Squeeze Me! Beg Your Pardon

Tracy from the United Kingdom sent this unusual and fun postcard, her first as a Postcrosser. I think this postcard will be a big hit with my middle school-age kids. If you can not read upside down, the label says "Rich Thick Obscene Noises." The card captures a common joke in many households when the over seriousness of the dinner table is interrupted by the near-empty ketchup bottle squeezed into flatulence by a giggling teenager.

Wild Music

This untitled photo postcard taken by an unknown photographer will definitely go into the mystery category. It is one of over three million postcards sent through the Postcrossing Project. Go here to find out about the project.

This whimsical postcard image came from postcrosser ananaks, a graduate student from Russian studing biology in the U.S. Could we give it a title? What does this image mean to you? Perhaps: play your music in the wild, or maybe, bring the wild into your music. In either case, just from the selection of instruments, these musicians are headed for an adventure in the proverbial musical pass just ahead of them. Thanks, Anastasia for the great card and welcome to The States.

Revealed: The Origin of the Cold Shoulder

Because this is one of the hottest summers in Interior Alaska, I thought I would cool things off a bit with this card which claims the origin of the phrases "Cold Shoulder" and "Icy Stare" came from the land of the Midnight Sun where men still outnumber women.


Postcard and photo by Tom Sadowski, 1983. This card was published by Tom Sadowski Films which unfortunately seems to have stopped filming. You can find a book by Tom here and enjoy similar pre-Photoshop images. The book chronicles the zaniness of three original Alaskan humorists traveling to Tok, Alaska.

A One-Up-Your's Classic

"CURTEICHROM REPRODUCTION BY CURTEICK FK-3 FLORIDA STATE SERIES"

Though I am posting flower postcards this month, I thought this card might fit the season -- at least for those of us who still have snow on the ground this time of year.

This is a classic American post card theme. It is not simply a "wish you were here" card but rather a rub it in you face card. It is more like a good natured -- "I'm better off than you are" taunt.

Post marked March 12, 1968, the card was sent to my aunt and her husband in Detroit. The message reads, "Hi, Hot as all "hades" but a good breeze today. ______ still perched with the Sutton's & we gals get no better playing Canasta -- guess we will send for Winnie -- we eat better than playing cards -- ha! Mae and I thought Art and Verne looked exactly like Dean Rusk on T.V. -- ha! That was a shame to have (the) program ruined -- Best Gale & Matquetile (sic)."

I do not know what the ruined program was the writer referred to but at the time this card was written, Washington was abuzz about a rift in the Johnson administration over the Viet Nam bombing campaign. Rusk, one of the longest serving Secretary of States, was a stanch defender of the war amid growing opposition from members of the government and the public both at home and around the world.

A post card sampler

I feel like a new kid on the block. Somewhat timid at setting out in my new neighborhood, yet thrilled to see what new sights (sites) I might find and the new acquaintances I might make. This blog will display some of the cards in my collection and some comments on the cards, on collecting and on popular culture.

The post cards in the image above represent several eras of cards during the first half of the twentieth-century. They also show varied themes and subject matter typical in the U.S. and Europe.

At the bottom left is a card commemorating the surrender of Confederate Gen. Roberts E. Lee to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. Of all the cards in the sampler it is the most modern, most likely produced in the 50's or 60's. It is a photo of an unidentified painting. The card at the top of the sampler of the two lovers is the oldest. It is a black and white photo with hand painted highlights. These were typical of cards of the first decades of the 20th-century.

The black and white photo card to the right of the lovers was copyrighted 1940. It was an advertisement for the Renfro Valley Barn Dance, a radio show broadcast Saturday nights "from a real barn" in Renfro Valley, Kentucky, back in the day. I found that the barn dance is still going strong down in Renfro Valley.

The characters pictured are A'nt Idy and Little Clifford. The message on the reverse side says, "After this picture was taken A'nt Idy asked the photographer for the head-rest used in posing Little Clifford. She claimed it was the only thing that had ever kept him still for any length of time."

I'll reveal more about these and other cards in the coming days. I hope to be able to feature one card a week.