Postcards

I have a renewed interest in postcards.

A few years ago a colleague started sending me postcards from her destinations on business trips, now she will occasional send one from a fun trip destination. I soon started reciprocating and sent her postcards from places I’d visited. 

A postcard I recently received in the mail from a friend.

Postcards do seem like something from the past…something people do not send anymore. They tend to send their own snapshots from their cell phone in an email or text message…and what can be better than that? Immediate messages and up-to-date photos. But postcards can be fun too.

I found the ZITS comic strip below amusing.

A ZITS comic Strip.

I began looking at postcards again while traveling, and I buy one or two to get a different perspective than I get on my iPhone camera but in some places it’s hard to find postcards. 

For instance, last week my friend and I went into a variety store in a tourist town and asked “Do you have any postcards?” No was the reply, and it happened a second time at the next store. As we continued down the street we saw a carousal of postcards and stepped into the shop to take a look. There were winter scenes and fall scenes but it was springtime and we were seeing such vibrant spring colors, but then we found a collage print and that would do. 

The homemade postcard of Galena.

However, the postcards seemed a bit different…a little smaller than normal and the back was blank…no “postage here” or a line separating the message from the address…so we asked the clerk and he said he made the postcards himself (and he worked for the Post Office so he knew the size was OK.) How fun is that? I bought the postcard and sent it off. The personal connection with the photographer made it so much more fun and interesting.

The postcard maker and postal worker. I got permission to post his picture but I didn’t get his name.

I will continue to buy postcards, and send some occasionally…keeping a few postcard stamps available in my purse.

A 100 year commemorative postcard for Rocky Mountain National Park…opened 1915.
A postcard I purchased at a museum store; a drawing by Minnesota artist Adam Turman titled: Cardinal
I bought this postcard in Austria featuring a painting entitled Portrait d’Adele Bloch-Bauer I (Woman in Gold),
by Gustav Klimp

8 thoughts on “Postcards”

  1. Postcards bring back such fun memories. I found some we had received from Jessie during her college traveling days. They are treasures because they express her feelings as well as show something of where she was. I have really been enjoying your musings! Vicki

    1. Thanks Vicki.
      I’m glad you came across the postcards from Jessie. That’s special!

  2. Ha! “Snapchat on a rotary phone…”
    : )
    So nice to meet a person doing something simple and creative and enjoyable!

  3. How wonderful you have found a great secret – sending post cards! Just a few days ago I read an article in Real Simple Magazine – about
    YES – post cards! The article is about a guy who wanted to communicate with his girlfriend. He traveled a lot and wanted his
    communcation with her to be different and meaningful and found
    that postcards are unique, easy and in need of a small message. It
    also gave a personal touch and sometimes a picture of where he
    was at the time with a meaningful note. So quick and easy and
    personal. At any rate I loved the article and you have found
    how very special a postcard can be! Thanks Valerie!

    1. What fun to have read an article on personal postcards. I may have to try and find it. Thanks for sharing.

    1. I never thought of them that way, but I will view postcards as works of art. Thanks.

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