First Postcards for 2011

I received my first lot of postcards for 2011 today.  They are from California and India.  I just love receiving snail mail from friends around the world.  Here are the postcards I received today:

California Missions: The founding of the Spanish Missions in California furnished an epic in history.  These historical monuments are reminders of the great Franciscan adventure.  Years of patient labor, decades of heroic sacrifice by Fray Junipers Serra and his Franciscan brothers lie behind the era of the founding of the 21 Missions and their branches, the ruins of which still stand in wonder and beauty, at various points along 600 miles of California's glorious coastal region.

Santa Monica, California - The Santa Monica Municipal Pier was built in 1908 - 1909, for the purpose of carrying a city sewer line to the sea.  In 1916, Charles Looff built the adjacent "Pleasure Pier" with it's "Hippodrome" & "Blue Streak" roller coaster.  The La Monica ballroom was added in 1924 & was the largest on the west coast.  In 1934 the breakwater was built; water taxis ferried people to gambling ships moored in the bay.  In 1973 the city council voted to demolish both piers. Citizens countered with a "Save our Piers Forever" initiative & a restoration was begun.  1983, severe winter storms demolished much of both piers, the newly created pier restoration corp. rebuilt them to their original grandeur adding a harbor patrol office & historic photo exhibits at the piers end.  Today, Santa Monica's historic pleasure piers still draws crowds.

The Three Stooges - one of my favourite comic acts :)

Bruce Lee - another great postcard from my friend in California

 

The Vancouver 2010 mascots and their sidekicks.

California the Golden State.

Bala Krishna from my friend in India. 

Those are my great postcards I received today from my friends.  Hopefully, I will receive some more great mail from around the world, and be able to share it on my blog.

xoxo,
A