Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy...

As John sang, “So this is Christmas and what have you done, another year over and a new one just begun”, so many Christmases ago. I find myself contemplating the season and wondering about all the lessons we had, in song, story and film, about this time of year. All the lessons that seem to be lost, but all the while we pay lip service to the sentiment of those lessons. As the saying goes our actions speak louder than words. Here in my Christmas present, I see the future Christmases. Thinking about Dickens and the lessons for Ebenezer not to be miserly not just with money but with his emotions as well. You have to give love to be loved. The Grinch learned this as well that truly the season came and went without packages and presents and just as importantly without the mention of a spiritual belief. That it is humane to be kind to one another; to give love when all is lost. George Bailey in, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, learns what it would be like to not be a part of peoples lives, to be gone, and that above all to cherish those around us. I can not count the number of social media posts I’ve seen this year with sayings like, the reason for the season, and the War against Christmas, and that red cup must go, and on and on with cliché upon cliché about how this is what Christmas truly means. But these same people then post something about the money, something about hate, something 180 degrees away from the “True meaning” posts. The countless times I was asked and I asked myself as it has become the holiday ice breaker, ‘So are you ready for the holidays?’ Almost always the answer had to do with shopping first and then decorations. Never, not even once, did anyone say I’m just spending time with family. I would usually just say no, and occasionally that I don’t really care for the holiday season because it seems too hectic. The tsunami of chaos that is the holiday in that there is too much to do there is the overwhelming feeling that you can not seem to escape the chaos because it is everywhere. Those with whom I have served are reminding everyone not to forget those in our armed services and in first responder jobs that they are giving of themselves for all of us. These posts are at best, stepping in the right direction and at worst, the same political rhetoric in a very hostile political cycle. As I am a person on call this year, dealing with very un Christmas like things, I am missing spending time with family. I did get to see many of my family early and spent time together with them. There are family that I did not get to see this holiday and many I have not seen for many a holiday season. Thankfully social media allows us to see into the lives of those far away and be a part of their lives while apart from their lives, in the moments they share. As I have had a lot of Christmases I don’t remember many of the things I gotten but I remember spending time with family. I would trade anything to spend time with those who are gone just for a conversation. While I am alone physically this holiday, I did see my daughter, my mother, my brother just a few days ago and my other brother and his family at Thanksgiving and my son just the other day. What I remember are the good times and smiles and hugs and laughs. It does not matter the day, if you give love you will be loved perhaps one day all those lessons will sink in and we will do more showing love rather than just paying lip service to the sentiment. Sowing seeds of love and understanding will reap a better harvest than sowing seeds of hate and mistrust. Embrace this joyous day of celebration, you are alive, cherish those around you and do good for the world. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow Happy Birthday if it is your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it is not your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don Playstation Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send post cards … I love post cards

