A few more postcards

Last week I shared the bulk of what I appreciated from reading through Tom Phillips’ The Postcard Century, but there are still a few more postcards I really liked… For example, this picture of mill workers in 1908 caught my eye… some of the ancestors of the families who settled in Aubigny, who were a subject in my master’s thesis, worked at a mill like this, and were, yes, just as young.

This postcard of an early style of flapper is so interesting for marking a not-yet-complete shift in trend.

I really like these pictures and the author’s notes...

And this one from Japan…

I like this mini-history of the hovercraft…

Final two… one noting a game gone “out of fashion” and the other, just silly, featuring cement!

Tangentially, Tom Phillips’ home was featured on World of Interiors.

Cement

Speaking of cement makes me think of my dad who really liked working with cement. I don’t think I ever learned to appreciate it as much as he did, but this TikTok account I follow, of a woman building a tunnel under her house, recently went briefly in-depth about the material, and I thought it was pretty neat!

Taking care

I’ve mentioned Liana Finck before, having unearthed a quote of hers that I liked on the subject of perfectionism (see here). More recently however, she illustrated the feeling she has for “needing to draw” in a way that reminds me of the feeling I have of “needing to write”.

Swimming (part 2)

For part 1, see here.

I realize that I’m getting more comfortable with water, it now being 20 times I’ve been to the pool… 20 hours since October 17th. It’s not that many hours, nor does the training have the intensity of multiple-visits per week. And I think that is part of the surprise and delight of it… Here Christian and I have found a cheap way of getting out of the house on Friday nights and this simple practice is already to good effect. Observing the brain… the thoughts as they arise, as they change, is still a source of wonder. Take the sound of water… Recently, Kottke linked to a video of a breaching whale, and as I listened to the gurgle of the water in the speakers, I noticed my brain register a kind of comfortable familiarity. I only noticed because it was new. The sound of water has never given me that signal before.

Where I’m at with technique (and fear!). I’m at a stage of doing freestyle laps in the shallow end with a snorkel and sometimes fins. Ten visits further on my quest to teach myself to swim, I notice that I’m more comfortable using the snorkel. I do take breaks, and I do look forward to being able to swim a lap without it, but for now, it’s become more and more useful. At first, my brain couldn’t get past the sensation of breathing through a snorkel, and feeling water in my nose. Repetition of the exercise has allowed me to move on and for attention to go to concentrating on kicking and pulling.

This growing awareness of how the body moves through water has been really fun to explore, and when I write explore, I’d underline the fact that it is a very gentle exploration. Fear causes a kind of rigidity in the water that’s normal. I notice it in other beginning swimmers like myself, who - unlike myself - generously agree to have their learning filmed for YouTube, on channels such as Rocket Swimming. Kicking on my back in streamline position has an almost natural feel now, compared to when I did so 9 visits ago. The first time I did a lap in this position, my arms were so sore out of water - from being so tense in water - that I could barely lift them. It’s nice to feel less rigidity in my body.

Finally, in the queue of self-guided Youtube tutorials I’m currently paying attention to, are those that demonstrate backstroke and proper form for freestyle (like this video from Effortless Swimming). Putting the drill for 90 degree rotations (at about 12 minutes) into practice feels like another way of preparing myself for taking breaths, sans snorkel.

Why does this seem to be working? I suspect a good chunk of the credit can go to my husband whose love of swimming is further inducement to continue. It takes a little shove to get ourselves out of the house in the middle of winter, but we feel so good after an hour in the pool. Seeing how we are both mutually benefitting from it is a real source of happiness.

Enjoying

I really liked this quote by Walt Hunter in his article “Stop Meeting Students Where They Are”: “The reaction to declining reading skills, poor comprehension, and fragmented attention spans should not be to negotiate or compromise, but to double down on the cure.”
It makes me smile when unrelated podcasts happen to share a theme… In that nonchalant way professional podcasts can interest listeners in any subject, Search Engine did an episode on flushable wipes. Then, because I’m striving to be a good citizen by being moderately informed about local subjects, I listened to the most recent episode of Our City, Our Podcast and was amused to find out it was on the subject of “Water and Waste” and our city’s new wastewater treatment plant. Both podcasts emphasized not flushing wipes.
Peter Rukavina shared (here) Mita Williams’ post (here) directing readers to this Youtube video titled “You are being misled about renewable energy technology” by Alec Watson and if the path leading to this video doesn’t matter so much, I like highlighting the names of Canadian bloggers and newsletter writers I come across… Watson is an American, but I learned a lot from his video… one part in particular, at the 12 minute mark, on the subject of corn. (I also enjoyed his video titled “Algorithms are breaking how we think”.)
In the documentary Secret Mall Apartment, (Netflix) I learned about tape art!

Eating

This week, Molly Baz’s “Pork Sausages with Mustardy Lentils and Celery”, which can be seen executed on Youtube (here).

Postcard

Varying temperatures this week made for cold days with a sprinkling of warm ones… I like when the sun illuminates the foreground while trees in the forest behind are dark.

Happy Sunday!

Postcards

In that wonderful way that one thing can lead to another, an Instagram post from the World of Interiors account lead to a virtual perusal of titles from among the eye-catching stacks of books. Tom Phillips’ Postcard Century then happened to be available for borrowing from the library. It has taken some time to get through his collection… (I took a picture of the book outside in September when I’d started it…) but the fact that this tome exists delights me.

