Autumn nostalgia for past Papergreat autumn posts

I was searching for a past Papergreat post the other day — there are nearly 4,000 of them! — and I came across some older posts that I had half-forgotten about and am extremely fond of. Autumn is my favorite time of the year and there have been many posts on that theme over the past 16 years.

So I'm resharing a few of my favorites here today, autumn evergreens that deserve to be dusted off and pulled down from Papergreat's attic. 

"Autumn Woods"

A 2013 post featured this Phostint postcard of a work by George Inness (1825–1894), an American landscape painter who was a major part of the tonalist movement. The oil-on-canvas work was created very late in Inness' life. I have a vague recollection that I ended up mailing this postcard to a Postcrossing pal in the Netherlands, but that might have been a different autumn postcard. It's all hazy.

American Autumn, 2014

These photos and the others in that 2014 post were taken many smartphone iterations ago in Pennsylvania and still look decent. I'm looking forward to seeing how photos turn out on my refurbished iPhone 13 after I figure out how to set it up.

Old, old German postcard

Or maybe this postcard that I featured in 2013 is the one I mailed to the Netherlands. Or maybe I mailed them both to the Netherlands! Or maybe they're still sitting in a shoebox upstairs. Who knows?

Russian wheat field

This one I'm almost positive is still in the shoebox. No one took me up on the offer. I guess that's OK, I'm kind of fond of it.

Raking leaves

This is an illustration from a 2011 post about a battered copy of the textbook Making Storybook Friends that was used in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, schools. That book is long gone from the household.

Preserving these in color

Now that Papergreat's archival bound editions are printed in color with large photos, I'll be able to have color versions of these illustrations from 1961's Our Homes and Our School preserved in print. That was one of the ulterior motives for everything featured in this post. (The bad news is that the new print-on-demand outfit provides books with large color photos but does not keep them in order within each individual post, which is going to make this post, especially, a clusterbumble in physical media form.)

Uncle Willie in the hay

Finally, this 2013 post features a cabinet card from way back in 1897 showing a toddler in a haystack. Just about all that we knew then, and know now, is that it's Uncle Willie. 

Weekly Reader book: "Haunted Houses"

Spooktober will be here very soon, so let's starting getting into the, ahem, spirit...