X files, pipe smoke and my grandfather

Today while I was at work a co worker had some sort scent thing running and the scent was familiar and I couldn’t place it at first. Then it came to me my grandfather smoked a pipe and the smell was what he smoked. My co worker was not however huddled in the corner puffing away on a pipe but there is something about that image which might not be far from the truth… but I digress My maternal grandfather smoked a pipe everyone else in the family smoked cigarettes and I mean everyone smoked. Now no one does… go figure. I had not thought about my grandfather smoking a pipe let alone what it smelled like until today probably not ever consciously. Today though I found myself anytime my mind wandered thinking about this man who has been gone now for nearly 30 years. My children never met him nor any of my nieces or my nephew. Here is a man whose memories of who he was and his mannerisms end with my generation. Sure there are photos and stories but not a real link to the man. He was not a famous man; he came from humble beginnings, one of fourteen children born to immigrants from Italy. He was the first in his family to graduate from High School. He was not a prideful man and put others before himself. He could have been a professional baseball player and was recruited by the Cleveland Indians prior to World War II. When the War began he, like many other men, put aside their personal goals and dreams and enlisted in the Military. My grandfather was a medical corpsman in the US Navy and served from WW II through Korea. During his time in the military he earned two bronze stars. He talked very little about his service only saying he met Jack Kennedy and thought he was a bit arrogant, that he was on Iwo Jima and that the photo of the flag rising was staged after the fighting was over for the news papers. During Korea he was transferred from ship duty to field duty with a US Marine unit and once when he had newly arrived at a camp, the camp came under attack and he jumped into a defensive bunker. The soldier helping him dust off and get to his feet was his brother in law, who supposedly said, “Funny thing running into you here, Johnny.” I remember going to the town barber shop and the liquor store with him and the smells of hair clippings, witch hazel and Old Spice, Vitalis hair tonic and whiskey where common, along with that pipe smoke. I don’t remember any of the conversations just a bunch of older men telling stories in a barber shop or at the liquor store and hearing those men call him Doc which was from his days in the Navy having been a medic. Granddad may have actually worked at the liquor store not to give you the impression he was a drunk. He did nurse me back from my first drunken outing though which hot black coffee from a percolator. I had a good relationship with my grandfather, but not one that was overly close. He didn’t really impart any great pearls of wisdom or knowledge. Although he was a patient man, he was kind and I only really saw him get angry once in my life. Maybe twice because I am remembering him spanking me now that I think about it but mainly he left that up to our grandmother. Truth be told she hit harder and not because he couldn’t hit as hard as her I just don’t think he liked to do it. He was a gentle man and quiet, but was firm when he was passionate about something. When I was stationed in Germany, I went on leave to Italy. I didn’t have a plan; I didn’t tell anyone where I was going because I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t tell anyone where I was staying, because when I got off the train I had no idea where I would go. I just started walking and found a bank then found a hotel that looked okay and booked a room. There were not any other Americans in that town apart from me, at least not that I was aware, I was alone. I was able to use the bartenders moped in exchange for teaching him some basic English phrases for an hour a day. One day after I had been there in Italy for about a week, the desk clerk tells me I have a phone call. I think no I don’t because no one knows I’m here. The clerk said he was sure it was for me. I go into a phone booth, answer the call, and it is my grandfather. I’m still not sure how he found me, and I was not able to ask him later because one week after that phone call he had a massive stroke and remained in a coma until he died several weeks later. His funeral was a full dress Navy funeral complete with color and honor guard. Turns out this quiet man was kind of a big deal at least in the eyes of the Navy and not just his family. I remember he said he had been proud of me for my service in the military even if it was in the Air Force. I have a photo of my grandfather and his parents on the wall beside my desk here at home. I see him everyday but today he is a lot clearer in my mind than he has been in years. Today was a good day remembering a man who I miss and wish my kids could have known. My daughter would have certainly earned his pride because they both like the whiskey and speak their mind in no uncertain terms. My son is a lot like him, in his quiet nature and my grandfather liked to dress up. He wore a tie just to go to the store and my son likes to dress to the nines just because he likes to look nice. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Wabbit Season ... Duck Season... Conservation Season

I was raised in a part of the country where hunting is as much a part of the culture as Thanksgiving dinner. In fact the local board of education in that area has closed school for the opening day of deer season because otherwise absentee students would far out number those students in attendance and the cost of keeping the schools open for so few students did not make sense. While I never took part in hunting, I do support hunting but in the sense that is hunting for a purpose not for personal pride or trophies. That kind of killing isn’t hunting, it is brutal and is without honor and there is nothing sportsmanlike about killing animals just for the joy of killing them or to have a trophy. A true hunter is someone who will eat what they kill and many will use other parts of the animal for something such as bones for tools and jewelry and hides for clothing or many other things. Sometimes hunters will have to cull the populations of certain animals because man has driven out the natural predators of those animals. When this happens animals deplete their food sources and become malnourished and sick. They also suffer genetically without the weeding out of the weak and ill by natural predators the whole population is made weaker. However hunting doesn’t necessarily correct the problems created by the weaker in the species breeding in to the population; Often times hunting removes the better genetic animals leaving only the weaker ones to carry on the next year and the year after and so on and so on. Leaving a much lesser animal than what was previously hunted in less than one human generation. Hunters will not take a shot with gun or arrow if they think they can not kill the animal. Hunters will not let an animal suffer needlessly. Hunters do respect the animals they hunt. Killers do not respect the animals they kill. They may say they respect them but their actions speak for themselves. Running an animal in the woods with dogs until it is exhausted and shooting it when it is finally treed or cornered, is not hunting it is cruelty. Baiting animals is not hunting. Flying helicopters or planes to run an animal to exhaustion and shooting them from the air is not hunting it is brutality. Trophy hunting so called big game is not hunting it is ego feeding senselessness that serves no purpose, and it is essentially public masturbation with a gun. Predatory animals tend to avoid people until they have no where else to go. We push into the land where these animals have lived and hunted for eons and expect they will yield to our so called progress. Their yielding is called extinction and our invasion of lands we do not need is wasteful and wanton disregard for the natural world. The hunting of predatory animals should be outlawed throughout the world. The US can take a stand for the world to follow and make it illegal for any US Citizen to hunt all predatory animals and birds regardless of where it is in the world. Other nations would follow. The business of safari hunting would become not profitable and other businesses around animal conservation would most likely take their place. Other benefits will be that non predatory and herd animals will be thinned more productively by their natural predators than human culling can accomplish leading to healthier animals. Some non predatory animals should also become protected because killing them does not serve a purpose for sustaining human life. Trapping for fur and pelts is also a practice which has outlived its purpose. Traps do not discriminate and as often as not an animal which was not wanted ends up in the trap and is killed needlessly. More times than not that unwanted kill is just left to rot, it is not eaten or used in any manner. It is brutality. Fur farming while with a separate set of problems does, when done correctly, preserve the wild populations of those animals. You may disagree with what I have to say and that is fine, and if you partake in the killing of animals for sport rather than for purpose it still makes you a killer and not a hunter. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Oh Beauregard … or was it Belvedere either way come hither folks …

