This card is part of a series on animals in ancient America. This particular piece, titled Bottle with Fox Figure,  is estimated to have been created between 300 and 600 CE in the northern highlands of Peru . The object is an example of Pre-Columbian art , which refers to the visual arts of Indigenous peoples across the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America before European contact in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Looking at this postcard, it’s fascinating to think about how much of this artistic tradition has been lost over time. Woven textiles, for example, were widely produced but rarely survived because of their perishable nature. What remains—ceramics, metalwork in gold, monumental sculpture, and paintings on walls, pottery, and rock—offers only a glimpse into much larger and richer cultures. Even so, pieces like this small fox-shaped vessel manage to carry a surprising amount of personality across centuries.

The sender writes that she filled out this postcard just after watching Game Four of the World Series . In 2025, it featured the defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers , against the Toronto Blue Jays . It felt like everyone in Canada had Blue Jays fever. In Game Four, the Blue Jays defeated the Dodgers 6–2, tying the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. For Toronto, this was a particularly exciting moment—the 2025 World Series marked their first appearance since winning back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993. The Dodgers entered the series as favourites, although Toronto held home-field advantage thanks to a stronger regular-season record. The series itself turned out to be tightly contested, ultimately going the full seven games. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series in dramatic fashion. In Game Seven, the Blue Jays were leading by one run in the ninth inning when Miguel Rojas hit a one-out home run to tie the game. Toronto was unable to respond in the bottom of the in...

This is a photo of Monterey Bay , located on the California coast about 120 kilometres south of San Francisco . Along the bay are communities such as Santa Cruz , where the sender of the card is from, and Monterey . Santa Cruz is a city of about 63,000 people located at the northern end of Monterey Bay. It is a popular tourist destination due to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks. Santa Cruz was established as a Spanish mission in 1791. Fermín de Lasuén founded Mission Santa Cruz , and a settlement grew nearby. Santa Cruz later became an incorporated city in 1866, after California became a U.S. state in 1850.

Alhambra is a city of about 83,000 people located in Los Angeles County, approximately 13 kilometres east of Los Angeles . The sender mentions that it is his and his wife’s goal to visit all the national parks in the United States, and they have visited 23 of the 63 so far. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is one of the parks they have explored. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in western North Dakota and consists of three geographically separate areas: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. The Little Missouri River flows through all three units. The Maah Daah Hey Trail connects them, stretching 232 kilometres as a non-motorized single-track trail. Theodore Roosevelt lived in the area following the deaths of his wife and mother, who died just hours apart on February 14, 1884. He had first visited the region the year before to hunt bison and later described it as offering “perfect freedom.” He invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch, where he lived brief...

The sender lives in the Northridge neighbourhood in Los Angeles. It's had a few names over the years, starting with Zelzah in 1908. In 1929 it was renamed North Hollywood until 1938, when civic leader Carl S Dentzel renamed it to Northridge Village, which was eventually shortened to Northridge.  Northridge is home to about 62 000 people and has one of the lowest population densities in Los Angeles.  Northridge is home to the US Metric Association. It is a non-profit organization that advocates for total conversion of the United States to the International System of Units (SI). It was founded in 1916 at Columbia University in New York City, where it was called the American Metric Association. The United States is the only country that still mostly uses the Imperial System of measurement, although I think the US military uses metric. Canada and the United Kingdom use a mixture of both systems. 

The sender, seeing I was a physical education teacher, thought I would enjoy this vintage education post er that shows proper posture when sitting or standing. I do like this card. 

This card is from Princess Mononoke , a Japanese animated historical fiction film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the story of Ashitaka, a young Emishi prince who journeys west to cure his cursed arm and becomes embroiled in the conflict between the forest of the gods and a nearby town, as well as the feud between Lady Eboshi, the town's leader, and San, a human girl raised by wolves. 

A neat vintage card, probably from the 1960s of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Mammoth Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine (fresh water limestone depostied around mineral springs). It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate - over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). 

Vail Ski Resort in located near the town of Vail in Colorado. It is the third largest single mountain ski resort in the United States. It opened in 1962. Vail Ski Resort is modelled after Bavarian village styles with pedestrian streets. There are 39 ski lifts of various types - gondola, high speed six, high speed quad, fixed triple, T-bar, and platters.  I think this card must be an ad card for these guys. My first thought is they were 'finance bros." On the back, however, it reads "Christopher, Denton, Kendall, the skiing real estate brokers."

Death Valley National Park was established in 1933 as a national monument, and then 1994 as a national park. It is also designated as a dark sky park by the International Dark-Sky Association. It is the largest of the contiguous United States (that means the 48 states that are not Alaska and Hawaii), the hottest, driest, and lowest national parks. Badwater Basin is the second lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 86 meters below sea level.  The highest recorded ambient surface temperature was recorded at Furnace Creek in 1913, where a temperature of 56.7 degrees Celsius was recorded. Average temperatures of 48.9 degrees Celsius are common in the summer. 

