California Oranges

Today's postcard is related to news about the freeze that damaged the citrus crop in California. From a recent news report :

Cold weather and freezing temperatures have decimated California's orange crop leaving the state's growers facing losses that could run to more than $1bn.

The freezing temperatures prompted Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's governor, to proclaim a state of emergency in 10 of the state's counties.

This particular postcard also has an interesting back, so I have shown that too. The cancellation advertises the 1915 World's Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The stamp is carefully placed, but upside down. I believe this is probably an instance of the Language of Stamps. An upside down stamp has become associated with the message "I love you."

I don't know whether the sideways writing in the message space is of any significance, but the message itself is quite interesting. It is written from Aunt Vera to Vera Mae:

What do you think of this? Are you a nice girl,
and do you take good care of Grandma? If I hear good reports of you —
"We'll see what we'll see."

Among a number of hits on the web for Language of Stamps (most of which refer to a 2005 New York Times story) was one at a blog named "Orange Crate Art." What a coincidence! From this I learned that Orange Crate Art is a song by Van Dyke Parks and the title of a 1995 album by Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson. "Orange crate art was a place to start."

Nowadays, if you want to send someone some oranges from California, you don't even have to be in California. You can place an order online at a number of companies (e.g.,The Orange Store)—at least when oranges are available.