Quirky thoughts from an old man.
“Age is a question of mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Satchel Paige, Baseball Pitcher and Sage
The image is of a postcard I received from Germany with an image that reminded me of Peter Max the Pop Artist. It is actually by Michael Craig-Martin who is certainly influenced by Peter Max. Max is still alive (85) but I don’t mind.
“Be the reason that someone smiles today.”
A Phoenix sunset on 2/28/2023. Looking west on Camelback Rd at 22nd Street. Yes I stood in the road to take this picture. A saying printed on a postcard I received from India last week.
I received this postcard from Lilli and Rebecca when they drove to Hana during our December trip to Maui. I supplied the stamps. They said it was “roughly the equivalent of several raccoons.”
Driving the Road to Hana is an experience that is not easily illustrated. This card does a pretty good job but it doesn’t get there. A photo of a concert does not give you the experience of going to the concert. The same is true with the Road to Hana. It has to be driven. Many people hate it and some have died. I think the drive is worth it for the adrenaline rush. An extra bonus is that at the end of the drive you can walk through the Bamboo Forest and hear the music of the bamboo trees in the wind. It is natural music and it is magical.
I received this great Sonoran Desert Christmas Postcard from a Postcrosser in Canada. I’m going to try to track it down and use it for my card next year. As Lantern Press says “It’s all about the image.” I’ve used the same card for about four years now and it is getting old fashioned.
My old card.
“First Save, Then Buy!”
This illustration on this postcard is a reproduction of a matchbook cover distributed by the East German Government in the 1950’s. West Germany was zooming ahead of East Germany economically and this little bit of propaganda shows that one way the East tried to counter it is by claiming the moral high ground.
Why did East Germany collapse? One reason is that the West Germans with free market, capitalist economy could build the Mercedes Benz. One of the best production cars ever built. Meanwhile the East Gemans were building the Trabant, arguably one of the worst cars ever built.
Want to receive postcards try Postcrossing.com
I received this postcard of the Matterhorn in a thunder storm from Claudia in Germany. It is the first in a series of weekly postcards. I’m not sure how it will evolve yet but this sure is a great image to start with and it looks like a postcard that had a long journey. I know how to take a picture of lightning with an iPhone.
Credit to Postcrossing for making this possible.
Decolletage
Noun: A low neckline on a woman’s dress, especially one that reveals or emphasizes her cleavage.
Example: “Decolletage that would be admired in London would be totally unacceptable in Tehran.
I belong to Postcrossing and many of the active members are from Russia and Ukraine. It has been an interesting year for them and for the administrators of the group. I recently received two cards that tell stories that we don’t read in our media.
This card is from Moscow it says in part: “And you should know that peaceful people live in Russia, but the government has gone crazy.”
This one is from Crimea. It has Russian stamps but the Postcrossing code (the UA in the top left) is from the Ukraine.
To complete the postcard theme here are images of the fronts of the cards:
“Time is precious. Time is money. Time is the stuff of which life is made.”
Benjamin Franklin in Advice to a Young Tradesman. (1748)
The postcard illustrates the opposite sentiment as did Franklin in his later years.
Postcards are one of my hobbies and I participate two ways. One is through Postcrossing.com and the other is by sending postcards to a couple of hundred people who I have come into contact with over the past 20 years. The list includes relatives, friends, friends of friends, and random strangers who have expressed an interest in getting a postcard. I had the honor of sending postcards to the last surviving friend of my wife’s parents and when Fritz died recently his daughter made a special point of telling me how much the cards meant to Fritz.
Click here for a link to a Bloomburg article singing the praises of postcards. They are not Twitter or Facebook which is a blessing.
The photo is of a Lantern Press postcard from Tuzigoot National Monument. Lantern Press is creating a category of tourist art postcards, they sell at a premium and are in high demand.