May Your Slumbers Be Light

  

I don't quite know what to make of this card.  When I first saw it, I thought that a young man was sneaking by a sleeping father after an assignation with dad's daughter.  After scanning and blowing up the image, I realized that there was an unused pillow and an empty spot in the bed.  What really got me was when I looked at the back of the card. There's no written message, but there is a name. "Harry Yanknow" Is that a hint? The card was published by "Hamforth & Co. Publishers Holmfrith and New York. (Printed in England.)" The postmark, "CLEVELAND, OHIO AUG 20 1:30 AM 1901" and it was mailed to Mr. E.B. Welch, Vermillion, Ohio, R.F.D. 2" I wonder what Harry and E.B. were up to? 

Rosie

Labeled "Rose between 2 Thorns?"  There is also a processors stamp on the back, "WILLARD'S BOX 3535 CLEVELAND, OHIO June 1940."

 I'm always fascinated by photos from just before the American entry into World War 2.  These three must have been aware that the world was spiraling into chaos and it was only a matter of time before the U.S. was pulled in.  Were they accepting that they'd end up in a war and may get killed, or were they in denial and just assumed that some how or another the United States would stay out of the war? 

Brook Jacoby, All Star

I became a sports fan because of television.  Growing up, fifty miles from downtown Pittsburgh, I watched the Pirates during the summer, the Steelers, Penn State, Pitt, and West Virginia during the fall, the Penguins, during the winter, and then it all started again with spring training.   Now I live in L.A. and if I want to watch the Dodgers, Angels, Clippers, Lakers, Kings or Ducks, I have to buy cable packages.  I can't afford it, and even with football still available for free on open air TV...well, I just can't get really excited about sports anymore.  Will I watch tomorrow's All Star game on TV?  Probably not, and that's kind of sad.  I used to look forward to the game, now I don't.

Brook Jacoby didn't have a Hall of Fame career.  He started out with the Atlanta Braves, had a couple of brief call-ups and only played in 15 games from 1981-83.  Jacoby was with the Cleveland Indians in 1984, did a very brief stint with Oakland in 1991, and was back with Cleveland  in 1992.  He finished his career with the Chunichi Dragons, in Japan, in 1993.  Now he's the hitting coach with the Toronto Blue Jays.  He was an all star in 1986 and 1990.

Anyway, I'm not really into sports cards, but I found this on the street, and I've been saving it for an All Star Game post.

High Level Bridge, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Well, I still have a few examples from my early days of collecting, but I think, after this one, I'll be moving back to the more recent acquisitions, which means pretty much anything from the last ten years.

Anyway, there are a fair number of bridges over the Chagrin River, so I wasn't able to positively identify the one on this card.  The Chagrin River actually has two branches, the Aurora and the East branch.  The Aurora Branch is a white water rafting destination, which is hard to imagine in flat, northeast Ohio.  Both branches are also fishing favorites.  Chagrin Falls, the town, is a suburb of Cleveland.  The Cleveland, Akron, Canton area of northeastern Ohio is the fifteenth largest statistical area (A designation used by the census bureau .) in the United States.  Nothing to do with Chagrin Falls, or the Chagrin River, but right in the middle of that densely populated area is Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  Yes, the river that was once so polluted that it caught on fire, the river that was the butt of jokes, is now a national park.  At least the parts south of Cleveland and north of Akron.  Kind of gives us all a bit of hope.