My thanks to Keane, publisher of BargaNews.com, for this shout-out endorsement—which included the above photo of me sitting outside Aristo’s bar, surrounded by Tuscan mountains, writing postcards.

Keane writes:

The following just popped up on the net.

It is republished here in full as the man has a way with words and has a clear understanding of just what it means to spend time in Barga.

That brief meeting which Kirk talks about was featured as well in the DAILY IMAGE that day.

There he is sitting outside Aristo’s writing postcards.

The image was taken because it featured two things that might not always be there in the near future – postcards are becoming something of a scarcity for many people and the euro change sitting on the table next to the cards.

Will there still be the Euro in Italy in a year’s time ?”

Yes, Keane, I’m guessing there will still be the Euro in Italy. Change comes slowly to your adopted homeland. And most people there seem more concerned with la dolce vita than fiscal fitness.

Keane made his online “paper,” BargaNews.com, come to life more than 15 years ago, when most of Italy was wondering what WWW means.

All these years later, he’s got 30 journalists contributing routinely and on-the-spot. He’s had to deal with Italy’s bureaucracy to keep his enterprise aloft. And like most of us investing time in a screen-centered Big Idea, the “monetizing” piece can be elusive.

• The Euro has good company.

So be it. What’s money when you’re making art—and news? What’s money mean if you are seriously concerned that your country may be forced to change its currency within a year?

Maybe that’s why I still love postcards; They don’t change, and they still work wonders. Keane’s “Daily Image” implies that postcards are so old-fashioned that they’re about to fall off the ledge and meet their death.

Let’s hope not. There’s a series of cheap thrills about traveling and taking time for postcards: perusing the pics; procuring them from a shop owner; writing a thoughtful note by hand to someone you love; finding and buying the stamps; mailing it off (even finding a postal box was a challenge in Barga) and knowing it will fly into someone’s mailbox and make them so happy.

Postcards make for nice souvenirs, too. My collection is from countless locales around the world. And every time I open that box, I get carried far away and lost in time. Almost like an actual adventure…