“The San Joaquin Valley is the ‘Raisin Basket’ of the world, producing over one half of the total world’s supply. After two or three weeks of drying in the sun, these grapes will become delicious raisins.” I never did care for raisins. I mean, you’ve already got grapes; why go out of your way to make them dry and chewy?

This is a modern “Colorscope Photo Prints” card, published by Scope Enterprises of California; the photo is by Arnold and Carole Compolongo.

Hot off the mailman’s hands, this handmade card arrived today, crafted by Lauren from love and ladybugs. It’s a shame that the scan doesn’t do justice to the three-dimensionality of the card. The time that went into this card means a lot to me, and I am sending something appropriate — though much less artistic — to her in return.

Just for fun, I will frequently post a tweet or status update listing the destinations of my outgoing mail for any particular day. Today, however, in addition to some of the normal swaps and correspondence, I’m sending out the latest issue of Permit Patter, the newsletter of the Mailer’s Postmark Permit Club. Thankfully, the Club sends the materials and pays the postage.

Turns out that too much of anything can be a good thing: while I enjoy cancelling my own mail, I would not want soon to repeat having to do it nearly 200 times in one sitting. But the membership will know the joy of receiving mail cancelled with Gainesville, Georgia, Mailer’s Postmark Permit #1.

Today’s mail goes to:

Alabama: Theodore

Arizona: Sun City West, Tucson (x3)

Arkansas: Bryant, Rogers, Sherwood

California: Albany, Alpine, Chatsworth, Denair, Fort Bragg, Half Moon Bay, Lodi, Modesto, Northridge, Sacramento, San Diego, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Yucca Valley

Colorado: Broomfield (x2), Crook, Olathe

Connecticut: Berlin, Bristol, Enfield, Tariffville

Florida: Cape Coral, Ft. Myers (x2), Milton, Ormond Beach, Seminole, St. Petersburg (x3), Tampa

Georgia: Gainesville (that’s me!), Harlem, Powder Springs, Stone Mountain

Hawaii: Wahiawa (x4)

Illinois: Addison, Champaign, Chicago, Galesburg, Peoria, Rockford, Schaumburg

Indiana: Buck Creek, Muncie

Iowa: Iowa City

Kansas: Caldwell, Caney

Louisiana: Talisheek

Maine: Bangor, Greenville

Maryland: Annapolis

Massachusetts: Easthampton, Oxford, Weston

Michigan: Bay City, Cheboygan, Delton, Hazel Park, Munising

Minnesota: Bemidji, Rochester, St. Louis Park, St. Paul

Missouri: Birch Tree, Joplin, St. Louis

Montana: East Helena

Nebraska: Omaha (x2), Sidney, Virginia

Nevada: Henderson

New Hampshire: Contoocook, Epping

New Jersey: Englewood, Marlboro, Union

New Mexico: Albuquerque, Santa Fe

New York: Bronx, Farmingdale, Lake Clear, Liberty, Newark, Potsdam, Rochester (x2), Syosset, Owego

North Carolina: Cary, Sanford

North Dakota: Pembina, Warwick

Ohio: Akron, Canton, Chardon, Lakewood, Marion, Oberlin, Sidney, Solon, Stow, Warren

Oregon: Ashland, Newport, Portland

Pennsylvania: Bellefonte, Hughesville, Lemont, Mount Joy, Murrysville, Pittsburgh, Royersford, Spring Mills, Temple, Upper Darby, Valley Forge

Rhode Island: Newport

South Carolina: Columbia

South Dakota: Deadwood

Tennessee: Lawrenceburg, Portland

Texas: Atascocita, Austin, College Station, Garrison, Kilgore, Luling, Nome, Port Neches, San Antonio (x2), Silsbee, Sugar Land, Texarkana, Longview

Utah: Highland

Virginia: Alexandria, Colonial Heights, Falls Church, Herndon, Norfolk

Washington: Duvall, Kent, Seattle, Snohomish, Spokane, Tacoma

West Virginia: Moundsville

Wisconsin: Madison, Oshkosh

Today’s International Destinations: Don Mills, Ontario, Canada; Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico; Skopje, Macedonia; Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles; San Salvador, El Salvador; Madrid, Spain; Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK; North Walsham, Norfolk, UK; Tripoli, Libya; Vaivadai, Panevėžio, Lithuania; Minsk, Belarus; Moscow, Russia; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Brookfield, Queensland, Australia; West Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia; Dordrecht, Netherlands; Guangdong, China; Brunnen, Switzerland; Kouvola, Finland.

