cat and blossoms

Friend Ryuko S. of Tono, Iwate, found this beautiful postcard showing a cat under the blossoms on a recent trip to Tokyo. Hand-dyed with natural dyes, the cloth at the center of the card was made by the Shigeta Dye Workshop. Ryuko knows how much I love cats. Her family runs Chikurindo, a sweets shop in Tono, which has the best akegarasu, a local specialty and one of my faves. I often used to have tea at the shop with Ryuko and her dogs. This card will go straight into a frame and onto a wall. Tono is in the northeast and cherry, flowering apricot, and other blossoms are now at their peak, just as they are here where I am in Pennsylvania.

more chinese stamps

More magical stamps from my friend Yue in Fujian, China.

field of greens

An old Stadium Club menu spurred this card, made from a recycled postcard, acrylics, and menu parts. How many people go to games to eat and drink? I think I'll send it to a friend who has scant interest in the game.

something fishy

Friend Sandy S. of Maryland sent this funny fish tale. Sandy definitely has fish on the brain. Maybe it comes from living on the Chesapeake.

What's on a Cat's Mind

A fun postcard from penpal Anu of Helsinki. She writes that she was a in great mood because spring is finally coming. She says her cat is very excited by the arrival of spring, she caught her first mouse in the garden. "Not nice," she writes. Card is made with watercolors, flower petals and leaves, color pens, stamp and the picture of the cat is from a "cat" lottery ticket. Thank you so much Anu I love it!!

Vanilla Postcrosser

This sweet card is from 16-year old Heidi of Seinajoki, Finland. She made this card from magazine pictures, a ribbon and colored paper. This is a second card she sent me - the first never arrived. Thank you so much Heidi for your efforts. Your card is gorgeous!

Baseball CD

Another CD in the mail! This baseball one from Jacqueline with a "swing or miss" message! It was posted without an envelope and arrived perfectly intact.

Taiwan

A fun handmade card from Postcrosser Hsiu-yin of Taiwan. She made a map of Taiwan from facial puffs, wrote the word "Taiwan" out of toothpicks and the small images are cut from tickets. She added a UPC code and wrote, "Taiwan Touch Your Heart." It's one of the sweetest cards I've received in a while!

The Wind Play Ball

Here is a cool baseball card from NOrbert Koczorski of Diepholz, Germany. He's incorporated LRMB's avatar, Mr. Mailman in his postcard. I cannot quite tell who the pitcher is in the postcard but it's very cool! He has asked for a catalog, if we end up producing one.

just another night

Leftover tickets, a stencil of a batter, and tags went into this postcard I sent to mrpotani.

we the people

Meant to post this yesterday in honor of the primary election being held here in the Commonwealth.

St Helena Post Office

The post office at St. Helena, CA has two interesting murals of farm workers. I also loved the wooden mail boxes.

ila borders

Mrpotani sent this card of Ila Borders, looking almost mythical in this photo by Annie Leibovitz. Borders, a lefty, was the first woman to pitch in men's professional baseball.

tom gordon

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is the only Stephen King book I've read, and I read it because baseball, in the form of Gordon and his then Boston Red Sox, features in the tale. 'Flash' wears 45 with the Phillies, in honor of Tug McGraw.

the japanese game

Another clipping from my Kyoto friend yielded this headline about Bobby Valentine, who has found a home in Japan. The rest of the card came from a local Chushingura exhibition, recycled cardboard, oil pastels, and a sticker.

Spanish Grass

Received this wonderful collage card from Orati, Spain. Antony says it is made with Cartulina de colores, plastico, papel de aluminio, recorte de revista, ramas ornamentales and postal. He says enjoy with the power of the moon. Gracias!

