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.