HAPPY EASTER, HAPPY SPRING ... Vintage Postcards

 After our long and relatively somber pandemic winter we are enthusiastically welcoming Spring!  Here are my greetings to you for a Happy Easter and a Joyful Spring ... via vintage postcards.  To get a close up view of the images, just click on them.

Embossed and airbrushed

Hand-colored real photo postcard

French, hand-colored real photo postcard

Also French, hand-colored real photo postcard

French, hand-colored real photo postcard, but what does "Roomsaid Ulestousmise Puhl" mean?

Happy Easter "silhouette" postcard by the German artist Georg Plischke

Time to get out into the garden!  Another "silhouette" postcard.

A tea party in the garden.  Real photo postcard

Time for the tulips to bloom!  Advertising postcard by the Henry Field Seed Co., Shenandoah, Iowa

"Glad Pingst"-"Swedish for Happy Pentecost"

Pentecost is a Christian festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension, held on the seventh Sunday after Easter.  I had to look that up!

Adina Sand is the artist of this postcard.

CELEBRATE!

MY FIRST COOKBOOK & "Toad in the Hole" Recipe

 One of the prized possessions of my childhood was my very first cookbook, "Let's Cook With Gail".  There is a bookplate inside the front cover wherein I wrote my name, pre-cursive, in pencil; and since we learned cursive in the second grade, I would have been six or seven when I got this treasured cookbook.

The recipe book was first issued in 1952 by The Farmer, Saint Paul, Minnesota.  The red booklet above was issued at that time.  The beige book with red binding was issued in 1954.  The 1954 version is my first cookbook.

 The Farmer was a newspaper focused on agriculture which began in the late 1800's and has continued following many mergers over the years, to the point that it is no longer recognized by the name.   In 1952, The Farmer began a monthly series of cooking lessons "for boys and girls."  Children received the "Let's Cook With Gail" booklet, and were instructed to cut out the lessons in the newspaper and paste them into their booklet.  Gail was an actual person - the eleven-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Palmby, who lived on a general farm in Blue Earth County, Minnesota.

Most of the recipes in the booklet are basic and suitable for all ages.  For fun, I decided to make one of the recipes, "Toad in the Hole."  

Here's the final result.

I liked it!!!   

MERRY CHRISTMAS - Menu, Vintage Postcard & Comics!

 

How wonderful to have a distraction during the pandemic!  CHRISTMAS!   For many, this will not be a wonderful Christmas, for far too many reasons.  But, as in everything, we do the best we can with what we have.  So, here are a few Christmas distractions for you.  First, a laugh or two.

Since many/most of us are staying home for our Christmas meal, you may want some ideas for the menu.  Here is a menu, dated December 25, 1944 for dinner at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois.  H. G. Kruithoff mailed this postcard to Miss Opal Kruithoff in Sioux City, Iowa on December 26.  He checked off the items he ate on the postcard.  Notice his little checks in the first image below.  On the back of the card, in the second image below, the message states:  "Well Opal this what I had.  I took every thing and I'm so ful that I'll bust if I eat any more.  Some how the meal didn't taste has good has Moms.  What did you have?"  This is exactly as written.  

Perhaps your meal will include JELLO.  The Minneapolis StarTribune had a little snippet about Jello, copied here.  

"The base ingredient of this well-known product has been part of dessert dishes as far back as the late Middle Ages, but it was a cough syrup maker in 1897 who made it into what we know today.  Pearle Bixby Wait started mixing powdered gelatin with fruit flavors and sugar.  The result was sold to the Genesee Pure Food Co. in 1899, and within a few years, advertisements in the Ladies Home Journal and the distribution of Jell-O cookbooks as a marketing tactic set the product on its way.  The gelatinous dessert has an entire museum devoted to it in Leroy, New York, where it was created."

Following is one of the early booklets, dated 1930.  Inside it notes that Jell-O won  awards at 1) the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo in 1904, 2) the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, OR in 1905, 3) the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, WA in 1906, 4) the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition in Norfolk, VA in 1907, 5) the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, CA in 1915,  6) the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Diego, CA in 1915, and 7) the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA in 1926.  Impressive!

More recently, in 1973, "The New Joys of Jell-O" was published.  

