Bad postcard of the week:

Michigan's sore Thumb
From:  The Grand Rapids Press

You have to admit, that's a pretty effective guard rail.

 We assume that when someone refers to scenery, they’re talking about something pleasant. But when it comes to bad postcards, we should never assume.

We know that Michigan's Thumb has 150 miles of shoreline and 51,000 acres of parkland. So why does this gloriously awful postcard tell us we are looking at “Michigan Thumb Scenery” and show us practically none of it?

Do we get any of those beaches? No, we do not.

A nifty lighthouse? Not that I can see, though there is some sort of industrial storage tank on the shores of Port Huron that takes up possibly an eighth of the card.

There is a fair amount of Sarnia, Ontario, in the background. But it is too far in the distance to make out anything we might want to look at.

There is a really, really big boat. No, silly, not a gleaming sailboat. It's a freighter.

And, most majestically, we have a view of the Blue Water Bridge, which has a really nice guard rail. I didn’t know you were allowed to walk across the bridge. But then again, how could you deny people a chance to take in the views of freighters and Sarnia?

There’s a difference between scenery and something that is scenic. The definition of scenery is the general appearance of a place. Scenic means that something is pleasing or beautiful. So whoever added the title to the postcard got that right.

Reader contribution

Just so you know, it is, in fact, possible to have a postcard of a bridge and highway that is both scenery and scenic.

Reader Merry Zarafonetis of Grand Rapids sent me this wonderful linen postcard – my favorite kind – of the Juniata Crossing Bridge on Lincoln Highway between Grand View Point and McConnellsburg, Pa. You’re not going to get a more descriptive title than that.

This beauty was mailed from Gettysburg to someone in Escanaba on July 5, 1938. McConnellsburg is not that far from our old haunt of Breezewood. It’s difficult to make out the writing, but the writer doesn't appear to be ranting about bad pancakes and truck stops, so perhaps it was nicer then.

Thank you, Ms. Zarafonetis, for this treat!