Oh dear, I didn’t mean to let things slip for this long. My only excuse is that with work, family moving nearby, and life in general, blogging about incoming postcards has fallen to the way side. I have every intention of remedying that but it won’t be today, unfortunately. I just wanted to touch base and let you, my readers, know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth.
Non-Postcrossing Cards
If you are a long-time reader (relatively speaking) of this blog, you know that I’m also a member of Ravelry, a knitting and crochet online community. I’m a member of a letter writing group that recently had a postcard exchange. We were each given three names to write to and, in return, we would receive three cards.
Here are the three I received.
The first one came from Australia, a very dramatic sunset card.
The second card came from Lynn in Vermont, who claims that most of Vermont really looks like this! I love it and I wonder what it looks like in the summer.
The third, and final, card came from Susan in southwestern Ontario. Bear cubs are so cute, aren’t they? When you see a bear cub, though, never forget that Mama Bear is not far away, and very protective!
And that’s it… I’m all caught up, finally.
I do have some wonderful news to share, though. A local friend of mine was telling a friend of hers, who just happens to be a librarian, about Postcrossing. They decided that Postcrossing is something that deserves to be more known about. My friend, who I met through Postcrossing, approached me about getting something organized so I, in turn, met with the head librarian, who asked me to help out with their summer reading program by telling the kids about Postcrossing and, perhaps, having the kids write out and send postcards. I agreed.
I have already designed a couple of posters and some handouts. I’ve also put the message “out there” in a couple of groups on Ravelry and one of the forums on Postcrossing, asking for people to send a postcard to our local library. I’ve also let people know that if they include their return address, we would have the kids send them a postcard in return. So far, the response has been wonderful. I’m eager to see how many postcards the library receives; they should be starting to come in pretty soon.
Exciting?
Lots to Blog About
Wow, what a difference two weeks make. Last week, not one card showed up in my mailbox; this week, I have a wealth of them, not all from Postcrossing. Therefore, I’ll tell you about them in two posts, one for the Postcrossing cards, the second for the other cards.
Let’s get started on the Postcrossing cards that arrived this past week. In no particular order, here we go!
According to Anatoly, these buildings were made without nails! I am assuming that it was all done with wooden pegs but, all the same, impressive looking buildings. And the stamps are great, too!
From Lady Taz, this neat card from Florida…
Next up, Bridal Veil Falls in North Carolina. I wonder just how many Bridal Veil Falls there are in the world; there’s one near Hope, B.C., a couple of hours down the road from us and I’ve heard of others, too.
Hank put some great stamps on his card (including a Harry Potter stamp!) and even, very considerately, put his current temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius. His temperatures, that day, were very similar to what we had here.
This one, from Etherea, in Arkansas, was interesting because of the note on the back. Her grandfather was born in Kamloops, about 1.5 hours from me. I lived there for about two years. If that’s not a small world story, I don’t know what is!
I must admit that, as much as I’d love to visit a cave like this some time, I’m afraid I’d be more than a little nervous. I am a touch claustrophobic and the thought of being in an underground cavern does give me pause even though I’m sure they’re absolutely amazing to see.
This next card is more to my liking, I will admit.
Wide open spaces, hot sand, warm water…. yup, bring it on! This is a beach I could walk for hours! Maybe one day?
And then, there’s London. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of the Tower Bridge like this one. Amazing!
We simply do not have anything like this here. The Paddington Bear stamp just tops it all off. He’s just so cute!
The last card for this post comes from my own country and shows something that we just don’t see here in the west. In Ontario, there is a large group of Mennonites, similar to the Amish of Pennsylvania, that eschew modernity and live a simple life without so many of the things we take for granted… like cars.
Well, that’s it for this post. The next post will have the non-Postcrossing cards.
I Love This Card!
This week only a single card arrived in my mailbox and as soon as I registered it, I faved it. I think this is one of the most endearing cards I’ve received to date.
There’s just something about that sweet, little face, isn’t there?
Two More In The Door
In case you’re interested, here are my current Postcrossing stats.
As you can see, I’ve received more cards than I’ve sent. That translates into a trickle of cards coming to our house rather than an avalanche. This week, two cards trickled in, both from Eastern Europe, both on the same day.
Today’s first card came from Tanya in Belarus.
I don’t know about you but I’m much more interested in the ruins at the left than I am in the building on the right. Tanya was also very complimentary about the picture I used in my Postcrossing profile, the same one I use in my profile here. Very sweet!
This week’s second card came from Elena in Ukraine. Technically, this doesn’t qualify as a postcard as it came in an envelope but I’m not one to complain. As a matter of fact, when cards do come in an envelope, it feels a little like receiving a gift. You just never know what will be inside and Elena’s card did not disappoint.
I did put in my Postcrossing profile that I love handmade cards and I meant it.
The envelope.
It may not be the easiest to see but the birds and the bamboo on this card are hand stitched! That’s right, Elena embroidered this card! The butterflies are little puffy stickers. Really, the scan doesn’t do this card justice. It’s lovely!
Elena’s handwriting is very nice, too.
Though I didn’t receive a lot of cards this week, I’m not at all disappointed in the cards that arrived.
