Goatheads and postcards

Sometimes August weeks are just finding joy in ordinary things, or in doing new things that aren't all that unusual. The week actually started off cool enough that I was able to go running in the evening, which I haven't been able to do since before the Fourth of July. And several days a week I go out to pull up goathead plants. In 2022, I adopted a spot on Marialana Way, and I keep going back to pull up new plants. I'm confident that I have pulled up hundreds, maybe even thousands, of baby goathead plants there, thus preventing them from growing more. And yet even after four years, more keep coming up, meaning the abominable seeds are viable after at least five years. This year I've adopted a new spot where Lacey Way becomes Center Street. I've also seen other places where they grow, but I can't pull them all up. It's not my job to save the world all by myself.

Yesterday (Saturday), I found some really enormous plants on my usual route, but they were off the sidewalk a little bit, where there are a lot of weeds and it begins to go into the gully (and someone's property). That means I hadn't seen them until they were so big. So I pulled them up. Since I had just run seven miles in North Canyon, I felt a little woozy in the heat.

Within the last few years, I learned that there is a restaurant in Salt Lake called Goat Head, and since that is the plant I love to hate, I felt like I had to go there. So that's what I did yesterday. It's not that exciting of a thing to do, but it was new and different. Unsurprisingly, as I walked down the block to Goat Head, there were goatheads growing in the sidewalk.

Since I'm flexitarian, I had a vegan sandwich with seitan. But I was very tempted by chicken and cornbread waffles.

Now, you might recall that in April, I went to Ken Sanders Rare Books and bought a bunch of vintage postcards for Washington's Birthday, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Two weeks ago, our neighbor Laura gave me a whole box of vintage postcards she had collected for Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July, Valentine's Day, and even one St. Patrick's Day. (I'm not posting them all here, because there were so many.) 

Well, once I was done at Goat Head, I decided to go back to Ken Sanders and look at the postcards again. I'm glad I did, because the last time I went, I had completely missed their section of New Year cards! And I bought additional postcards for holidays I already had.

Though I own and buy too much stuff, I think there are several reasons why it is valid for me to buy these postcards: (1) They are only one to three dollars apiece at Ken Sanders, so they don't break the bank; (2) I literally work in history and have been interviewed twice by local news outlets to discuss the history of Pioneer Day and Thanksgiving, so these postcards are related to my career interests; (3) since they are old and already exist, I'm not contributing to mass consumption; (4) they are small and don't take up much space. I don't know what exactly to do with them, but I enjoy having them and looking at them. So here are all the ones I bought yesterday!

I was surprised how many New Year's cards had horseshoes and four-leaf clovers! I had never heard of that motif before.

I think people actually believed the cherry tree story!

I love this autumnal scene. In the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving was seen as a wintry holiday, but by this time (1910), it had shifted to autumn.

I love the acorn cap

. . . and the spiky seedpods. 

I love that image of the Mayflower. The cashier asked me my favorite of the postcards I was buying, and I said this one.

I love the corn! They sure loved cherubs.

More horseshoes and four-leaf clovers!

I love the icy, snowy scene here! (And the clovers!) I hope we get another snowy New Year's.

I love the cars in these whimsical scenes

The back of this card specifies it was for Lincoln's Birthday

And this one is specifically for Washington's Birthday. I assume that's Betsy Ross, but it doesn't say so.

I like the holly. The cashier liked this card.

This is such an interesting card! The Pilgrims are more historically accurate than they're commonly displayed, since there are no buckles and they're wearing colorful clothes. Interesting to have the "Indian" looking in through the window instead of at the feast. And is that snow? I love that it's framed by a wishbone and red, white, and blue.

Governors used to issue Thanksgiving proclamations every year before it was always on a set Thursday, and it's fun to see a proclamation featured here.

Despite the fall setting of the earlier Thanksgiving postcards, here's a winter one! This combines the nineteenth-century winter ideal with the twentieth-century Pilgrim mythology.

Just love that orange pumpkin

I've seen live turkeys and cooked turkeys in Thanksgiving imagery, but this might be my first for dead, unplucked turkeys. Of course, this was before you could buy a frozen turkey!