Clara Harlowe Barton (1821 – 1912)

Clara Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912), nicknamed "Angel of the Battlefield," was a Union nurse during the American Civil War. Also a teacher and patent clerk, Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work when relatively few women worked outside the home in that era. She nursed the wounded at Antietam and at Virginia battlefields; helped identify and mark graves at Andersonville prison; and later founded the American Red Cross.

The 20¢ stamped card is one of the twenty cards corresponding to the twenty 32¢ American Civil War stamps issued at Gettysburg, PA on June 29, 1995. It was sent to France as US-4015356.

Seven Caves at La Jolla, California

Postcard US-3934052 to France shows the Seven Caves of La Jolla, near San Diego, California. Nestled between La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores, only one of caves is accessible by land while the other six can only be accessed by guided kayaking. Housed in a seventy-five million year old sea cliff, each of them has a unique name: White Lady, Little Sister, Shopping Cart, Sea Surprize, Arch Cave, Sunny Jim’s Cave, and Clam’s Cave.

Sunny Jim’s Cave, named after a cartoon character from a brand of cereal that was common at the turn of the century because of the similarity of the shape of their mouths, is the only known land accessed cave along the California coastline. In history, the cave's tunnel, leading to Coast Boulevard in La Jolla, was carved out by Chinese immigrant laborers for smuggling Chinese and other immigrants into the United States. Those intriguing caves were also once used to smuggle illegal whisky during the prohibition from 1920 to 1933.

Apache Plume

Outgoing postcard US-3941386 to France shows Fallugia paradoxa, commonly known as Apache plume. Native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, it is found in arid habitats such as desert woodlands and scrub. I have seen it in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, along with other wildflowers such as Cliff Rose, Windmill, and Beavertail Cactus blossoming during the same period in spring.

Beavertail Cactus seen on April 1, 2016

There Is Always a Table Especially for You

Outgoing postcard US-3891824 to France shows the Court of Two Sisters at 613 Royal Street and 614 Bourbon in the heart of the Historic Center of old  New Orleans. The name was gained from the fact that two sisters conducted a fancy and variety store here. The present structure was erected in 1832 on the site of the residence of Sieur Etienne de Perier, the second royal governor of the French Colonial Louisiana. Currently, it serves daily jazz brunches with a buffet of Creole classics as well as à la carte dinner.

Jimmie Cooper, the owner between 1940 and 1956, used this card to offer "greetings from as romantic a place as you ever ate in - drank in - wrote home about." It reads on the back of the card: It's been here a long time, since way back, and the "Two-Sisters" have long been gone - but the famous "Court" remains more charming and beautiful than ever. One of the nicest things about the place is - "There's always a table especially for you." Jimmie guided the Court to reach the great popularity among the servicemen and women from all over the world when New Orleans was a major shipbuilding and embarkation center.

The charm gates seen on the card were wrought in Spain especially for the Court of Two Sisters.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Postcard US-3429537 to France shows a northbound San Diegan train, in the form of two Budd-built Rail Diesel Cars (RDC's), pulls out of Santa Ana, California. The photo was taken by Thomas H. Gildersleeve on July 3, 1952. Those cars were brand new and were placed in service on May 21, 1952.

According to Thomas H. Gildersleeve, "the first San Diegan was inaugurated as a diesel powered streamlined train on March 27, 1938, and it soon evolved into an entire fleet of Los Angeles - San Diego trains encompassing three sets of equipment, each of which made two daily round trips. After the RDC was introduced, Santa Fee purchased this one pair to replace one of the conventional streamliner sets in San Diegan service."

"The RDC San Diegans lasted until January of 1956, at which time they were reassigned to train No's 311 and 312 between Newton and Dodge City, Kansas, as it was felt they lacked sufficient seating capacity for continued service on the popular San Diego line. In their new assignment, the cars displayed a more conventional Santa Fe paint scheme with the usual red and yellow front end, and one of the cars sported a baggage section, making it similar in appearance to an RDC-2. The cars climaxed their career on the Santa Fe by operating out of Carlsbad, New Mexico."

The card features two of the five 1999 33-cent USPS commemorative stamps titled "All Aboard!" The original water color illustrations used on the stamps depict art deco-style passenger trains of the 1930s and 1940s. On the far left was the Super Chief, famous for carrying motion picture people between Chicago and Los Angeles, also known as the "Train of the Stars." On the second left was the Congressional which followed a route between New York and Washington, D.C. Its slogan was "Every Mile Electrified."

