Candy Wrapper Bookmark?

I do this ALL the time. It's a wonder I am not as big as a house all the sweets I consume. And having a little snack is so very easy to do when you are reading a book. And so bad to do! The same concept of eating when you watch TV, you don't pay attention to the amount of food, candy, junk, you actually consume, and next thing you know we are all having high blood pressure, diabetes, and our rotund bodies are no longer fitting properly in the seats at Disneyland! Whew, wow I got off on a tangent on that one, didn't I?

Needless to say, I often find myself reading and then the phone rings, or the doorbell, or I have to actually work or take care of the kids, so I look around and grab any piece of anything that will save my spot. Coupons, pencils, my phone, pretty much anything I can find. And, of course, candy wrappers.

Volumes of Good Wishes

Oh, these are the coolest things ever! Postcards in English and sent to and from somewhere in the US. They were both mailed in 1909, one in July and one in November. And they appear to be identical, but if you look at the back of them, they aren't exact.

First, the July card. "In town this forenoon, think I saw your brother, down St. What did you think of the festival sbt? eve. I enjoyed myself very much, was with such a lively crowd." Have you ever seen the word forenoon before? It  means the morning. I mean that makes sense, it's before noon, but why not say in the morning? Have we replaced that word with mid-morning? I wish there were more details about whatever festival he/she is referencing. Whom ever they were, they were in a hurry to get this thing off. No capitalization at the beginning, and those abbreviations. They even put the stamp on upside down.

The postcard mailed in November starts out "Dear Friend, why don't you send me a card. I sent you one a long time ago. I thought maybe you had changed your address and didn't get it." That's it. A scrawled name towards the top, Hannah, perhaps? If you look at the addresses to which these were mailed, wow, how did anyone find these people? Ida and Loyd, of course we know where they live, everyone knows Ida and Loyd.  I bet people at the post office could go back and explain these seemingly absent addresses.

The times have changed, very much in fact. But we are ultimately the same. Hey, I saw your brother. I enjoyed myself at the festival. Where are you and why haven't you written back? Although now, we would see you having a great time at the festival via Facebook or Instagram. And we can track old friends down far easier than ever before. Or start stalking them, haha.

 Every once in a while I find something that takes my breath away. These go into that category. Love, love, love them.

Leather and the Red

More bookmarks!! The leather one says Menette Regions Conference and the year 1983.  Menette translates into French as lever...after that, I am at a loss. The conference was held in Aalborg, Denmark. So, a French lever conference in Denmark?  Hahaha, for some reason I think I might be just a tad off here.

The red one looks a little older, I can't quite make out the words, but the flower design and words look like they were laid out with a glitter pen. How long have glitter pens been around? Do glitter pens actually exist? I am so not the crafty person. I'm always impressed to see people walk into a craft store, grab things I have no idea what are called, and turn all of those random things into a, a... whatever it is all you crafty people make.

Abide With Me

Abide With Me, what a beautiful song. There's no date, going on the condition of the paper, I would guess somewhere around the 1930's or 40's. The words above the verses say "the immortal anthem original with the original 8 verses." The man who wrote Abide With Me was Henry Francis Lyte. He was born in Scotland in 1793 and studied at Trinity College in Dublin. He took Anglican holy orders in 1815. He was also a hymn writer and a poet.

Abide With Me is his best known hymn, and according to a traditional story, Lyte wrote it a few hours after conducting the final service at his church, which was probably September 5, 1847. More likely the hymn was written in July or August of that year.  Lyte himself created for the hymn what his biographer has disparaged as "a dull tune." When Hymns Ancient and Modern was published in 1861, the editor, William H. Monk—whose three-year-old daughter had just died, composed his own tune, "Eventide," for Lyte's Poem.

A couple cool things about the song, it was said to be on the lips of Edith Cavell when she faced a German firing squad. It also has been sung at the The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup, finals since 1927. Pretty cool. 

This is one of my favorite hymns. It doesn't matter what you believe, or what you think about religion, this is a beautiful song.

