Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Making a Family Portrait



This family portrait includes everyone, even the dog. This card is an outstanding example of how you could "do it yourself," by taking a photograph and then developing it on postcard stock yourself. The firsthand account of the message writer, misspellings and all, tells the story:

"Dear Nephew, Received your card Monday, was glad to here from you. Hope your papa is well again. We got home OK Sunday. Hope you did. We have 84 little chick's. Now don't get scard at these pictures, i did this work, it was my first work. Floyd was busy and I was ancious to see the pictures so i did this work. i got them to dark. I did not print many because they are not good will print more later + send you + your mama some more later we are quite busy."


There is no postmark and the card wasn't mailed, so we don't know when it is from. We get a clue from looking at the box where the stamp would go, however. We can see it's AZO paper, which was an early Kodak paper product. When all the triangles are pointing up in the corners, we know the paper was produced from 1904-1918, a good indicator of age.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Weechi Wachee Springs


This roadside attraction about an hour north of Tampa, Florida began operating in 1947. The main feature of the park, which included a natural spring, was the Mermaid Theater, featuring lovely ladies who frolicked underwater, using special air hoses to breath. The place was at its most popular in the 50's and 60's when elaborately staged underwater shows regularly played to sold out crowds.
Today, the park is run as a state park, and there's water slides and flume ride. And the mermaids live on, since mermaids live forever.
Check out this video:

Friday, April 2, 2010

Another Fine Dining Establishment

In Bowling Green, KY, have lunch at Mayhew's, advertised on the back as Bowling Green's "Newest and Finest Restaurant, specializing in Broiled Steaks, Chops, and Fine Sea Foods."

(Sorry about the lack of recent posts. I was on vacation for two weeks!)