Here’s an embossed postcard from Great-Grandpa Phil’s collection. The front of the card has a notice reading “Design Copyright 1908, by M.W. Taggart, N.Y.” Note how this design incorporates a farm that apparently sits directly on a beach, complete with seagulls.

The card was mailed to Phil from Dunbar, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1910 (Thanksgiving would have fallen on the 24th that year) and is signed “OWS”. While I’m pretty certain that we had relatives there at the time, and while the “S” suggests another Smith, I am at a loss to recall who OWS might have been.

This is one of a set of postcard scenes of Anatolia that I picked up in Turkey, around 1990. It shows a night scene of the castle on Güvercin Adası (goo-vair’-jin ah’-da-suh, “Dove Island”), which is really a peninsula off the Aegean resort town of Kuşadası (koosh-ah’-da-suh, “Bird Island”), Turkey.

This card depicts what is presumed to be the final home of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Efes (Ephesus), where Catholic tradition holds that she died.

I sent this card to my Aunt Brenda, who at that time was the keeper of the collection, in an envelope along with several other postcards. I was in Turkey courtesy of Uncle Sam, and was still in awe over the favorable exchange rates.

The notation in the lower left — “her hakki mahfuzdur” — translates roughly as “every genuine(ness) looked after”, presumably the same sentiment as “all rights reserved”. The Turkish language is not for the squeamish. (Also of note: the word is correctly spelled “hakiki”, but the publisher has spelled it as it is actually pronounced.)

Efes is also the name of a pretty good Turkish beer, which sponsors a fairly mediocre basketball team, which has some really hot cheerleaders.

(Now how did I digress from the Virgin Mary to hot cheerleaders?)