Mussolini visits Berlin

The caption says Mussolini will visit Berlin as Adolf Hitlers guest - and celebrated as triumph of.  Yeah, I'm hearing ya. That last part lacks the correct English translation, blame it on Google Translate, not yours truly. I am trying people, I promise.

This is actually really quite small, 5 inches in length and 3 inches wide. I cannot express how much I love finding things from WWII. And here is the news, the now today, look who's going to Berlin, news. Amazing.

Bringing up WWII with me could take pages of pages of my waxing on about battles, books, theories, changes in the world and, and, and.... So I am not going to go there. We all know the history. And here is a piece of it, laying on the table, right next to me. Serious geeking out moment for me, in case you hadn't noticed.

Sad Little Flower

Barely there. Practically a glorified twig. And yet someone placed it between the pages of a book. Perhaps sentimental value? Given by a lover or friend? It's really quite small, about 8 inches in length, but so thin and brittle. You can see some of the color coming through, some yellows and oranges. Where is ET when you need him? Remember that scene where ET reaches out and touches the flowers in the pot and brings them back to life? I bet these sad little flowers would bloom beautifully with some extraterrestrial help.

Danish Stamps July 1957

Stamps!  I do adore finding stamps. I love all the boats and ships on these, and they are decently old, 1957. Nothing that will have stamps collectors around the world begging for me to sell them away for millions of dollars, but they are in very good condition. If I just hold on to them, perhaps my great-great-great grandchild will thank me someday.

I honestly never saw the joy in collecting stamps until I started finding them in my books. Now each stamp is a small work of art for me to enjoy. Some of them are down right beautiful. I even enjoy the silly ones. I have also learned so much about Denmark and the royalty by looking up who's face adorns the stamps I find.

I do sometimes feel a twinge of sadness for the person who placed them in a book for safe keeping. I am only hopeful that they will be grateful that the stamps will be appreciated by their new owner. I solemnly swear to not put these stamps in a book and forget about them. They will be well preserved for the future generations. So let it be written, so let it be done. Yup, I'm quoting Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments. I have mentioned him before, but you can't say enough about a man who can rock a skirt.

Lieutenant Henrik Hans Nikolaj Haar - Warrior

This is what looks like an obituary for one Lieutenant Henrik Hans Nikolaj Harr. The first line in it refers to a warrior showing up. Our dear Henrik was only 28 years old. How many of these types of obituaries have we had through history? Men and women who serve their countries in the military, never making it back home again? They truly are warriors.

I tried to find out how our young warrior passed away and started my search for wars that may have been happening in 1865. Here is the depressing thing. There are so many wars going on throughout the world at that time, how would I know which one he may or may not have been in? I found a website that literally has you scroll down, year by year, showing every war, who was fighting, who won, and who lost. So many wars! I guess just the biggies get put in the history books, because I haven't heard of even half of these. How depressing. There is always a chance our Henrik died of some other cause, not in a battle of sorts. No matter how our warrior died, he went far too soon.

 I have this crazy concept of heaven, why not spill it here as Henrik has reminded me he is there. I won't give you the full version, that would be far too much information. Suffice it to say, in my heaven we have art classes from Rembrandt, listen to Plato and Einstein lecture, travel to any time and place and see what we missed. Eat, and never get fat. Hear about historical events from the people who were actually there. Snap your fingers and you're on the beach, snap again and you're having a crepe on the streets in Paris. Eat, and never get fat.  See all of your family and friends, and make new ones. Meet the people in your family tree from the beginning of time! Pretty cool, right?  That's it in a nutshell, but I think you get the idea.

Fall Flowers Bookmark

I called this fall flowers, but truth is, I'm not entirely sure what these are. I want to call them leaves, but those brown, stem like things...they have me guessing. The brown curly lines and the white lines are actually little beads. The back is kind of silky, soft, and starting to fray. It's about 5 inches long and 1.5 wide.

I always feel kind of obligated to blog about the bookmarks. Someone put time and effort into it, seems a shame to just stuff it away and not appreciate it. Every time I see one I just wonder what their lives must have been like to have the time, patience, and enthusiasm to make these bookmarks. There's a scene in one of my favorite movies, Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley, they are all laying around in the parlor doing a lot of nothing. It's right before Bingley shows up to...well, I hate to ruin it, but if you know, you know.