I hope you enjoyed this mish mash for your Christmas diversion.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL.  

TAKE CARE AND WE'LL SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MY FRIENDS!

 So many of us are staying home this year due to Covid-19, and a number of friends aren't excited about fixing a big turkey dinner - for two people.  Not a problem here - even when we've gone elsewhere in the past, I still return home to make a turkey dinner for the two of us.  We love the leftovers! 

Following are two vintage postcards.  The first is a menu of a "Grand Dinner In Honor of Thanksgiving" featuring oyster stew, fish, turkey, sweet potatoes, crisp celery (glad to hear it wasn't wilted celery!) and for dessert, apples and pumpkin pie with coffee.   I like that the menu also includes the "Toast" - "Let Thanksgiving pleasure Be memories best treasure."  Good thought!

This card would have been published in about 1910.

Because of Covid-19, air travel is NOT advised.  Thus, the following postcard is particularly fun.  It was given to United Airlines passengers on Thanksgiving Day 1964.  Printed on the back:  "Thanksgiving Greetings from aloft...aboard a United Air Lines Mainliner, Thanksgiving Day, 1964."  It is also noted that United Air Lines was "The Airline of Sports Champions."  Who knew?!?  

For the flight, passengers were treated to shrimp cocktail, wafers, roast Vermont turkey, cornbread stuffing, giblet gravy, glazed sweet potatoes, buttered green peas, crisp roll, cranberry sauce, mayonnaise dressing, pumpkin tartelette and tea.  What a meal!  

Here is a random cartoon to follow these big meals.

Despite the many, many problems we're facing now, Thanksgiving is a good time to remember the good things we have in our lives - big and small.  A few thoughts for you to reflect on this particular Thanksgiving Day:

*  Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

*  Life is a continuous process of getting used to things we haven't expected.

*  When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1,000 reasons to smile.

*  A positive attitude is a magnet for positive results.

*  Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

*  The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

*  The grass isn't greener over there.  It's greener where you water it.

*   Life is a bumpy road, and laughter is your best shock absorber.

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING DAY EVERYONE.  ENJOY THE VARIETY LIFE HAS TO OFFER.   LOVE, ADINA

VINTAGE, ENTERTAINING & THE NATION

 It is now snowy and cold outside, and a good time to go through things and get rid of them.  Of course, when you go through things there is no telling what the result will be.

Over the years I've collected vintage cookbooks, and other books on entertaining.  Yesterday I came across this book:

The book was published in 1898 by the United Society of Christian Endeavor and the eighty ideas for entertaining include everything from a "Temperance Talking Party" to an "Evening With the Fairies" to a "Bean Social."   

In our current political scene much is being made of the concept of "Nation," and one of the "pleasant evenings" in the book is for "An International Social."  A contest was suggested called "A Tour of Nations" whereby each player gets a clue as to the meaning of the correct word to which the word "nation" is the end of the word.  Here are the clues and the answers.  Perhaps you'll have an election night party for our next election and will be able to use these to keep your guests entertained during the long watch for voter results.

1.  Nation from which we start:  GERMINATION

2.  Actors' nation:  IMPERSONATION

3.  Nation for criminals:  CONDEMNATION

4.  Murderers' nation:  ASSASSINATION

5.  Nation for astonished people:  CONSTERNATION

6.  Nation for rulers:  DOMINATION

7.  Nation for pests:  EXTERMINATION

8.  Nation for their subjects:  SUBORDINATION

9.  Nation provoking disapproval:  ABOMINATION

10.  Teachers' nation:  EXPLANATION

11.  Their pupils nation:  EXAMINATION

12.  The rebels nation:  ALIENATION

13.  Nation for labor unions:  COMBINATION

14.  Nation for unwilling people:  DECLINATION

15.  Nation for Covid-19 patients:  VACCINATION

16.  Soothsayers' nation:  DIVINATION

17.  A floral nation:  CARNATION

18.  A politicians' nation:  NOMINATION

19.  Nation for contagious disease:  CONTAMINATION

20.  Nation for seed-sowers:  DISSEMINATION

21.  Nation for deer:  STAGNATION

22.  Nation for the resolute:  DETERMINATION

23.  Nation for choir boys:  INTONATION

24.  Nation for a new king:  CORONATION

25.  Nation for the deluded:  HALLUCINATION

26.  The poets nation:  IMAGINATION

27.  Nation for travelers:  DESTINATION

28.  Nation for those whose official usefulness is ended:  RESIGNATION

29.  Nation for benevolent people:  DONATION

30.  A Charming nation:  FASCINATION

31.  A nation of sects:  DENOMINATION

32.  The critics' nation:  DISCRIMINATION

33.  The nation at the climax:  CULMINATION

34.  The nation we have now reached:  TERMINATION

Are you glad of that last one?  hehe!!

