Just a Christmas "Howdy"

A simple wish for the holiday. A blank postcard this time. Made in the U.S.A. No date. Some gold foil ink. No sure why images that look like Holland are married with a greeting like "Howdy"?

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A Netflix Castle, Averting Disaster and Spider Plants

Today’s postcard is a dusk photograph of a castle in Sinaia, a small town that is a short train ride from Bucharest. Bucharest May 10 th (1975) Dear Charlotte and Phil, This isn’t in the same class as a Doug Gore tour, but we certainly are seeing some beautiful country castles and churches. Sorry you and Phil aren’t here to go to the opera tomorrow night. It begins at 7 PM a little better than the 11 PM concert in Madrid. Eleanor and I are having a good time but I sure miss Les. Love Jo PS The plant needs very little water. Hope it isn’t raising your Hydro bill. You, dear reader, have maybe seen this castle, Peles, in some holiday movies on Netflix (A Christmas Prince and its two sequels). It is not as old as you’d expect, begun in 1873 to be a summer residence for King Carol I. The King was not easily satisfied, rejecting the first three plans he saw, and then, continually adding and renovating until he died in 1914. After King Michael I’s forced abdication in 1947, the Communist reg...

Yes, We Have No Bananas - UPDATE: Mystery Solved

By MJ Malleck// Update: Mystery Solved Thanks to an anonymous friend, the mystery of the secret code is revealed. Here's what the postcard writer wrote: "Well, what do you know all the way from New Orleans and in semaphore. We are fine and hope you are too." The key to unlocking the code came from his knowledge that, in English, the only double letters at the end of words are ll or ss. Seemed likely that the 3-letter word (sixth word in) must be ill or all. The symbol used for the second letter in the first word is used twice as much as any other symbol, so almost certainly an E, the most common English letter. (My friend plays Scrabble too.) Making the first word, Well. After an hour, he had it. For those who don't know what semaphore means (I did not) it is a method of visual signaling, using flags or lights. The Chappe-Code I mention in the original post, was an kind of signaling using towers with moveable arms. The Boy Scouts used to teach the two-flag system...

Ronda: Bullfights, Spanish heat, new Kings

by MJ Malleck// San Pedro – July 1 Dear Charlotte: We have just come back from Ronda – out 45 minutes up the mountain – fascinating – but very very hot today – so swim was very welcome. We flew to Madrid & stopped at Toledo and Granada on the way here. Our task here is to plan the new bit of garden. Love Betty See you in August. Some mystery here – what is this planning of a new garden the author speaks of? And who is the other part of the “we,” since only Betty has signed. It could be, that on holiday, Betty and her companion(s) are discussing flowers and gardens to be put in back at home. Or perhaps it’s not a holiday but a paid trip to do some official gardening in Spain. I guess we will never know. The photograph is of a famous landmark, the Arc of Felipe V found on Royal Street in the town of Ronda, in the Spanish province of Malaga. This is part of the Andalusia region of Spain. About 35,000 people now live in Ronda, and it is known for its cliff-side locat...

A Box of Postcards

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