Happy Thanksgiving

Here to wish you a happy Thanksgiving is my favorite postcard personality, Tracy Graham.

 

Note that the sender has written Tracy on the young man's forehead.  That's so typical of cards to and from Tracy Graham. They are always warm and humorous, often poking fun, and with real news.

As I mentioned last week, I was thrilled to track down Tracy's daughter, Bernice, who is alive and well and didn't know anything about about this collection of postcards I have that were sent to and from her parents. I am sending them on to her, because that's where they belong.  I know that they will reawaken childhood memories and be passed on to grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I admit it's difficult, because these are without a doubt some of my favorite postcards. At the same time, I have a real sense of satisfaction knowing that these cards are going to the family who wrote them.  I'm thankful that I got to read them and share their stories. And these cards had real stories; they followed Lizzie and Tracy through their years of courtship, marriage, and family. I feel like I knew the family. I'm even more thankful that I was able to talk to Bernice in person and that our conversation connected the postcard world with the real world.

The message to Mr. and Mrs. Tracy Graham reads:

Nov. 23 - 1917

Hope to see you all soon. I am going home Sunday and hope you can come down for a visit next week. Mary will be here after  Wednesday for the rest of the week. With Love. M.V.G.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and to the Graham family.
If you would like to look at some of the previous Tracy Graham posts, click here.

Thanksgiving Greetings from Mabel

And here's the back of the card.

The message to Mrs. Claud Light reads:

Dear Sis,

I am anxious to see the new kitchen. Write and tell me what you are going to give the girls for Christmas so I won't be giving the same things. Lovingly, Mabel

Ludwig's Restaurant in Neu Pirken

Ludwig Hübler had something he called a Restauration (a cross between a restaurant and a station?) in Neu Pirken, Germany. There were hotel rooms,  an outdoor bowling alley, and a dining room. In 1910, around the time this card was sent, Pirken and Neu-Pirken had a population of 757, almost double what it had been ten years earlier.

Ludwig sent this card to Mr. Karl Bernt in nearby Görkau as a friendly invitation to something, though I'm not sure what. I have trouble making out the old German script unless it's written very neatly. In any case, both Neu Pirken and Görkau both became part of Czechoslovakia after World War II. Pirken is now known as Březenec and Görkau is known as Jirkow.