New Year Greetings from Belgium

The kind and wonderful Janine bought this card at a flea market in Belgium and sent it to me. Thank you, Janine!

The printed text is in French, but the card's message was written in Dutch. In many ways, the card is similar to other cards that sought to bring attention to the needs of war orphans during and after World War I.
This card points out that it is the powerful who wage war, but that the resulting misery and suffering affect the humble people in their homes. How many men die as heroes defending the flag and leave behind crying wives, mothers, and sisters? And then the little ones who suffer from hunger, to them I reach out my hand. 

The text on the card is signed by Elsa Ghislaine in Brussels and dated 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917.

Gabriella sent this card to her family in January, 1922 with the following message:

Dear Family,

To celebrate the New Year, we send you our best wishes and greetings from us all.

Gabriella

Be sure to join Janine at her blog to see some of her beautiful artwork.

Knokke, Belgium

Knokke, Belgium has been a beach resort for over a  hundred years. The town is located near the Dutch border, and still attracts wealthy visitors. Knokke looks very quaint and charming in these pictures. I can't say the same for the modern pictures I've seen.  But then again, I have never been there, so maybe there is some attraction besides Knokke's casino that I am missing. The entire beachfront is lined with buildings, which are unattractive to me, but indicate that there are indeed a lot of visitors. I do know that there are some lovely nature areas between Knokke and the Dutch border.

In the last postcard you can see the bathing machines, changing rooms on wheels that were used to preserve the modesty of bathers. Click here to see a previous post that shows the bathing machines in the water.