Wild Postcards

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.

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 [...]

“Between 1935 and 1943 the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived. This contemporary design illustrates many of the WPA-era posters, including those of our National Parks.” And so, alas, it’s not a reproduction of an authentic WPA poster, but it did fool me. This brilliant re-creation is by Doug Leen and Brian Maebius.

This card comes from Marsha, who bought this card in Hawaii in January, and mailed it to me from Wisconsin in February.

Want to visit some other exotic places from times past? Check out today’s Postcard Friendship Friday.

“Between 1935 and 1943 the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived. This contemporary design illustrates many of the WPA-era posters, including those of [...]

It’s a good thing Anita was on vacation here at lovely Swartswood Lake, New Jersey; she clearly needed one. I have two copies of this postcard, both sent by Anita; both were sent to her cousin, Miss Rose La Rocca of Brooklyn, New York; both were sent at the same time on the same day. Rose must have been scratching her head when these two card fell through the slot in her door.

Postcard the first: “To Rose, Having a wonderful time. It’s real lovely out here. I miss you all. Give regards to all home. I’ll be seeing you soon. Your cousin, Anita.”

Postcard the second: “Hello Rose, Having a wonderful time. How are your brothers, aunt, uncle, Grandma and you. I’ll be seeing you soon. Love, your cousin, Anita.”

Sure, she sounds nice, but Anita is obviously off her nut. I have a few theories:

Theory 1: Anita is being overworked back in Brooklyn, and ran out to the Garden State for some desperately-needed R&R. She wrote a dozen postcards home and just didn’t realize that she wrote to Rose twice.

Theory 2: This “Lake House” is a sanitarium, and the phrase “I’ll be seeing you soon” carries with it an implied threat of the Michael Myers variety. Note that she enumerates the entire houseful of relatives against whom she has a grudge.

Theory 3: In reality, Anita sent only one postcard. The second card is from one of those alternate universes, like in the last Star Trek movie.

I will be happy to entertain any other theories; please leave a comment. And once you’ve helped me figure out what went on here, be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday today. Speaking of vacations — TGIF!

It’s a good thing Anita was on vacation here at lovely Swartswood Lake, New Jersey; she clearly needed one. I have two copies of this postcard, both sent by Anita; both were sent to her cousin, Miss Rose La Rocca of Brooklyn, New York; both were sent at the same time on the same day. [...]

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.

  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, [...]