Wild Postcards

Thea sent me this card “in honor of the didge languishing on (my) wall.”  Yes, it’s true: I have a didgeridoo that I treat as an objet d’art because of my complete inability to make a single note come out of the thing.  I think I just have too much chin for it.

My wife and I have a living room parlor that is as Victorian as possible under modern circumstances, and one of the things that Victorians did was to decorate with (read: show off) souvenirs of their travels.  Unfortunately, we haven’t been to Australia; the didge was a gift from a friend.  Above the didge, however, is a Sunday supplement from a 1939 Canadian newspaper showing King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother), still in its contemporary frame, and is a genuine souvenir of our trip to the Maritime Provinces.

Thea sent me this card “in honor of the didge languishing on (my) wall.”  Yes, it’s true: I have a didgeridoo that I treat as an objet d’art because of my complete inability to make a single note come out of the thing.  I think I just have too much chin for it. My wife [...]

As much as I’m tempted to say that this card originated from somewhere in the Ozarks, it actually came from Olga, a Russian woman living in Norway.  Even before I saw Olga’s name on the card, I could tell that her handwriting was distinctly Russian, especially from the way she writes her lower case “b” and “g”.

This card of very recent vintage was published in Norway by Normanns Kunstforlag (Normann Art Publishers).

As much as I’m tempted to say that this card originated from somewhere in the Ozarks, it actually came from Olga, a Russian woman living in Norway.  Even before I saw Olga’s name on the card, I could tell that her handwriting was distinctly Russian, especially from the way she writes her lower case “b” [...]

I’m not trying to sell you anything for Postcard Friendship Friday, but I’m sure that this salesman had a very compelling pitch.  This photo was taken around 1915 by a Georgia photographer with the delightfully alliterative name over Cicero C. Simmons, whose career spanned 45 years, until he retired in 1925 at the age of 68.  The picture was probably taken in Talmo, Georgia, which is a small town located along the old Athens Highway.

I picked up this postcard about five or six years ago at the Athens Welcome Center.

I’m not trying to sell you anything for Postcard Friendship Friday, but I’m sure that this salesman had a very compelling pitch.  This photo was taken around 1915 by a Georgia photographer with the delightfully alliterative name over Cicero C. Simmons, whose career spanned 45 years, until he retired in 1925 at the age of [...]

Since I still haven’t reimbursed myself for my sleep deficit that’s been going on since the 4th of July, and I have nothing especially brilliant on tap for Two for Tuesday, I’m going to cheat and just post yesterday’s mail: two “official” Postcrossing postcards.  The first postcard came from a sender right here in the USA, postmarked 1 July:

It’s a reproduction of Marc Chagall’s “Over the Town” which he apparently worked on for four years, from 1914-1918, and currently hangs in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.  This card contained no message except for a return address label (a label!).  In fairness, there is a smiley face drawn next to the Postcrossing postcard ID — but would it kill you to say hi?

By contrast, the second card is from a ten-year-old girl named Sanna, in Finland, postmarked 30 June:

Unfortunately, the card yields no useful information about the scene or its location.  Sanna, however, seems especially chatty.  The message, as well as my address, were apparently (and laboriously) hand-written first in pencil, then traced over in ink: “Hi! My name is Sanna. I’m 10 y.o. I’m from Finland. I like dogs. I have got two dogs. I play the piano. I like bakeing. Bye-bye.”  Not too shabby, considering that she’s ten and English is not her native language — but my point is that she’s only ten, and she gets the point of sharing postcards with others.

Since I still haven’t reimbursed myself for my sleep deficit that’s been going on since the 4th of July, and I have nothing especially brilliant on tap for Two for Tuesday, I’m going to cheat and just post yesterday’s mail: two “official” Postcrossing postcards.  The first postcard came from a sender right here in the [...]