Postcard for a Girl Named Marie

Didn’t I mention that I’d started a postcard collection? I’m sure I did, because I remember saying that I blame Marie, the lovely host of Postcard Friendship Friday.

Besides re-uniting me with my friend, Ebay, my new hobby gave me something to shop for besides soap and cheese at the Aix en Provence market while on vacation this summer.

I didn’t find this postcard vendor until late in the morning when many of the vendors were starting to close. Instead of walking away with nothing as I am prone to do when in a hurry, I managed to select a few cards.  I could have spent hours going through his stock.

My husband and I not only now blame Marie, but thank her from the bottom of our hearts.  If you look closely you can see that to the left of the vendor’s head, there is a Hermes store in the background.  My new hobby kept both me and the hubby out of there.

To be honest I really just like looking in the windows at stores like Hermes anyway. Whenever I start doing this, my husband aggressively avoids eye contact by suddenly becoming very interested in variegated roof lines.  I can spend way too much time studying silk scarves and $400 corkscrews, contemplating society and the economy, and thinking I’m some kind of post modern suburban existentialist. So at least postcard shopping kept me from doing that.

The card pictured above was one that caught my eye as I thumbed through his cards. I think I recognize her from some postcards I have seen posted by several others here on PFF. Who is this mystery woman?

The handwriting on the back  fascinated me. It is so artful and different from anything I’m used to reading. From what I can gather it was sent to “Marie Louise Avon” from “Emile” or “Emily”.  I’m not sure if it is in celebration of Marie Louise’s birthday, or in honor of  Ste. Louise’s feast day  in the Catholic church.

Perhaps Ste. Louise, who lived in the 17th century and canonized in 1934, really liked the color pink. There is so much of it on this card that I wonder if the use of pink has any significance. I’ve never seen one of these colored cards except in photos. The strokes make it almost look as if someone used multicolored highlighters to color it.  Why the heck do I wonder about such stupid stuff?

In 1960, Saint Louise was declared the patroness of social work.  The woman on this card looks as if she would rather window shop at Hermes than build orphanages, but we all know looks can be deceiving. Besides it wouldn’t be France without Hermes, postcard vendors and obscure female saints.

Happy PFF! For more postcards from around the world, be sure to visit Marie.

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