Neighbors at the Garden Gate — Hans Andersen Brendekilde Postcard

Two women pause at a cottage gate under a tree in full spring blossom — one older, in dark clothes with a white cap, carrying a basket; one younger, in a red-striped skirt that catches the eye against the whitewashed wall. A thatched roof and tall chimney rise behind them, birds lined up along the ridge.

Brendekilde painted this kind of everyday neighborliness often — nothing dramatic happens, and that's the point. Good for a card between old friends who catch up slowly, the way these two are.