Hello, Dolls---I've been on Instagram as chateauthierry for the past few months and have been unconscionably neglecting both of ...

Page from a 19th-century tintype scrapbook.  The women appear to me to be Mexican.  Californians?  Texans?   Circa 1880.

Not exactly a postcard or indeed photograph but a stunning image nonetheless---vernacular signage from Cabo Pulmo, Baja California.

Polaroid with some nice greeny-goldy touches.  I think those are big green pants she's wearing--with monster cowgirl belt. 

His shoes, of course.  The lady who appears to have almost melted into the wall.  The very regal lady in black. She looks as if she could ...

A hand-drawn, home-made postcard circa 1910s.  (?) The lady has a winsome expression and an arm and a half.  Plus Gigantism of One Leg Syndr...

He's a Water Bearer.  The outfit is jaunty; the hand-coloring confident, to say the least.

Attached plastic eyes; the pupils move around.   A luscious expression.

                                                                                        . At present in Helsinki; last week, Bern and ...

Greasy Topknots--and all.  That headband suggests eurythmic dancing, to say the least.

Nice Silhouette of the "New Woman", as she was known around 1890-1914.  An early female-centric meme-for-all- seasons.  Very Th...

One of my pet blog subjects, obviously: that strange subgenre in "romantic" turn-of-the-century French postcards (Gauziness is...

  "Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." She was glamorous, for sure, but not stupid....

Late 1970's or early 1980s Polaroid?   She looks like a *slightly* softer and more tranquil version of the termagant Highsmith.  The...

An expensive card acquired through the mail from a European dealer, but sumptuous and sympathique.

Actually, not.  But tug-of-war is definitely on our agenda everyday.  Or as my students would say, "on a daily basis."  Argh.