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| Photos Credits: Kepguru, Jigsaw.Planet, Trey.Ratcliff@Flickr.Creative.Commons, RalfRoletschek@Wikimedia.Commons, SSMaritime (devoted to classic liners - an excellent site!) |
| From the World, with Love |
| I recently looked through a box that contains some mementoes from my childhood. My mother saved the things she thought I might like to keep, until I was of an age when I started saving things myself. We did a pretty good job of saving, especially me, since I'm more sentimental than my Mom ever was or ever wanted to be. (In other words, there's considerably more than one box!) I hadn't gone through the contents of this particular box in a very long while and one of the things that interested me most were the postcards from my cousin's husband, Red Hancock. Red married my cousin, Ruthie, when I was about two years old and from that point forward - throughout my childhood, my teenage years and into adulthood - he faithfully sent me postcards from wherever he happened to find himself. Since he was a merchant marine who probably visited most of the countries on the planet, you can imagine how busy he kept the post office. After my son was born, Red transferred his attention to him and continued to send him postcards from all over the world until he reluctantly retired from his career of almost 50 years at sea. The cards my Mom and I saved form quite an impressive list of locations (and, just think, undoubtedly, many of the cards he sent didn't make it into the box): England, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Liberia, Thailand, India, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Barbados and most of the large U.S. ports. He always signed his notes the same way, depending on the location: "From Red, in Rio de Janeiro, with love"....."From Red, in Casablanca, with love." When I started putting this page together, I wasn't content to feature just one place, as I usually do. Red's postcards made me want to take a virtual trip all over the world and share the images with you, as he shared the images of his travels with me. In a way, this page is really from both of us...and from the world...with love. -- Nancy |
| Above, Barcelona, Spain; picture at the top of the page is Rome, Italy. |
| Prague, Czech Republic |
| Burenos Aires, Argentina |
| Quito, Ecuador |
| Casablanca, Morocco |
| Nerja, Spain |
| Hallstatt, Austria |
| Nantes, France |
| Milan, Italy |
| Strasbourg, France |
| Dublin, Ireland |
| Seville, Spain |
| New Orleans, USA |
| Istanbul, Turkey |
| Victoria, Canada |
| Agra, India |
| Mexico City, Mexico |
| Cartagena, Colombia |
| Paris, France |
| Kyoto, Japan |
| Sydney, Australia |
| San Francisco, USA |
| Vancouver, Canada |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| New York City, USA |
| Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Pisa, Italy |
| Salzburg, Austria |
| Lucerne, Switzerland |
| Budapest, Hungary |
| Bruges, Belgium |
| London, England |
| The SS Del Norte, pictured above, was one of three ships Delta Steamship Company used for their service from New Orleans to South America; the others were the SS Del Sud and the SS Del Mar. When I was a child, it was a thrill to go down to the wharf and meet one of Red's ships when he returned, especially if it was one of the 3 "Dels", because, in those days, they were the largest ships I'd ever seen. Once, when I was about five, we went on board and met the captain of the Del Norte. I couldn't have been more awe-struck if it had been the President. I remember that he gave me a little mint candy, which I refused to eat, because I wanted to save it (forever!). It would not have surprised me one bit to find a tattered, moldy mint in the bottom of that box of postcards. But, sad to say, the mint has apparently gone the way of the three "Dels" and is no more. |