National Dress of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Tenerife (Canarias)

The girls dress is sewn on - This is a postcard showing the national dress of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. 

unused 

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Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands, Spain, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It has a population of around 900,000 people and is the most populated island of the Canary Islands.  About five million tourists visit Tenerife every year and I hope to be one of them someday :)

Happy Thanksgiving - Please Pass the Swan

Thanksgiving Greetings

postmarked in 1911 with a one cent stamp

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I did a search to see if turkeys were on the table at the first Thanksgiving dinner with the pilgrims and the indians.   Here are actual items I found that people are saying were served at the first feast ...

lobster, goose, duck, seal, eel, deer, cod, cranberries but not as a sauce or relish, boiled pumpkin - not as a pie, rabbit, chicken, squashes, beans, mussels, clams, swan - yes, one website said they ate swans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, corn, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and one says maybe goat cheese too.
I know what you're thinking - what??? they didn't have green bean casserole?!? Sadly, French Fried Onions weren't invented until the 1920's.

I wish you all a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Taos Indian Pueblo - New Mexico

Pueblo De Taos, Northern New Mexico

The most remarkable residences in the United States

The First Apartment Building in the World 

Ancient Taos - consists of many adobe communal dwellings - and said to be the finest example of Ancient Pueblo architecture.

Silhouetted against the sky like white robed sentinels, the Taos Indians make an unforgettable picture. Back of the Pueblo is the sacred mountain and lake where secret ceremonials are carried on.

unused

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South Pueblo, Taos


With its backdrop of Pueblo Mountain and colorfully costumed inhabitants, thousand year old Taos Pueblo is a popular subject for artist.  Taos Indians are industrious farmers and are relatively well-to-do.  They are usually well educated and frequently speak three languages: their own Tewa, Spanish and English.

Color phhoto by J. Hobson Bass

The front of the card had a printing error.  You can even see through to the back where the stamp goes.  The back is perfect, no marks or color errors.

Pompei, Italy

Immagini dell' Antica Pompei

Images of Ancient Pompeii

Both of these postcards are unused.  They were bought in 2009. 

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Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery around 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.

Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

Leaning Tower of Niles - La Quinta

Greetings From Route LQ (Hotel chain La Quinta)

Pretend you're in Rome

Leaning Tower of Niles

Built in 1934, this half-sized replica of The Leaning Tower of Pisa came 600 years after the original. But if this one falls, it's sure to make an even bigger splash - and not just in the news. The Leaning Tower of Niles is actually a water tower. Recently revitalized with a fountain and terrace, it's a great place for a family picnic and photo opportunity.

Say mozzarella!

6300 Tougy Avenue, Niles, IL

Nearest La Quinta: 12 miles

Photo courtesy of Michelle Reitman.

With over 780 Locations, La Quinta Inns & Suites is everywhere you travel.

postmarked in 2010 with a 32 cent stamp

Historic Barns of Vermont

Historic Barns of Vermont

Top> Robillard Flats Barn, Irasburg. Hay Barn, Vergennes. Robinson Barn, W. Woodstock.
Bottom> Monitor Barn, Greensboro. Round Barn Farm, Morrisville.  Ranz Barn, Breensboro.

Photo: Alois Mayer

This is postmarked in 2010 with a 28 cent stamp.

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From Historic Vermont (dot) org:

BARN GRANTS

Vermont's agricultural buildings are an important part of our working landscape. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation has had a 50/50 matching grants program to assist owners of historic agricultural buildings (barns, corn cribs, sheds, grist mills, etc.) since 1991. These can be in private ownership. Up to $10,000 can be awarded to assist the restoration and repair of these endangered buildings. This program encourages the continued use of farm buildings for agricultural use. Eligible work includes restoration and repair of roofs, structure, windows, foundations and other important components of historic agricultural buildings.

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How wonderful!  I think it is great that these old barns are kept up and restored instead of being torn down.  Bravo to the state of Vermont!

Christian 'Eye Exam Chart'

Christian Eye Chart:

We walk by faith not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7

unused postcard, bought in 2010

Milling of Kuwaiti Mash

Milling of kuwaiti mash

postmarked in 2010 with a Kuwait stamp

I love the traditional cloths they are wearing!  So beautiful.