I should learn to keep my damn fool mouth shut but I haven’t got the good sense god gave a squirrel. Well that is not entirely true but we won’t quibble over my sense or lack of it for the moment. I live in the South but not the Deep South. However, I would be remiss if I did not add that I am in fact not a southern. If I were to make such a claim there would be hell to pay. To whom I would have to pay said hell or receive it from, which is more likely the case is not known to me. I have inquired. I am, in point of fact, a Yankee, and more specifically a Damn Yankee. The difference is that Yankees are people from the North who some times come to the South and Damn Yankees are Northerners who move to the South and take up residence. Many southern folk would further make the comparison that Damn Yankees are a kin to a tick burrowed into the skin of some beloved animal’s hind quarters, but only some… others would find it unrefined and boorish to speak in such a manner. There is a lot of stir about the South these days mainly about the Confederacy’s Rebel Battle Flag, referred to incorrectly but most commonly as the Flag of the Confederacy, which it is not, but common reference and popular culture have made the, “Stars and Bars” as the most recognizable symbol of the South in the US Civil War. Which, shall be for purposes of this opinion will be referred to hence as the Rebel Flag for simplicity sake. Pardon if I offend with the use of this but typing out anything longer each time it is mentioned just tries my patience. Regrettably, no nation is without times it would rather not speak of and for the United States our Civil War is but one of those eras. For many in the US and for the rest of the world the Rebel Flag is a historical marker of bloodshed, human atrocities, hatred, bigotry, intimidation of a whole people and a far less civilized time in our history as a nation. Sadly, all the inhumanity, hate, and death are a part of our history and can not be changed. For many reasons beyond the historical placement others look on the Rebel Flag and see pride in being from a part of the US that is a little different than the rest of the nation. Now the many in the rest of the US and world and even some in the South associate being from the South with many negative themes, ideals and stereotypes; such as hate, bigotry, racism, stupidity, etc. Many imply them in a manner as if to suggest that this is the last place these retched things happen. As if the last bastion of hate and racism is in the South and if we can finally reign in the South all of the problems of hate, intimidation, and racism will go away. It won’t. Racism, hate, and intimidation are alive and well in every corner of the world. Not everyone is outspoken about their dislike or hated of others but it still exist and it exist outside of the South. So stop pretending that it doesn’t. There are those in the South who believe that the Rebel Flag is an icon of a simpler way of living, enjoying life and taking in the beauty of the world at a much slower pace than other places. The South, to some is a place of warm weather and warmer hospitality; A summer evening on the front porch sipping lemonade or a fine bourbon. The South is a place of open spaces and fresh air and fields miles wide ripe with harvest. The South has been and is a place of culture and learning, despite the reputation of being backward and dullards. Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and many other southern writers have influenced our language and culture. Many fine Colleges and Universities began in the antebellum years and others still founded during the reconstruction to foster education and progress for not just the South but the Nation and the world beyond our own political borders. The South is also a place of strong traditions of family and church. There is ugly in the world no matter where you look and if you look for it you will find it. Without much effort either I suspect. I say, all of this, not to defend the Rebel flag, only to say that is does mean more to some than just a reminder of a terrible time of horrific and heinous crimes and the unspeakable treatment of other human beings. To condemn the South as the only place where racism and bigotry show there face is to be foolhardy and ignorant. It lives in every corner of our country and the world. And it lives without banners and it lives without flags. As to the Rebel Flag and those in the South who see it as more I can truly understand what you are saying. However the modern connection to the Rebel Flag to the traditions of the south is not because the Rebel Flag was made to be a marker for all things Southern it is because politicians, marketing agents and entertainers that have wrapped up anything the want to sell in the South in the Rebel Flag. It has been used by people with no real regard for the meaning of the Rebel Flag other than it will votes, support and or generate money for their pockets because they believe people in the South will identify with the Rebel Flag regardless if what they are selling is good or not. For the most part the South has been sold this bill of tainted goods and come to see the Rebel Flag as an emblem of Southern Pride. You’ve been tricked into this idea to be a true Southerner means you have to embrace the Rebel Flag. The Rebel Flag means no more to Southern Culture than a June bug and the South needs to recognize that while the Rebel Flag has been popularized by everything from political candidates, special interest groups, the History Channel, the Dukes of Hazard, musical groups in every genre from County to Rock, clothing, towels and any other thing that can be sold. All in the name of trying to make a quick connection to the population in the South to benefit them and or to increase the bottom line on a financial spread sheet. The real bottom line is that the Rebel Flag is still a symbol of hate. The South used to have a name for these type of tactics of dishonesty … I believe it was carpet bagger. I do believe that no government building and no public place should fly the Rebel flag. It is a banner of open war against the United States, it is a symbol of hate, intimidation and oppression to many, and it is a symbol of the disenfranchisement of whole groups of people. To raise the Rebel Flag on a government building or in a public place it to tell whole groups of people they do not matter in the eyes of the law, the government and to the citizens who embrace the Rebel Flag. For all the positive things the Rebel Flag might mean to some; intended or not the Rebel Flag is a symbol of oppression and intimidation, it is a symbol of racism, and it is a symbol of bigotry and intolerance. It is a symbol the South should let fade away into history because its meaning is so negative to so many others. The South is a place to take pride in being from and supporting. Let the brighter parts of southern history rise to have time in the sun and let go of those things which hold you down in the eyes of the rest of the world. What do we do when the hate groups replace the Rebel Flag and adopt the cross as their emblem, abolish Christianity? Oh wait they did that already and we have learned to ignore that as an abuse of the symbol. So if someone wants a Rebel Flag on their shirt or truck or belt or bikini that’s on them and if you do decide to wear or use the Rebel Flag don’t be surprised when people think you might just be a racist. Abolishing the flag outright isn’t going to solve the problem either because hate exists with or without a banner or flag but it should not be displayed with the consent of any government in any public place. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Send me post cards … I love post cards. Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

