My Favorite Postcards

It was a grey Saint Patrick's Day in my respective German-Irish Mid Western town and I wanted to avoid the vomit and insanity. So I jumped in my car and drove. I after several hours I found myself in Missouri and closing in on the birth place of national treasure, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain). At the shrine and museum they have the actual house Mark Twain was born, various artifacts from his life, and picture below the manuscript to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . If you aren't a huge Mark Twain fan before seeing the museum you will be after. After seeing the museum I made my way to Hannibal where Mark Twain spent the majority of his childhood. 

I had to take a few business trips to Evansville, Indiana and one late afternoon when while waiting to catch my return flight I spotted this postcard in the airport souvenir shop. I was amazed to learn there was an authentic World War II ship at the Evansville waterfront. I didn't even know Evansville had a waterfront! Apparently the USS LST-325 spent time in the Mediterranean and supported the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Wow! The photos were taken by Billy Twymon and Tammy Tucker. What a delightful piece of Americana. How neat is that?

What can I say? I'm an old soul. Elizabeth Taylor in a bathing suit on the beach. Yes, please! I picked this card up in a used book store in Chicago. They had several pop icon and historical figures on postcards from fotofolio.com . I have this card, another Elizabeth Taylor, and a Primo Levi I will post some time later. I think this is a great picture that balances natural and staged beauty very well. Of course she is made up and supposed to look gorgeous, but the sun is in her eyes, the wind is mussing up her hair, and her skin is not touched up to be perfectly balanced in black/white tones. It looks real. According to the back of the card, the picture is from the film Suddenly Last Summer . The photographer is unidentified. It was "Made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation Archive, Santa Barbara Museum of Art © The John Kobal Foundation". Enjoy!

Hi everyone! If you are here then you must have an interest in postcards too! I find a postcard is great souvenir wherever you go. They are cheap and easy to carry. Then when you take them home you can frame them, mail them to loved ones, or store for when you need a reminder of your vacation.  Below are two postcards I bought in used bookstore in Davenport, Iowa. No, they don't show Iowa or the Mississippi River instead they show Destin, Florida. I spent the first 7 years of my life outside Destin in Niceville, Florida. Can you imagine my surprise when I found these cards in Iowa? That blue water and white sands bring back some great memories!