Finally, Some Cards

I’ve taken a bit of a break from Postcrossing but I’m back at it now, on a slightly reduced schedule. I’m sending out five cards per month now and I’ve finally had a couple of cards come in to my mailbox.

The first one this week came from Germany.

There certainly is some fantastic scenery in Germany, isn’t there? Everything in Europe is so old! We have mountains here but no towns or villages (or castles!) like you seen in Europe.

The second card to arrive this week came from a little closer, from within my own country, Canada. I’ve never been to the east coast of Canada but it is definitely on my wish list.

The writing didn’t scan very well, unfortunately.The scene on this card was painted by a Nova Scotian artist, Maud Lewis. I love it. I love the autumn colours and the quaintness of the painting. Thank you, Angie!

 

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.

 

And Another Week Goes By

I know I didn’t post any cards last week but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. There were. Time, however, has not been as cooperative as I would have liked. Last weekend was spent in the kitchen, cooking dinners for the coming week. Now, however, it’s time to get back to the postcards… and blogging in general.

In no particular order, here are the cards that found their way to our mailbox in the last two weeks.

First up, a postcard in an envelope from the Netherlands. There’s something special about this one. The card, a painting by Dutch artist Anton Pieck, is mirrored in the stamp! Very cool!

The next card, from Tokyo, Japan, arrived just before Halloween, perfect timing. Andrea is an American, married to a Japanese man and living in Tokyo.

The following card is from my own country, Canada. To be more specific, it came from Mennonite country in Ontario. Sandra refers to a fire at the farmers’ market; here’s a link to the story, as reported by the Globe & Mail.

I love the stamp, too!

The following card is from Germany but isn’t a postcard with German content. Olga comments on the smallness of our world. The card shows a bridge in St. Petersburg and the stamp shows a lovely square in Berlin. Neat!

And a closeup of the stamps…

Here’s another card that’s a bit deceptive. Mechthild is from Germany, on vacation in South America. Because she’s on vacation, she sent me a postcard from where she is/was at that time… Ipanema! Lovely!

From Ipanema, we make our way back up to Europe, Belgium, to be precise. This card shows the training ship, Amerigo Vespucci. I love the tall sailing ships. Years ago, my ex husband and I took our youngest daughter to the Netherlands. While there, we toured the sailing ship, Batavia, still in construction at the time. It was absolutely fascinating to see how sailors of a bygone era lived and worked and to see just how small and cramped their ships actually were.

This next postcard intrigues me. Jade is an animation teacher in Singapore; she sent this card of Gardens by the Bay, a must-see, according to her. I did Google it and, I must say, it looks like a very interesting and beautiful place. I think that, if I ever find myself in Singapore, it WILL be on my list of things to see.

Apparently, according to Google, each of these “trees” is a garden all its own. And this is only one area of the Gardens by the Bay!

From Singapore, we travel to Russia, Chelyabinsk, to be precise. I find this a rather austere picture but an interesting building nonetheless.

Today’s final card also arrived from Russia. Tillion sent this lovely bouquet of flowers with crochet hearts. Very sweet, don’t you think?

Though I’m not a stamp collector anymore, I do find the stamps almost as interesting as the cards. As a matter of fact, in some cases, the stamps are even more interesting than the cards. I love that some people make the effort to use interesting stamps.

 

It’s Been A Little Slow

The past two weeks have been rather lean in the Postcrossing department. I’m assuming it’s because, at the moment, I have a lot of cards in transit. Now that some of them have reached their destinations, more postcards should be arriving within the next little while. In the meantime, three postcards arrived, with only two of them coming through Postcrossing. Two of the cards were something of a surprise.

First to show up was this card from Diana in Wisconsin.

I love that Johnny Cash stamp!

This week’s card was a bit of a surprise. It came from a fellow Canadian, a nearly neighbour.

When Claire wrote that “we’re practically neighbours”, she wasn’t kidding. She lives in Kamloops, about a two hour drive from Kelowna. Not just that, I lived there for two years. I managed a craft store there, so it’s quite possible that our paths may even have crossed.

This is only my third card from Canada and to have it come from so near was surprising.

My third card, as I said at the outset, didn’t come through Postcrossing but because it is a postcard, it deserves a mention.

One of my cousins in the Netherlands sent this card. I could handle living in a house like that

 

 

 

Falling Behind

Blogging, over the last couple of weeks, has been sorely lacking but that’s what happens when you have company. Our visitor has since left (it was a good visit!) so now it’s time to catch up and there are definitely cards to write about. I think today’s post will cover last week’s cards and, tomorrow being a holiday (Labor Day), I’ll post about this past week’s cards.

In that one week period, I received six cards from five different countries… Japan, Canada, USA, Ireland, and two from Germany! I was quite surprised when I sat down at the end of the week and took a tally. In no particular order, here we go.

The second card came to me from Germany. I’ve always been fascinated by the amazing cathedrals in Europe and this one, in Dortmund, is no exception. It’s not always easy to see the details of the tower clocks so this card is especially appreciated. Look at the amazing details on this cathedral!

And, if you read the card, Anke was interviewed by her local newspaper about Postcrossing. How cool is that?

Next up is Ireland. I must say, I would really love to visit Ireland (among other places) one day.

Card number 4 also arrived from Germany. I know someone who would have liked to receive a card like this one. This one actually brought back some memories. When my ex-husband and I, along with our youngest daughter, were last in the Netherlands, we had a tour of the sailing ship “Batavia”. It was absolutely fascinating! And much smaller than I expected it to be.

The next card arrived from Montreal, only my second card from Canada, both from Montreal, coincidentally.

Tünde took this picture and played with the colours a bit, and then had postcards made. I love it! And I love the stamp, too. The Tragically Hip! Canada has a series of stamps depicting Canadian rock groups, including the Hip, the Guess Who, Rush, and a group I’d not heard of… Beau Dommage.

The final card of the week arrived in an envelope… from Sue in Saginaw, Michigan. She included birthday wishes as she mailed the card the day before my birthday. As well, she included a couple of treats. See for yourself…

The envelope: Sue made it, obviously, from a map. I love it! I know I’ve said it before but I really do appreciate the handmade cards and, in this case, envelopes. She’s put some thought and effort into what she sent. Anyone can purchase a postcard and postage and send it but it takes time, thought, and effort to put something together. Thank you, Sue!

The contents of the envelope?

The flowery card at the top left is the postcard (below is the reverse). The birthday cake is a fridge magnet and it is on my refrigerator even now. The rest are stickers. I almost don’t want to use them; they’re in the envelope with the card, with all the other cards I’ve received.

And the back of the card…

That’s it for this week.Tomorrow, I’ll post about the cards I received this past week. The next batch also includes a very special handmade card. Until tomorrow….

 

Yes, There are More!

There’s no way I can put all the cards into a single post; there are simply too many. Remind me not to let things get this out of hand again, ok? First up, Germany…

 

Caroline writes that this magnificent church was destroyed in WW 2 and completely rebuilt after the war. It really is a beautiful building!

From Pavel, in Belarus:

 

From the US, and more precisely, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor:

 

From Russia, a vintage postcard; it even has some original handwriting on the back (in addition to the note from Ivan and Lena):

 

 

The following card is one of the firsts I alluded to in the first of the update posts. This is my first card from my own country, Canada! That makes it a special one!

 

Another art card, this one from Finland:

 

And another vintage postcard, this one from the Netherlands:

 

 

From Krysia, a 12 year old girl from Poland (the stamps on this card are the featured image for this post):

 

And the last one for today, from the Netherlands again and, more specifically, from Friesland, where my parents come from:

 

I think one more post should see me caught up. Thankfully!