Alice's Restaurant was once a general store and the first commercial building in Sky Londa. During the 1960s the restaurant was bought by one Alice Taylor, who renamed the restaurant after herself. Motorcyclists, hikers, and tourists made Alice's Restaurant a must stop. It was bought in the 1870s and has been family owned and operated every since. It is still a popular destination for motorcyclists and bicycle riders in the spring and summer.  The family that bought the restaurant in the 1970s kept the name Alice's Restaurant as a homage to Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant .  Here are the lyrics to Alice's Restaurant: Lyrics This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's Restaurant. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant You can get anything you want ...

I love these vintage-like travel cards. Love the wood-panelled station wagon. 

I've always liked these The New Yorker cover cards. This one is from 5 Feb 1972.

Compton is home to the Compton Cricket Club, also known as the Homies and the POPz. They are the only all American born exhibition cricket team in the United States. They have toured the United Kingdom four times. The Compton Cricket Clubs mission is: curb the negative effects of gang activities amongst the youth of Compton address the homelessness in the inner city through the principles and ethics of cricket. encourage and promote civility, good, and productive citizenship.  The team motto is "Let the game begin again in America." Cricket was a very popular sport in the United States in the 19th century. 

A couple of post ago I wrote about Naval Base Norfolk (4203), the largest naval base in the world. San Diego is home the second largest surface vessel naval base in the world, Naval Base San Diego. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the United States Pacific Fleet. The total on base population is 24 000 military personnel and 10 000 civilians. The following ships are homeported: Amphibious Assault Ships - 2, 4, 8, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 42, 45, 48, 49, 52 Cruisers - 59, 65, 70, 71 Destroyers - 54, 59, 60, 62,63,77,89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 104, 106, 111, 123, 125, 1000, 1001, 1002 Littoral Combat Ships - 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 Supply & Support Ships - AKR-300, AH-19, AO-187, AO-202, AVB-4  

A neat Year of the Snake  蛇   card from San Diego. In Chinese symbology, snakes are regarded as intelligent, with a tendency to lack scruples.  According to one  legend , there is a reason for the order of the animals in the cycle. A race was held to cross a great river, and the order of the animals in the cycle was based upon their order in finishing the race. In this story, the  snake  compensated for not being the best swimmer by hitching a hidden ride on the  Horse's  hoof. When the horse was about to cross the finish line, the snake jumped out, scaring the horse, and thus edging it out for sixth place. The Year of the Snake (wood snake) is from 29 January 2025 to 16 February 2026. The next Year of the Snake will be February 2037. 

Rancho Cucamonga is located about 60 kilometres east of Los Angeles. It's close to major transportation hubs and thus attracts large corporations such as Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay to name just two. There are about 175 000 people there today. This is my second Roy Lichtenstein card. This one is entitled Modern Painting I , 1966. I wrote about Lichtenstein in 3327. This painting was created using acrylic, oil, and graphite pencil on canvas. It is a part of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation of Los Angeles. 

Bears are one of my favourite animals and I have been lucky to see a few grizzlies and black bears in the wild, but from a distance.  I'm going to copy what is on the back of the card: The Grizzly is a threatened species with the contiguous 48 states. Omnivorous, they feed on plants, small mammals (mostly rodents), large mammals, and carrion. Standing 3-4 feet at the shoulders, the adult male (boar) will weight 500-1000 pounds, while the adult female (sow) will weigh 225-550 pounds. The Grizzly will vary in color from black-brown to straw-yellow and may have light tipped guard hairs that give a frizzled appearance. Breeding occurs from mid-May to mid-July and young cubs, weighing 12-16 ounces are born in January and February. They emerge from the den with their mother in April and May. Grizzly bears are dangerous and should never be approached. 

The San Francisco cable car system was established in 1873. Twenty-three cable car lines were established between 1873 and 1890 - three of these lines still run today. Most people who use the cable cars now-a-days are tourists. Commuters use modern public system methods. San Francisco's cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with one street railways named as National Historic Landmarks. 

The sender says he was originally from Michigan, but now lives in Palm Desert. Palm Desert is located about 200 kilometres east of Los Angeles and has a population of 51 000. It is California's fastest growing cities. Almost 38% of the population are over the age of 65. The average age of Palm Desert is 56.1 years. A lot of retired Canadian ex-pats and snowbirds make Palm Desert their permanent or seasonal home.  The card features a scorpion. Scorpions have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions and can now be found on all continents except Antarctica. Scorpions number about 1750 described species, with 13 extant families recognized to date. Only about 25 of thee species are know to have venom capable of killing a human being. Scorpions are also known to glow is a vibrant blue-green when exposed to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light, due to the presence of fluorescent chemicals in the cuticle. This fluorescence may have an active role in scorpion light detection....