First, that collecting postcards is called deltiology and that Philipps takes some time to describe postcard attributes is an inviting window on a previously unknown world. Second, that Philipps is an artist, and therefore freely comments on the style and design of the postcards he has curated for this book. But third, and most significantly to me, he uses postcards as a lens for viewing history. He writes: “Postcards provide the world’s most complete visual inventory.” Thus, with the caveat that “My own interests and predilections (not to speak of prejudices) play a part in my choice yet I have also tried to keep a special watch on certain themes…” among which leads that of feminism. He writes:

Women were of course invented before the beginning of the century but the realization of the proper role in society and their acquisition of rights has been perhaps its most important single development. From a voteless, socially subjugated and legally disadvantaged condition in 1900 to the ambiguities of the post-feminist state in the 1990’s it has been an epic take that here, inevitably, has to be conjured from a sequence of telling fragments. Needless to say it is not only the images that tell the story but the content and style of the messages which speak, in sum, so eloquently of the relations between women. (p 18)

There are moments artfully captured, like the “crossword craze”:

And there are seemingly boring pictures that have an entire backstory that Philipps manages to unlock, as in the case of this USS New York. (p 196)

In 1966, Philipps notes a shift in the tone of comic postcards that I find intriguing… “A cynical hardness enters the comic card as a new generation takes over, coupled with a meaner kind of image.” (p 300) And neighbouring that passing reflection, a postcard featuring a beautiful ocean liner, offers a little reality check: “For all the romance of last voyages, ends of epochs, shipboard affairs and images of fine living on the high seas one mus remember that, for anyone but the rich, long ocean voyages represented weeks of cramped boredom.” (p 300)

One of my favourite is food-related…

At one point, Phillips’ comments, about one postcard’s provenance, “In the absence of institutional interest from the academic world primary research into postcards is done by collectors themselves, often at the most scholarly level.” (p 144) But perhaps this is turning out not to be the case? I recently came across Omar Khan’s website Paper Jewels, which links to his academic research on the subject of postcards from India. All in all, it’s been fun to learn how postcards are a medium for viewing history from a different vantage point.

Tangentially

Postcards are now rare and perhaps correspondence is a dying art. But I’m always feel inspired by ideas such as Rose Pearlman’s “How to Make A Correspondence Kit”. I agreed to make one for a niece and I’m curious to see whether the tangible feature of letter-mail still holds charm.

Local love

For his participation in the school’s band, my son needed black pants and a white shirt. These were handily found at Value Village, although there was a problem with the shirt sleeves being too long. The solution for long shirt sleeves is called “sleeve garters” and ushering in their fashion renaissance is my own 7th-grader. While he lives oblivious to shows like Peaky Blinders (and long may it be so), my sister and I have not. So if this partially-Irish, growing weed of a boy is fine with his mother’s fondness for Irish lore and Irish accents, I will blame not only the culture which inspires a collection of wool scarves, but also the local Winnipeg businesses that purvey such accessories. There is Amazon of course, but a sense of duty had me call a suit store and the gentleman there suggested another local business, and the gentleman there suggested a third. Were it not for this chain of phonecalls and kind voices, I would not have pulled into the sunny parking lot of a store called Vintage Glory. And had we not strolled confidently in to try sleeve garters on the aforementioned long-sleeved white shirt, we would not have met the kind man who encouraged us to explore all three rooms of his store. And when we thought we’d done a good bit of exploring, he asked if we’d opened any of the drawers… We hadn’t. So then we did, suddenly noticing all the wood cabinets with narrow drawers everywhere… and my goodness! It was like being in a hands-on museum, encouraged like children to look at all the treasure…

(This is a single drawer where brooches on a theme of chivalry were gathered, making me think of Don Quixote that I’m currently reading.)

Could I have just bought a dumb shirt that fit my son at H&M? Yes, of course. But let’s just say that for a few dollars more, his ensemble has a pretty rich backstory.

First

For the first time in his little beagle life, Enzo was fitted with boots. He finds this very weird, but will walk for treats. But only around the house. Outside, in daylight, he refuses to walk. He says it is undignified. Since the weather is not that cold, we don’t insist.

Eating

For guests on Sunday we made Carla Lalli Music’s “Pork and Pozole Stew” (which can be seen here on Youtube). Pork stew is generally easy and delicious, but I appreciated this version for the short ingredient list, and a chance to try pozole for the first time. I found it at Latinos Market here in Winnipeg.

Enjoying

I liked learning a bit about potatoes and the Irish famine on CBC’s podcast Ideas. A focus on one architectural detail, explained in depth but also light-heartedly, is a talent I admire. Enter a recent discovery on TikTok. Abby Happel is a junior architect in Chicago who talks about corners and libraries, and I feel like I could take notes. Also, another podcast episode I liked is Chuck Klosterman being interviewed on The Book Review (Youtube link). I felt like I knew a little something about football from having watched all seasons of Friday Night Lights!

Postcard

I’m feeling a little self-conscious titling this section of the post in this way, given the picture isn’t a real postcard… but when I thought of changing it, I felt a justification naturally spring to mind… The picture of the view I take on one of the week’s morning walks with the dog is a virtual postcard. Inherent in it is the typical message of old… “The greeting, the weather, health of writer, enquiry as to health of correspondent, signing off; such was the standard pattern, either enough itself or forming a safe basis for permutation and variation.” (Postcard Century p 13) So… weather cold, I’m fine, you too?

Happy Sunday!