I stopped by the annual Mule Camp Market for lunch today, and picked up an old Perry Mason dime store novel (“The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece” by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1942, third printing) and — bonus! — found a penny postcard that apparently served as a bookmark.

The card comes from the British War Relief Society, Inc., and acknowledges the generous donation by Mrs. Camille Sadler of “4 more sweaters R.A.F”. Mrs. Sadler seems to have been staying in New York with her friend Mrs. Honore Palmer, at the very swank River House apartment building. Built in 1931, it has been an art deco landmark ever since and, today, one can get a three-bedroom apartment there for around $5 million.

But, back to Mrs. Sadler. I suppose she might have picked up the Perry Mason to read on the return trip back to — well, somewhere; who knows how many times the book has changed hands before it came to me but, apparently none of them bothered to open the book, let alone read it. I found the “bookmark” less than halfway through the book; I guess Mrs. Sadler never found out what happened to the sleepwalker.

Be sure to check out some of the other items in the Weekend Mailbox, and stop by Postcard Friendship Friday.

Here are a couple of postcards from the 1960s, extolling the virtues of stopping by Frankenmuth, Michigan, for dinner. First, Frankenmuth’s Bavarian Inn: “In Frankenmuth, where the population is only 1700, 600,000 special dinners are served annually. Here the gemuetlichkeit of Old Bavaria blends with the hospitality of New America. World famous for Frankenmuth family style chicken and other dinners.”

New America? Well, I guess it was a little newer when this postcard was produced. But the Bavarian Inn folks make you the fine print on the back of this postcard to hear about delicious chicken. Zehnder’s, on the other hand, gets straight to the point:

Call me what you want, just don’t call me late for chicken dinners. And a Happy Birthday to my friend Nicole, who is quite the Frankenmuth fan.

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.

“Mysterious Postcard Collector” sent this very nice photo through the mail, as a postcard, of an original photo of the Loveland Ski Area — along with a request to send him or her a million postcards. Well, not all from me; this individual has somehow gotten the idea into his (let’s stick with the generic pronoun, shall we?) head of amassing one million postcards. Naturally, I obliged. It’s a challenge for me to store my own collection (somewhere between one and two thousand, I think) and, necessity being a mother, I am hoping that he’ll come up with some good ideas for the rest of us.

Since the goal seems to be quantity, not quality, I say let’s oblige him. If you’ve got an old advertising postcard, unwanted card, or just plain ugly card, why not pop it in the mail?

Emily sent this head-scratcher from Massachusetts a few weeks ago; I’ve been puzzling over it in between the 50+ hour weeks I’ve been working for the past month. It’s handmade and, while I enjoyed receiving it and find it interesting, I can’t help but think that she mixed up my card with the one she was going to send to the PostSecret guy. I have never received a card like this; it is unique in my collection. It makes me wish I had the time and talent to create handmade cards that others would like. Another wish: that I could decode Emily’s message.

My new friend and fellow bibliophile Linsey found this great vintage postcard of Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel (now just the Hilton Chicago and still going strong). According to the card, “(t)he hotel located on Michigan Boulevard in the heart of Chicago’s world famous convention center is one of the largest hotels in the world.” Sorry, Chicago — with only 1,544 rooms, this hotel isn’t even in the top 20 anymore; most of those are in Las Vegas. But Hilton can still claim two out of the top 20: the Las Vegas Hilton, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. Imagine that: a hotel big enough to be considered a village.

This card was published by Dexter Press for Cameo Greeting Cards, Inc., 4011 No. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago.

Along with yesterday’s view of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Walt was kind enough to send along this real photo postcard of Okmulgee Tech, now known as the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

The “DOPS” stampbox on this postcard was used from 1925 to 1942; I would guess that this postcard was produced closer to the end of that window.

“Located in the heart of Wisconsin on the Wisconsin River, Stevens Point is a thriving and beautiful city showing rapid industrial development and the Stevens Point State University is located there.” Minus two points for the run-on sentence on this postcard, published by the Wyman Post Card Co., 722 Eau Claire Blvd., Wausau, Wis., probably in the mid-1960s.

