This and That: A Blog

Some Bridges Over Water for Thursday Postcard Hunt . Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge  (Black Suspension Bridge), Grand Canyon National Park, AZ spans the Colorado River. 1960s Friedrich Bridge, then East Berlin, Germany, crossing the River Spree, with the National Gallery in the background. c. 1907-1915 Four of six bridges near Louisville, KY crossing the Ohio River. Zanesville, Ohio's Y bridge spanning the junction   of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  The postcard shows the covered timber bridge, the third generation (first was 1814, second 1819), which was built in 1832 and demolished in 1901.   The Y-Bridge in the 1960s was the fourth generation built.  It was demolished in 1979. The current bridge, which opened in 1984, is the fifth generation, is steel and concrete.  While it helps traffic, some complain it has a tunnel-like feeling, solid rails and no scenery views.   Next week our Bridges will be Railway.

I had some success at the Goodwill Bins last month.  Tucked into a plastic "Vera® Print Table Top Coordinates" bag were these two Chinese silk embroidery panels. They could be used as table top decor, but definitely not Vera. These are from the 1960s-1980s.  The blue is my favorite. Jiffy Bobbin - I'm not sure what sort of yarn craft these would be used for, the illustrations aren't like skeins of yarn as I know them, and what kind of knitting is going on?  Laws of Gravity , can you clear this up? I would have thought this was Mexican or Chile, where the three-legged pottery pigs that bring good luck are from.  No, this is Moroccan.  The clay figures were originally made as children's toys, and are now tourist items.  I would have still thought Mexico or Chile but I did see the same type of animal on Etsy, sold in a group of a dozen or so different animals collected in Morocco in the 1970s. They were said to be made in the 1960s.  They are painted in n...

 It wasn't so easy to find postcards of Bridges Over Land (Bridges is the theme for September) for this week's Thursday Postcard Hunt !   A short bridge over the entrance (it looks more like the exit, and the sign reminds drivers to turn their headlights out)  of the Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA tunnel - postmark 1953 An ivy covered bridge in Delaware Park, Buffalo, N.Y.  c. 1907-1915 A Pennsylvania Turnpike overpass near the Philadelphia interchange.  1960s    Next week our Bridges will be Over Water. 

Last week I shared the dogs I got at a yard sale, this week it will be some of the ephemera.  There were quite a few postcards, some real photos.  A lot of WWI and II papers and such, including this Allied propaganda postcard c.1941. $1 I'd not heard of airgraphs, or V-mail (Victory Mail), before this.  The sender's letter would be photographed, transported as thumb-sized negative microfilm, and printed once it reached its destination.  Then it was delivered to the intended recipient.  This reduced the weight and therefore the cost.  This sender was aboard a British Royal Navy ship, H.M.S. Thackery, and was an E.R.A, Engine Room Artificer . $1 One of those souvenir photo folders I collect.  This one is   Souvenir Folder of Camp Funston , Kans. and the workmen who built it.  This was published in 1917.  Camp Funston was named for  Brigadier General Frederick Funston, as was Fort Funston in San Francisco, which is now part of th...

 The last of the Travelling theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt is Buses and/or Cars. BUSES A Haitian tap tap , a share taxi .  The Greyhound Sceniccruiser bus, manufactured between 1954 and 1956, but used into the mid-1970s.  The postcard is from the 1960s, the same years my father rode a Greyhound from the top of our street's hill to and from his job in San Francisco.  My parents had a red VW bus when I was young (they also had a few of the beetles, or bugs).  It didn't have the sunroof though.  On several vacations I was short enough to sleep widthwise on the floor, while they slept in the back with the seat down.  This one is older, a 1960 Samba, the high-end version.  I have loads of old car advertising postcards, especially 1970s Opels! CARS 1950 Meyra 35 The Meyra was a lightweight German microcar made in the 1930s into the 1950s.  It was originally designed as an "invalid carriage," or wheelchair accessible vehicle for disabled war vete...

 This week for Thursday Postcard Hunt 's Travelling theme is Animals. It's not just people that can travel by animal, these postcards show not only people, but gold prospecting equipment, wine, water, and milk "traveling" by animal!  Dog-Cart Ride  And sometimes we'll stop by the road side, where the little brook babbles along, And there from your lips love's nectar I'll sip, as it sings us its  evening song. c.1900-1910 A dog-cart is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn (sometimes dog-drawn) carriage. Gold Fever Early Days in the Black Hills, 1940s  Carro da Vino (Wine Cart) in Italy, c.1905 A Mexican Water Carrier c.1910-1920 Milk Vendors with a dog-drawn dog-cart in Belgium  Postmark 1908 Next week finishes up the Travelling theme with Buses and/or Cars.

 I was early to an appointment so stopped in a the Goodwill at the other end of town.  Finally, some artwork worth buying!  Finally, anything worth buying.  It's been pretty dismal at the Goodwill stores for a few months. This was an instant " Yes !" as ravens are a member of my favorite bird family,  Corvidae. " That's So Raven ," a silkscreen numbered (4/10) print by local artist Kassia Zegzdryn (Jackaloop Design).  $4.40  It's pretty big, and the colors brighter than this looks.  Postcards From the Edge I  (The Leaning Tower of Pisa) and Postcards From the Edge II ( Cathedral Santa Maria de Fiore, Florence) , paper collages by Melissa Markell .  Titles, dates, and signature of the artist are on the backs.  Of course these caught my eye with the word " Postcard ."  The artist uses vintage ephemera and her own handmade paper in her works, which sell for more than I expected.  Only one had a price sticker, and I suggested...

Thursday Postcard Hunt has us hunting Boats this week, the second in August's Travelling theme.  These vacationers are traveling on an Excursion Cruiser on Idaho's Lake d'Alene.   Visitors have been traveling on the replica Mark Twain Riverboat in Frontierland, Disneyland, since 1955.  This was one of the original Disneyland attractions, and is still paddling the river. The original sternwheel traveled the Mississippi River.  Our mail sometimes travels by boat.  This boat is a floating post office with its own zip code, 48222!  J.W. Wescott II ,  a mail boat on on the Detroit River, Michigan, delivers mail, packages, and other items to ships while they are on the river.  Cars can travel on boats too.  This is the Passenger and Auto Ferry on Lake Erie, Ohio.  As a child I love auto ferries!  It was exciting to have my father drive onto a boat, and park the car.  We'd then go upstairs to enjoy the view. I believe most of th...

 Yet again, more St. Vincent de Paul 1/2 price ephemera!   These two old joke cards are not postcards.  Both date from around 1915-1925. " Scotch " is now used to refer to the whiskey, but it used to refer to the people and things from Scotland . The note on the back, " I'm still butlering and being dignified as usual ," is probably a joke as well.  I did get postcards, quite a few since they were half-off.  Most were antique and only 38¢.    Here is one special birthday postcard.  1918 The bird lifts up for the birthday message.  I also got some unused WWII military humor postcards. These are five of them. Is it just me or does this fella look a lot like Bill Dauterive (Sgt. William Fontaine de la Tour Dauterive) from King of the Hill?   It's like they based his character's looks on this postcard!  At last, that's all for the 1/2 collectibles sale.