My Favorite Postcards

Come to Finland
Travel poster, 2016
Wombat Combat

I think this is my first postcard with a merman on it!  I love the tattoos on him.  However, if you are only looking at that, you will miss the weird butterflies in the top left corner!

This very odd postcard is from 2016.

Slowly spreading the news: it's National Postcard Week!
May 7-13, 2017

I took this photo September 2016 at the Cleveland (Ohio) Public Library during the art installation "Flock," by CrackingArt, a group from Milan Italy.  There were over 300 recyclable plastic animal figures all over downtown.  I loved the snails!

This unused postcard is number 42 in a limited of 100.  It is from Christina Getrost. 

Foto: Andreas Doerig

The sender writes:
This postcard is so cute!  I love the colorful ladybug on the black and white background.

This card was postmarked from Finland in 2017.
- - -
A ladybug on a leaf from Germany.

This is postmarked in 2008 with a machine printed stamp.
- - -

Butterfly World
Coconut Creek, Florida

These unused postcards are all from 2016.

- - - - - - -

This is from their website:
Our Story
Butterfly World is the result of one man’s hobby gone wild.

Born of Dutch immigrants, Ronald Boender grew up in Illinois and had always had a fascination with butterflies, beginning with the cabbage whites, black swallowtails and silk moths he found while growing up on his father’s farm.
He moved to Florida in 1968, and after retiring from a successful career as an electrical engineer, he decided to actively pursue his interest in butterflies, beginning by raising local butterflies and butterfly food plants in small numbers at his home.

When he learned there was a market for “farmed” butterflies for sale to Universities and Zoos, Boender established MetaScience Co., a commercial butterfly farm, in 1984. The staff at MetaScience produced up to 1000 butterfly pupa per week, and established methods of butterfly rearing that are still in use at Butterfly World.

During this time, Boender also learned of attractions called “butterfly houses” springing up overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom. Intrigued by the possibilities, He went to England in 1985, and met Clive Farrell, founder and owner of the London Butterfly House. They became friends, and soon partners in the venture that became Butterfly World, the first butterfly house in the United States, and the largest in the world.

Opening day was March 28, 1988, with Butterfly World encompassing 3 acres of butterfly aviaries, botanical gardens and the working butterfly farm and research center that Boender had worked years to establish. In the years that have followed, the park has expanded to include the 2 additional aviaries for a rainbow of birds and hummingbirds, an interactive lorikeet encounter, as well as a skilled aviculture care and research staff to support these endeavors.

Lake Fly (Chironomidae Annoyus)
Official Bird of Oshkosh Wisconsin

All three of these Letter-Press postcards were made by Rauhaus Design and were bought in 2016.

- - - - - - -

Oshkosh is known for OshKosh B'Gosh, a manufacturer of overalls and children's clothing founded in Oshkosh in 1895. Originally a small-town manufacturer of adult work clothing, it became best known for its children's lines.

Despite the name, OshKosh B'Gosh overalls are no longer made in Oshkosh, though the company maintains corporate offices there.

- - -

Letterpress started to become largely out-of-date in the 1980s because of the rise of computers and new self-publishing print and publish methods.

Contemporary letterpress is considered a craft as it involves using a skill and is made by hand.

Today, some small letterpress shops survive by printing fine editions of books or by printing upscale invitations and stationery. These methods often use presses that require the press operator to feed paper one sheet at a time by hand.

Ladybug
Ohio State Insect

In 1975, the Ohio government selected the ladybug beetle as Ohio's official insect.  Ladybird beetles exist in all of Ohio's eighty-eight counties.

This unused postcard is from 2015. 

The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory

Stroll through a tropical paradise and enjoy an exotic environment filled with hundreds of butterflies, an impressive collection of flowering plants, cascading waterfalls and trees - all under a climate controlled, glass enclose habitat, along with adjacent Gift Shop, Learning Center and Gallery.

This unused postcard is from 2015.

- - - - - - -

This Conservatory houses from 50-60 different species of live butterflies from around the world.

Insects
Female of Macleay's Spectre, Extatosoma tiaratum,
feeding on eucalypt leaves

These insects are popular pets, as they are easy to rear and spectacular to look at.  The spines which give this insect its alternative common name of "spiny stick insect' are harmless, although they may make for an uncomfortable mouthful for a predator.  The eggs of this species and of other stick insects closely resemble the seeds of plants, and are dropped by the female as she feeds.  Males are slender and much smaller than females, and they have long, functional wings.  This Australian insect is now found in captive breeding colonies all over the world.

Photo Stuart Humphres: Australian Museum

This postcard is unused.  I bought it in Australia in 2012 for $2.50.  

Ladybugs
The sender translates, "You never forget that inside of me, it beats a heart that loves you"

This is postmarked from Portugal in 2007.

Butterfly drawn by Henricus Rol

Kattestaart met Koninginnepage
Album De bloemen en haar vreinden

From an on-line translator:
Loosestrife with Swallowtail
Album Flowers and her freinds

This postcard is postmarked in 2009 from the Netherlands. 

Hamadryas arinome - Starry Night
This spectacular butterfly from the rain forests of Central America is one of the cracker butterfiles (error - should be butterflies), so called because the males make a crackling sound with their wings when they fly.  Phil DeVries, author of "The Butterflies of Costa Rica', called this species "Starry Night" after the famous Van Gogh painting.

Photo by Dr. Phil DeVries
Houston Museum of Natural Science

This postcard is unused and was given to me in 2013. 

Minnesota State Bird
The Mosquito

5 "Fun" Facts

1. There are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes.
2. Only female mosquitoes bite humans and animals; males feed on flower nectar.
3. The average mosquito lifespan is less than two months.
4. Mosquitoes can detect carbon dioxide form 75 feet away.
5. A mosquito can only fly up to 1.5 miles per hour.

unused, bought in 2013

Schmetterlinge (Butterflies)

Tagpfauenauge  (Peacock)
Zitronenfalter (Brimstone)
Distelfalter (Painted Lady)
Kleiner Schillerfalter (Small Purple Emperor)
Admiral (Admiral)
Kohlweißling (Cabbage white)
Kaisermantel (Fritillary)
Braunauge (Brown Eye)
Dukatenfalter (Scarce Copper)
Postillion (Postillion)
Sommer-Landkartchen (Summer Landkärtchen)
Resedenfalter (Resedenfalter)
Schwarzflecken-Blauling (Black's Blue Stains)
Schwalbenschwanz (Dovetail)

All the words on the right are from an on-line translator.  So I don't know if that is the name of the butterfly in English, or if it is just what the word translates to. My guess would be a little of both.

unused, from 2011

Seen near Wheaton, Minnesota
Potter Drug Co.

This is an exaggeration postcard.  Maybe the Grasshopper is pulling a seed card?  It looks to have US 606 on it.

postmarked in 1940 with a one cent stamp

This is a 3-D postcard that starts as a caterpillar and turns into a buckeye butterfly.  You can see the caterpillar on the branch behind the butterfly if you look closely.

unused, bought in 2011
Made in Germany

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The (Common) Buckeye (Junonia coenia) is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia and all parts of the United States except the northwest.

The eyespots likely serve to startle or distract predators, especially young birds.

 Gotcha!

postmarked in 2011 with a Germany flower stamp

Herfstasters


Met de mond geschilderd (Painted with the mouth)

postmarked in 2010 with 5 Netherlands stamps, 2 with children's art and three with the number 5 on it.

I can't imagine being able to paint like this, let alone paint it using my mouth!