The stamp on the far right shows one of the five 2015 Forever USPS commemorative stamps with Mexican artist Martín Ramírez's drawings from circa 1960–1963, a gouache, colored pencil, and graphite drawing on pieced paper “Untitled (Trains on Inclined Tracks).”

Mont Saint-Michel, France

Postcard US-3133043 from Texas was a French postcard the sender collected during a trip to
Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France. Located 1 kilometer  or 0.6 miles off shore at the mouth of the Couesnon River, the tidal island is 100 hectares or 247 acres in size with only 44 official residents in 2009. However, as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, it has more than 3 million visitors each year.

Ten thousand visitors to the island got to see a supertide this Saturday on March 21, 2015, caused by the so-called supermoon effect coinciding with Friday’s total solar eclipse on March 20, 2015. Said to rise at the pace of a horse’s gallop, the unusual high tide turned the Mont briefly into an island fully surrounded by the English Channel Saturday. Normally, at a low tide visitors could walk on the vast flat seabed, while at high tide visitors could still travel to/from the mainland by a narrow causeway. The rare phenomenon supertide occurs every 18 years.

In Mount's Bay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, St Michael's Mount was a Cornish counterpart of Mont Saint-Michel in France, with the same tidal island characteristics and a similar conical shape,

Montmartre

Postcard FR-446497 from France shows Montmartre, a 130-meter-tall hill in the north of Paris, France. It is known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit. The ancient Romans had referred the site as Mount Mercury in the 8th century, and Mount Mars in the 9th century. Saint Denis, a Christian bishop, was decapitated on the hilltop in 250 AD for preaching the Christian faith. The hill was named Mountain of the Martyr to commemorate the martyrdom of Saint Denis.

Many artists had set up studios or shops in or around Montmartre, including Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh.

Now Montmartre is also know as a nightclub district with vibrant nightlife.

Love Locks and the Pont des Arts

Postcard SG-157009 from Singapore shows a loving couple at the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge which crosses the River Seine in Paris, France. It was first built between 1802 and 1804, under the reign of Napoleon I, at the present location as the first metal bridge in Paris. Listed as a National Historic Monument on March 17, 1975, the Pont des Arts is also part of the World Heritage Site "Banks of the Seine" in Paris, recognized by UNESCO in 1991.

The bridge has been known for those love locks attached to the railing since 2008. Couples engrave their names on the padlocks and throw the keys into the Seine river after locking them in place as a gesture of committed love. However, as the number of locks became overwhelming, city officials in Paris started to remove some lock-laden railings and replace them with special glass panels in September, 2014. The Mayor's Office in Paris launched a #lovewithoutlocks campaign to encourage people to take "selfies" instead of leaving love locks.

Moulin Rouge

Postcard FR-420722 from France shows Moulin Rouge, meaning Red Mill in French, a cabaret co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller in Paris, France in 1889.

Marked by the red windmill on its roof, Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. According to Wikepedia, "originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. The club's decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle France."

It inspired Moulin Rouge!, a 2001 musical film,  that was nominated for eight and eventually won two Oscars at the 74th Academy Awards on March 24, 2002. A music video featuring 1974 "Lady Marmalade" that was used as part of a medley in the movie, was produced in March 2001 with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink performing. The video won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for "Best Video of the Year" and "Best Video from a Film" and a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".  The video reached 100,977,923 views on Vevo/Youtube by the end of today.

In Las Vegas, there was the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino located in the West Las Vegas neighborhood where the African Americans were forced to live. It first opened on May 24, 1955, with multiple references to Paris: Eiffel Tower appeared on the sign at the entrance, and on the casino chips; a French Chef was the head of the largest restaurant in the casino; security guards were dressed in the uniform of the French Foreign Legion.

The hotel and casino was the first integrated hotel casino in the United States while other casinos on the Las Vegas Strip were still segregated and off ff limits to blacks unless they were the entertainers or labors. The Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino closed in November, 1955. Its short but vibrant life fueled the civil-rights movement in Las Vegas. It was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The shuttered hotel suffered a series of fires between May 29, 2003 and May 6, 2009. The Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission approved demolition of the remains of the buildings in June, 2010,

Bikini in the Sin City

The modern bikini was introduced by French designer Louis Réard in Paris today six-eight years ago. On July 5, 1946, Louis Réard unveiled a bold two-piece swimming suit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris, with the help of Parisian exotic dancer Micheline Bernardini from the Casino de Paris. The name of "bikini" was from the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean where a U.S. atomic bomb was tested earlier that week. Many western countries declared it illegal and the Vatican declared it sinful.

