and, when construction began in 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur announced that the dam would be named for then-President Herbert Hoover.  Not only was it a tradition to name dams like this for the sitting President, but Hoover was himself an engineer and was deeply interested in the project.

Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and FDR and his new Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, decided not to name the dam for Hoover — basically a big partisan slap in the face.  But after Roosevelt died and Ickes retired, the Congress passed a resolution to restore the name of Hoover Dam, and the resolution was signed into law by President Truman in 1947.

This postcard was produced around 1964.  Then, as now, and despite the official name change, the dam is still frequently referred to as Boulder Dam.

“World’s Largest Unmounted Globe rests in the fountain pool of Explorers Hall, National Geographic Society headquarters, Washington, D. C. Like earth, it rotates on its tilted axis. Eleven feet from pole to pole, the 1,100-pound orb is an exact enlargement of the Society’s 12-inch globe.”

I got this card along with a couple of other old postcards from Lori, whom I met on Postcrossing.  She found them inside a book in a thrift store!  They did not fit in with her collection, but it turns out that she collects postcards from baseball stadiums, and I just happened to have a couple of Turner Field postcards to send her way.

This card came in the mail today from Yana, who has her own very fine blog of her postcards and stamps.  This card features a photo by Pavel Vorobyov of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Christ, the only Roman Catholic church in the Volga region.  It was constructed in 1906; this photo was taken in 2001 during what looks like sunset on a foggy day.

(I notice that this is the very first card I’ve posted from Russia; all of my other “Russian” cards, both posted and not-yet-posted, were technically produced by the Soviet Union.)

I’m also very interested in the stamps on this card, especially the portrait of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, a Russian landscape painter who lived from 1832-1898 and is still well regarded today.  Click on the image to see a larger version.  (I’m very proud of myself — I was able to sound out “I. I. Shishkin” well enough to google him on the first try.)  Shishkin painted landscapes, not portraits; this portrait of him was done by Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy (whose name I also sounded out, thank you very much) in 1880.  Kramskoy had painted Shishkin once before, in 1873.

“A University of North Carolina student notices a new creation as he walks past the snow-covered Old Well on the UNC campus.”  Well — if you’ll pardon the pun — it was kinda hard to miss.

This is an “official” Postcrossing card from my friend Britt, who was apparently thinking of sending me a card anyway when she drew my name out of the hat.  She writes: “This is a card from the school I hopefully will be attending in the fall. Fingers crossed.”  Naturally, I immediately sent her a good luck “V for Victory” card, which I did not have the foresight to scan before dropping it in the mailbox.  So it goes.

Here’s a postcard that Kay Anthony received in 1947 as part of a swap.  Mildred Wickham of Cumberland, Ohio, wrote the card on July 10, 1947, but didn’t mail it until four days later.  Mildred writes:

“Dear Pal: Thanks for lovely v. card of last mo. It wasn’t stamped at all in P.O. It’s raining this eve. I took ill last eve stomach spell, sore mouth. It’s due to a lack of vitamon (sic) B. Because my system won’t absorb it properly. I take lots of them. Jesus is precious to me & He never fails, Bless His sweet name.”

This is a Curteich “C. T. Art Colortone” postcard, number 6B-H224, manufactured in 1946 and distributed by the Black and Grant Company of Zanesville.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday!