HAPPY WORLD POSTCARD DAY 2024!

 Yes, it's World Postcard Day!  

In honor of the day, I thought I'd share some of my more unusual postcards.  And, let me tell you, the last is the most unusal postcard ever, and I challenge you to find one to rival it.  It's a "Why?  Just why?" postcard!  (I think I'd better give a trigger warning.  The card is about a mass suicide event.  It's the last strange postcard, the fifth photo, but nothing graphic.  The last few are really cute, so if you want, skip the fifth, scroll to the bottom and work your way up.)

So, what I think are unusual subjects for postcards, although at the time I suppose they were positive and upbuilding, the sorts of things to make people proud.

1965 Endako Open Pit Mine, Fraser Lake, British Columbia, Canada

The ore from these mines is pulverized in the ore-crushers (said to be "hugh" on the back of the postcard) and molybdenum (Mo, atomic number 42) is removed by a floatation process.  It was sold to the metallurgical market.  The mines closed in 2015 due to the low price of molybdenum, but they still exist if that changes.  Our bodies need molybdenum, but only in trace amounts, which we get from food and drinking water.  

Oil Wells, Southern California 

In the early part of the last century there were more than a thousand oil derricks in Los Angeles, as well as oil storage tanks.  These derricks were often in residential neighborhoods, 75% were located near homes, schools, churches etc.  By 1930 California produced 25% of the world's output! 

A different sort of California power source.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

Now permanently closed, it operated for 25 years on the coast of California.

"Strip Mining Shovel at its Best
Boonville, Indiana"

Nothing says "Best" like strip mining!

Now the most unusual, the oddest, postcard I'll bet you've ever seen.  I'll let you take a look at it before explaining just what this scene depicts.  Although, with the trigger warning at the beginning of the post you may have guessed.  But, still, why a postcard?

"A34 Shed and Contents, PEOPLES TEMPLE AUCTION, San Francisco, California.  Photo ©1980 by John Frederick Turner"

So, have you seen a odder, creepier (without being creepy on purpose, like for Halloween) postcard?  There was an auction by order of a Superior Court judge in 1979.  (You can read some of the article without subscribing.)  I have no idea why the postcard was published, or where it possibly could have been distributed!  Who would have wanted it?  At the time... I wanted it now, although it's another my son claimed. This postcard was one mixed in with the usual mundane sort at St. Vincent de Paul earlier this year.

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Okay, I'll end this with a couple of fun postcards to lighten the mood!  That last is a reminder of such a tragic event.

As you know, I participate in Postcrossing, sending and receiving postcards to and from around the world.  Not "exchanging," since you don't get the same people who get you.  It's random, and private.

Coincidentally, these cards both came from Germany.

The sender of this card is an artist.  Obviously!

Look what she drew on the back!  If you look at my profile photo up there at the top left, you'll see it's a portrait of Mickey!  My profile on Postcrossing has a link to this blog and the sender checked it out.  I was her first postcard to send!

As you know, I love dogs.  As you may know, Border collies are my favorite.  Mickey is part Border collie.  So, getting this card, with this stamp was thrilling!

Again, Happy World Postcard Day!

🖃 A little charm my daughter gave me. 🖃