Here kitty kitty

Be careful when you call your cats for dinner. There's no telling who might show up.

Purrrrrrrr..........

Some guests are just too sleepy to get up at all.

And there's always the identity theft problem.

I am TOO a pussy cat!!

I was thinking as I glided through the house this morning, singing and generally being beautiful,

should I show my new armadillo tattoo to Stephanie or not? She will be so jealous. What fun!

Here is a painting by Abbott Henderson Thayer (American, 1849-1921) called "My Children (Mary, Gerald and Gladys Thayer), c. 1897. Just offhand I'd say that Mary, Gerald and Gladys were not a bit happy about posing for this picture. Daddy could apparently see the black fumes rising off of Mary and decided to include them in the painting.

I think there's a dysfunctional family reality show in here somewhere, unless spontaneous combustion occurs first.

Excuse me, but I have to go put a sign in my yard. There have been too many possums walking across it recently. Presumptuous little creatures.

More mailbox goodies

I'm going to do a bit more catching up today with some of the interesting postcards I've found in my mailbox recently.

First, a vintage 1969 card from the island of Kizhi, Russia, sent by Sergey, who says not a single nail was used in the construction of any of the buildings, just interlocking logs.

It's time for one of those colorful WAKE UP cards! This is a picture from an older Slovenian cartoon. Such happy, happy bugs! Thanks, Anja!

Here is a painting by Julio Romero de Torres called "La Chiquita Piconera". I googled to get a translation of "Piconera" and found this definition: "Maker of small charcoal for braziers". I'm not sure if that is actually what's going on here. The girl looks like she'd rather be doing something other than piconera-ing.

From Great Britain I received this reproduction of an old reading education poster. On the back of the card is printed "I'm part of the Ladybird generation!". Apparently many English children grew up reading Ladybird books. As for me, I'm part of the "See Spot Run" generation.

 
Some scenes from Sevastopol, Ukraine (previously known as Sebastopol). The devastation of the Ukrainian "b" orchards during the 1922 happy, happy bug infestation resulted in many spelling modifications. Prebiously, plenty of 'b's were abailable but are no longer avundant.

Here are a couple of beautiful pineapples for you.

See ya soon!

I'll see your two ducks and raise you a frog

I've received so many great cards in the mail lately and it's about time I showed you some of them!

I'm going to start with a beautiful art card I received just today from Danielle in Omaha. This is an 1864 painting entitled "Caprice in Purple and Gold No. 2: The Golden Screen", by James McNeill Whistler. His most famous painting is "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1", better known as "Whistler's Mother". His mother offered to pose for "Caprice" as well, but James decided on a younger model. Once his mom got down on the floor, she had a heck of a time getting back up.

I've never actually seen any large dinosaur skeletons like these at the Smithsonian, but it must be amazing to stand underneath one and look up - and realize those creatures really did exist. I'll bet they really went through the kibble.

Speaking of old dinosaurs, take a look at this "Colossus Computer" that was operational at Bletchley Park, England during WWII. This is the computer that was used to break the famous German "Enigma" code. I sure am glad computers have gotten a lot smaller. This would definitely not have fit in my office.

So what's this duck and frog stuff anyway? Well, it was a great week because I got TWO cards with illustrations by Kaj Stenvall. I just love his ducks!

And finally, such a frog I have for you! This guy's had too much caffeine, I think.

I still have lots more to show you, so come back soon!

The Bobby

Hi, folks! Let's wander about a bit.

This card from Oulu, Finland cracks me up. See the statue on the left? It is the city mascot known as "The Bobby", located in the Market Place. I'll bet the man standing to the side of the statue never thought he'd end up on a postcard. Too bad the man didn't have a hat on - it would have been perfect. 

We have a small group of gray wolves that migrated here from Idaho and have taken up residence in Eastern Oregon. They are such beautiful animals, but not popular with local sheep and cattle ranchers who would like to see them killed. Even with all the wide open spaces we have in Oregon, there doesn't seem to be room for everyone to live together. Sad, I think.

On a happier note, have you ever seen a straw teddy bear in a field? Have you ever fixed your hair like this?

If spring ever arrives this year, we will have huge fields of colorful tulips here in the Willamette Valley. Right now we have huge fields of mud. Well, that makes it sound like it's really been raining a lot here. Let's just say our soil is a bit damp. We are all pretty sure that the sun will come out one of these days.

I received this card from an 11 year old girl in Belgium. Remember being that young and innocent?  I see that the author of this "Learning To Read" book is "M. E. Gagg". What makes this even worse is that her first name was Margaret, so she was "Maggie Gagg". Poor thing.

Oh, those tulips I mentioned earlier? They aren't grown by people; we have cows to take care of them. Teaching them to drive the tractors was the hardest part.

I will finish for today with this card from Minsk, Belarus showing one of their cathedrals. Let's all pray for sunshine.