Stevens Point State U isn’t the only thing located there; check out those names shown in their heyday: Woolworth’s, Fox Theater, Rexall Drug Stores, Household Finance Company.

This card comes from Walt, who was desperate to get a Georgia map postcard, and surprised me by sending this card plus three others in exchange. Thanks Walt!

“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.

Is it me, or does this sturgeon look surprised? “The Lower Dells has always had an abundant supply of sturgeon. This photo by H. H. Bennett, pioneer landscape photographer of the Dells, was made in the late 1880s. The spear fisherman stands at the cribs near the present dam.”

This Wisconsin postcard came from Tim in Indiana via Maine or, as Tim puts it, “a Wisconsin postcard sent by a Hoosier with a Maine postmark.” Turns out that Tim has three Mailer’s Postmark Permits, one of which was issued in Meddybemps, Maine. Mail postmarked by the mailer has to be mailed from the post office which issued the permit, so Tim would have had to postmark this card with an advance date, put it in an envelope, mail it to Meddybemps, and ask the postmaster there to mail it on the correct date. As you can see, the postmaster didn’t wait; this postcard is postmarked next Tuesday.

Sure, it seems like a lot of trouble, but who else can postmark their own mail with the word “Meddybemps”?

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!

After 10 weeks of wrangling with the United States Postal Service, I have managed to convince them that it is perfectly legal (and, in fact, covered in the Domestic Mail Manual) for them to issue me a permit that allows me to cancel my own stamps before mailing, instead of having them do it.

Why? Besides the fun of taking on a government which is ignorant of its own rules, I hate the new ink-jetted text that passes for a postmark nowadays. I’ve also noticed that I get one or two mailpieces a month from mailers that have their own permits, and one can actually tell when and from where it was mailed.

My cancellation device (an “indicia”, really just a rubber stamp ordered from a private manufacturer) arrived a couple of days ago, and I presented it at the Post Office for approval and received my permit. I am sure they were happy to see the back of me.

I am holding off on using it for now; I ordered some special postcards to commemorate the first day of use and am awaiting their arrival. If you’d like a snazzy piece of “First Day of Use” mail with my new postmark, leave a comment.

It seems to me that this top ten list of Texan philosophies doubles perfectly well as a list of New Year’s resolutions — except, perhaps, for #6, which I would say is more aphorism than resolution. Nevertheless, you’d be wise to follow these instructions, which come courtesy of Moriah at Tokyo Love Letters. Arigato gozaimasu and Happy New Year!

The Language Police managed to let this one get all the way to production with the phrase “you know your from Texas” uncorrected. Oh well, what can you do? As Christ said, if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out — but instead I think I’ll just let this one pass.

I can’t help but notice that these qualifications aren’t unique to Texans; I’ve met a number of people here in Georgia named Bubba. Some of them even hold public office.

Ham radio operator Phil Shea may have just gotten lucky to get such a cool callsign, but more than likely it’s a vanity callsign he specifically requested. And why not? He did live in Massachusetts, after all, less than an hour from Salem. Also, take note of the fact that Phil was l33t before the rest of us.

This card acknowledges transmissions from Phil picked up by our friend Bill Seaback on February 13, 1960. It looks like Phil saved some money on his QSL cards by having only one side printed. Regardless, it makes for a great Halloween post.

This will be the last of Bill’s QSL cards to be posted. I’ve been in touch will Bill’s daughter, Jennifer, who tells me that Bill was 15 years old in 1960; as I suspected, he passed away a few years ago. I’ve sent off the 30-odd remaining cards to Jennifer. I’m sure that these cards will mean as much to her as my great-grandfather’s postcards mean to me.

“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.

Nothing like being in the great outdoors. Of course, this place looks a lot better upholstered than, say, an outback dunny in Australia.

This vintage postcard was published, probably in the late 1940s, by the Asheville Post Card Company. It comes courtesy of Melissa at We Love Snail Mail, who decided on a vintage postcard after struggling with the definition of “wild” postcards. Truth to tell, I don’t even know that definition myself; I just thought the phrase “wild postcards” was catchy.