All That We See Or Seem Is But a Dream Within a Dream

Dear Mr. Poe,

There are many times when I wish I had paid attention when my high school teachers assigned authors and poets, including your work. But, being a teenager, I thought dead authors were not worth my time. I was more interested in the flashy new authors, whose names now completely escape me. But, your name will never escape my memory. I cannot see a raven without thinking "Nevermore." I cannot imagine horror more terrifying than that of The Pit and the Pendulum.

Juli, who adopted the postcard reproduction of a 1849 photograph of you, likes your poem "Annabel Lee," which she read in high school. Juli has never been a fan of poetry, but "Annabel Lee" is a poem that doesn't escape. You have made captive many more. 

The United States Postal Service honored you with a stamp last year, on your 200th birthday. And, until this year, there was someone who honored your birthday with a toast of cognac and three roses on your grave, dug 161 years ago today.  It was quite the news when the Poe Toaster didn't appear. I rather hope someone does not rush to fill the void next year.

I had not read your poem, "Dream Within a Dream," until only recently. I can't get the idea of "dream within a dream" out of my head. You have captured my imagination, yet again.

Postally Yours,
PostMuse

Not Just Any Pub Crawl ... a Heritage Pub Crawl

This charming "orphaned" was posted from a freshly painted box close to a pub, and Joyce wrote about it on her blog! She mailed this postcard from a post box outside a pub.

This is a fabulous addition to my beverage collection. Joyce hasn’t been to many pubs in Morecambe, and she notes that “like my fellow countrymen, I do like a pub.” I do, too! But only in England. I am not fond of pubs in the US. I always feel awkward. Something about English pubs that make me feel comfortable. Maybe it is that they have heritage pub crawls?

Joyce thinks the best time to visit Morcambe, be it for a pub crawl or otherwise, would be late summer, when the area is decorated with lights along the seafront. Joyce also mentioned that she saw a “sister” card featuring Lancaster pubs just before receiving this “orphan” from me. I went looking to see if I could find the publisher, Bernie Carroll, but only came up with a story about a con-man who pretended to be Bernie, sell advertising on posters. And an image of Bernie holding up one of his pub crawl posters, which is very impressive. Go to the linked page and look at all those Liverpool pubs!

Orphaned Postcard Project

This is a difficult post. I am suspending mailing out postcards for Orphaned Postcard Project for a bit. I do plan to continue daily updates with the many "orphans" that have been returned, and will be returned in the coming weeks and months, but once I have fulfilled the current adoption requests, I will not be sending more out.

I am confident that the day will come when I am able to send out orphaned postcards again. I love this project and I have never lost a bit of enthusiasm, but sometimes life just gets complicated, as it has for me this week. Perhaps I will post more about that in the coming weeks, but for now I prefer not to let this place be a place with sad or angry musings.

Delicately Constructed

This postcard is as delicate as the church pictured. The cardstock is thin, very soft. But not in a cheap way. It is luxuriously thin, like a real photograph. I've got a few such cards, mostly from Eastern Europe, and often from Greece.

This lovely view is Trinity Church, in Dolginovo, Belarus, near the capital city of Minsk. Annie writes that it typical of many such churches in her country. She describes the architecture as Byzantine. I love the yellow accents and that the dome and steeple are silver, not gold.

Warning. Skulls Ahead.

I've written about this unusually named UNESCO World Heritage site before, but the previous postcard left a bit to the imagination. This one does not.

Gruesome? Perhaps. But the natives who lived in this area of what is now Alberta, Canada, would have used as much of the buffalo as possible, and would have perhaps supplied the food, clothing and shelter for an entire village with one jump. I don't think they ever forced the buffalo off cliffs for fun.

But, like Laureen, it does make me sad to think of those buffalo, so scared and trapped, running off the cliff to their deaths.

When Laureen visited this site many years ago so took an afternoon workshop on drum-making. Participants each made a drum with cedar frames and elk hides. And now Laureen uses hers at football games, pounding on it when her team scores. Much, much nicer sound than those vuvuzelas we heard so much of at the World Cup this summer!

Greetings from Alabama

When I was a kid, one of my uncles moved to Alabama with his young family. His wife was from the area, but to me, living in Boston, Massachusetts, it seemed as far away as he could be. He came back up for family gathering quite often though, and I always enjoyed those visits, particularly because my cousins seemed like people from another country. They had accents! We loved to hear them talk in their southern drawl.

This card was adopted by Julie, who lives in Florida now, but grew up in Georgia and has many fond memories of  trips to neighboring Alabama. She also writes that Alabama has a very diverse topography, which surprised me. I thought it was a fairly flat state, but the southern edge of the Appalachian Mountains extend into Alabama. The Appalachians are quite a fascination for me. They were the highest mountains on earth (eons ago, before the Ice Age) and though it still boosts very tall peaks, the range as it runs through my part of the world is more rolling and green. Lots of places for nature exploration.

No Denial

A very old, USSR era, postcard featuring Tsitsernakaberd, the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It is in Yerevan, Armenia. This mass murders of millions is what gave us the word "genocide," though the horrific practice is as old as humankind. If there was ever a day when humankind could say this word was truly obsolete, that would be the day we celebrate true peace.

Cindy adopted this postcard because she has many friends who are of Armenian descent and she wants to honor their history. She also mentions a memoir by Peter Balakian, Black Dog of Fate, which takes place in mid-20th century USA, but has the ghosts of this sad history haunting every page.

The Grin Will Win

This postcard is a bit of a mystery. There is no artist noted anywhere I can see, though the artwork is very familiar. The image is political cartoon for the 1976 presidential elections in the USA. Gerald Ford is featured on the right (of course) and on the left is a representation of President Jimmy Carter as a campaign button. I don't remember how this card came into my collection.

Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer, and had quite a big, toothy smile (still does,though he doesn't smile much these days), and that campaign button really was available during the 1976 elections. Carter did win, narrowly, but only served one term.

Juli visited the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, Georgia. She writes that he still has a home in the area. Today is Jimmy Carter's 86th birthday.