The Post card as Art

[caption id="attachment_2744" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Today's post card to Kathi[/caption]My "dead friend" Charlotte Bronte has been known to say "... short notes give one the feeling of a very small piece of a very good thing to eat" and I agree.  Though both Charlotte and I love nice long letters we both appreciate short notes too.  In fact, Charlotte added "... I am very glad to get notes; so don't think, when you are pinched for time ... that it is useless to write a few lines; be assured, a few lines are very acceptable..."

And so every day I send off one short note in the form of a post card in addition to one of my nice long letters. I like to use post cards for these short notes because  a post card requires less postage than a short letter and because a post card most always contains a picture, and you know what they say about a picture.  It's worth a thousand words.

So today I send a post card off to my cousin Kathi.  I recently had a tea and baked a pretty impressive apple pie if I do say so myself, so after all the work of baking and hosting the tea, it seemed only right to take a picture in order to memorialize the event and share my joy over and over again.  Most of the picture post cards I create come out of scenes from my daily life.  And it's funny, knowing I can take these pictures and use them for my correspondence gives me good reason to go the extra mile in making things as nice as possible.

[caption id="attachment_2760" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The Red Lion Inn[/caption]I first started sending post cards years ago when I discovered The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  I loved that inn then, and still do.  The Red Lion Inn was the inspiration for my invention - Country Inn Days.  You may have read about these days in a former post.  The Red Lion Inn sold many lovely post cards and I bought them all.  I kept some, but being a letter writer, I sent others away to friends as a way to share my joy.  I also took lots of my own pictures.  Here you see one of them.  I think the porch at The Red Lion Inn is its best feature.  I loved it so much that I patterned the porch at my own 1853 house after it.

[caption id="attachment_2761" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Tea served at my own private Inn, The Jeremiah Brown House[/caption]Now, on a Country Inn Day, when I'm  playing the part of innkeeper and hosting a tea, I take pictures along the way in order to create and send off my very own Country Inn Day postcards from my very own Country Inn, The Jeremiah Brown House.  Sharing doubles my joy. It's great fun!

[caption id="attachment_2763" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Another tea at the Jeremiah Brown House[/caption]Creating a lovely table setting is a lot like painting a lovely picture.  It's fun, but it's also work.  Some art we create lasts and lasts; a painting, a song, but not a table setting.  After a tea or meal the setting's moment of glory is over.  All that work could be forgotten, just a vague memory unless we photograph the scene.  If we do take a picture we'll have the image forever, available for post cards and photo notes.

Besides taking pictures in our own private worlds it's also wonderful to buy picture post cards on our travel adventures and our visits to  favorite places near and far. Sharing these sites with friends and family allows us to share our joy.  I used to live in Boston and I absolutely LOVE The Boston Public Garden. Whenever I return to Boston, as I do quite frequently, I spend hours in this magical place.  In fact the arboretum-like feeling of this garden is what inspired me to choose The Jeremiah Brown House for home.

[caption id="attachment_2786" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Entrance to The Jeremiah Brown House (1853)[/caption]

And because I love my trees so very much, naturally they often become the subjects of my Country Inn Day postcards.

[caption id="attachment_2775" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Carol Ann in Chicago[/caption]

Sometimes we might find ourselves in a place that is really special but has no card shop handy, and even if there is a card shop, there's no picture for sale showing exactly what we're seeing and enjoying. This happens off in the country all the time, but it happened to me in downtown Chicago recently.   My husband and I were walking along and I was awestruck by the impressive skyscrapers all around me.  What to do?  Take a picture of course!  Making our own picture post cards is fun and very personal for though the store-bought cards may at times  be of better quality, they don't ever include our very own smiling faces.

[caption id="attachment_2770" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Crop Bistro, Cleveland, Ohio[/caption]

I'll often send my pen friends pictures of lovely places in and around Cleveland.  There are  lots of such lovely places, but Cleveland, like many industrial cities, gets only bad press.  I want people to know there is a great deal of beauty here too.  We have wonderful restaurants,  like the beautiful Crop Bistro housed in a gorgeous historic building.  We also have fabulous parks, charming small-town neighborhoods, terrific culture, (I used to work for The Cleveland Orchestra) and we're working on the sports.

