Observation Balloon on Fire, Poignant Annotated Photo of Photo, WWI Real Photo Postcard antique handmade toy and I'd bet painted of

and I'd bet painted of a village not far from here

with ring that slides a bit up and down

1946--shortly after the end of the WWII and beginning of Allied occupation

made by someone a hundred years ago or so with a great aesthetic sensibility I think

from the slightly drooping rose at its center to the buoyant lilac that you can just about smell

Observation Balloon on Fire, Poignant Annotated Photo of Photo, WWI Real Photo Postcard antique handmade toy and I'd bet painted ofThe striking image here I believe is specifically of a German observation balloon being attacked by British planes during WWI poetically described in the handwritten annotation on this real photo postcard as "Observation balloon on fire." It is of course the dramatic, potent image itself that drew me to this, but I also find it quite evocative metaphorically (living in a surveillance state as we do) and looking closely one can see this is actually a