"Dear May,

I hope you are having a Merry Christmas and New Year.

Yours Fred"

These days I really try to slow down enough to read all the messages on these old cards before I list them. And I must say, with all the talk a craziness in today's society, there were a lot of crazy characters at the turn of the 20th century too.  

Take Fred here, sending a photo of burnt out building destroyed by fire to May, and wishing her Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Fred either had a bit too much of the sauce that evening in deciding to send this particular festive postcard with a lovely warm greeting, or May is just one really cool lady.  :)   And then there's everything in between.   

Whatever the deal is with those two, Fred sent a pretty unique card.  It's a George Barrowclough RPPC that I haven't seen before, and from what I gathered from research, I'm pretty sure it's of the Bulman Block Fire of 1904 in Winnipeg. It was sent from Portage La Prairie, mostly likely Fred's hometown.

‘Daughter of the Peaks’ touring boat, Lake Minnewanka, Banff, Alberta, early 1900s postcard. unidentified photographer

Below the water lies structural remains of the village ‘Minnewanka Landing’. To create better hydro-electric power in the early 1940s, the War Measures Act enabled the construction of a dam at Lake Minnewanka. It raised the lake water level by 30 meters and submerged the village. 

While visiting my aunt about 15 years ago she mentioned that my great grandfather was a photography enthusiast and that she had some of his negatives she wanted to give me. I almost choked on my cornflakes.  Once back home I made a beeline straight for the darkroom to start printing.  

Here’s a photograph he took while crossing the Atlantic en route to fight for France in WW1 – he was homesteading in Saskatchewan at the time. And another photo at a camp with his buddies.

He made it back to Sask, but like many soldiers returning home was never the same. He’d lost good friends and seen too much horror. War is brutal. #lestweforget 🌺 

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all have a festive and spooky kind of day with lots of goodies and treats.  

And speaking of goodies, I've decided to run my first-ever storewide sale for Halloween day. This is a pretty new site so I believe I've pressed all the correct buttons for 20% to be discounted at the checkout stage, but if for some reason you end up paying full price please do not worry as I'll refund you 20% the next day.  Sometimes me with technology is spooky! 

(Lame cat joke warning)

'Which one of your pets should you scare on Halloween?    Scare-de-cat.'