forbidden city

a view of the forbidden city comes from a young chinese friend, taking an english course in beijing during his summer vacation from university.

summer snow

this cooling scene in the dog days of summer comes from my friend blanka s. her sister has a summer cottage in this old mining village in slovakia. years ago i visited the village to do a piece on its traditional lacemaking. blanka's sister made a delicious tisane of herbs for the summer cold i had.

morning glow

this morning shot of mt. hokendake in the chuo alps captures the mineral beauty of the mountains against the endless blue sky. the card is from a japanese postcrosser.

Glen Ellen

Post Office in Glen Ellen, CA.

Painted Card

From Canadian Postcrosser Marian, this postcard was hand-painted. The stamps on the back were lovely too - a dragon stamp and a stamp of the Armenian Church.

middlebrook at snyderman-works

through september nancy middlebrook is having a show of her sophisticated weavings at the prestigious snyderman-works gallery in philadelphia. i wrote an essay for the catalog and of course hope that people will flock to see this artist's work.

Forgettable

Another Iwamiginzan Mail Box

more little league post office

this satellite draws little league fans and players from around the world.

the little league guys

the man on the left is showing one of the special postmarked postcards being sold for each day of the little league world series week. i bought a roll of stamps and got a classic babe ruth stamp pin as a bonus. there are lots of reasons to go to the little league world series. this p. o. is a new one.

little league post office

after watching chinese taipei beat up on mexico yesterday afternoon at the little league complex in south williamsport, pa, i came across this satellite post office on the grounds. excellent! it was selling lots of baseball-themed items along with stamps.

Iwamiginzan Mail Box

Mailman Delivers

Iwamiginzan mailman caught in the act of delivering the mail.

Iwamiginzan, Omori

Small-town post office in Japan. Iwamiginzan is trying to get UNESCO World Heritage status for its historical silver mines. When I visited last year the town was just starting to build up for tourism. It's still considered out-of-the-way. I saw a lot of beautiful mail boxes in this town.

mcelhattan postmistress

cheerful, efficient, and informative, postmistress betty j. sets the tone at the post office in mcelhattan. she was sweet enough to let me take her photo.

mcelhattan, pa

this homey post office is in mcelhattan, a small town undergoing a growth spurt in northcentral pennsylvania. i stopped by the post office after having lunch at restless oaks, which had lured me off rt. 220 with its name.

cresson, pa

the post office in cresson, pennsylvania, on a wind-tossed morning of heavy fog and rain. this trim p.o. was built in 1999. i stayed the night at the station inn, a unique train-spotting hotel in cresson. on my way north, i stopped here to mail some things abroad and pick up some of the new jimmy stewart stamps.

lyons, pa

the tiny post office in tiny lyons (pop. 500 or so), pa.

chili beauty

a late rwb entry from inga u. of british columbia, canada. the peppers remind me of her recent solo jaunt to bhutan.

jackie's real gone

have to love #42.

Farmington, ME

A prim-looking New England post office. The skies were threatening but it didn't rain.

decades later

old hot pants find new life in this fabric postcard from mr potani.

zipcode

red brick, white zipcode, blue sky.

coudersport, pa

another brick post office from pennsylvania, this in coudersport, an old lumber town on scenic rt. 6. though it looks empty here, i had to wait for a spot in the adjacent parking lot. business was brisk on this early october morning.

life lesson

love is like baseball, life is like baseball.

Hakodate, Hokkaido

This post office is located in a western-themed mall in Hakodate. Note the Santa mailman statue next to the booth. They had lots of nice Christmas stamps when I was there in December. The postal staff, however, was uber-postal. They had asked a customer in front of me if they would like the Christmas cancellation on their Christmas card. The cancellation was wonderful. When I asked for the cancellation on my postcard, however, the answer was: only for Christmas letters mailed to people in Japan. No amount of sweet persuasion could budge the young woman with the chestnut dye job.

New Sharon, Maine

Found this small post office on a residential street in New Sharon, Maine. The postmistress had just been transferred here. Because of its out-of-the-way location, they still had the triangular Jamestown stamps. I bought a sheet for Jacqueline here.

virginville, pa

it looks like a post office from the wild, wild west but it's in virginville, in eastern pennsylvania. guess the brick makes the difference.

more important

for fans, for sure, baseball does take on a life of its own.

Buu dien Thanh pho

Soliders assemble for their daily drill outside the main post office in Ho Chi Minh City.

The post office not only takes your mail, it provides dark wooden benches and a cool shelter from the hot sun. This is one of my favorite post offices.

I was delighted to find a bowl of paste, brush and blotter made available to customers.

froggy

some cards are plain goofy, like this one yesterday from slovak artist friend jozef. b., who lives with his sweet family in buffalo, ny. frog-et, frog-et, frog-et---makes me laugh.

a day in the bleachers

a small tribute to albert hano's quintessential book.

midseason review

the other day at the post office, alan the postmaster told me he continues to get lots of positive reaction to the mail art display. he said he's been telling customers who comment on the window to check out little red mail box. lots of people like the display, others are surprised by the things that can be sent through the mail. alan always points out the uncle sam hat. he also said that in the evening when taking down the flag, he often pauses to look at the things in the window. thanks, mr postmaster.

Wittsun Procession

This odd card was created by Postcrosser "Neverness" of Berlin.

swing batter batter

the point of the game is to score runs, often easier said than done.

at last moomin!

my first moomin card arrived today, from finnish postcrosser noona. love the ceramic stove in the corner!

popcorn at the park

the season enters the end stretch. pretty soon no more eating at the ballpark. collaged stamp sheet by jacqueline.

Suomi, Suomi

From Postcrosser "Heli" of Finland. A painted and collaged card that includes a fragment from Finland's most popular folk song. She said the lyrics describe a tree with white blossoms near fields. This card was hand-made by Heli's mother.

sparkling water

friend sandy s. sent an amusing letter written on the back of this doll she made.

a restaurant in brasil

nanako k., a kyoto friend, sent this delicious postcard from a small town in the state of minas gerais. she's in brasil working on a documentary.

90% mental

yogi berra--as right on as ever.

what it takes

into the dog days and back to baseball.

sushi love

old tokyo pal margaret price now runs a gallery on australia's gold coast. sushi love (8/4 to 9/2) features the work of tokyo graphic artist fukiko yamamoto. margaret sent me these postcards of yamamoto's work a couple of years ago. check it out at http://www.gallerytokonoma.com.au/.

accent dude

envelope and embellished postcard from mr potani

steaming

a maryland specialty from mia w. we want more!

jacob lawrence

mr potani sent this card from the denver art museum, a birthday card to the museum by one of my favorites, jacob lawrence.

red sun

another cool card from 10-year-old mia w. for the post office "exzibit".

rockies

postcard from mr potani. no question about how they got their name.