Jay Cooke State Park, Minnesota

This postcard has a map of Jay Cooke State Park in northern Minnesota. Since this card is circa 1964, there probably have been some changes. The small pictures on the map show the Rivier Inn Shelter and Refectory, the Swinging Bridge, and the Oldenburg Point Overlook. The St. Louis River runs through the park.

The following information is from the back of the card:

Area 8,920.2 acres. Jay Cooke was established as a State Park in 1915 and it is the third largest state park in Minnesota. The terrain of the area is spectacular with rugged slopes from the shore of ancient Lake Duluth to the preseent river bed. The St. Louis River runs through a picturesque gorge of basaltic rock formations. The glacial drift which mantles portions of the rock is covered with mixed deciduous and coniferous plant life.

This is the time of the year for spectacular fall color. Here is the current Fall Color Report (September 29) from the DNR park website:

Where to go: With the warmer daytime temperatures, the trees are quickly turning color. There are lots of yellows in the basswoods, ashes and aspens, with more red or orange appearing throughout the park. This week-end should be great for fall color viewing.

What you'll see: Stop at the Swinging Bridge for some close-up views of the rapids. And take the short walk out to Oldenburg Point to see a panoramic view of the river valley.

If you can't get there in person, you can enjoy a 2010 fall drive through Jay Cooke State Park in this video.

Icelandic Stamps

Iceland is a European island country in the north Atlantic Ocean with a Norse heritage. From 1262 to 1918 Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies.

Iceland issues about 20 new stamps each year. These include Christmas and Europa issues, and sets depicting local scenery, flora, and fauna, as well as heritage and the works of local artists.

The above postcard is aimed at stamp collectors. The following is printed on the back (in three languages): "This card illustrates a selection of Icelandic stamps, which are of great variety. Their popularity among stamp-collectors is increasing." A variety of Icelandic stamps are illustrated on the postcard:

• Row 1
• National costume, 1965.
• Surtsey is a volcanic island formed in a volcanic eruption which began below sea level, and reached the surface on November 14, 1963.
• Geysir, 1947. The English word geyser (a spouting hot spring) derives from Geysir.
• Eagle, 1966.
• Row 2
• Akureyri, 1963.
• Map showing Reykjavík (capital and largest city) and Akureyri (in northern Iceland).
• Surtsey April 1964. The eruption lasted until June 5, 1967.
• Row 3
• Freedom from hunger, 1963. Fishing.
• Gyrfalcon, 1960.
• Gullfoss, 1956.Gulfoss is a waterfall located in southwest Iceland.
• The National Museum of Iceland, 1963.
• Row 4
• Flower, 1960.
• Ponys, 1958. The Icelandic horse is a breed of small horse developed in Iceland. It is the only breed of horse in Iceland.
• Row 5
• Bessastaðir, 1957. Bessastaðir is the official residence of the President of Iceland
• Iceland's Flag, 1958.
• Flying Swans, 1956. Identical design issued by five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

More Information on Icelandic Stamps:

Iceland Post
Postage stamps and postal history of Iceland
Stamp Catalog List

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Comical American Beauty Pinups

These postcards are from the "American Beauty Series" of 10 subjects made by Tichnor (note: some of the cards list Asheville Post Card Co. as the publisher, and some do not have any company name on the card). The ones featured here all have what I would call a come-hither look (an alluring or seductive look or glance, usually done by a woman). They are slightly risque, but basically good clean fun (especially the first one).

Apparently this type of card appealed to women as well as men, as indicated by the message on the first card. That card was sent from Tiger, Georgia in 1942.

Dear Kathy,
This is just for fun. "This," meaning the picture. I'm at my Grandma Wood's in Tiger, Ga. I'm having a good time.

See you soon,
Ruth Ann

The Sepia Saturday 94 image suggested so many topics that I had a hard time deciding what to use. I decided that one of the postcards I was considering was more appropriate for my Postcard Funnies blog. I called it Supporting a Woman and posted it there. It has two of the subjects popular on comic linen postcards: jackasses and fat people.

