New Orleans postcards reminders of change

"We're living life large in the Crescent City."

- June post card

When I went through the big stack of your summer vacation postcards last week for a final accounting, I was surprised w hen I came across the cards sent earlier in the summer from New Orleans.

"Sweltering heat, friendly people and sights to behold!" reported a June post card from Roy and Gladys Howard, James Burnett, Joann Brassell and Lou and Ora Davis.

"Great time," wrote Roscoe and Lucretia Brown on a New Orleans postcard in July.

"Having a good time," wrote Sandra Halloran, from Biloxi, Miss., on June 16, on what was one of our largest postcards of the summer.

The cards showed scenes from the French Quarter or the Superdome or other places we've seen far too often in recent weeks and for quite a different reason.

It reminds us, I guess, that things change and we should see them while we can.

Now on to our summer postcard awards:

TOP STATE: South Carolina topped our list this summer with 14 cards, edging out Alaska (13), Georgia (12), and Florida and California (10 each).

Canada was the most popular "foreign" country with 12. France and Germany each had five.

MOUNTAINS OR BEACH? I'm more of a mountain person, myself, but most of you headed to the beaches this summer. Forty-two cards featured images of sand and waves and only 19 showed mountains.

FUNNIEST CARD: The Fords - (Ellen, Terry, Donna, Patricia, Brooke, Wil and Betty) - sent a card listing the ways you know you're from Arkansas. Among them: You prominently display a gift you bought at Graceland, or your mother has been in a fistfight at a high school sports event.

CRITTER CARDS: Twenty-seven postcards featured a bird or animal or whale. Rosemary Heatherly sent a funny one from Scotland featuring a traffic jam caused by sheep.

BASEBALL VENUES: My friends know me as a baseball fan, and seven postcards included baseball themes or ballparks, including two from Seattle's Safeco Field.

MAP OF A STATE: There were 12, including two identical cards from both Delaware and West Virginia.

GOOD EATS: Six cards featured recipes for regional delicacies, with my two favorites coming from Texas. Bill Aldredge sent a card featuring a chili recipe, and Austin Leverett sent one with directions for fried rattlesnake (cornmeal and salsa appear to be the secret ingredient.)

NEAT STUFF: Lance Powell sent a postcard/seed package of Arizona wildflowers. The package looks very pretty.

You know, I think I might mail them to my sister in Louisiana. I'm sure they could use a little brightness when next summer comes around.

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.