Old Postcard from North Dakota

One of the oldest pieces of mail I own is a postcard that was sent to my great-grandmother, Alma Olafson (below), before she married my great-grandfather, John Holen in 1912. This photo was taken in the 1950s. Alma was the recipient of the postcard below.

 

The front of the card has about an inch of white to the left of the photograph. I'm unsure why this is or if it was done on purpose or accidentally.

You can clearly see the year is 1910, although the actual date is not noted. Alma would have been approximately 22 years of age the year she received this.

The postmark says it is sent from Pleasant Lake, ND, which is the name of the lake in the photograph. The lake was called Broken Bone Lake by the Dakota Indians and is located Pleasant Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which is east of Rugby, ND.

Etta G, the author of the postcard, I think may have been Alma's cousin, Emma Groettum, who went to teach at Pleasant Lake.

My grandmother, Alice (daughter-in-law to Alma) had this postcard in one of her photo albums that I inherited when she died years ago.

What I Bought at Faber-Castell in Germany

Last October we traveled to Nuremburg, Germany where I visited the Faber-Castell shop. I did a post on the Castle Grounds and also my tour of the onsite Faber-Castell Shop.

I spent the most time deciding on the fountain pen I wanted to purchase. I ended up purchasing this LOOM pen with a medium nib. Normally, I prefer a fine point pen, but for a fountain pen, I prefer a wider nib.

I selected the silver color which has a shiny barrel, a matte cover and a grip area with fine rings for easier handling.

Below is a close up of the nib. Even though the nib is medium, it writes like a fine. The ink can be a little heavy at times, but it could just be the user acclimating to the personality of the pen.

I selected three colors of ink cartridges: Hazelnut Brown, Violet Blue and Deep Sea Green (shown below).

I also selected this quality set of watercolor pencils. I've long been fascinated by the art of creating art with watercolors, but I haven't experimented much with using these.

I've recently begun creating Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and exchanging them on Swapbot.I will post some examples of those in another blog next week.

These pencils have a triangular shape and a sturdy dot grip not to mention a wide variety of color.

More posts to follow with my watercolor experiments masterpieces!