Postcard Stories

Venice, Italy, July 1983 ~ Nearly 30 years ago, I achieved my childhood dream of visiting Venice, that astonishing city built on water.  I sent this circular postcard to my co-managers at Food Front Co-op, and was able to reclaim it upon my return. Reading it brings back the wondrous trip I took through Europe, on the back of a motorcycle driven by my boyfriend:

"Venice is magical, unreal - but muggy, insanely crowded.  We avoided the usual tourist sites, swam in the Adriatic, wandered aimlessly through narrow alleys and over canals, slept in the home of an old Venetian woman who spoke no English and treated us like honored guests."

Whenever I travel, I thoroughly enjoy sending postcards to friends and family, describing sights and recounting adventures.  It gives me an excuse to sit at an outdoor cafe with a cup of coffee and watch the world go by while writing to friends far away.  

My parents traveled widely, but their most unusual trip took them by ship to Antarctica, where Mom wrote, "Boy, it's cold here.  Icebergs everywhere.  The Drake Passage was very rough, people falling all over and lots of sea-sickness.  We've been on Zodiacs every day - the scenery is fantastic."






Postcards depicting beautiful scenery are lovely to receive, like this view of Goat Mountain and Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades of Washington state.  It was mailed to Food Front Co-op by a friend who has a creative way with words.

Two of the most unusual postcards in my collection  were sent from Tortilla Flats, Arizona, to my children by my parents.  These cards are covered with a copper relief and crimped around the back to enclose the writing surface.  They were mailed almost exactly 15 years ago, in May of 1998.




My high school friend Alice Weisser, formerly Alice Wysell, has been making her own holiday postcards for several years, showcasing her talent as an artist and adding to my collection of favorites.

In the summer of 1983, Kevin McGillivray (my first husband) traveled around Europe on a motorcycle, ending up in his ancestral home of Scotland, where he wrote:

"I am home again!  That is my feeling as I gaze across the deep dark lochs and the wild verdancy of the glens to the green and rocky mountains that dominate the landscape.  Purple heather alternates with swashes of fern in open, grassy fields, divided by the brown peat-colored brooks that feed the lochs, surrounded by leafy trees of evergreen.  All things are embraced by the softly passing mists that seem so much a part of the landscape.  I'm glad I am here.  Cheers, my lass, Kevin."

Art postcards are fun to buy and keep as mementos of a trip.  This sculpture of Il Bacchino (Little Bacchus) was a highlight of the Giardino di Boboli in Firenze (Florence, Italy).  He seems to say, "No, don't touch my feast!  I'm just taking a little rest here with my attack tortoise."
 
A chance to be poetic, pithy, or even a bit zany - postcards encourage creativity.  The writer only gets a small amount of space, so words must be chosen wisely.  As with haiku poetry and tweets, less can be more.

Keep those stories coming.