Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This is an odd one. It was identified as Tunisian when sold on eBay, but there isn’t much explanation. The back reads: Bon Boisers Maria/Bon courage and is addressed as far as I can read it as: M’othel Image, Hospital ausciliaire, PO 16 Lens Yonne. Roughly translated the message seems to be something along the lines of Good kisses and good courage Maria which we assume she needs since she is in a hospital. Yonne appears to be south of Versaille although I have no point of reference to know more or less how far.

What a wonderful and whacky parade though! I had a perfectly excellent childhood, but my parents (sensible people who hated crowds) were not in favor of parades, which left me with a nagging hankering for them. My father, a cameraman for ABC news for years, frequently filmed the night-before balloon blow-up for NY’s Thanksgiving Day parade – and sometimes the actual parade! However he could not be cajoled into taking us kids, ever. As a result I visited the balloons pre-Thanksgiving for many years as an adult living in Manhattan. Never the parade however. In the end I inherited my parent’s dislike of crowds. But, for floats like this, I think I would happily make an exception.