Sunday, August 30, 2015

Souvenir Folders - Part 2 - and More

Haynes Souvenir Folder
Yellowstone Park
Series A
Old Faithful Region
[Front Cover]

From our old postcard collection ... In our last post we introduced an early Souvenir Folder from Yellowstone National Park. These folders allowed tourists to pick up postcard views of scenes in the Park ... several scenes in one folder. In the mid 1900s the Official Photographer for the Park was F. J. Haynes who operated several shops in the park in order to sell his photographs and postcards. Haynes published a series of Souvenir Folders and we will be sharing them with you. This folder is Series A, the Old Faithful Region; publishing date was probably in the 1930s or 40s. Back in those days you could have mailed one of these folders (without a message!) to a friend for one and a half cents. Yes, believe it or not, at one time the US Postal Service sold stamps with a one half cent value. Check them out on the web if you are curious. To the best of our recollection we have never seen one that was used on any of the old postcards or souvenir folders in our collection.  How about you, have you ever seen a half cent postage stamp? Might be a neat stamp to add to a stamp collection.

Photo from the Web.


Now, here are some of the scenes you see in the Series A folder ...

[Left] Riverside Geyser
[Right] Daisy Geyser

[Left] Old Faithful
[Right] Grand Geyser

[Left] Old Faithful at Sunrise
[Right] Old Faithful Geyser and Spectators

Oblong Geyser Crater

Emerald Pool

Description of YNP printed on inside back cover.

Back Cover
"Grizzly Bear Family"

Recent skies ...

August 22nd
Late afternoon

August 26th
O-Dark-thirty
Moon setting over Puget Sound

August 25th
Early Evening
Pink clouds over Olympic Mountains


August 26th


August 21st
For our friends who enjoy sky photography, here is part of an article from the Washington Post. This will give a heads-up on September's Full Moon around the end of the month.

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr. August 29 at 5:43 PM

"Forget July’s blue moon. For September’s full moon, you’ll probably see red. Catch a compelling, cosmic treat Sept. 27 and 28: It’s a full harvest moon featuring a total lunar eclipse.

As Earth travels around the sun, the planet always casts a shadow. Late in September, the moon moves across that shadow, and we are in a perfect place to watch a total lunar eclipse. By the way, it’s the largest full moon of the year.

The partial phase starts at 9:07 p.m. Sept. 27, when our lunar neighbor cruises into the Earth’s penumbral shadow, according to Fred Espenak, a NASA alumnus and noted eclipse expert. Over the following hour, the moon advances into the umbral shadow. At 10:11 p.m., the moon reaches totality, completely engrossed in the umbra, or the darkest part of the shadow — and that’s when skygazers may bask in an orange-red moon. (Espenak’s Web site: www.eclipsewise.com.)"

A few more dahlias ...

In our last post we included some pictures taken at the Volunteer Park Dahlia Garden on August 16th. Here are a few more from that session ...





Thank you for stopping by John's Island.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Yellowstone Souvenir Folder [1910s] and More

From our collection of old postcards ...

Yellowstone National Park
Souvenir Folder
ca 1910 - 1915
In the early 1900s it was not uncommon for travelers to visit a place and pick up a souvenir folder of views that could remind them of their visit. This was sort of like buying a whole bunch of postcards and wrapping them into one cover. This particular folder is a very early one from Yellowstone National Park. In those days, if you purchased one of these, you could mail it to a friend for one cent postage (as long as you didn't include a message ... in that case, you needed more postage!) For you modern folks out there this surely was not as convenient as Instagram, but in our humble opinion, has a more lasting quality. Now, here are some of the images in the Souvenir Folder ...

#4304 - A Park Bear
Linking up with Saturday Critters. Thanks Eileen! Check out Saturday Critters for neat critter posts!
#4321 - Crater of Mud Volcano

#4323 - Hyman Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs

#4291 - The Sponge, Upper Geyser Basin

#5341 - Silver Gate
This one helps date the folder. Horse carriages
were phased out around 1915.

#7713 - Fort Yellowstone
Many people do not know YNP was guarded by
the US Army in early years.

#8138 - Northern Pacific Depot and Entrance to Park
The Northern Pacific was first railroad to serve YNP.

#4293 - Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
from Artist Point
This is the back cover of the folder.
A narrow cut across the top will accomodate the
closing flap you see in the next image.

Back cover with closing flap.
Have you seen Yellowstone National Park?

Recent skies ...

August 9 late evening.
Breezy conditions as clouds move out after
our first rainy weekend in several weeks.


August 11 about 8 PM

August 11 at sunset. Smoke in the skies from regional
forest fires adds to the color.

August 12 near sunset.

August 17 near sunset.

August 18 just after sunset. We did not even notice
crows in tres on left until looking at the picture later.
Do you see them? We were trying to capture the way
the mountains created shadows in the sky.

August 18 after sunset. Olympic Mountains to the west.
Linking up with Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosts! Check out their site for more sky photos.

Maritime Update ...

We noticed two NOAA ships in harbor this past week.

NOAA ship Bell M Shimada
in Elliott Bay at anchorage.
The Bell M Shimada is a Fisheries Survey Vessel. More info here.

NOAA ship Thomas G Thompson
near Pier 90
The Thomas G Thompson is an Oceanographic Research Ship operated by the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. More info here.

Thank you for stopping by John's Island.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Great Northern Ry [1930s] Dahlia Garden [2015]

From our collection of old postcards ...

Old fashioned postcard folder with 18 views.
"In the Cascades"
"As seen on the Main Line of
Great Northern Railway"
 Here are 6 of the views in the folder ...
Wenatchee River

The Oriental Limited in
the Heart of the Cascades

Business Section of Tacoma

Water Front Seattle
Olympic Mountains in the Background

Scenic Hot Springs

Along the Skykomish River
Dahlia Garden update ...

Those of you who have followed us for a while will recall our posts featuring the dahlias from the garden of the Puget Sound Dahlia Association located in Volunteer Park, Seattle, Washington. Earlier this summer we posted the first blooms. We returned on Sunday, August 16, for another look. The garden is now mostly in bloom. Here are a few photos from our visit ... we will share more on a future post.

Click on images for larger view.




Playing around with the mosaic thing. Lots to learn!
Ever wonder how bees can fly where they want so perfectly?

Some of the blooms are really large!

Just another blue-sky day in Puget Sound.



Our post with the first blooms this season is here.

Our post to last season's wrap-up, and links to other dahlia posts, is here.

Thank you for stopping by John's Island.

For Critter Friends

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