framed

Two cards from postcrossers in, respectively, Italy and Thailand.

two more

More color from Germany (what's up with that) and a wonderful raccoon among flowers from Belarus.

stamps of late

To to bottom: gorgeous stamps from Ukraine, two with symmetry from China, a folk pot from Romania, and exuberant color from Germany.

all about the colors

The card shows a painting by German artist Shero Neuroth. The postcrosser who sent wrote that she did not know the artist (nor do I) but she really liked the colors.

eel river

A vintage card I sent out some weeks ago.

sail away, sail away

From farflung postcrossers.

border countries

These two cards arrived together, providing an instant theme of countries that border Hungary. The unusual card above, a reprint of a vintage postcard back, is from Romania. The back of the card was pretty much the same but printed in Romanian, and with a message in English. Love the snippet of street life shown in the pretty card from Kiev, below. My kind of city view.

tiger love

Sandy Sapienza keeps topping each and every tiger card she makes. Once again I say, with a huge nod to G.B. Shaw, this has got to be the best.

karoly reich

A Hungarian postcrosser with a delightful sense of being sent this charming card of a Karoly Reich illustration. Reich was a famed, and prolific, illustrator of children's books in Hungary. The sender wrote of the card: "All the lovely small details remind me of my childhood books and make me smile."

streaming seoul

An American postcrosser in Seoul for a year sent this sleek view of the city. She is also a fan of long shutter exposure photography, used to great effect in this card, turning the old gate at center into a futuristic ornament of sorts. Given how the two Koreas are now in the news, the card is also sadly timely. It reminds me, too, (not that I need the reminder) that I was invited to the Fashion Art Biennale held in Seoul earlier this month, but was unable to attend. The theme of the show was 'War and Peace', in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.

happy thanksgiving

Zoo with Roy had a funny series of hand turkeys done with Paint which set me off on drawing hand turkeys. My favorite was the polar turkey, but white on white doesn't scan well. My second fave was this one, made after Roy Halladay, #34, won the Cy Young award for the National League. Have a happy, folks!

the empire state building photographs

From 1930-1931, pioneering photographer Lewis Hine (1874-1940) documented the building of the Empire State Building in a well-known series of photographs. These postcards feature two favorites, both dramatic. One shows a heater getting bolts red-hot to toss them to riveters. (I still can't believe I sent this off.) The other one I love because of its aerial perspective and even more because of how it frames my favorite building, yes, the beautiful Chrysler.

splashing tiger

A German postcrosser sweetly sent this splendid, splashing tiger.

elliott erwitt at weinstein

From October 26th to January 9th, Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis is having a show of photographs by Elliott Erwitt, master of the ironic candid moment. The announcement card shows a 1956 photo, taken in New York, of Marilyn Monroe.

vintage oddities

Not all vintage is the same as these examples of odd humor show. Just as interesting was the back of each card, with an international list of words for postcard where a caption might be.

a scream and a shoutout

These, stamp included, are all from artist Jozef Bajus. Both he and his wife Olga Bajusova are in Winter, a group show of small works at Indigo Arts in Buffalo, New York, which opens on the 26th and runs till January 7th. The witty McScream postcard at top came with the appropriate apologies to Edvard Munch.

boxes

The black-and-white postcard at top, wrote the Chinese postcrosser who sent it, shows an old dining room, though that is not what the photo suggests. I guess I shall have to take her word for it as all that the card says is Lulu Hall, Xidi Village, Yixian County. The card below, of a Virgina Davis piece amusingly titled This Is Not a Slide, is from Lynn B. The 1994 original is of acrylic, nail polish, computer printer collage on handwoven ikat linen canvas. In between is a sleek bit of Finnish stamp art.

mud, silk, and thailand

A postcrossing law student sent the vivid postcard of Thailand, and the pretty stamp, noting that winter was on its way to her country. Only goes to show that all seasons are relative. Jozef Bajus sent the postcard announcement for Mud and Silk, a show of ceramic and fiber design by Hillary Fayle, a student of his, at Indigo Art in Buffalo, New York. Exciting but it's too bad that the show ran only November 15 to 19.

poland and ukraine

Two cards from Central Europe, the top one from a Polish postcrosser and the bottom from another in Ukraine. The Ukrainian postcrosser was one of those exuberant souls who covered every bit of the back of the card with text and/or decoration.

stunning lapland

The Finnish postcrosser who sent this evocative view of Lapland wrote, somewhat cryptically, that she lives "next door to the real Santa Claus". I don't know about that but this card could be a painting.

isn't it a lovely day

Yes, isn't it a lovely day to be out in the snow? A Mexican postcrosser visiting Montreal sent this beautiful snow scene.

paul strand

How wonderful to wake to good news! This morning it was the news that the Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired more than 3,000 photographs by Paul Stand, one of the giants of modern photography and one of my favorite photographers. The acquisition gives the museum the greatest collection of Strand works in the world. Born in New York in 1890, Strand died in France in 1976. The 1916 photo shown is the postcard here is called New York. It appeared in Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Work. An exhibition of Stand's photographs is being planned by the museum for 2014.

boxed oranges

A postcrosser from Dubai, who says she is now studying marine biology in England, sent the top card. The card shows Bedouin women selling their goats at a goat fair. A Belgian postcrosser sent the knockout stamp of the Bronte sisters and, of course, it was a Finnish postcrosser who sent the glowing view of Helsinki.

i'll take chocolate

Maybe this little big cat would like some chocolate instead. A Belgian postcrosser sent the chocoholic card and a German postcrosser, the cubbie.

flowers north and south

PostMuse sent the postcard at top, of a garden in Victoria, British Columbria. It reminded me of one I recently made using I photo I took years ago in a garden in San Diego. The Chinese New Year stamp, from a Brazilian postcrosser, has a hint of Ferdinand to it.

gone missing

I sent this Julia Margaret Cameron image to a Serbian postcrosser who likes photography but the card never made it to Belgrade. Disappointing, for sure.

expired 11.14

This card expired this morning after 60 fruitless days of travel. It was sent to a postcrosser in Russia, one of those who seems to have gone into a witness protection program as soon as I got her contact information.

queimada +

A postcrosser in Galicia, a region of northern Spain, sent the queimada card at top. Queimada is a tasty specialty of Galicia, made with the local aguardiente, lemon, sugar, and coffee beans. Before being served, it is set afire and an incantation to drive off evil spirits is recited. I had queimada on my first night in northern Spain and it was delicious. The other card is one I sent to a postcrosser in Taiwan, of the spectacular rhododendron display along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.