These are the scenes that pop into my mind when I find a bookmark such as this. Bunch of girls, no TV, no Internet, no jobs, and no school. Just time to paint, read, and stitch things together. And yes, I have seen and own the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. I've seen Greer Garson version from 1940 with Laurence Olivier, hello gorgeous. And I have read the book. More than once.

Find Your Zen in Saltum

This postcard is from 1998, that is pretty much like yesterday compared to everything else on this blog. When I first saw it, my first thoughts were how much this postcard is missing! Where were the sites, the attractions, museums, amusement parks? And then I figured, perhaps this place is geared towards the people living in the concrete jungle, aka the city. Come and see what green grass and trees look like in their natural habitat. Dip those toes into the ocean and have nice, sticky sand stuck to every inch of you.

 Sounds good to me, and I live in San Diego. There's something about going to the beach, looking out over the water and realizing how big the ocean is, and how small our worries and concerns should really be. Anywhere in nature has that affect on me, on many of us.  So, maybe this postcard isn't touting that it has the best attractions, the most to see and do, but maybe it's really trying to tell us to slow down, breathe in life, relax, rejuvenate, find yourself. Find your Zen.

Charles Dickens Newpaper 1948

This is an article written in February of 1948. The captions says; Swedish critic of Gunnar Gunnarsson writes about Martin Lamm's remarkable dickensskildring Dickens and his novels who recently recovered from Bonnier in Stockholm. Yeah, this is a direct quote from Google translate. See that long dickkensski.....word? I cannot make heads or tales of it. I do, however, think that the Bonnier that is mentioned is referring to the privately held media company in Switzerland. It was founded in Denmark, by a German, and then later moved to Switzerland.

 Isn't that how Europe seems to work? A lot mixing around, people moving and living in different countries. Picking up a language here and there, having friends at every train stop. I will stop here as waxing on about Europe could lead to some serious rambling. 

The scene below is from depicting a moment from David Copperfield. 

Alstrom's Bookstore

The paper with the red flowery top is from Alstroms Bookstore which I cannot find any information on except that I have also blogged about a postcard that came from the same store! It is apparently in Faaborg, on the island of Funen. The postcard and this paper thing came out of totally different books. Check out the telephone number, 138.  Remember those old Doris Day movies when they would make a call, asking the operator to connect them to 555 Daisy Blue or something obscure like that?  I love old movies. Alright, anyway this paper is about 5 inches long and the flowery top is about 2 inches wide.

The piece of cloth was also found in a book on the same day as our little flowery piece. I almost didn't include it, but I figured what the heck. Cute little scrap of cloth, rather thick. Decent little book mark.

Herman Bang

 This is a clip from a newspaper from 1937, 25 years after the death of Herman Bang. Mr. Bang was born April 21, 1857 in Denmark. He was a novelist who was a major Danish representative of literary Impressionism. His work reflected the profound pessimism of his time, depressing, right? His first novel, Hopeless Generations, was confiscated as immoral for it's depiction of the life of a decadent homosexual writer. Herman was homosexual himself and that contributed to his isolation in the cultural life of Denmark and made him the victim of smear campaigns. He lived most of his life with his sister but found happiness for a few years with the German actor Max Eisfeld, with whom he lived in Prague in 1885–86. He eventually earned fame as a theatre producer in Paris and Copenhagen. He became a journalist and critic. He also wrote plays, poetry, and short stories, but was best known for his novels. He died while on a lecture tour in the US.

Here's the trip, Herman died in Ogden, Utah!  I was born and raised in Ogden. It just strikes me as odd that this famous Danish novelist should happen through my hometown in 1912, get sick and die! It's like it's too cool, in a sick kind of way. And the thought of something cool happening in Ogden, well...cool is for exotic places? Far off lands? Maybe, also in a sick kind of way, someone in Denmark might think Ogden is exotic. Wow, that's a weird concept.

