Silver Lake

That camping trip I mentioned on yesterday's blog (Bear, Part I)?  We actually rode horses and led mules 20 miles into the mountains from a pack station at Silver Lake, near Mammoth, California.  My mom visited there recently and the pack station we left from over 40 years ago is still there, still operating and hasn't changed much in all that time.

Bears, Part 1

I have a bear phobia.  They featured prominently in my nightmares as a child so when our family packed into the Sierras, camping on the shores of Waugh Lake, I lay awake in my pup tent for what felt like all night every night listening for bears, convinced I would be a midnight snack for one of them.

But the universe has a way of making us face our fears, or at least taunting us with our fears, in a variety of ways.

This summer it seemed I received a number of bear themed postcards.  This one is from the Kodiak National Wildlife Refugee, established in 1941 to protect the habitat of the Kodiak brown bear.  This bear is the world's largest land carnivore. NOT on my bucket list:  seeing  a Kodiak bear in the wild.

P.S.  Thanks to Sandy & Duke for sending me all the postcards from their Alaskan adventure!

P.P.S.  Previous bear postcards:  here (the bear in the strawberry tree statue/sculpture in Madrid) and here (grizzly bears).

Redneck Riviera

One of the founders of our company finally took a much needed vacation, and spent a week in Destin, Florida.  He tells me it's called the "Redneck Riviera", and claims it boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with powdered sugar-like sands and crystal clear, emerald green waters.  From the back of the postcard:  "The city of Destin is located on a peninsula separating the Gulf of Mexico from Choctawhatchee Bay.  The peninsula was originally an island, but hurricanes and sea level changes gradually connected the island to the mainland."

Square Postcards with Square Centers Missing

Regular readers know that my friends are a great source of postcards for me.  Recently, my friend, Marcia, went to New York City and brought back some postcards, the likes of which I'd never seen before.  All our perfectly square, with a square hole in the center of each:

Okay, this one makes sense - Times SQUARE.

Maybe this one is a comment on the missing World Trade Center Towers.

I can't for the life of me figure out any meaning behind the seahorse with a missing square.

I'm assuming this last one has to do with a square peg in a round hole?



.Any thoughts? 

P.S.  I'm not positive the postal service will actually handle these.  I think I'll mail one to myself and find out.  Stay tuned...

Dutch Sheep

One of my favorite Postcrossing postcards ever, from Cynthia in the Netherlands.  I love the picture and the message, both posted below for your reading pleasure....