Enjoy your day, Everyone!

  

HALLOWEEN and CURRENT AFFAIRS

 This morning I was digging through old postcards in preparation for a Thanksgiving blog post and came across a few postcards that seem to fit into our current times.  See if you agree.

The first two postcards are ideas for your holiday entertaining (even if only for you and your immediate family).  The first is the "Turtle Trivet" which, according to the printing on the back, has many uses - it can hang on the wall as a decoration, it can be used as a trivet, and it can be used with toothpicks for finger foods.  

The next postcard shows the "Snack-A-Roo" which is made of seeds.  "He's a cunning, decorative centerpiece that quickly becomes the most unusual snack server imaginable.  Really something to crow about... ."  

Aren't these hilarious?!?  Imagine buying these?!?  Imagine using them?!?

Amazon has really benefited from Covid-19.  But buying things to be delivered to your home has been going on...forever!  See the many listed products that you could get just by checking the little boxes and mailing the postcard.  How about pie fillings (flavor?), Eau de Cologne (scent?), or greeting cards (Christmas?).  

Speaking of greeting cards, pretty soon we'll need to get busy making, buying, addressing and mailing them.  See this sampling of Christmas cards that you could order.

The following two postcards show movies playing at the time the postcards were printed.  The first was issued by Durand Theatre, in Durand, Wisconsin.  The movie, "Stranger At My Door" could be a good movie for tonight, Halloween.  Of course, it won't be showing at the theatre, but perhaps we could find it on AMC, Hulu, Peacock, or Netflix.  

This next postcard was issued by Rivoli Theatre, Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  The movie I'd like to see is "Are Husbands Necessary?" starring Ray Milland and Betty Field!  

On a serious note, we have a critical election in process.  This next postcard speaks to one of the issues.  It was postmarked April 24, 1989 - 31 years ago.  Still controversial today.

I think I love old postcards because they are so interesting - historical, funny, beautiful, and topical.  Check back soon for another round!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.  STAY SAFE.  FIND BEAUTY IN THE EVERYDAY.

!!!!!VOTE!!!!! *****VOTE***** !!!!!VOTE!!!!!

Tuesday, November 6.  Today is the day to do the one, most important thing that we can do as citizens of our great country... go VOTE!  If you don't vote, you don't get to complain, because you have not done what you can do to have a voice in what is going on in our country.  We are at a very critical time in our history, perhaps more critical than at any other time.  Why?  Global warming.  That is the single most crucial issue that we are facing, and we must elect to office those persons most willing and able to take action on our behalf.

PLEASE REVIEW THE CANDIDATES POSITIONS, THEN GO VOTE.  Thank you.

Enjoy these vintage postcards...

VALENTINES DAY & ROMANCE - On Vintage Postcards

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, MY DEAR READERS!  I HOPE TODAY BRINGS YOU MANY VALENTINES GREETINGS AND ROMANCE!

I have posted Valentine postcards on my blog in the past, so today, in addition to just one Valentine postcard, I will be showing you "romance" postcards.  At one point I had hundreds of postcards that fit into the category of  "kissing"!  

Let's start with the Valentine postcard.  This card is considered an "embossed" card.  It is undated but was printed in the early 1900's.

This next lovely postcard was mailed in 1923 in Praha, Slovakia.  I (obviously!) can't read the message on the back.

The following postcard could be exchanged for a kiss, however, "Strangers Must Be Identified."  The message on the back says, "Please present to sender and demand goods without delay."  Love it!

The postcard below is considered a "large letter" postcard.  The card was sent on July 8, 1907 to "Darling Daisy" and the sender notes: "I'm lonesome darling!"