Arnemuiden Postcard

 Arnemuiden is a small city of around 5000 people in the municipality of Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. There was a battle fought there, the Battle of Arnemuiden. It was fought on 23 September 1338 at the start of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. It was the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first recorded European naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christopher had three cannons and one hand gun.

There's the history lesson, now the postcard. The only thing is says on the back is 'Thank you for the pancakes'.  Maybe this was the only thing laying around to write on, and there's a heart. There is this romantic side of me that wishes to think that the pancakes were after a lovely evening in each others company. Ah, sweet love.

Carl Nielsen, Danish Boxer

Our headline reads, Carl Nielsen had to be content with point victory. First, let me say that throughout the entirety of my life, I have taken the sports section out of the newspaper and promptly  recycled it, used it to build a fire, or used it to provide protection for the table when doing an art project. I have never given it any other thought. And yet, here I am posting about a sports article. Not even that, the reason this paper was saved was for the article on the back, which I will share later (Charles Dickens).

About 8 months ago I decided to do something I have had an interest in for some time. I started taking boxing classes! Finding a physical activity I love doing has been wonderful. Unlike many people, I hate to run, and truly believe God gave us running only because he also gave us bears. It was not meant to be such an overused activity. That said, I know many, many friends who love to run and it gives them peace and all that jazz. I have also seen friends younger than myself having knee surgery..ahem. Just saying. So, not dissing the zen you all get from running, I get it. I get the same zen from hitting a bag, not people, in case you were wondering. Short story long, this is why I stopped at this particular sports story. Boxing.

Our man Carl is a tough guy to track down. I have found lists of every fight he ever had and who they were with. But to find any personal information on him has proven ridiculously difficult. The biggest problem is that there is a famous Danish composer by the same name. He's taking over all of my searches.  I know Carl passed away in 1991 at the age of 72. That is all she wrote. I will say this, boxing is an incredibly difficult sport, if you don't believe me, go try it. Footwork, jabs, and kidney punches, all while trying to not get the tar beat out of you, not easy. My respect, Mr. Nielsen.

What it used to be...

As pressed flowers go, this one is a pretty sad sight. But, I could see the beauty that it used to be. Nothing gold can stay, isn't that the line from the poem by Robert Frost? I'd like to say I'm a true poet lover and can quote famous poets left and right, but the truth is, I remember my Robert Frost because it was quoted in one the best, and most difficult to watch, movies ever made. Please tell me you're thinking it right now. I'll give you a minute, go ahead. Rack those brains. Ok, I'll spill. It's from The Outsider's. And yes, I have the read the book as well. I'm not completely illiterate. That book/movie also inspired me to read Gone With The Wind. See the good that movies do???  I am totally justifying, and I know it.

Oh, this reminds me of something I have been thinking about lately. So many books I love are being made into movies right now and I am not happy about it. I used to be seriously excited when a book I had read was being adapted for the big screen, but anymore I feel they take the perfectly good, if not great, visions the book created in my imagination, and turning them into second class B movies, if you will. I know, I know. Some movies actually do a decent job. But you know I am right. Nothing, NOTHING, is as good as when you first read those words off the page.  Who knew this beautiful little flower could cause such rant.

Ahh, Freddie

This little scrap is about one inch by two inches in size. So the question is, did Frederik like doodling his own name, or did someone have a crush on him? My glitch with crush idea is that most girls doodle hearts instead of stars, no? Perhaps our Frederik was envisioning his name in lights! Fame and fortune abounds. Well, I think our Freddie is fabulous.

Portrait Mystery

The portrait in question is of Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg. He was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright. He was born in Norway in 1684, spent most of his life in Denmark, and died in 1754. He is considered the founder of modern Danish and Norwegian literature. His works about natural and common law were widely read by many Danish law students over 200 years.

