Saturday, January 27, 2007
Saturday cards
A birthday post card from 1908.


Churches in Littleton, Pennsylvania in 1908.

Written at 9:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Cow-ons
Or crayons to those of us with a better mastery of speech. She discovered Noni and Popi's big stash of cryaons today in the ancient Nike shoe box. Then she promptly dumped them all out on Noni's marble coffee table. That's my baby!


Written at 9:13 PM by Highlandgal.
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Reading to Popi
I think that's the definition of a captive audience, don't you?

Written at 9:12 PM by Highlandgal.
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Friday, January 26, 2007
Another scandalous card
Look at all the skin! This one is from 1905. I haven't been able to identify who the recipient of this card was. He's not an ancestor of mine. His last name was Piszczek. I've gathered from the group of post cards that he received that he was attending Normal School at the time (teacher college).


Back to the pretty cards. A two-color embossed birthday post card mailed in 1908.

Written at 7:18 PM by Highlandgal.
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Happy Birthday, Uncle B.!
Written at 7:16 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thursday, January 25, 2007
Thursday post cards
I would think that this card would have been a bit risque in 1908. The placement of the gentleman's hand couldn't have been etiquette-proper. Which makes it pretty funny that this was sent to my 12 year-old great-grandfather from his Grandmother! Perhaps she was trying to scandalize him. On the back she comments that the couple reminds her of him and Gertrude. I can only imagine his cheeks turning beet red.


This post card of Asbury Park, NJ was postmarked 1923. Of course Asbury Park is now famous for...

Written at 7:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Pic of the Day
She's playing with some of her "blast from the past" toys. Don't worry, I didn't send her out in sixteen degree weather in those shoes. I picked them up today at the cheap junk store and when she saw them come out of the bag this evening she wanted to put them on.

Written at 7:40 PM by Highlandgal.
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I'd like to introduce you to a friend of Emma and Highland Gal
Hayley is a 9 year-old fan of Billy Idol and is posting at Hayley's World. I met Hayley's mom through my mommy board and this blog. Hayley is embarking on a great adventure which will take her to the Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia. Hayley's spine curves around a lot more than it needs to and the surgery is meant to help un-curve it a bit a alleviate the pressure it's putting on her lungs and organs. They're putting her in halo traction and she'll be in the hospital for three months. She and her mommy are leaving the rest of their family behind for this adventure so Hayley is going to blog from the hospital to keep everyone informed. She's in Philly now and her pre-op appointments started today. Surgery may be tomorrow (I can't remember exactly and can't find my note).

Hayley's mommy gave me permission to link her blog. "The more prayers the better." So say a prayer for Hayley and her family and stop by her blog and leave words of encouragement if you are so moved.

I'd like to mention that I've also added Cupcakes and Cowboys to the blogroll. Stop by and visit to see the adorable little Cowboy of the title.
Written at 7:23 PM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Atlantic City, NJ
I believe this is the oldest card in my collection. It's dated 1903. The message is written on the front, which would have been the only way approved by the post office at the time. It's a very nice colorful card, a German print.


The next two cards are dated 1919, so now we've entered the post-WWI period when cards were no longer being imported from Germany. You can see the colors are lacking, but they're very detailed and busy cards.



This one is from 1923. An apparent precursor to the sentiment "Wish you were here."

Written at 7:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Picture of the Day
Written at 7:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Photo session
Here Emma's taking my picture with the charger for the old camera. She would hold it up and say "cheese!" She did also tell me to smile. I posed for a few with Elmo too. She'd alternate between using the charger and the actual camera in it's case.


I started back with step aerobics today so after Emma's nap she discovered a new toy. It alternates between being a boat and a bed. Here she's standing in the boat and, yes, talking to the "cameras."


Now she and the cameras have gone to bed.


She was holding the camera over her head for whatever reason. She dropped it and I caught the shot before the camera hit the ground.