Legend of Torghatten, in Norway

Torghatten, Bronnoysund, Norway

The sender writes that the black spot you see on the mountain is a hole, and that he walked through it. (see below)

Postmarked in 2009 with two Norway stamps

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Torghatten is a mountain on Torget island in Brønnøy municipality in Norway. It is known for its characteristic hole, or natural tunnel, through its center.

According to legend, the hole was made by the troll Hestmannen while he was chasing the beautiful girl Lekamøya. As the troll realised he would not get the girl, he released an arrow to kill her, but the troll-king of Sømna threw his hat into the arrow's path to save her. The hat turned into the mountain with a hole in the middle.

It is possible to walk up to the tunnel on a well-prepared path, and through it on a natural path.

On 6 May 1988, Widerøe Flight 710 from Namsos to Brønnøysund crashed into the side of the mountain, and all the 36 passengers and crew died.

Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride)

 Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) - Fused teeth, resembling beaks, and brilliant colors give the parrotfish its name.  The beaks are used to scrape algae and coral polyps from the coral heads, and in so doing they ingest limestone from the reef and excrete the residue as sand.


Photo by Stephen Frink

Stoplight parrotfish (Sparisome viride) - With their bright colors and a beak shaped like that of a parrot's, "parrotfish" is the obvious name for this common Keys' reef dweller.

Photo by Stephen Frink

unused, from 2010

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The Stoplight parrotfish is a sex-changing fish inhabiting coral reefs in Florida, Bahamas, the Caribbean, eastern Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, and Brazil. Its typical length is between 30 and 45 cm, but it can reach 60 cm at times.

The colors of the Stoplight parrotfish in the initial phase, (first postcard), when it could be either a male or a female, are dramatically different from those in the terminal phase, (second postcard), when it's definitely a male.

Their pharyngeal teeth grind up coral rock that the fish ingests during feeding. After they digest they excrete the rock as sand helping to create small islands and the sandy beaches of the Caribbean. One parrotfish can produce 90 kg of sand each year.

Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo, Capital de la
Republica Oriental del Uruguay
(Montevideo, Capital of Uruguay)

Plaza Independencia (Independence Square)
Estadio Centenario (Centenario Stadium)
Playa Pocitos (Pocitos Beach Wsaterfront)
Palacio Legislativo (The Parliament)

postmarked in 2010 with two stamps from Uruguay

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Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. It was established in 1726 as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata.

Montevideo has a population of 1,338,408 and a larger urban area of 1,968,324 (2009).

It is the southernmost capital city in the Americas and third most southerly in the world, and is situated in the southern coast of the country, on the northern bank of the Rio de la Plata (also River Plate).

Bridgetown, Barbados

Vessels wait their turn on a busy day at the Careenage, Bridgetown, Barbados, W.I. (West Indies)

This is postmarked with Barbados 45c 'flower' stamp in 1978.

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The city of Bridgetown, metropolitan pop 96,578 (2006), is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados.

The present day location of the city was established by the British in 1628 following their settlement at James Town. Bridgetown is a major West Indies tourist destination, and the city acts as an important financial, and convention center in the Caribbean region.

Bridgetown also has a small canal in the centre of the city, named the Careenage, a.k.a. "Constitution River". The Careenage is just large enough for pleasure craft or fishing boats and has two main bridges near the city center which span the shallow Careenage.

The Little Rascals - Our Gang

Our Gang

unused, bought in 2010

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George McFarland (Spanky)
William Thomas (Buckwheat)
Gordon Lee (Porky)
Carl Switzer (Alfalfa)
Darla Hood (Darla)


Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together.

A total of 220 shorts and one feature film, General Spanky, were produced, featuring over forty-one child actors. In the mid-1950s, the 80 shorts with sound (they started out as silent shorts) were syndicated for television under the title The Little Rascals.

The series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way. Our Gang also notably put boys, girls, whites and blacks together in a group as equals, something that "broke new ground," according to film historian Leonard Maltin. Such a thing had never been done before in cinema but was commonplace after the success of Our Gang.