Saturday, February 18, 2017

Two vintage postcards with comforting pastoral settings

It's a beautiful Spring day here in mid-February in the northeastern United States. So hopefully you're enjoying the outdoors and not sitting inside reading a blog about old paper...


Shepherd in Cyprus
"Cypriot shepherd" is the caption on the back of this card.

The Republic of Cyprus is a small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea. In the middle of the 20th century, agriculture and livestock were the backbone of the nation's economy. That has waned in the past few decades, as the service sector has risen to the forefront of the economy, while farming operations have become dependent upon government subsidies to remain afloat.

Previous Papergreat posts have featured sheep from France, France (again) and Parts Unknown.

This postcard has nothing to indicate its publisher or year of production. It has never been used.

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Village and lake
Speaking of France, here is today's second postcard. It was produced in Strasbourg, France, and the caption on the back states "METZERAL — La Fischbœdle." Metzeral is a commune (township or, in this case, just a village) of about 1,100 residents in northeastern France. Its economy revolves around cheese-making and water-bottling. Fischbœdle is the name of a small lake within walking distance of Metzeral; it is the lake pictured on this postcard. It seems like a wonderful place to sit under a tree at the edge of the lake and read a book.

Stamped in purple on the back is the date August 21, 1946. But this postcard has not otherwise been used or written on.

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