That's the dish. Apparently, there was one portrait of the Ludvig, that was burned at some point, and all of the other portraits are copies of this first original. Whew...that being said, I have been trying to translate this article for longer than I have patience for. HA! People are disagreeing, there are curators and "professionals" all trying to be heard on who they think painted the original portrait. Honestly, shouldn't this article be screaming it wasn't X it was Y who painted this thing! I am tired of searching, looking for Mr. Y's name. If you can read this article, and feel like sharing, my curiosity MAY be piqued again. I really need to learn more Danish. Sigh...Paper was printed in 1961, that part I got. Hahaha

Greeting To The Britsh Fleet

Holger Henrik Herholdt Drachmann was a Danish poet and dramatist.  Drachmann is one of the most popular Danish poets of modern time though much of his work is now forgotten. He unites modern rebellionist attitudes and a really romantic view of women and history. His personal appearance often almost overshadowed his literary merits and in many ways he played the role of the "typical" bohemian poet with a turbulent private life. I had to include a picture of this guy. I love that he is described as bohemian. I think it fits him completely. His relationship with various women (his "muses") often made a great scandal but it was the fuel of his inspiration. Especially "Edith", a cabaret singer who was his mistress during the 1890s and inspired much of his best love poetry.

The poem was translated by C. CHR. SONNE.  This person is hard to track. The only thing I can find about him/her is that they translated a book that is currently unavailable on Amazon.UK. It's called Degeneration in Families: observations in a lunatic asylum.  Awesome, right? No matter what name I am trying to research, I can almost always count on someone with the same name to show up on Facebook or LinkedIn.

The paper doesn't have a date on it, but it's fairly yellowed. The print is that purple-blue ink, and apparently, whiteout wasn't invented yet, or whomever wanted this translation didn't care about a few mistakes that were fixed with a pen.

There's a line that says "your visit to us a hundred years back was the cause of bleeding sores." I believe this is referencing the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, but Holger died in 1908 and that would be putting him writing this poem a year before he died if it were exactly 100 years. I am stumped. It's a lovely poem, even if I'm not exactly certain about what it is referencing.

Protractor?

You may not believe this, but this protractor is only 1.5 inches in length, and under 1 inch in height. It's tiny!!  And it's made of metal. It fell out of a book and I was shocked at how teeny, tiny this math thingy is. Thingy, it's a word.....

We all have our weak spots in our education, and mine is math. Oh, I just agonized over numbers while I was in school. Elementary through my college career. Absolutely painful. And yet, I knew this had something to do with math when I saw it. Yes, I know. Abysmal to even admit. I asked my son what it was and sure enough, he came through for me.

I am guessing this is some sort of novelty item. For what? Math geeks? Teachers? I have heard rumors, legends if you will, that there are those who exist who actually like math. There are also legends about mermaids, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster.  Just saying.

John Steinbeck Turns 60

John Steinbeck turns 60 years old and it makes the press. I think now when writers/celebrities have a birthday, it's a blip in an Entertainment magazine or thrown in next to the comics in the newspaper. Of course, this is Steinbeck we're talking about.

Mr. Steinbeck was born in California and ended up going to Stanford, but only to appease his parents. He left without a degree. He wrote The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 and then went on to serve as a war correspondent in WWII.  After the war, he gave us Cannery Row, East of Eden, The Winter of Our Discontent, among others. He left us 27 books in all. He died just 8 years after this article was published, in December of 1968 of a heart attack.

I loved Cannery Row. East of Eden, I own, but haven't read yet. Now, the horrible, terrible, confession of mine concerning Steinbeck. I couldn't read The Grapes of Wrath. I know the story is fantastic, hello Henry Fonda, but reading it was sooo difficult. It's written so we can hear how the characters are speaking in this broken English, something.....whatever it is, it's painful.  I couldn't do it!  I know! A self proclaimed lover of books and I cannot get through this classic. Although, I am convinced that some "classics" are really not books that earned that spot rightfully.  This isn't one of them, this one is supposed to be brilliant! I have properly chastised myself, I promise.

Dyreborg

 The back of the post card says, Exclusive: Alstroms Bookstore. I can't make out the year on the stamp, but I do see a 17.  It wouldn't surprise me if it were from 1917. The paper is very rough and looks fairly aged. I never tire of finding post cards. And I realize sometimes I say postcards and other times post cards.  I like living on the edge, my wild side shining through, baby!