Written at 7:37 PM by Highlandgal.
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A bit of nostalgia
Emma must be in a nostalgic mood lately. She's been dragging out toys that have been put away for at least half a year and playing with them. I think she likes approaching them again with all the new skills she's developed. To me, she's just increasing the crap pile ;)
Written at 7:35 PM by Highlandgal.
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Relaxing at the end of a long day
I have to add...the shirt M is wearing is an Army shirt, but I think Army as in West Point. The graphic on the front is the Army team symbol, the Black Knight. We would tell Emma he was Army Man. We would also tell Emma that Uncle B. is Army Man. So it should have come as no surprise tonight when we pointed to that shirt and asked Emma "Who is that?" She said, "Uncle B."

Written at 7:28 PM by Highlandgal.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Tuesday cards
This one is another small greeting card. I have only a few of these, but they're so nice I scanned them first. This is another embossed and cut card.


This post card shows Union Square in New York City in 1923.

Written at 11:11 PM by Highlandgal.
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When the Dad is away, the mice will...
Sit on their asses in front of the TV and eat their suppers. Woo hoo!

Written at 8:29 PM by Highlandgal.
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Mommy! Look at MEEE! Look at MEEE!
(Nevermind that we've told her 100 times not to stand on her toys; maybe another 1000 times will do it.)


Written at 8:27 PM by Highlandgal.
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Convoy!
I'm in awe the way she lines them up and then moves them down one by one. Then when they were at the other end she jumped them over the hump, one by one. And then they each made the trip all the way to the other end. Funny girl.


Written at 8:23 PM by Highlandgal.
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Monday, January 22, 2007
More post cards
This one isn't actually a post card. It's a greeting card that's about 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". It's also embossed and cut, very delicate.



Here is a post card from Buffalo, NY that my great-grandfather received in 1908.

Written at 7:42 PM by Highlandgal.
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Few more pics from yesterday
Yes, she was wearing a hat. Miracles do occur. I'm not sure why the pumpkin had to come along. It was full of little toys and she wouldn't leave it behind.



Written at 7:38 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday, January 21, 2007
One more today...
I wanted to show you a pretty one too. I think this is the most beautiful one I've scanned so far. It's rare in that it has a shiny finish, which I would imagine is why the colors have been preserved so well. This one was actually sent to my great-grandfather on his twelfth birthday in 1908.

Written at 4:07 PM by Highlandgal.
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Making a case?
This post card was sent to my great-great grandmother anonymously. I wonder if she frowned on smoking and someone was trying to make their case...

Written at 3:03 PM by Highlandgal.
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What is wrong with this picture?
Written at 2:18 PM by Highlandgal.
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Snow, snow!
Finally some white stuff. It's only snowed enough to accumulate once this winter. This is our second snow. It's coming down so lightly and slowly that it's taken us five hours to accumulate 2.5 inches.

Written at 2:15 PM by Highlandgal.
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Glass half full
This morning when I went in to get Emma up she seemed to be concerned about something that had fallen on the floor underneath her crib. Her paci, the usual culprit, was in her mouth so I kind of disregarded her. We got her dressed and as we're walking out of the room she kept saying "E." It finally struck me that the wooden E that hangs over her crib was missing, leaving only the M, M, A. That's what she had been trying to tell me all along. I rolled the crib away and saw that the E was broken. One of the "legs" had come off the bottom. I said "Emma, I think you broke it" (Because I know she knocked it off the wall). She looked at it and said "F."
Written at 9:56 AM by Highlandgal.
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History of Postcards in the U. S.
For those of you interested in a brief rundown of the history of these postcards I'll be posting you can click on this link. Most of the cards I'll show you are the lithograph ones that were printed in Germany and were mailed during the "Golden Age" of postcards.

I actually learned something. That the pre-1908 cards won't have any messages written on the back, only on the front, crammed in somewhere around the picture.
Written at 9:40 AM by Highlandgal.
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