Norton CD Mail

Received this Postcrosser mail from Germany. Alas, the ID number was incorrect or incomplete and I cannot report it. Pretty cool mail though!

world of pain

Somewhere not far away the cherries are in full bloom. I sent this card to a friend, with an Issa ku from haiku-a-day:

world of pain--
and the cherry blossoms
only add to it

honda takeshi

A card came yesterday from Honda Takeshi, an artist from my old 'hood in Tono, Iwate prefecture, who uses charcoal pencil and paper. The piece shown is from his Walking in the Mountains series. This one is April and shows a tree clawed by a bear. It's been so long since I've been back to Tono that this card just about made me cry.

the babe's best bread

With this fabulous postcard Sandy S. of Baltimore celebrates her Lithuanian grandfather's bakery, which was in the same 'hood where Babe Ruth was born. Family lore has it that as a kid the Babe bought bread at the bakery. Definitely an all-time favorite!

doug and desi

Felt-tip pens, oil pastels, and old baseball cards went into the making of this memory. Doug Glanvile was last seen writing for the NY Times; don't know what Desi Relaford is doing. I sent the card to mrpotani.

"bless the child"

Another fab work by Lauren Camp. 'Nuff said.

"the whole damn orchestra"

That's what Lauren Camp aptly titled her appliqued and quilted take on the great Ella Fitzgerald, shown in this postcard. Camp has a wonderful series of works on jazz, which traveled around the US for years. Check it out at www.laurencamp.com.

heart

This surprise heart arrived yesterday from German postcrosser Jenny. She said she "felt creative" and painted it to send. Lovely! Thanks very much.

pitching basic

May all our pitchers do this! I cut the quotation from clippings sent by a friend in Kyoto, painted a piece of cardboard red, and cut up a card made last year to make this new one.

j-roll

Another old media guide yielded a Jimmy Rollins page. I turned it into a postcard with oil pastels, baseball stamps, and Wite-Out. I happened to be at the game described where J-Roll hit a grand slam in the 5th, tied the game, and won some fan a car. It was a truly hysterical game from its crazy start to euphoric finish.

what happened to...

It started with a question: What happened to these minor leaguers? Might also ask what has happened to the mails. Why is it again taking a week to go from PA to San Francisco? I made this card from recycled cardboard, a baseball card from the old Red Barons, and oil pastels.

Oakland A's Postcards

The Oakland A's giveaway on Friday night was a pack of postcards - 40 cards in the pack to commemorate 40 years of the Athletics in the Coliseum. Each card is a nifty team portrait and the back identifies the players in the picture, including the batboys. Cool!

cable car

German postcrosser Sina, a student of geography, sent this card she made. She took the photo on trip she made on her own to San Francisco after a university field trip through the Midwest. I love the snapshot quality.

usps scores

I spoke too soon. It took a week from Pennsylvania to San Francisco but the card below finally arrived.

play ball

I made this card for mrpotani's A's, hoping it would reach the Bay Area for opening day. Instead, it was a disappointing loss in the mail. For the card I used recycled cardboard and paper and oil pastels. The elephant was part of a photo from a friend's trip to South Africa.

chutley

Super second baseman Chase Utley is Mrs. October's fave on the current Phillies team. I found the Utley page in a 2001 minor league media guide destined for recycling and made this card to send her, using oil pastels, various baseball stamps, and Wite-Out. Utley is a true grit "dirtbag".

lorraine glessner show

Lorraine Glessner, the artist I interviewed yesterday, has a show on at the St. Asaph Gallery in Philadelphia until April 20. Glessner works in encaustic. This postcard shows a detail from a piece called Bloom.

mrs. october steps to the plate

Before I dropped my 93-year-old friend Jessie F., aka Mrs. October, off after Monday's home opener in Philadelphia, I badgered her about making a baseball card for the current mail call. After all, she's been a Phillies fan all her life, her father played professional ball, and she's been to every World Series game since 1964. Not happening, she said, I'm not clever or creative. This afternoon I got back from interviewing an artist in Philadelphia to find this card in the mail. A home run!

bamboo grove

These stamps were on an envelope of baseball clippings sent by a friend in Kyoto. The bamboo grove stamp is awesome.

Home Opener 2008

I created this digital greeting card using my home opener ticket and a photo taken at the McAfee Coliseum last nite. Great crowd and great views from the Westside Club. Welcome back baseball...all's right with the world again!

all that glitters

I'm sending this card to Mrs. October to give her some dates for day games. At 93, she prefers to skip the night ones. I added oil pastels and baseball card cutouts to the paint and glitter of a card sent to me last year. In the majors, relief pitchers too are recycled forever.