So Dyreborg is a small coastal village on the island of Funen. Where is that you ask?  Excellent question. It is the 2nd largest island of Denmark. Funen was the birth place of Hans Christian Andersen! That's very cool. Funen, or Fyn, is situated between the island of Zealand and the mainland Denmark. It is referred to as Denmark's garden island. It has rolling hills, orchards, and thatched, half-timbered farmhouses. This place just got put on my list of places to visit! Look it up, the pictures are amazing. Beautiful.

Kystens Perle Hotel in Denmark

 This is not your average postcard. It's about 9 inches in length, and folds several times over showing different scenes from the hotel. This is the cover, showing the front of the hotel. I tried to add a few of the more telling photo's to see if we could figure out the time frame this was in circulation.

 From the looks of the decor and the clothes of the guests, I'm thinking the 50's. Possibly into the sixties. The guests look very Doris Day, Cary Grant to me.  But I can also picture Jacqueline Kennedy sitting there as well, which throws me into the 60's. This style is back in vogue. A little more modern, but very classy. I think the 50's and 60's were totally cool decades as far as fashion and decor. Then we hit the 70's....yikes.  Love the music and the social changes, but I can live without shag rugs, bell bottom jeans, and the mixing of stripes, paisley, leather, and suede....Jimi Hendrix was one of the few people who made the 70's attire look cool. The rest of us, not so much.

I cannot find much about this hotel, but I do know it's still up and running, and has magnificent views. There is also a restaurant in the hotel, but according to Trip Advisor, it's only open during the summer. But the reviews were very, very good. So, if you're in the area, let me know what you think.

To and From

Aren't these the cutest little things! I say things, because if you look closely you will see that it is in two different pieces. The bottle is split towards the bottom of the label. They are each just under 2 inches in height. On the back of one it says To and the back of the other says From. 

These little Scottish fellows are to accompany a bottle of wine, or whatever your liquor of choice may be. If you've never traveled to Scotland you are missing out on a real treat! I have been lucky enough to spend some time in Edinburgh and it was amazing! The castle, Holyrood Palace, the Scott Monument, all fantastic. But the real treat is to walk The Royal Mile and take in the street performers and food! Don't take my word for it (although you totally can) and go see Edinburgh now! You won't regret it and I want a full report when you return.

Handmade Bookmark

I was so close to just putting this handmade bookmark in my box of things that have already been blogged about. I mean, I see these often enough it doesn't feel very oooh and aahh.  I just couldn't do it. Someone put what had to be hours into this thing. It's 8 inches long and over 2 inches wide. It's pretty darn big. How many of us have something we have made with our own hands to leave behind when we pass away? I have three children. I made my oldest a blanket, took HOURS of crocheting. My second child received a smaller, half finished blanket. My third....that poor child will have to visit her siblings to see anything made by mom.

So maybe it's my lack of skill in making things by hand, but I definitely feel like people who take the time, and have the patience, to create something need to be given some props. Well done, well done.

House and Garden 1931

This is a one page newspaper piece that is in remarkably good shape. There are a couple small tears, but considering it's 82 years old, pretty sweet. The top says House and Garden and the entire page seems to be devoted to when to plant your flowers and fruit plants.

The back side of the paper is entirely ads, mostly for travel. If newspapers today advertised travel as much as those I find in my books, who could resist hopping on a train or boat and seeing the world? It would tempt me to no end. Like the times the paper will put multiple pages of pets that need to be adopted. I can't look at them! It's an addiction, pets. I currently have more cats than any sane person I know. I am literally becoming the cat/book lady! To me, it's a dirty secret. I tell no one how many cats I have. But my kids! Oh, it's bragging right. How many times have I laughed it off, shrugged my shoulders, and tried to run away, when my kids have started to tell other kids and their parents how many cats we have. They ALL give me a wide eyed, are you kidding me, kind of look. I used to try to explain, but it really just makes the situation worse. So there you have it. A confession of sorts.

Letters in a Book

I recently received a new shipment of books, 6500 in all, and I am starting the unpacking process which is better than Christmas! I found a small book today with several letters pasted and attached to the inside covers. The front cover had this little envelope and the paper that was inside of it just opposite of it.