I think I should be hired as a public relations representative for Cleveland because I'm forever bragging about the city, broadcasting its finer points, and sending snazzy picture post cards to my pen friends all around the world.

[caption id="attachment_2747" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Two dashing fellows[/caption]

Of course it's lots of fun to photograph people too.  Here you see my husband Bill (in the white) and our friend Steve who was visiting from Florida.  Steve, our friend Susan, (Susan's not pictured here, sorry Susan) Bill and I, all went to Blossom, the Summer Home of The Cleveland Orchestra where we attended a concert.  Camera in hand (as usual) I got lots of good pictures.  Won't Steve be surprised to go out to his mail box one day and find this picture post card waiting for him?

Any time  I get together with friends and family is a great time to take pictures for my post cards.  Who wouldn't enjoy finding not only a postcard addressed "just to them", but a picture post card featuring their very own picture?  Add a sweet caption and it's a great way to let your friends know you're thinking of them. There's enough room for a short note on the back of the card too.

[caption id="attachment_2777" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My son Patrick "supported" in friendship by his UCLA chums[/caption]Any photo post card you send to your friends should put a smile on their face, but some pictures are more fun than others.  The more fun your subjects are having,  the more fun they'll have revisiting that fun.  Life is short.  Enjoy yourself and share that joy.

Even though it's delightful and artful work creating your own picture post cards you don't have to make all of them yourself.   You'll find all sorts of post cards for sale.  My letter friend Joy has gone into the post card business and soon you'll be able to buy her designs.  She makes lovely, artful cards.  I'll keep you posted on how to purchase them.

[caption id="attachment_2778" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daniel Gerber's (American, 1880-1958)
The River's Bridge[/caption]

Art museums are  wonderful places to find post cards of great and famous art works. You can use these cards when writing short notes to your friends, start a collection of beautiful post cards for your personal pleasure - looking through them whenever you need  a spot of beauty, or you might  buy a dozen art post cards, tie them in a ribbon, and use them as hostess gifts for the next dinner party you attend.  These cards might be serious ...

[caption id="attachment_2753" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Day 'N Night by JETGLASS
Your Best Water Heater Buy[/caption]

or they might be a little silly.  At one time this picture was meant to be a serious advertisement, but now it's just a fun post card.

And this card is fun too, especially if you're female.  Note the caption:

"I made some Niman Ranch lamb tenderloin with garlic, black pepper, and Indonesian soy sauce for dinner.  I hope that sounds ok."

I love this fella's expression, don't you?

So many humorous forwards fly around on the internet these days, but snail mail can spread a lot of fun as well.

[caption id="attachment_2752" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Inspiration[/caption]

And snail mail can also spread a lot of beauty around this weary world.  My friend Evelyna loves afternoon tea as I do and she finds beautiful tea images on post cards to share with me.  These pictures inspire my own tea gatherings.

[caption id="attachment_2751" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Evelyna's tiny script helps her say a lot on a small post card[/caption]

So though a post card will never take the place of a long, juicy letter it does have its value.   Just as we appreciate  hor dourves as the small but delicious little treats they are, so too should we appreciate the post card as the lovely little art form it is.

Don't take my word for it.  Buy or make some post cards, send them out and see what happens.  If you're not yet a letter writer but you'd like to be, post cards are a nice way to get started.  If you are a letter writer, why not add some post cards to your correspondence ritual?  You just may find

When you give (post cards) good things (more post cards) come back to you

Nature, Travel, Tea and Letters

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a perfect day for letter writing, but then every day is a perfect day for letter writing.  The sun is shining.  The birds are chirping.  There's no humidity.  It's a lovely temperature, about 75 degrees, and all is calm and right in my world.  I hope that's the case for you too. Today I decided to write my morning letter to Janet.  Janet is a real nature lover as I am, maybe as you are too.  I wanted to tell her all about the alpaca farm I discovered when meeting the owners at Hudson's farm market last week.  I also wanted to send her this bookmark picturing one of the very cute alpacas. I knew she would be interested because Janet loves animals.  Are you an animal lover too?

