Thursday, August 4, 2011

Giant Almonds

Lena sent these giant almonds to her father, F.M. Barnum,  in Merrill, Oregon for his 55th birthday.  Merrill is a small town, current population of 897, located in Klamath County, not far from the Oregon and California border. The 1904 Klamath County Directory lists F.M. Barnum as a rancher.

In September 1912, the Sacramento Union newspaper reported that:
F.M. BARNUM, living near Merrill, has brought to the 
city a good supply of apples of the Yellow Transparent, Gravenstein and Red June 
varieties, which cannot be surpassed for texture and flavor. A peculiarity of 
this Red June apple is that it ripens in September, thus becoming a fall variety 
instead of a summer one, as is usual.

Here's the back of the card, sent from San Jose, California.


The message reads:

Dearest papa! - 
Happy Birthday to you - I wish I could be there to help eat your birthday dinner. We are studying hard - Well may your 55th birthday be the happiest you have ever had is the wish of your loving daughter. Heaps of love + kisses.
Lena B.
at

13 comments:

  1. Lisa BAugust 4, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    There must have been quite a series of giant produce postcards! The handwriting looks more like writing nowadays than 1909, I like the rec'd cancellation, it's always interesting to see how long the mail took back then.

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  2. Postcard RoundupAugust 4, 2011 at 7:15 AM

    Oh my lord, giant almonds? You must have the world's largest collection of exaggeration postcards!

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  3. Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.comAugust 4, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    I really think they should be making these exaggeration cards now -- I saw some really giant tomatoes at the Farmers Market yesterday. This scene looks a little like the drive on Hwy 5 where you pass miles and miles of fruit trees -- including almond trees.

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  4. Little NellAugust 4, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    Tasty but very fattening :)

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  5. PostcardyAugust 4, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    I hope he had a giant nutcracker.

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  6. Karen S.August 4, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    We may have to pass on breaking open these babies! Great birthday greetings, probably the person was a fan of almonds!

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  7. TracyAugust 4, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    Was her father an almond rancher? Giant almond rancher?

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  8. AnnAugust 4, 2011 at 3:04 PM

    i really find the received stamp cool!!!! goodness..that took less time than it took a card i sent my mom 12 years ago to get to her..it took 3 days and she was only 18 miles away!!! takes 2 days to send anything from 1 address in my city to another address in my city!

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  9. Tattered and LostAugust 4, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    Attention Costco shoppers...an almond is available on aisle 4, 5, and 6.

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  10. Archie TechtAugust 4, 2011 at 10:17 PM

    Without the label I would have guessed that was a carload of regular sized giant clams- probably not very fresh after being out in that sun though... I found the message to Papa very sweet, and hope he had many happy birthdays in later years that his daughter was able to attend.

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  11. Aimee DarsAugust 7, 2011 at 6:52 PM

    What a sweet message. You have the best collection of exaggerated food cards!

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  12. GadgetSponge.comAugust 7, 2011 at 7:50 PM

    Okay. You've got to stop with these large food postcards! You're only making the rest of us jealous! Haha. I would have never guessed to one day see one with almonds!

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  13. L. D. August 8, 2011 at 6:08 AM

    Cool card.

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