Catch Up Time – Part 2 – The Double, Double Edition
I’ve decided to take today off for a bit of “me” time, a personal day. Before my day gets too far under way, though, I thought it would be a good idea to get completely caught up with the postcards that arrived last week. Let’s get started.
It was a week of double double. In the same week, I received two postcards from Germany. On one day, I received two cards from the city of St. Petersburg, Russia – how unusual is THAT?
Somehow, I think this is not in Germany, even though the card arrived from Germany. There’s a Turkish Airlines logo at the bottom of the card. Perhaps Heike found the card while visiting Turkey. Nonetheless, great picture!
Trakky (aka Theresa) sent this cute kitten card from Germany, thinking I might like to pass it on to one of my granchildren. I might just do that.
Then, as I said at the beginning, these two cards arrived the same day, from the same city – St. Petersburg, Russia. I have not had that happen before!
Gorgeous cathedral, isn’t it?
I have no idea who the person in this card is supposed to be but I do love the quirkiness of this card.
Hmm.. it seems this post is turning into a lot of doubles. The first card I wrote about has the words “Turkish Airlines” on the back, making me think that it originated there. The following card is from Turkey; that would make another double. Then, the final double…. this card from Turkey and the following card, from Latvia, are both first cards from either of those countries. That’s a lot of doubles in one week!
So ancient! So beautiful! I really would love to visit that part of the world.
Again, such a beautiful old building. We have nothing like this in our part of the world.
And that concludes our post of doubles, and we’re all caught up again.
Catch Up Time – Part 1
I try… really, I do…. to update this blog the weekend after I receive postcards. Well, the past two weeks have seen an influx of postcards but I’ve not had the time to post about them until now. Last weekend, we had company. This weekend, we don’t. I’ve received quite a few cards in the last two weeks (five in the first week and six this past week); there are too many to blog about in a single post so I’ll put them into two posts.
Today’s post will be the cards that arrived the first week. The following post will be about the cards that arrived this past week. These are in no particular order.
First up, my first card from Argentina, from Gaby in Buenos Aires.
It’s interesting how she personalized the card with a cutout and my name. I love the stamps, too.
The next card is from Yoko, in Japan.
She has such neat printing and I absolutely love the Japanese aesthetic. This is such a peaceful card, isn’t it?
Next up is a card from Donna who is way over on the “other” coast, in the state of New Jersey.
Then, a card from the Netherlands, one that shows the traditional clothing of Scheveningen, an old fishing town.
Anne-Sophie writes, “Hello Evelyn, How nice to send a card to Canada written in Dutch. A card with the traditional costume of Scheveningen. My mother comes from Scheveningen but has never worn the tradional costume.”
As an aside, I was told once that if I could say “Scheveningse schippers school” correctly, I was a true Dutch person; yes, I can say it.
Today’s final card was sent by Paulina in Finland. Not only is Paulina a fellow Postcrosser, she’s also a fellow Raveller (ravelry.com), a fellow knitter.
And that’s it for this post. Now, to get some cards mailed out; I seem to be falling behind again.
Another Week, More Cards
Another week has flown by; we’ve had an eventful year already and it’s only the middle of February. With two deaths in the family, Postcrossing and postcards haven’t been very high on my list of priorities. However, cards have gone out and cards are coming in. As long as that is the case, I’ll keep posting and hoping that there will be no more “excitement” in our family for a long time to come.
In the meantime, I received three postcards this week. Two were waiting for us when we got back from the coast, where we were for my sister’s funeral, and one arrived this morning.
First up is this lovely winter scene from Saint Pierre de Chartreuse, in France.
I love sunny winter days like this one! Marie-Caroline wrote out a quote from Marcel Proust, from his book “Great Ideas”, entitled “Days of Reading.
The next card came from Miguel, a Spaniard living in Dortmund, Germany. I love Kermit!
The final card, which arrived today, also came from Germany, from Bremen. My first thought when I saw this card was, “Nemo!” Clown fish are so cute, aren’t they?
Still Here
Over the Christmas/New Year, the sending and receiving of postcards had come to a virtual standstill. I have since resumed sending cards and, as a result, cards are starting to come in again. This week, the first of the next wave of cards arrived in our mailbox.
The first card of the year came from the Ukraine, a country currently in turmoil, unfortunately.
Very pretty!
Thank you, Helen! Stay safe!
Two More In the Door
Over the last week and a bit, the postcards have slowed to a trickle. That’s to be expected as I haven’t been sending out very many in the last month or so. With the busyness of the season, I put Postcrossing on temporary hold. Once the new year arrives, I’ll get back to it.
Two cards did arrive, however, and this morning I’ve had time to scan them. Both cards arrived from Europe. The first to arrive came from the Netherlands. Somehow, without even looking at the back of the card, I knew it was from there; I can’t really explain it but it just looked Dutch somehow. I was right.
The second card came from Linda, who lives near Paris, France. Paris is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit. This is such a sweet card. There’s something about the simplicity that I just love… maybe it’s because it shows a love for books and reading, two things I have enjoyed from a very early age.
It Only Takes a Stamp 