Visit Sepia Saturday for More Vintage Images

Watkins Products, Winona, Minnesota

This impressive building is the Watkins Administration Building which was built in 1912 in Winona, Minnesota. The Watkins Company was founded in 1868 by Joseph Ray Watkins in Plainview, Minnesota. Their original liniment was made from camphor (extracted from evergreen trees) and capsicum (from red peppers). The company moved to Winona in 1885, and is still in business selling a variety of natural products.

On the back of the above postcard is a printed message addressed to "Good People" from"The Watkins Man" And Fredrikson. It announced that he would be calling soon and asked them to have a nice order ready for him. It concluded that it was "a pleassure to furnish these wonderful goods" to his customers.

The postcard below shows the Watkins exhibit at the New York World's Fair in 1964-1965. This exhibit was in the Minnesota Pavilion. The exterior of the Minnesota Pavilion is shown in the upper left corner of the card. This was an 80-foot high air-inflated dome made of two layers of plastic. It housed the state exhibit, industrial displays, and a restaurant. Lakes and a wildlife area were outside the main structure.

South Africa Stamps & Namibia

The postcard of a desert ghost town at Kolmanskop diamond Mine in Namibia was sent to me by a South African Postcrosser. The photo is ©1998 by Gerald Hoberman. The postcard has two Republic of South Africa stamps from the 2000 Flowers, Fishes, and Butterflies definitive series. These stamps picture the Coral Rockcod and the Karoo Violet.

Namibia was formerly known as South-West Africa and was administered by South Africa for much of the twentieth century. It became independent in 1990.

Below are two stamps from the South Africa definitive series of 1954. These are from my old stamp collection. At that time South Africa was the Union of South Africa. It became the Republic of South Africa in 1961.

More Information on South African Stamps:

Introduction to South Africa Philately

Exploring the Fascinating World of Stamps

South African Post Office

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Twins Are Quite a Handful

This week's prompt for Sepia Saturday 93 is an old photo of a man sleeping in a chair. I decided to show the Happy Dreams of Long Ago postcard because it also shows a man sleeping in a chair. This man is apparently tired out by caring for his babies and is dreaming of his happy carefree courtship days.

At first I thought the man on the postcard was holding twins. However, on closer inspection, it appears that the baby on the left is older than the one on the right. Nevertheless, I decided to continue with the twins theme.

I am not a twin, but I have sisters who are twins. The next photo shows my mother with her twin babies. Originally this photo was Kodacolor, and I was included in the picture. (The original and some variations are shown below). On the back of the photo is a stamp that reads "This is a Kodacolor Print made by Eastman Kodak Company T. M. Regis, U. S. Pat. Off. Week of August 22, 1949."

The next photo shows my uncle (my mother's brother) with his twins. This was originally a black and white photo, labeled Mineral King and dated July 1959. It has the following description on the back: "These were their crawling suits for camping. We sewed sleeves and pants legs closed so they wouldn't get cut and let them crawl in campground."

My grandmother had twins too, but those died in the flu epidemic of 1918. My mother is between those twins in the picture below.

When I was young, I thought it would be nice to have twins. But if I did have twins, I probably would have discovered that "Twins Are Quite a Handful."

Below are some variations of the photo of my mother with my sisters and me.

1. The original scan turned out much too yellow. The red lipstick was about the only real color left.
2. The photo actually appeared more like this. I decreased the yellow and increased the magenta using "selective color" on the yellow.
3. Picture number 1 was converted to grayscale mode.
4. Picture number 3 was adjusted with levels and edited (mainly with the burn tool).
5. Picture number 4 was cropped, converted to RGB color mode, and then given the default Photoshop sepia style.

Visit Sepia Saturday for More Vintage Photos

Streamliner Crossing Mississippi River, Minneapolis

The train crossing the Mississippi River over the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the same train that I featured in my Sepia Saturday post a few days ago, the Chicago & North Western Railway "400" Streamliner. The Stone Arch Bridge is located just below historic St. Anthony Falls. The bridge in the background is the Third Avenue Bridge that I featured in an earlier Sepia Saturday post.

The Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge used by many railroads traveling to and from the nearby Great Northern Depot. The bridge was built in 1883 by railroad tycoon James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway. The Stone Arch Bridge stopped being used by railroads in 1978. Since the early 1990s, it has been used for walking and biking.