• Title: Haunted Houses 
• Author and illustrator: Larry Kettelkamp (1933-2023). He was previously featured on Papergreat in 2021 for his book Investigating UFO's. He died on October 1, 2023, and his obituary notes that he was "a quintessential renaissance man" who lived a long life filled with "unique twists and turns." He began as an illustrator but then, according to his obituary: "Realizing that he could write the informational children’s books he had been illustrating, Larry successfully proposed that idea to Prentice Hall publishing. It was the start of a long illustrious career as an author/illustrator of over 35 informational trade books for juniors and young adults. The subject matter of his books focused on subjects that piqued his interest ranging from poltergeists, to magic, to optical illusions. His books were to become ubiquitous in school libraries throughout the U.S. as well as staples of the ever-popular school book fairs." Many children of the 1970s are so glad he took that route! 
• Cover photo: The famous (to my generation, anyway) Tulip Staircase ghost photo taken by Rev. Ralph W. Hardy in 1966.
• Publisher: Weekly Reader Books
• Year: 1969 (Weekly Reader Books Edition published by arrangement with William Morrow and Company)
• Pages: 95
• Format: Staplebound paperback
• Chapter titles: The Tower of London, The Haunted Rectory, The Manor House Ghost, The California Ghost, The Ghost in the Music Building, The Ghosts That Were Photographed, Poltergeists of the Past, The Scottish Poltergeist, The Farm Poltergeist, The Bottle-Popping Poltergeist, The Store Poltergeist, Memories in Space, Separation of Consciousness, and Energy of the Mind.
• First sentence: Have you ever seen a ghost?
• Well?? I have not, as I mentioned last autumn while feeling especially cynical.
• Last two sentences: The ghosts of haunted houses and the pranks of poltergeists are fascinating subjects for study and speculation. Perhaps, also, they actually can give us clues to the nature of a larger reality than we ordinarily experience in our daily lives.
• Random passage from the middle #1: It has been suggested that our experience of time is, in part, an illusion. Time may be a dimension similar to length and width. That is, the past and future may have some shape, even though we see only the shape of the present. According to this idea, everything that existed in the past still exists. All events have shape and exist permanently. Although our consciousness must usually be concerned with the shape of the present, at times it may also notice the shape of the past.
• Whoa: Whoa, indeed. If you want to dive headlong into the ideas of Albert Einstein, Hermann Weyl and the nature of time, this Astronomy.com article is a good place to start down the rabbit hole.
• Random passage from the middle #2: Admittedly, poltergeists do not show up very often. But over the years hundreds of examples have been collected and reviewed over and over by a whole series of psychical investigators. Even modern science cannot fully explain some of these mysterious events.
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.6 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: In 2017, Amelia Kibbie wrote: "The author was obviously well-researched and credits some paranormal researchers affiliated with institutions of learning in the foreward. A lot of his information seems to come from the famed parapsychology lab at Duke University. I'll be keeping this copy for my daughter to read someday."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.4 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review:  In 2016, Grammie of Three wrote: "This book was my first exposure to ghost stories as a child. Looking back, I'm surprised that it was offered in our little Catholic school library sometime around the late 70's or early 80's. I bought this to share with our son, and nieces. Fun campfire short stories, but....be prepared for the nightmares, or having the munchkins in bed with you. lol"
• Comments from a July Vintage Paperback Books post on Facebook: "This book had true stories about ghosts in various parts of the world with really scary photos. I was always fascinated with horror and ghosts as a kid even though I was also quite scared of all of it." ... "I took it out of my school library many, many times!" ... "OMG! This book freaked me out when I was a kid!" ... "Because of this book and Carnival of Souls, I used to race up the stairs at top panic speed. I was certain the ghouls were grabbing my back." ... "Was this the one that included the story of Elke Sommer's house? That freaked me out." [Note from me: Yes, it does include Sommer's story.] 

Monkey "assisted" me on this post,  

to the extent that I typed much of it with one hand.

Postcard: Miniature golf at Hawaii's Castle Park

This vintage postcard shows part of the miniature golf course at Castle Park, an amusement park that was only in operation from 1976 to 1990 on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. That's kind of a shame, because they clearly put much effort into it. The kooky house in the background is amazeballs.

According to Theme Park Crawl, the park "featured a variety of attractions, including a castle (naturally), an arcade, a mini-golf course, a pirate ship, bumper boats, and more. The park’s charming and unique theming set it apart from typical amusement parks. One of the standout features was the bumper boats that circled the castle, which offered a distinctive experience. Unfortunately, Castle Park closed in 1990 due to low visitor numbers and was later transformed into a shopping area."

I have read other accounts giving a far more tragic reason than "low visitor numbers" for the park's closure, but there are competing/conflicting stories out there I'd rather not delve into.

The postcard's photograph was taken by Loye Guthrie, whose name I've seen tied to other Hawaii photography and some books.  It's an undated Dexter Press card (a "Dexter Supreme") that was published by World Wide Distributors of Honolulu. According to the postcard, there were three 18-hole mini-golf courses at the park.

There are a fair number of Facebook and Reddit posts out there featuring memories of Castle Park, if you want to look up more about the place. And if you browse Castle Park Hawaii on eBay you'll find some other jaw-dropping postcards of the place, plus people selling old coins and tokens from the amusement park.

Previous posts

• Saturday's postcard: 1970s Putt-Putt courses in Indiana
• A pair of colorful vintage miniature golf postcards
• Saturday's postcard: Miniature golf at Raven Rock

Some Sunday morning humor*

BlueSky post and my reply

*Having a little laugh is better than having to try to wrap your brain around this fluffing nonsense on a weekend morning: "At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage. There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World. Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"