 The back cover has this letter attached that had been in a sealed envelope. Not your standard lick the nasty paste on the envelope type of seal, but a wax seal! So my first thought is that it came with the book somehow, a fun little added something. But then I notice something.

Behind the broken seal was a newspaper clipping. How would that get there? I had to see what it was!

I carefully peeled away the letter and managed to get some of the clipping off of the back of the book.

It didn't fair well, as you can see. But, the interesting thing is, it's a small clipping showing travel places, times, and prices!

Ok, I realize it could be a souvenir or something, but in my crazy world, it's a secret plan to escape together. Two lovers, perhaps? Someone escaping a bad situation? The possibilities are endless. And of course they made it, wherever they were going, because they kept all of this as a reminder.

If you are Danish and can read this letter, which I will probably try to translate at some point, could you please just play along that it's something amazing?!  Life is so much more fun that way.

Bendix Christensen

 It's a birthday party for Bendix Christensen! 60 years old on May 16, 1973. This is a curious invite. It's about 8 inches long, 2 inches wide, and is silky. I believe it was white back in the 70's.

I had to look it up, Bendix, really?  Turns out it's short for Benedictus or Benedict. I love it! Much better than Benedict. Danish names I run across are so cool. I had another post with an Axel Bang in it. Awesome, right?

I'm sure it was a splendid affair, the wine list alone pretty much spells major party. Perhaps Bendix was an avid reader and thought a fancy bookmark would be the perfect invite. And if you enjoyed that wine list, it would help remind you what it was you had for dinner the night before. I hope you had many more birthdays, Bendix.

Mister Moustache

I have to assume this picture fell out of a book, but I couldn't find which book it might belong to. Oddly, many old books have pictures taped or glued in just on one edge. I cannot imagine the assembly line required for a large printing order of a book. Craziness.

This picture immediately had me thinking of Madeline, who lives in a house in Paris that is all covered in vines. There's one story about a next door neighbor boy they call "the bad hat". He causes all sorts of trouble, of course by the end of the book, they are all great friends. This man reminds me of his father.

It's a beautiful print, about 8 x 11 inches in size. The shading and coloring reminds me a bit of Toulouse-Lautrec's style. But what do I know.

Party All Night

Cute little cartoon, only about 2" by 2" in size. The direct Google translate is:

The sad thing about getting older is that you have it in the morning sometimes as if it had hosted out and party all night, even if you have not been anywhere..

Hmm, not a great translation, but I get the gist. Sadly, I understand it because I know what they mean from personal experience! I'm not old, per say, but a good night sleep is now a need, not a hey, it would be cool if kind of situation. It's gotta happen, and it has to be good. None of this cricks in the neck, have to get up and use the restroom at 3am, tossing and turning garbage. A strict lights out and crash completely until 8 or 9 hours have passed. Oh no, I do sound old!  Eh, who cares, bring on the comfy bed and pillow. 

Synagogue of El Transito

 This postcard is from 1935 and shows the interior of the Synagogue of El Transito in Toledo, Spain. It was founded by Samuel ha-Levi Abulafia, Treasurer to Peter of Castile in 1356, and it was thought that King Peter probably gave his assent to the building of the synagogue to compensate the Jews of Toledo for destruction that had occurred in 1348, during anti-Jewish riots that accompanied the arrival of the Black Death in Toledo. The founder eventually fell on bad terms with the king and was executed in 1360. The synagogue was converted to a church after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The building, which is in a good state of conservation for its age, is currently a museum.

So there's your history lesson. It looks amazing. It was also used as military headquarters during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1877 the building became a national monument.

Love learning new things about history!  I have searched and searched for any information about this stamp, but I have come up empty. I have a friend from Sweden who told me that Spain is the go to warm place to visit in the summer. Since this was sent in July, I will assume our travelers were seeking some sun for their summer foray.

Stamps, stamps, and more stamps!

All of these lovely stamps fell out of one book! Thank you stamp collectors of the world, for saving such beautiful stamps in a book for me to find many years later. They may not be that old, one stamp seems to be advocating breastfeeding. I am an RN in my alternate life, so I very happy to see this. Breast is Best!