 I've mentioned Janet to you before.  She lives in a  beautiful country setting in the state of Virginia.  Her house is right next door to her sister and brother-in-law's farm.  Janet is always taking me on excursions through that farm via her letters.  It's so fun! Thanks to Janet I can share in her early morning walks without even leaving my comfy sofa.  Ah, the magic of letter writing!  Are you in the mood for a little creative visualization?  Well, I'll share a bit of one of Janet's letters with you.  I'm sure she wouldn't mind because Janet is wonderful about sharing her joy.

She writes,

"Just returned from my early morning walk to the fish pond, strolling by the sheep and lambs in the pasture...

the donkeys keep watch...

a few birds too".

Janet continues, "When I reached the pond a dozen geese were on the water honking.  I like to watch them as they glide along and every now and then they'll flap their wings, take off, fly to the shore or another spot on the pond, splashing when they land, and then glide along once more."

Can't you just picture those geese as Janet describes them?  I sure can, and I have to smile with delight as I share their joy.

 Janet is always sending me pictures in her letters.  I love them.  Like I always say - one picture is worth a thousand words.  Janet makes post cards too like this one of Mr. Rooster.  She cleverly snapped his picture and added what she knew he was thinking.  If you hang around animals enough you do get to know what they're thinking.  On the back of the postcard Janet wrote,

"Every morning roosters crow somewhere in our community.  My sister now has three roosters and this is one of the newest.  He's very strong and feisty, but a smaller one we call 'Roger' has been there the longest and none of the new roosters mess with him.  He'll squawk and chase the other two.  Roger let's the others know he's the King rooster..."

Don't you know people like Roger?  I sure do.

I enjoy travel, but I also enjoy my creative visualization with the help of letter friends.  Having pen friends from all over the world gives us an "up close and personal" look at places and things near and far.  As you can see from the postmark above I have a pen friend in The Netherlands.  She's a veterinarian.  I bet she would love Janet's letters about nature and animals as I do.

Vronica takes me along to places she visits like Stadtkyll and she adds her  personal commentary. Because I have wonderful  pen friends like Vronica and Janet I see more of this beautiful world than I would see otherwise.  And I care about, and become interested in, places I would never even know existed if not for letters.  After all, you can't love what you don't know.  Do you see how letters can expand our world?  If a person can't get out and about for any reason, but even if they can,  they really ought to take up letter writing.

How 'bout a little sightseeing in England?  No problem, just find yourself an English correspondent like my pen friend Tracy.  Tracy lives in Jacob's Well, Guildford Surrey.

I'm getting to know Guildford pretty well because  of all the literature Tracy sends me on the place.  I love it!

We tour neighborhood houses together via her local newspaper

and we also visit historic properties in and around Guildford like this museum, The City Museum.  Its galleries tell the story of the city from its origin as a prehistoric trading center and Roman regional capital, through to modern times with reconstructed 19th and 20th century shops.

But Tracy also sends me gifts, large and small.  She is a very giving  and  generous person who loves to share.  My kind of girl.  Tracy knows how sharing doubles the joy.  She sent me these neat London coasters

and this pretty tablecloth for my tea parties.  Tracy, being English, thoroughly approves of all my tea parties.

She also sends me recipes for tea bakery.  Of course she included a conversion table so I could understand the recipe measurements.

What can I say?  We have our private world, our world of family and local friends, our loved ones who move far away, but then there's this entirely different world, our world of

Letter Friends

Can you see how they expand one's life experience?

I sure hope you have a few dozen of your own letter friends, but until you get them, I'll be happy to continue sharing mine with you.  Why?  You know.

Sharing Doubles the Joy!

Do you need to get away?

[caption id="attachment_1930" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Up, up and away in friendly skies[/caption] Though there's no place like home, a change of scenery now and then can be very good for us.  Whether we travel across town or across the world, seeing  new sights and new people can and should enrich us in some way - give us new ideas and  inspire us.  And so I leave my home in the Cleveland area of Ohio to visit California and my son who is graduating with a Masters from UCLA. My husband Bill and son Rory are traveling with me.  Maybe you'd like to come along too.

[caption id="attachment_1932" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The shores of Lake Erie[/caption]

There's the city of Cleveland in the distance.  Do you see it?  The tall buildings look so small.   It doesn't take long to be up in the clouds.

