Vintage Postcards: Part 1

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I'm mildly obsessed with vintage postcards. I love the colors, the scenes, the sayings. And the stories.

My favorite came from an antique mall somewhere in Connecticut, years ago. It was February, an especially dark and dreary month after several dark and dreary months back home in Seattle. While Connecticut wasn't exactly a tropical getaway, the weather cooperated and the escape to somewhere new was helping my winter gloom lift.

As I stood in the dusty antique store, sifting through boxes of postcards, I came across this:

A couple picnicked under an umbrella while a waterfall spilled out of pinky purple hills in the distance. "The scenery here is beautiful, the change seems to be doing me good." Maybe people have always desperately needed a change of scenery now and then!

The coolest is when I uncover a postcard I love, and then find something quirky or just plain poetic written on the back. But the "Change of scenery" postcard simply says…

"Homer". Was she writing herself a note, to remember the name of her traveling companion? Was he writing to his son, but found himself a at a loss – meaning to pick it up later, but just never did? Or was she getting up the nerve to engage her soulmate, ultimately losing her nerve (or maybe she just found a better postcard)? Yeah, this kind of thing feeds into my overly dramatic mind like a dream.

My second favorite postcard has little well-dressed mice teeter-tottering on a twig.

Cute! Whimsical! But the best part? It's written on the back:

"Be Fun!" it says.

"There is so much fun in the world – that even the wee mice can share in it. – yes, and your wee brother, too. He would look good sitting on the middle of the teeterboard!

For small JAMES
~ your Uncle Harold."

Yes, I love my vintage postcards, but I've moved so much over the years, and then (shame on me!) not necessarily taken care of them like I should have. Or I've just plain forgotten that I bought a batch at all – like the dozen or so California postcards I came across this weekend. They're awesome. And mostly still in perfect shape, thankfully – poor neglected things. (They'll be Vintage Postcards: Part II).

As far as the teeter-tottering mouse postcard goes, it hasn't fared quite as well, as you can probably see in the photo. I must've spilled something on it somewhere along the way. Sad. But the message has survived – and what a great one it is.

"Be Fun! There is so much fun in the world, that even the wee mice can share in it…"

I'm pretty sure Uncle Harold was onto something.

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Here's Part 2!