Saturday, October 16, 2021

Saturday's postcard: RPPC with family, jack-o'-lantern and cat

This CYKO real photo postcard dates to sometime between 1904 and the 1920s, according to Playle. It was never mailed, but there's a cursive caption on the back:
This was taken Election Day with the pumpkin from Halloween. How do you like the cat?
I wish we knew more about these two people and where they lived. We might presume they are mother and daughter. They're in a place where the leaves fall from the trees in autumn and it can snow in early November. From the way they're dressed, it's fairly chilly. There are some rolling hills in the background. I believe we can rule out Arizona. :)

And how about that cat?? I'll be honest that I didn't notice it at first. I'm sure I would have eventually, but it's the caption on the back that tipped me off. Let's take a couple of closer looks at the image.
It's not clear to me whether the cat is sitting on a tree branch behind her, or sitting on her shoulder. The way she's slightly hunched over makes me think that maybe the cat is sitting on her, but as I peer at it closely, my best guess is that that cat is actually right behind her. Great work on the photo angle, if that was purposeful!

What does everyone else think?

It's kind of funny that this postcard should come up for Mild Fear, because one of the new quirks our cat Monkey has picked up in recent months is that he loves to sit on my shoulder. If I hold my arm up so he has a ledge for his feet, he will perch there happily for a long time, even if I get up and start walking around. Does anyone else have a cat that does this? Why are our cats so odd??

2 comments:

  1. I'm wondering about that Jack O' Lantern. It has a handle. Is that a real pumpkin they put a handle on? Or is that a metal (or other) fake pumpkin?

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    1. That's a great question. There was a jack o'lantern with a handle in an old photo the other day, too. I have to think that 100 years ago, it was typical to rig up some kind of homemade handle on real carved pumpkins, because I doubt the mass-produced ones we're familiar with today were either widespread or inexpensive. But it would be interesting to investigate further.

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