Whenever I fly I get the feeling I could be leaving the earth forever, that I could be on my way to heaven never to return to earth again.  This feeling helps me realize I better make the most of the life I have and accomplish all those things I want to do, use any gifts I've been given, live as richly as possible while I can.  For this reason air travel does a lot for me even before it delivers me to a new and interesting destination.

[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Over Los Angeles, California[/caption]

After writing a letter or two, reading a magazine, flipping through a book and consuming a few drinks, I look out the window of the plane and see lots and lots of tiny little houses all in neat rows. We must be over L.A. and  soon to be on the ground. The miracle of air travel.  I bet most people take it for granted.  Not me.

[caption id="attachment_1939" align="aligncenter" width="300"] LAX[/caption]

We've arrived safe and sound at the Los Angeles International Airport.  With structures like this it looks like we could have landed somewhere on another planet, but no, we're really just in California.  My whole little family will soon be together again and that doesn't happen often enough.  How 'bout for you?

Now to wait for our ride, for our Patrick, who will pick us up and wisk us away into the city.

 My husband Bill and son Rory wait along with me.  We see  cars, cars and more cars, (that's L.A. for you) but Patrick eventually arrives and we drive into Westwood, home of UCLA,  for a bite to eat.  No food on the plane like in the old days.  Our tummies are demanding attention.

We'll give them that attention at a very neat pizza shop called 800 Degrees.  It operates  in an assembly line manner.  As we walk down the line we order our pizza and its topping, our salad, our drink, and by the time we pay for our order it's ready and we're off to a table.  Interesting approach.

Travel is tiring,  so after our meal and some good conversation a cozy bed is the place to be, but by morning we're all rested and ready to explore.  Are you ready too?  Our first destination is to be an interesting historic house, the Gamble House, in Pasadena.

 This house was designed by architects Greene and Greene for David B. Gamble of the Proctor and Gamble company.  The Gambles lived in Cincinnati but summered in Pasadena until 1908 when they decided to have this house designed and built for their year round living, and an amazing house it is.

The house and most of its furniture was custom-made.  There is great attention to detail. Anyone (like me) interested in and appreciative of house and garden would enjoy touring this place.  Does that include you?

The spacious outdoor sitting areas

The water garden,

the Tiffany work in the front door and throughout the house,

 the brick work in the driveway,  so much is  custom work and quite impressive.  I'd love to show you  inside details of the house, but pictures were not allowed indoors.  You'll have to buy a ticket and come here in person.  My boys and I bought our tickets

and waited patiently for the grand  tour. Patience is and was a virtue, but seeing every nook and cranny of this house is worth the wait. We all left most impressed. Seeing this house inspired me to take my house to the next step once home.  The Gambles clearly felt home should be a place of escape, a place reflecting one's taste, a place capable of  refreshing the spirit as well as the body and  I so agree.  Do you?

But speaking of  the "body", we're  all hungry again.   Before any more exploration it's time for more food.   Did you ever give thought to how often we humans need to refuel these bodies of ours?  The time and money we spend doing this... but it's delicious fun, isn't it?

So come along,  join us as we look for a charming restaurant.  We're off to  old town Pasadena.  I do like the historic parts of any town

and here we stumble upon a nice establishment with white tablecloths and outdoor seating.  I love restaurants with white table cloths, so this place spoke to me.   Do you like it?

 Here we sit and enjoy great Italian food, a little wine and the  lovely California weather.  It's relaxing.  Are you relaxed?  I'm told L.A. weather is pretty much the same every day, so much so that people who live here hardly notice the continuous sunshine and warm breezes.  They take it for granted.  In Cleveland it's a little different.  We have great weather, but not all the time.  People in Cleveland say "if you don't like the weather just wait a minute for it will change".

From lunch we're headed to The Huntington Library, Museum and Botanical Garden in San Marino, but that's another post.  I hope you will join me for that excursion.  Why?  You know.  Sharing doubles the joy.

If I took you to all the places we visited at one time you would become as exhausted as I was by the end of my time in California.  I'll be kind and break things up for you.  You can now take a nap, write a letter or enjoy a walk.  Variety is the spice of life.  Maybe you even have the energy to go off on an excursion of your own.  If that happens tell me about it and you know why you should.

Sharing doubles the joy!

It really does.