The Catacombs of Paris - Postcard Friday #43

Ghastly, gruesome, ghoulish, grim, grisly.... These adjectives effectively describe this 'Catacombs of Paris' vintage postcard Yes, those walls are made out of stacked skulls! The labyrinth of Roman gypsum quarries lurking under the city of lights was turned into an ossuary for the simple reason that there was no room left for the newly dead in the small medieval cemetaries within the city. Mass open graves filled with rotting corpses had been the only solution for years. (blerkkkkkkk) The problem obviously needed a solution. The skeletons of six million Parisians, the combined dead of 400 years, were transferred by horse and cart to the underground boneyard at night for two years. Is this topic Halloweeny enough for you?  Halloween vintage postcard




Welcome to this weeks Postcard Friendship Friday! If you're visiting and would like to join in the fun we would be thrilled;) It's easy! All you need to do is:

1. Have a blast with this mail theme! Examples include: any type of postcard, a photo of a mailbox, mailman, a stamp image, postcard altered art, or simply a photo of something that you find 'Postcard Perfect' etc etc etc!
2. Link in with Mr.Linky at the bottom of this post
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
4. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today! Please grab the badge if you'd like to add a bit of PFF colour to your post:) 

Coventry True Blue

The expression 'true blue' derives from the blue cloth that was made at Coventry, England in the late middle ages. The town's dyers had a reputation for producing cloth that didn't fade with washing. The color remained fast and true!

John Ray wrote in the first edition of a Compleat Collection of English Proverbs in 1670:

"Coventry had formerly the reputation for dying of blues; insomuch that true blue became a Proverb to signifie one that was always the same and like himself." 


Related Article: Madanno and True Blue Cumin Powder

Bewitching Mint Leaf Flavor

Here is yet another gummy tidbit. In June 1974, the first bar code scanning equipment was installed in a little grocery in Troy, Ohio.What was the first product to ever be scanned? It was a 10 pack of Wrigley's juicy fruit gum! The package is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Here are a few more sticky posts!

Dubble Bubble Trubble
Meatloaf and Wrigley's
The Greatest Name in Goody Land

Wrigley's - The Greatest Name in Goody Land

The William Wrigley Jr. Company originally sold soap and baking powder. In 1892, the company offered a free pack of chewing gum with each can of dry chemical leavening agent. The chewy confection became more popular than the baking powder so Wrigley smartly reorientated the company. Wrigley's quickly became the greatest name in goody land!vintage retro ad

Bobbing for Halloween Vintage Postcards

The jolly game ducking or bobbing for apples originated in England during the reign of King Henry VII. Apples were symbols of love and fertility. The first one to catch an apple would be the next to get hitched! Who knew that a crunchy red delicious could foretell a romantic match? Halloween vintage postcards

Quiche on the Brain

The classic, flavorsome, and trèèèèès French quiche is actually a German invention! The recipe first popped up in the kitchens of the medieval kingdom of Lothringen. The word 'quiche' comes from the German word 'Kuchen' which means cake.  I have quiche on the brain because I just made a killer leek and bacon one! Here's the recipe if you're up for a savory and satisfying country style delish dish!
 french vintage postcards

A Nasty French King, Jews, and a Finger

The Frenchie bad boy king, Louis IX (1214 – 1270), had a nasty habit of kicking the Jews out of France and stealing their land when he was running low on gold. Crusades are expensive! He also burned about 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmund. For all of this he was canonized (made a saint) and had a lot of nifty cities named after him. You can visit his finger at the Basilique Saint Denis right outside of Paris. The rest of his saintly bod disappeared during the French wars of religion. Now THAT is horrific history at it's finest. Zoinks!


Click here to read about the pickled heart of Louis VXII.

Diaper Changing Mailmen in 1913 - Postcard Friday #41

baby vintage postcard


At least two children were sent via the US Postal Service in 1913!  General Postmaster Hitchcock finally poopooed the practice after being inundated with letters inquiring into how one ships bambinos via parcel post! Here's an actual example:

Postmaster General,

Washington D. C.—Sir: I have been corresponding with a party in Pa about getting a baby to rais (our home being without One.) May I ask you what specifications to use in wrapping so it (baby) would comply with regulations and be allowed shipment by parcel post as the express co are to rough in handling Yours




Welcome to this weeks Postcard Friendship Friday! If you're visiting and would like to join in the fun we would be thrilled;) It's easy! All you need to do is:

1. Have a blast with this mail theme! Examples include: any type of postcard, a photo of a mailbox, mailman, a stamp image, postcard altered art, or simply a photo of something that you find 'Postcard Perfect' etc etc etc!
2. Link in with Mr.Linky at the bottom of this post
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
4. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today! Please grab the badge if you'd like to add a bit of PFF colour to your post:)
 

Cyclops and Elephants

The scattered skulls of prehistoric pygmy elephants on Crete may have formed the belief in the existence of cyclops, the one - eyed giant featured in Homer's Odyssey! The ginormous single nasal cavity certainly would spark the imagination of any storyteller. These pint sized pachyderms were extinct by then so the locals wouldn't have recognized the skulls as being from an elephant. Isn't that fascinating?

Lucky Stork Vintage Postcards

vintage postcards

According to Alsatian tradition, children wanting a sibling can coax the baby bringing stork by leaving a sugar cube on the windowsill! A leggy stork would actually prefer a tasty toad, lizard, fish, or earthworm but it is certainly a sweet idea. I'm off to hide the sugar!french vintage postcards

Los Angeles Ostrich Farm Vintage Postcard

vintage postcards

Welcome to the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm! Pet and be pecked at by these great gawky birds. Would you like to take a ride in an ostrich pulled sulky? Hop aboard and smile for the camera!

This gem of a youtube video is from 1941:) It's short, sweet, and surprising!

Prost! Oktoberfest is here! - Postcard Friday #40

Oktoberfest actually started out as a horse race! Prince Ludwig of Bavaria wanted his people to share in the celebration of his marriage to the blushing bride Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen   on October 12, 1810. He invited all of Munich to the galloping festivities!  A good time and apparently copious amounts of beer were had by all in that first year so it was turned into a yearly tradition:) Happy Postcard Friday!!




Welcome to this weeks Postcard Friendship Friday! If you're visiting and would like to join in the fun we would be thrilled;) It's easy! All you need to do is:

1. Have a blast with this mail theme! Examples include: any type of postcard, a photo of a mailbox, mailman, a stamp image, postcard altered art, or simply a photo of something that you find 'Postcard Perfect' etc etc etc!
2. Link in with Mr.Linky at the bottom of this post
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
4. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today! Please grab the badge if you'd like to add a bit of PFF colour to your post:)