In the winter of 1939, Paul and Bev were having a “dandy time” in Florida.

They sent a postcard to “the folks” up north.

Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Ziegler lived in Detroit, then one of the most prosperous cities in the nation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit

The face of the postcard is a drawing of a Pelican.

These large birds were largely unknown to many visitors arriving in Florida, and the appearance of the pelican could be startling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican

Here, a comic verse describes the Pelican, and its enormous capacity for storing food.

“A Gorgeous Bird is the Pelican,

Whose Bill can Hold more than his Bellican,

He can put in his Beak, Food enough for a week,

But I’m Blest if I can see, How in Hellican”

The postcard was published by the Gulf Coast Card Company of St. Petersburg, Florida.

There is an older tradition related to the Pelican.

In antiquity, the pink feathers on the Pelican’s breast were believed to show the Pelican’s willingness to peck itself in order to give nourishment to offspring.

This, of course, is not a characteristic of the pelican – but the bird was often mentioned as “the pious pelican”.

(One can find thousands of examples of the Pelican as a symbol of Christ and of the Eucharist in medieval art.)

https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/learn/architecture/castle/intro/west-range/kitchen/pelican

On the reverse of the postcard, Paul and Bev report that they “…came down here for the month of February.”

The postcard was written when “we just came back from the beach.”

One hopes that the Zieglers were amused by the memento of sunny Florida, that Paul and Bev enjoyed the rest of their vacation, and that the folks shared a long and friendly correspondence.