Postcard Friendship Friday - Cold in a Warm Place

Welcome to Postcard Friendship Friday! Thank you to our host, Marie of Voila! Vintage Postcards for continuing these fun and friendly Fridays.

Today's postcard pictures a residential Ft. Lauderdale street with Royal Poinciana's and Jacaranda's in full bloom. The Florida version of spring.

Royal Poinciana in Key West, Florida

Jacaranda blues

Both of these trees can be found in warm climates throughout the world. They are both valued for the intensely beautiful and showy blooms that attract hummingbirds and tourists.

The card is postmarked December 6, 1943, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The green 1 cent stamp shows Lady Liberty and includes the message: "Freedom of Speech and Religion, from want and fear." an appropriate message for 1943.

On December 6th, WWII was grinding on in Europe and the Pacific. President Roosevelt declared the end of the Great Depression. This was due to the increased employment during WWII.

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Two days after the card was posted, Jim Morrison of The Doors was born.

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The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1943.

The addressee was:

Mrs. Thomas C. Luther

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Lake Avenue at Circular St.

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Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Saratoga Springs has many freshwater springs just as the name implies.

There are currently 17 public mineral springs in various locations throughout Saratoga. Each one is naturally carbonated. No two springs taste exactly alike - each one produces its own unique mineral content, imparting its own distinct flavor. The purported health benefits vary from spring to spring... some are said to help with skin ailments, assist in digestion, or even strengthen the blood!

A public freshwater spring.


The message on the card reads:

Dear Mrs. Luther,

This is a beautiful city. Climate is warm and pleasant.

Took cold on the train and had one of the worst colds I've ever had. coughed and naised. Mrs. Budd also has a very hard cold. We both are getting better of them, but have enough yet.

Are pleasantly located in a private home. Will not take an apartment.

Have you snow and cold weather?

With love,

Lelia M. B.

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Mrs. Luther reads the latest post from Lelia on the way to the trash bin. It has always been Lelia's habit, since their primary school days, to go off on lovely vacations in the dead of winter. That's all well and good, but she insists on complaining about health problems - as a means of downplaying the Utopian vacation spots - then mentions her lovely and comfortable quarters and then innocuously ask about the weather in Saratoga Springs as if it would do anything else except snow it's brains out in December. Duh!

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Cold remedies were then - as they are now - just a series of medications and warm drinks that will made the cold sufferer feel a little better for a few moments. Some Vicks Vapo-Rub perhaps. A pot of chicken soup. A mustard plaster. Smith Brother's Wild Cherry Cough Drops were soothing to the throat and a local product - manufactured in Poughkeepsie, New York.

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An old remedy: 1 medium onion chopped very finely, sprinkled heavily with brown sugar. Let sit for 3 hours. Give to patient (including children) to eat as much as they feel like. (How about if I don't feel like having any?) The thought is that there is a "cure" ingredient in onions that will come out only if the onion is cut and allowed to sit for a while.

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My family's remedy - passed down through generations is a mixture of honey, lemon and whiskey. Yummy! Good for a sore throat and a cough.

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You'll be especially relieved to know this:

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In 1924 facial tissue as it is known today was first introduced by Kimberly-Clark as Kleenex. It was invented as a means to remove cold cream. Early advertisements linked Kleenex to Hollywood makeup departments and sometimes included endorsements from movie stars (Helen Hayes and Jean Harlow) who used Kleenex to remove their theatrical makeup with cold cream. It was the customers that started to use Kleenex as a disposable handkerchief, and a reader review in 1926 by a newspaper in Peoria, Illinois found that 60 % of the users used it for blowing their nose.

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Saratoga Race Course is a famous horse-racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. I can just hear you Brits and Europeans snickering whenever we Yankee's refer to any of our architecture as "old".
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Supposedly the club sandwich was invented in Saratoga Springs in 1899 and Saratoga Springs was also the site where the first potato chips were made. I've got no proof - just some hearsay found in various articles about Saratoga. So don't hold me to it. In fact, I don't believe it either.