I just finished reading a book by Jesse Andrews, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” The book is about Greg not Earl and not really about the Dying Girl, although they are both featured heavily in the book. There is a film for this book too, which is out now in the world and I have not seen said film at this time but I plan too. The Girl has Leukemia Greg and Earl do not Now you may be thinking isn’t this John Green’s “A Fault in Our Stars” No but also yes. Certainly with a lot less crying; I wept reading “AFIOS” Not so much with the “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Not so much because there isn’t touching stuff in Mr. Andrews book because there is and you might actually cry at parts in the book I didn’t but I’m a soulless monster but that is another story. The story is a coming of age dealing with all the things that life throws at you; stuff you like, stuff you hate and stuff you would rather not happen at all but does anyway. I like “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” as much as like “A Fault in Our Stars”. The only reason I’m comparing the two books is they both have a dying girl and they are coming of age stories and they are both movies and there are a lot of comparisons you can make except one. In “Fault” it was harder for me to see myself as Hazel Grace than it is for me to see myself as Greg Gaines. Greg is the Me in the Story. That could be because Greg is a guy and Hazel is not a guy but it is more than that. The stories are told in very different styles. While “Fault” is a story unfolding as it happens and you find out stuff as it happens in the lives of the characters. “Dying Girl” is a story retold after it has already happened. It is an exploration of how we live when life isn’t what we want it too be and how we handle those times. Sometimes we do well and some times we fail. Both stories are good but it was easier for me to relate to the emotions in “Me and Greg and the Dying Girl” than it was for me to with “Fault”. I won’t spoil the book for you and if you want to see the film it is out now and I think you can even rent it on Youtube and perhaps other places. If you are on the fence about it look for the movie trailer. You might want to see it or you may just say nah, not for me. The book is really good, the style apart from being an after the fact story is also uses bullet points, script style dialogue, and some other styles in telling this story about a person dealing with something they would rather not be dealing with. Andrews turns the story in and much as he does out to the world around Greg in an honest telling of things we all feel but rarely give light because they are not how you are supposed to feel. This is a book worth reading, can’t say if the movie is worth watching but it is probably better then the Gaines/Jackson production, “Earl the Wrath of God II”. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Send me post cards … I love post cards. Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Imagine something brilliant

