This photo was taken on our terrace in Kenya in the early 1990’s. I can’t for the life of me recall doing the puzzles, I found the photo recently among some memorabilia. I wish I could find the whole album I made of puzzles we completed. It was a big phase of doing jigsaws, some of which I can remember vividly.

John Hinde postcards are well known and very popular in Ireland. But I have a John Hinde postcard of Cheetahs in Africa.

Reverse side

Open Year Round. On State Road from Boston to Portland, Delightful rooms with Private Bath–Steam Heated Throughout. Half a block from beautiful Ogunquit Beach – boating, swimming, golfing, tennis, music and dancing. Banquets solicited.

Doesn’t this scream the 1940’s?

Postmarked 1910

While my cheek was being numbed by the nurse’s needle, I suddenly thought ……….. the next book I read is going to be John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. This thought came to me because the anesthetist told me she had at long last finished reading that book. Her reading rate was 8 to 9 pages a night. It has taken her quite a while. I last talked with her 3 months ago and she was somewhere in about the middle of the book. Obviously she doesn’t have much time for reading.. IThree months ago I was recommending that she read Phillipa Gregory but I have since gone off her. So I suddenly thought of Mahouf’s The Palace Walk. I wonder if she will like it.

On May 2 I always think of my childhood playmates, the twins Marcia and Arthur MacDonald. One thing I especially remember about Marcia – we were riding our tricycles down the hill in front of the Pierces and the Campbells. houses. I was riding ahead of Marcia and came to a stop in front of the Campbell house. Marcia coming behind me couldn’t quite stop before she nicked the corner of my tricycle and I toppled over, resulting in a banged forehead…………Mrs Campbell carried me home – up the hill and around the corner – a distance of about 3 houses. Mrs Campbell was wearing a white dress which was soon covered with blood – my forehead was bleeding profusely. I still bear the scar 80 years later!

I have a picture of Marcia when she was a bit older and riding a bigger bicycle. Bicycles were a rare item in our youth because of World war 2. The photo below was taken after the War when Marcia was about 9 or 10.