Friday, April 3, 2009

Postcard Friendship Friday #9



Miami Beach
.
It's Postcard Friendly Friday! Today's postcard, from my ever growing postcard collection, features a view of Miami Beach, looking south from Lake Pancoast. The hotels pictured include the Surfside, Breakers, Wofford and Roney Plaza.
.
.
Art Deco Design.


Miami Beach has been a tourist mecca for nearly a century. The historic Art Deco District was highlighted in the pastel police drama, Miami Vice.
.

Stop by and see Don any time.


.


.
Watch out for gun fights and explosions when the new season of Burn Notice begins in June - a full 16 episodes for you yogurt loving spy wannabe's.


.

.
The postcard message is dated April 1, 1937 and is addressed to Miss Verna Blatz of Bridgeport Connecticut.The Message reads:


Hello Verna,
.
Tell Maga I have the pussy willows. Thank her for them. They are lovely. So glad you all liked your Easter gifts and tell Maga she CAN'T have your mother's gloves! The very idea!! Shocking! The old gent's picture with me is good. He's 84 years young. It's cool here too but SOME nice weather - am out in a dress. Wish I had you ALL here too. Dan will be in Cleveland till next Monday. He'll miss you all.
XXX to all
Aunt Lee"
The Back Story: Aunt Lee has been humming around Miami Beach for the entire winter. She suffers from acute chilblains and can no longer tolerate the Cleveland winters. Actually she can't tolerate Cleveland and most certainly cannot tolerate Dan. So, she is living in the land of sunshine and dictating life according to Aunt Lee to the nieces she has taken under her wing since the unfortunate passing of her sister, their mother, in an freak crop dusting accident 3 years earlier.
.
The battle for Mother's gloves has been going on for the duration but goes into full swing every Easter. Verna and Maga both have their heart set on the lovely pink kid gloves and the elbow length black satin with the 3 mother of pearl buttons. Maga feels she is entitled to them as she, unlike her maiden sister Verna, has married well and has many social obligations. Everyone know's Maga's hands are much lovlier, with her long tapered fingers. The gloves would be a much better fit on her than on Verna's chubby little sausages.
.
The very day of her mother's passing, Verna, snatched the gloves out of Mother's top bureau drawer along with the cameo broach featuring Napoleon at Waterloo, and hid them in the cubby hole in the hall closet until the matter of ownership can be settled. Maga has been on a search frenzy every chance she gets and has made a complete mess of the upstairs and the attic. Verna just stays in the kitchen where she shells peas and smiles ever so slightly to herself as she listens to sounds of hat boxes and cedar chests being opened and searched.
.
Verna doesn't know what to make of the remark about the 84 year old gentleman. Her first assumption is that Aunt Lee has found herself another sugar daddy. Verna suspects he is not the first, nor will he be the last to keep her company while Dan is in Cleveland. Aunt Lee feels it is not socially acceptable to be seen in public of an evening without an escort, despite the fact that the 84 year old escort may raise more eyebrows than a lone Lee.
.
At least Aunt Lee is in agreement about the gloves......or is she....perhaps Aunt Lee is planning on laying claim to them. Thus the plans to visit in July....... Verna stops shelling peas just long enough to make sure all of the knives are properly sharpened.
.




For more Postcard Friendly Friday Fun, visit Marie at Voila Vintage Postcards!


28 comments:

Robyn Kadis said...

Love these Post Card Friday... very clever and so amuse swing....

Look forward to next weeks episode.

Pat said...

Love this Miami post...I love art deco! I also love the Golden Girls! They live/d in Miami, too.

Jeannette StG said...

I know that this does not have to do much with your post, but I love pussy willows - when living in the Netherlands (I am Dutch) I used to buy them every spring - I miss that in California!

Sheila said...

It's a lovely card but what an intriguing message on it! I love your interpretation as always.

Mim said...

Don Johnson??? Had forgotten about him - wow. lovely PC's musey - and lovely story.

steviewren said...

I wonder whatever became of Aunt Lee and the girls, Verna and Maga.

Another wonderful PFF! You know these postcards tales would make a funny little book.....I'm just sayin......

Rudee said...

Aunt Lee was a scandalous wench.

larkswing said...

Haha - love it! Thanks for sharing your great post card back stories!

Anonymous said...

Musey I am amused as always by your clever background story, but I must say, I find the message on this particular postcard highly unusual and rather cryptic. I think the entire message is in fact a secret code between spies! The pussy willows may be microfishe, the gloves obviously code names for choice assignments, and '84' is quite clearly the number for something, possibly grenades....one would be wise to check up on what international conflicts were happening at the time. The biggest giveaway is "Dan will be in Cleveland till next Monday". Ha! I wonder what that *really* means. Is "Dan" code-word for a vehicle carrying the president of some banana republic?!

-Lavi

Amy said...

I have never been to Miami before. Looks fun.

Aimee said...

Love the Don Johnson one!! That's just too funny!

Sparky said...

Nowbody can tolerate Cleveland!
Happy PFF! :o))

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

This took me back! I love Miami Beach! Thank you M.S. Happy Friday!!

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Yes I'm with Aunt Lee who has been "humming around Miami Beach for the entire winter". What a character! What are "acute chilblains"? She seems so empowered! I can just hear her telling her friends that she "can no longer tolerate the Cleveland winters". Wish I could meet her! Thanks for sharing your postcards! <3

Chris Overstreet said...

A beautiful view of the beach; of course, you can't see the trees for the hotels today. But the matter of the gloves is nothing to be trifled with.

Evelyn Yvonne Theriault said...

Hey - It's CSI week on PFF! I just visited Las Vegas at another site. I wonder if someone will finish off the trio with New York City!
Evelyn in Montreal

Margo said...

I'm loving the Don Johnson card. So funny. Your narrative has got me wanting to read more! You could get a book out of that beginning with a collection of sharp knives.

Lanny said...

Sausages need beautiful gloves more than beautiful slender things!

Marie Reed said...

This post has so many hilarious elements I don't even know where to start! You are simply awesome:) These stories are really book worthy!

MuseSwings said...

I have the best time reading all the comments on PFF! Youse guys are all just a hoot! Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Judith Richards Shubert said...

Oh, I love, love, love this! You are such a great storyteller! The cards are wonderful and the gloves are fantastic! Can't wait to hear more of Aunt Lee, Verna and Maga.

Eddy said...

I like your poscard.
All American vintage postards are very interesting, old but in color, and always a beautiful lanscape.
Happy PFF.

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

What an impudent post! (See? I'm helping you keep your adopted word alive!) Cute backstory!

Jeanne Estridge said...

Because I totally thought this postcard was written in code, where pussy willows = formula for explosives, gloves = detonating device and 84 was the number of days until Cleveland would become a mineshaft.

Tiffany said...

Hi! The Don Johnson card cracked me up! I just wanted to thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such sweet comments. I am so glad you come visit often and your comments always make my day! Thank you!

MuseSwings said...

I almost forgot to answer Cynthia's question: Chilblains are patches of painful, red, swollen, puffy skin thought to be caused by a combination of sensitivity to the cold and poor circulation.It's a very old term and the word translates to cold blister.

Margaret Ann said...

OOOOH! Nice post...love the postcard...and that art deco design really rocks!!! Question: Would it be alright with you if I used the art deco piece for a painting/illustration?

Pearl said...

Excellent post, and a beautiful postcard, too... Loved the detail in the art...
Your back story was wonderfully creative...
At least Verna snatched the gloves from "Mother's" top drawer, instead of off of her cold, dead hands!
Hope you're having a wonderful week...
~blessings~
Pearl