I like to read, I read rather a lot or at least I think I do. More than some and not nearly as much as others, but I read. It is something that I admire about people and we don’t even need to read the same things. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard is, “never trust anyone who does not own books.” A favorite poem is “a girl who reads” by Mark Grist … there is a spoken word film of it on youtube if you are so inclined to view, but it sums up how I feel about reading…stories, poems, novels, articles, all of it, any of it, I like to read. I read every day; I write everyday … just not the things I want to read and write as you may have noticed if you are a follower of my ramblings … which have been woefully absent as of late but not because of the absinthe. There are more than several reasons for the non writing one of them is that I choose not to subtract from the mind-numbing time suck things I do and put word to page as it were. I have continued to find the time to read and re read things Being that I am such the fan of the printed word list of books you should read always catches my eye as something I should explore. List which are titled things like, “The Best 100 Books Ever Written” or “50 Books YOU should have READ by 25.” Then every single time without fail once I dive into the list of books I have barely read even a quarter of the books on the list. Which results in my demons chiming in with their chorus of hateful things, Trust me if you heard my internal dialogue you would wonder why I even look in a mirror ever. I try to avoid it, unless absolutely necessary. Not the point. I read, a good bit. Books without pictures even, but you wouldn’t know it by the ticks on the lists I go through. Sure I’ve read my fair share of lesser read novels, Iceberg Slim’s biographical novels, some Anton Lavey and even a few things in the Anarchists Cookbook just to see what was all the fuss. But I’ve also read a lot of the classics like the Iliad and the Odyssey, a lot of Shakespeare, Dickens, et al the English Lit requirements and American Lit classics as well. There should be more ticks on these lists. The more I look at these lists the more I see they are just a whomever’s list of favorites or a completely arbitrary collection of books which may be popular for now. I mean while the, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” may be a fantastic read, I don’t know that it should be required reading for everyone. Sorry if you love it. The important thing is that you open a book, read a story and enjoy the journey doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about the book. Make your own list of favorites. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

It all depends on where you are standing

A story largely depends on where you are standing if it is a comedy or a horror story. Once upon a time my brother, the other one, and I were ski instructors. It isn’t really all the fun the movies make it out to be. We are required to tell anyone it is not fun because if we didn’t, the world would be full of ski instructors, and then nothing would get done. However, whether being a ski instructor is the best job in the world it not the story. One of the many things that ski instructors do is hang out together, laugh, and tell stories, generally in bars. Once ski instructors start having kids they start bringing them to hang out too. Well on one particular afternoon, the other one and I were hanging out with a lot of other instructors and one them brought their child with them. This child was like most little kids and saw hanging out with grown-ups as dull as a bowling ball, or as much fun as poison ivy. Kids get bored when they have nothing to do. When kids get bored they begin to be pain in the butt. It isn’t really their fault though but fact is fact and this kid was nearing the, “I’m about to be a pain in the ass threshold” for this outing. Well as luck would have it at the time, while the other one and I were adults as far as the law was concerned we weren’t really grown-ups. So we came up with a way to keep this kid occupied. Which to his delight was tossing him across the bar as in a game of hot potato or egg toss. The other one and I were standing maybe four feet apart at first the kid was in mid-air all of a second, if that long. Unfortunately that was boring to us after a few tosses. So we, the other one and I, decide to take a step back after every few tosses. Further and further away from one another. Tossing this kid between us like he is training for the circus or something. The distance between us kept getting larger and was now maybe somewhere close to ten feet, the kid is airborne still only for like two seconds. He is happier than he probably had been ever at that point in his three year old life. Each trip across the span the kid’s arms were spinning in the air, a smile on his face that couldn’t be pried off, and a contagious laugh erupted that had a dozen or so other so called grown-ups including the kid’s dad entertained. So entertained that we did not see the kid’s mother come into the room. Now as a mother, the last thing you expect to see when you walk into a room is your three year old being thrown in the air between two ski instructors and a crowd of adults laughing as loud as the kid at the scene. The kid was midway between the other one and me when his mother walked in. She walked in behind me so I never saw her face, but I saw the other ones face, and I knew it wasn’t good. To say she freaked out would be an understatement. To the kid’s credit he tried to defend me, he tried to defend the other one and he even tried to defend his dad. He even begged his mom to go again. Of course mom was having none of that, and the kid makes it worse by saying something a kin to mom not being any fun. Which prompted a lot of suppressed laughter from the “grown-ups” in the room and a lot more trouble for the dad. I’m willing to bet that was the most fun that kid had for at least another year or so. Just as I’m equally sure the mom’s version of this story is not a comedy but a horror story. It all depends on where you’re standing or flying. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards