http://www.wildpostcards.com Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:10:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yana sends this beautiful and atypical view of Red Square in Moscow. There’s also supposed to be a letter coming, according to the postcard; Yana says that she posted both a letter and this postcard at the same time, and is curious as to which would arrive first.  I shall have to write to her [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/03/red-square-moscow/ 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 — [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/03/conrad-hilton-hotel-chicago/ Thea in Queensland, Australia, with whom I swap postcards regularly, thought she would make me work for my postcard this time around. This postcard-sized puzzle arrived in an envelope in 48 pieces. I thought I might delegate this to 6-year-old Grandson #2, but then I looked a little more closely. If you examine the individual pieces [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/03/the-real-da-vinci-code/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/03/aerial-view-of-okmulgee-tech/ “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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/03/greetings-from-stevens-point-wisconsin/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/tripoli-by-night/ “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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/hawaii-national-park/ Anneli was kind enough to send this reproduction of a turn of the (20th) century divided-back card from Finland; it is the first card of this type I’ve seen that’s not in the English language. She translates the poem as: “I would love to make a band of beautiful flowers for you, my friend, friend whose [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/on-friendship/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/spearing-sturgeon-in-the-lower-dells/ 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. [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/lake-house-and-pines-swartswood-nj/ Lyan was very excited to have been able to visit the birthplace (now a museum) of P. Ramlee (1929-1973), an actor, director, and singer/songwriter, and an entertainment icon in Malaysia. I can’t help but notice that she selected this very dashing, shirtless portrait of Ramlee, when there were no doubt other options — say, Ramlee [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/p-ramlee-birthplace/ Linkenel in Bangkok, Thailand was kind enough to share with me this image of a reclining Buddha, which is in stark contrast to the standard image of a fat, jovial Buddha usually seen in American culture. According to the card, the existing temple was built on the site of an older monastery. Like Buddha, it looks [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/temple-of-the-reclining-buddha/ Since there’s no worded suggestion, one must assume that it’s the illustration that is meant to impart some guidance. What I’m getting out of it is that you should take your lover to a quiet spot in the moonlight, stick out your tongue, and see what happens. This card didn’t go through the postal system and [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/suggestions-for-lovers/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/02/singapore-1947-1948/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/mailers-postmark-permit-1/ I hate to admit it, but the first thought that popped into my head upon seeing this image of a bear and a rabbit was the old joke about whether or not feces sticks to their fur, which is rated PG. But these two are clearly friends. The bear is either copping a feel, or [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/a-loving-companion/ George Barbier (1882 – 1932) was a French illustrator, whose work is in the art deco style and was produced while art deco was very much en vogue. Barbier made a living in illustration as well as in theatre and costume design; he died at the height of his popularity. This work, L’hiver (Winter), is [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/hiver-winter/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/out-of-guanajuato-into-the-fire/ I’m not sure how I missed the fact that Gmail was sending out free holiday postcards last month, but they were. Oh, well, since I didn’t send one, at least I received one — plus, you can click on the link and download both the hi-res images of their cards, and PDF files that you can [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/gmail-snowflake-comic/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.wildpostcards.com/2010/01/texan-philosophies/