more words

A nine-year-old Finnish postcrosser who likes to make up words sent this 'language lesson'.

The Dutch postcrosser who sent this was taking advantage of the kids being at the grandparents to study for a test.

take it easy

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of card that tickles my friend Jozef. I hope I'm right because he's getting it.

old and new

Mrpotani sent this card from her trip last week to New York. I saw her there but was happy to get the card, which has an oddly retro feel to it. Or maybe I'm the one feeling retro as it brought back real memories of going to the Apollo.


PostMuse meanwhile chimed in with this retro offering from across the sea. Just three hours from Paris!

another pretty card from aotearoa

Another pretty card arrived from New Zealand today, this from a group of primary students. Postcrossing is certainly a clever way to get kids involved in some hands-on contact with the greater world.

aotearoa does not mean fiddlehead

Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand. Thanks to the New Zealand postcrosser who sent this pretty card. I love fiddlehead ferns.

gimme some sushi

The Japanese postcrosser who sent this card included a boatload of vintage stamps on the back. They deserve a posting all their own.

from taiwan

A postcrosser from Taipei who loves taking photographs sent this clever wheel card of seven famous scenes around Taiwan. The stamps go along quite nicely.

tili tili testo

According to Maria, the Russian postcrosser who sent this card, the words on front read, "Tili tili testo." They come from a nursery rhyme, she says, and have no translation. They are usually said to tease a boy and girl in love. Maria thinks it sweet if they can be said to an old couple who have hung together for most of their lives and still enjoy each other. She's not sure everlasting love is possible but she's eager to try it. This card was her first postcrossing card and it is super.

more stamps

golden

This statue of Ukrainian opera singer Anatoly Solovyanenko stands in Donetsk. The card is from a postcrosser who lives in the region.

A Portuguese postcrosser living in Bournemouth, England, sent this rendition of Ballard Down, part of the Dorset Jurassic Coast.

glorious autumn

What a beautiful pastoral scene. The card will go to a friend who is mad about cows.

I never did make it up to the mountains this autumn, but in truth the season has been too oddly warm (in the 70's this week) for the leaves to be truly brilliant.

fill 'er up

When friend Jozef told me that he and his wife Olga would be visiting Ireland, I asked him to have a Guinness for me. According to his message on this amusing card, he had two. Cheers! Let others have their peanuts. My fall baseball park ritual: chestnuts and a Guinness.

all over the map

A Finnish postcrosser who wants to go to Los Angeles sent this card, which appears to be from a Finnish NGO.

one for champ

Julia, a German postcrosser, went wild making this zany card, but her message was even better. In amusing, endearing detail, she described her daily walks in the country with Champ, her Hovawart hybrid, a "giant among the hybrids and still growing". By the end of it, I had pretty much fallen in love with Champ myself.

cool two

a little red letter

Jessie Foyle, aka Mrs. October, sent a letter the other day on this clever napkin. It folds front and back to a replica Phillie uniform. Jessie and I share a passion for this team. I shall have to visit her to see how she is taking the end of the season. At 95, she is a lot more sanguine than many fans. Baseball has also been part of the fabric of her life and she has a deeper and broader perspective than many. Yes, I shall have to visit Jessie soon.

two from belarus

open studio

Mrpotani sent this card of a recent painting she did for the open studio held last weekend at Arc Studio and Gallery in San Francisco.

i hear music

stamps by any other name

frangy

If I were writing a story, I might find a way to use the name Frangy. Thanks to the French postcrosser who sent this multiview of a pretty Haute Savoie village.

bike boy

The Dutch postcrosser who sent this card said that she took the photo just seconds before the boy on the bike crashed. Cool photo, cool card. The colors are great.

fairy tale unesco

This view of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is from a Russian postcrosser. No matter what the view, the cathedral always looks like something from a fairy tale. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

oh, tokaj

This wonderful rendering of a grape harvest, by Torok Janos, was sent by a Hungarian postcrosser. The card reminded me immediately of Tokaj, both the inimitable wine and the lovely region where it originates.

three by three

early spring

The Polish postcrosser who sent this card showing an early spring scene in the Slawskie Lake District must not like winter. It is a pretty view, though.

birds, birds, birds

Birds never cease to amaze.

take the bridge

A Lithuanian postcrosser living in Estonia sent this striking image from a city festival in Tartu.

ready to ride

This card from a postcrosser in Taiwan, who often takes the train home, makes me want to hop on one myself. It's been much too long between train rides!

way to go

wattle

Until this postcard arrived the other day from an Australian postcrosser, I knew two definitions for 'wattle'. I now know a third, wattle being the vernacular name of the native acacia that is now the floral emblem of Australia.