Friday 19 November 2010

California

Encelia and Yucca blooming on the desert near Palm Springs, California
In the springtime the gorgeous Encelia (Incense Bush)  covers the slopes with brilliant yellow contrasting vividly with the blue of the snow capped mountains.  Here and there the white lily-like Spanish Dagger is seen.  Mt. San Jacinto in the background.
This card is dated March 17 1934, and was sent from Palm Springs to Sunbury on Thames in England.  The message says that "this place is just 135 miles from home" and was signed from Aunt Nell.  I wondered where home could be until I read the second card.


I'm guessing that this was "home".  It was sent to wish someone a very happy and merry Christmas in 1935 and was signed Aunt Nell and Uncle Jim.

I bought both these cards at a book fair, just a handful of cards at the side of a stall.  I wish now that I'd bought more.  There were others from California, and I suspect probably from the same people.  It would have been interesting.

Now, I know nothing much about Santa Monica or Palm Springs, and especially not about any desert there.  I am waiting to be informed.....

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

17 comments:

  1. California is a beautiful state. I spent about 6 month in the Monterey area back in 1968 and it was so nice. Carmel and the 17 mile drive down the coast, Big Sur, Fisherman's Warf. I miss that place.
    Odie

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  2. Great postcards! As a Southern California native, I love seeing images of the state from the past. Everything here seems so new. It's nice to be reminded that we do have a history. :)

    I've driven through the desert several times on my way to and from Vegas, but never in the spring. I've seen lots of Joshua Trees and even snow, but never flowers in bloom. Definitely on my list of must-dos next year!

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  3. I agree, it's especially interesting to have a group of cards from the same person or family. I used to live in California. It was beautiful, but we had to be careful about using too much water. Then I moved to Oregon.

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  4. I can't tell you anything about Palm Springs, except Sony Bono was its mayor before he skiied into a tree. If the bottom picture is in Santa Monica, I can tell you it is much changed today, being now pretty much gulped up by the Los Angeles megapolis. The storied "Mother Road" (U.S. Route 66, now only a memory) started in Chicago and ended on the Santa Monica pier. That's still there. :)

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  5. Oh, and the Yucca is the New Mexico state flower. Write this down. :)

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  6. Boy I really like linen cards and these are two great ones.

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  7. They are lovely cards, I can see why you picked them. I think the sentiment "I wish I'd bought more" is one every postcard collector can empathise with.

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  8. I've been to California once and thought it was just beautiful. We visited the south around LA as well as the north around San Francisco.

    I love to buy old cards that are from the same people. Its neat trying to piece them together to figure out their stories. I'm sure when they were writing them they had no idea so many of us would be reading them in the future!

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  9. Living in SF, I have been to Palm Springs once and it sure has changed since that card :) Love seeing old cards like that.

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  10. What lovely cards. It is hard to believe they come from the 1930s! It is a pity you weren' able too get hold of more of them but I guess we can let our imagination take over now.

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  11. Those are beautiful cards - I have only been to California twice and that was just to the LA area. I did enjoy that, too, but would love to see the northern part. And thank you for your comments on my granddaughter. She is super special - an awesome young woman. Carol

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  12. Cool cards! Incense Bush? That sounds like a political slogan. :)

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  13. I love these old cards of California. Last summer I went with my 17-year-old-son on a road trip from LA to San Francisco and back. We did not visit Palm Springs, but we saw a lot of Yucca trees in the Mojave Desert and the Joshua Tree national Park. In Santa Monica we went to the courthouse in Spanish style. My son wants to study law, and we followed a court case. Happy PFF.

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  14. Old cards, but they're looking great!

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  15. great post...funny, i was listening to joni mitchell's 'blue' this morning and i still have the track 'california' playing in my head!

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  16. Those linen postcards are so beautiful. It makes me homesick for California where the Yucca plants and the Joseph trees grow.

    The flower of the Yucca plant is so fragrant. I just love that area of California!

    Happy PFF!

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  17. Wonderful postcards... when I was small we lived in the LA area and went to Palm Springs for getaways. Maybe LA was home I didn't check on the distance. Happy PFF!

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