The next card is a "real photo" postcard and required a lot of work on the part of the photographer (copyright 1918 by May Ross).  The center photograph and all of the headings would have been clipped from publications of the day, laid out, then photographed.  Take a minute to read the captions.  So fun!

The postcard below was presented by "Leo" to "Papa O Mama".   I like the little verse on the bottom:  "No doubt you will think this a largish account, But I can't see my way to reduce the Amount"  (edited).

One final postcard simply drips romance.  

LOVE TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.  MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH JOY!

LEAP YEAR - LEAP DAY - FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Remember as a child learning the verse:

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November

All the rest have 31,

Except for February.

What about February?  Well, in three out of four February’s there are 28 days, but in a Leap Year there are 29 days.  This year is a Leap Year and, accordingly, this February 29 is Leap Day.  Why is this necessary?

At the decree of Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., one day was added to the calendar in order to synchronize our calendar with the Earth’s orbit around the sun.  To simplify, the Earth takes approximately 365.25 days to orbit the sun every year.  It’s that .25 of a day that creates the need for a leap year every four years.

Like many astrological events, Leap Day has a tradition.  In Ireland and England tradition allows women to propose marriage to a man on that day.  It is questionable how this tradition came to be.  One belief is that in 5^th century Ireland St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick that women had to wait too long to be asked to marry, and St. Patrick decided that on Leap Day it should be allowed.  Another belief is that the five-year-old Queen Margaret of Scotland enacted a law setting fines for men who turned down marriage proposals from women during leap year.  Regardless of when or how this tradition came to be, it appears from a quick review of YouTube videos that this tradition continues throughout the world.  Fortunately, in our modern age, it is now okay for women to propose marriage on any day of the year.

Of course, the tradition was captured on postcards during the Postcard Era in the early 1900’s.  Here are two examples from my collection.  The first card is quite serious, a direct request for marriage.  This postcard was sent to Mr. Chas. P. Arthur, Hampton, Iowa.  The sender wrote:  "Wish I was with you or you were with me... either one would be all right.  Don't you think?  Lovingly, Alethie".

"My dear and much respected sir, I send you this your love to stir; I ask your heart not in a jest, and hope you'll grant my fond request.  I'll be your wife until you die.  And now await your prompt reply."

The postcard above was postmarked April 8, 1909, and mailed to Miss Etta Tohd (?!?), Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.

Celebrate this Leap Day by watching the delightful rom-com, "Leap Year."  Spoiler Alert:  If you haven't seen the movie, don't watch this film clip!

HAPPY NEW YEAR GREETING on Vintage Postcard

This charming old postcard brings you best wishes for a cheerful and healthy new year, close to those you love, and filled with peace and happiness.

CHRISTMAS MENUS on vintage postcards.

Grace, Kindness, Good Cheer... I hope all of these are on your menu, not only for Christmas but all year long.  

Thinking about food, though, consider the following menu for Xmas Dinner at the U.S. Naval Hospital in New York in the year 1918.  

Nearly 100 years later this menu (without the cigars and cigarettes!!) will be served in many, many American households this Christmas.  

This was an important time on the world scene.  Consider:

Historical Events for December 1918

4th - US President Woodrow Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France, 1st President to travel outside US while in office
9th - French troops occupies Mainz
13th - US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
15th - American Jewish Congress holds its 1st meeting
16th - German troops evacuate Finland, give over Kiev in the Ukraine to revolutionary forces and pull back from Estonia as Bolshevik forces move in
17^th - Workers' and soldiers' councils take control of German government in Berlin, until elections in January selects new national assembly
20th - The Allies turn their attention to Bolshevik expansion in the East, landing troops in Crimea and Latvia
26th - After spending Christmas with American troops in France, Wilson goes to London for preliminary discussions about the forthcoming peace conference
27th - The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
30th - John E Hoover decides to be called J. Edgar Hoover 

Consider how times have changed.  

HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DEAR FRIENDS! VINTAGE POSTCARD.

I find many cartoons by Hilary Price in her "Rhymes With Orange" comic strip to be delightful.   Today she offered "A Thanksgiving Pie-Ku."  

     "greetings, hips and butt -
       so much pie coming your way
       sorry - it's worth it."

The perfect Thanksgiving haiku, don't you think?

To you, dear friends, this lovely vintage postcard says it all.