Bikini did not become popular until the early 1960s. However, its popularity has been growing ever since. In Las Vegas, you can find numerous bikini related contests and activities, such as the SpyOnVegas Hot100 contest at the Wet Republic at MGM Grand, IFBB Legends Pro Bikini, and Bikini Bike Wash at the Las Vegas BikeFest.

The postcard was a cut out from a greeting card purchased at a local casino gift shop.

Annecy, France

Postcard FR-401752 from France shows Annecy, a commune (equivalent to township or incorporated municipality in the United States) in south-eastern France. It is located at the northern tip of Lake Annecy, 35 kilometers or 22 miles south of Geneva, Switzerland.

Also today, France crushed Switzerland 5:2 in a Group E match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Salvador, Brazil on June 20, 2014. A pitch invader rushed the field towards Mathieu Valbuena and Yohan Cabaye of France at Arena Fonte Nova to celebrate during the match.

#450950876 / gettyimages.com

A Harvey Milk Stamp for Harvey Milk Day

Today is Harvey Milk Day, which is celebrated each year on May 22 in memory of Harvey Milk, a  California politician and LGBT rights activist who was born on May 22, 1930 and assassinated on November 27, 1978. The day was established by the California legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009, as a day of special significance for public schools in California.

At the White House today, USPS is unveiling a new forever stamp featuring a photography of Harvey Milk, who became the fifth openly LGBT candidate in the U.S. and the first to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in January 1978. President Obama commemorated Harvey Milk in 2009 by posthumously awarding him the Medal of Freedom.

Harvey Milk stood outside his Castro Street Camera Store in San Francisco in 1977

Postcard US-2276102 to France shows a view of San Francisco where Harvey Milk called home since he moved from New York City in 1972.

Marque Page Carte Postale

Postcard FR-374233 from France is a bookmark postcard entitled "At the Same Time on Earth ..." It measures 20 cm x 6 cm or 7.87 inch x 2.36 inch and has a stamp with postage for a 20-gram (0.7 oz) letter.

I became curious on how to mail a bookmark postcard from the United States. By the USPS regulations, a postcard needs to be at least 3.5" high x 5" long x 0.007" but no more than 4.25" high x 6" long x 0.016" thick in order to qualify for the first class postcard rate (US$ 0.34 domestic and US$ 1.15 international in 2014). Therefore, because it does not meet the dimensions above, the USPS will consider it a letter and letter-size postage will be charged (US$ 0.49 domestic and US$ 1.15 international) for a mailpiece with a size up to 6.125" x 11.5" x 0.25". In addition, it has an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 3.33, which falls outside the required aspect ratio range for a first class letter (between 1.3 and 2.5). As a result, it will incur a nonmachinable surcharge of US$ 0.21. The total postage required for such a bookmark postcard from the United States will be US$ 0.70 domestic and US$1.36 international.

Le Mastrou

Postcard FR-368709 from France shows "Le Mastrou", or Train de l'Ardèche. It is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The network of railways in the area originally opened on July 12 1891, and closed on October 31, 1968. A portion of lines was reopened as a heritage railway in the following year. In 2008, the heritage services were suspended due to lack of funds for repair and maintenance. The services were resumed in 2013.

Just Move

November 14 each year is the World Diabetes Day. It was first introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization to increase awareness of the alarming rise of diabetes around the world. From 2009 to 2013, the theme has been Diabetes Education and Prevention. According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, nearly 350 million people worldwide live with diabetes. By 2035, ten percent of world's population, or 592 million people, will have diabetes. Researchers found that adults at high risk for type 2 diabetes could reduce their risk in half by losing 5 to 7% of body weight and exercising 3 to 5 times a week for 150 minutes.

Postcard US-2334513 to France shows skateboarding activities. I have been looking forward to a new series of stamps “Let’s Move” advocating physical activities that would make a good match for this postcard. However, USPS has placed the "Just Move" stamps on hold and may destroy them due to safety concerns from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. While I considered those concerns well intentional, I also feel it's kind of over-reacted. First of all, those stamps are artist illustrations, not instructional graphs. Second, USPS should have consulted the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition before approving and printing the stamps. Now that the stamps has already been printed and in storage, it would be a waste to destroy the stamps especially when USPS is losing 4 billions this year. It will be a missing opportunity if the stamps are not brought back, with or without correction. In fact, the risks exposed by the stamps could be mitigated by educational campaigns accompanying the stamp issues.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Outgoing postcard US-2461326 to Finland celebrates the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty which occurs on October 17 every year. It was first commemorated in Paris, France in 1987 with 100,000 people gathering on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro, site of the Palais de Chaillot, to honor victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear. The organizer for that event was Joseph Wresinski, founder of the International Movement ATD (All Together for Dignity) Fourth World, a nonprofit organization which aims towards the eradication of chronic poverty through a human-rights based approach.

The Commemorative Stone. source: tapori.org

A commemorative stone placed on that date reads: "Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty." – Joseph Wresinski

In the Hierarchy of Needs proposed by Abraham Maslow, Maslow described the pattern that human motivations generally move through under the Physiological, Safety, Belongingness and Love, Esteem, Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence needs. It is obvious that Poverty is the most crucial limiting factor of the creativity for the people who could not meet their basic needs. To eradicate poverty is the first step to help those people to realize their full potential.  

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Source: Wikipedia

The Dreamers (2003)

The Dreamers (2003)

I am sending this movie advertising card US-2334372 that I got in 2004 to France. Coincidentally, "the Dreamers" was an American movie about a Californian student Matthew in Paris developing a friendship with a twin French brother Theo and sister Isabelle, with the 1968 Paris student riots "May Revolution" in the background.

The movie has a MPAA Rating of NC-17. You can purchase a copy of DVD from Amazon. Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Leonardo DiCaprio were initially considered for the role of Matthew but both turned it down because Jack's was concerned about the explicit nature of the nude scenes and Leonardo was in pre-production with "the Aviator".

Lavender Field in Provence, France

Today came a postcard FR-299464 from France. It shows a lavish Lavender field in Provence. Lavender is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plants in the mint family of Lamiaceae. It can be found in southern Europe, northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, and southwest Asia. There are a lot Lavender fields in the South of France.

Lavender is grown mainly to produce Lavender oil in culinary and medical uses. There is even a color named after the shade of its flowers. The color transpires romantic feelings that mix love, sadness and hope. I had read several fictions using Lavender fields as backdrops.

Eiffel Tower, and the Replicas

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

I have been sending off quite a few Eiffel Tower postcards since I joined the PostCrossing, although they were of the replica in front of Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Naturally, I was quite excited when I received a postcard (FR-287501) of the Eiffel Tower from Paris, France yesterday.

Paris Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Coincidentally, France celebrates its first gay marriage yesterday, becoming the 14th country to legalize gay marriage,  after President François Hollande signed the country’s “Marriage for All” act into law on May 18, 2013.

More coincidentally, when Paris Hotel's owner Harrah's focused on marketing its properties to specific segments of the population to counter the 2008-2009 economic downturn, Paris was being marketed heavily towards gay and lesbian travelers, according to a Las Vegas Review Journal article "Executive Wants To Ensure Hotel Guests Get Social Cachet For Their Cash" posted on February 22, 2009.

In the United States, only Washington, D.C., and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage. If we are proud that we have at least 10 Eiffel Tower replicas in the United States, will we be prouder when some day the same-sex marriage is recognized in all 50 states in the United States, following France's lead?

Here are a few more postcards of the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas Hotel:

US-2209904

Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas Hotel under a Full Moon

You can find postcards of the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower from many gift shops in Las Vegas. You can purchase a copy of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas under a Full Moon from Zazzle.com.

If you have a postcard or a photo of the Eiffel Tower or one of the replicas around the world, can you send me a copy? I will return a postcard to you from Las Vegas and feature your card here.

Eiffel Tower replicas in the US:

• Eiffel Tower, Kings Island Amusement Park, Mason, Ohio, 101 m  (332 ft), 1:3 scale
• Eiffel Tower, Kings Dominion Amusement Park, Doswell, Virginia, 101 m (332 ft), 1:3 scale
• Bordeaux Tower, Fayetteville, North Carolina, 45 m (148 ft), 1:6 scale
• Eiffel Tower. EPCOT, Disney World, Orlando, Florida, 23 m (76 ft), 1:14 scale
• Paris-Texas Eiffel Tower,  Paris, Texas, 20 m (66 ft), 1:16 scale
• Paris-Tennessee Eiffel Tower, Paris, Tennessee.  18 m (60 ft), 1:20 scale
• Meccano model, SciTrek Technology Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, 11 m (36 ft)
• Dreyfus Eiffel Tower, Austin, Texas, 7.5 m (25 ft), 1:45 scale
• Paris-Michigan Eiffel Tower, Paris, Michigan, 3 m (10 ft), 1:110 scale