Star Catcher

A lovely star catcher card from a 15 year old Belarussian postcrosser. She listed several yummy national dishes and sealed her card with a kiss. 

The King

The long-gone King card from a postcrosser in Poland. The anniversary of his death is still 2 weeks away but it is interesting how people continue to be fascinated with the singer.  

Notable Stamps

Hairpin Madness

This postcrosser in Taiwan has a dream of building a hairpin museum. Check out her site at http://www.hairpinmuseum.org/. I was fascinated with her interest in pins. Her museum will be a good companion to the hair museum in Kansas City, MO, which has a collection of ornaments and jewelry made of human hair: http://www.leilashairmuseum.net/. 

Heart's Desires

Three more cards sent off to postcrossers. The top card went to a writer in Japan who wanted fantasy characters. I have a set of vintage comic book postcards that will hopefully satisfy him. The middle card is going to Czech Republic writer who became a paraplegic, but regained his positive outlook by participating in European and Czech hand-bike championships. His wish is to some day drive on Route 66. I loved reading his profile and luckily found a Rte 66 card from a long-ago trip.f I added the lyrics to the song on the back. The bottom card is going to a writer in Thailand that loves mysteries. A vintage Nancy Drew will hopefully make her happy.

Beasties

Some recent cards I sent to postcrossers. The top card was sent to a Taiwanese writer who loves cats. I've had this cat card (now yellowed) for many years. I've always wanted a big orange tabby but so far, no dice. The moth card is by artist Danielle Schlunegger, who creates a large campsite installation. It is going to someone in Italy. The bottom card is a cropped card of a recent work by Christian Hogue, now showing in a SF gallery. It is going to postcrosser in Germany, who likes cards of forest animals such as foxes, owls and wolves.

Stamps and Cancellations

Recent favorites from my mailbox

Proud to be Dutch

Two very different altered cards from Dutch postcrossers. The card above emphasizes the most important color in the Netherlands - orange. She included popular children's story characters are Jip and Janneke and other stickers. Her career is most interesting - working in the funeral parlor and volunteering at the local movie theatre.

The lower card was beautifully altered by an artist originally from Greece. She enjoys random creativity and is currently involved in an altered postcard project. I love how she used just two colors to transform an ordinary multi-view card into something extraordinary!

Architecturally Pleasing

An evocative green building from a postcrosser in the Ukraine. Love the fisheye view and the lovely whispy clouds above.

A dreamy watercolor card from a Belarussian postcrosser. She wrote mysteriously, "To make pleasure pleasant, shorten them."

Whiskers

Can't quite tell what this cute whiskery creature is, The postcrosser from Belaruss said it lives in her town's zoo. Is it an otter? Can anyone shed any light?  

Beautiful Chimney

This Korean postcrosser invited me to visit her country, which is beautiful and has so many types of delicious foods. Indeed, when I visited Gwangju last year, my friends introduced me to all kinds of memorable dishes. This card is a detail of a beautiful chimney in Gyeongbokgung.

Red Sails

I must say I am a sucker for a bright red junk sailing in HK Harbor. On my business trips there I always looked forward to seeing junks afloat in the harbor, like a magical Oriental painting come to life. Oh yes I know the "orient" or "oriental" isn't so kosher to say any more. I don't care.  I like the word and I consider myself a prime example of one. This Hong Kong postcrosser writes about her very boring Arabic class. This too, sounds exotic, although the magic is broken when she continues on that asking in Arabic for someone's cell phone number "quite useful." 

Special Card from Guangzhou

This card is from a postcrosser in Guangzhou. She wrote, enigmatically, "This card I send you is the special one." I studied the card for about 10 minutes trying to understand it. The road signs say "upper road" and "lower road" but other than that, it's quite a jumble. Any ideas?

Wishing for a Snail's Pace

A neatly altered postcard from a German postcrosser. She expressed a German proverb, "De weg ist das ziel" in this postcard. Indeed, I need reminding of it sometimes. Life now moves with such lightning speed that I forget to enjoy the journey. A huge workload finished unexpectedly early so I have a couple of days of relaxation. Then it's a madcap week of setting up a new show, meetings, travel, heat, more meetings, drama, emotion, kleenex. Ah for a snail's pace...  

Hungarian Parliament

A lovely retro card from a Hungarian postcrosser. She affixed an origami crane in the corner. She says that the Danube has flooded right up to the stairs of the parliament.

Future Full of Happy Surprises

This fabulous card arrived from a 19-year old postcrosser in Chengdu, China! Half of the card has been taken apart and put back together again. It has a lot of movement because it was pieced together with tape on only one side. Arrived intact without an envelope and I am thrilled! Such a sweet card full of promises! 

Shoveling Hot and Cold

I thought this card from a Dutch postcrosser was of someone shoveling sand, but upon closer inspection it is someone shoveling salt. The beautiful green dress belies the discomfort of manual labor on a hot day.

As an antidote to the sweltering theme above, this lovely sherbet card arrived from a British postcrosser. Turns out he is a foodie. He suggested I try putting raspberry vinaigrette on my "chili." Not quite sure what chilli translates to in British but if he means chile, well...ok! Sounds interesting.

A Type of Polypodiophyta

A beautiful altered card from a postcrosser in Belaruss. I love postcards that have a stamp on the front! There's one on the back as well, along with a nice cancellation mark. This unusual plant is a type of fern, as I found out. I couldn't find much info on the website about it. I wonder if it is edible?

End Solitary Confinement!

Picked up this double-sided political postcard at Mission Pie. It advertizes priosner hunger strikes in protest against "extreme solitary confinement" in California prisons.   

Color Accents

Two black & white postcards with a touch of color. The postcard above is from a Swiss postcrosser, a card designed by Nina Waser. The design won a contest by Saxoprint, a printing company in the UK. The card below is an altered card from a postcrosser in Germany. This card intriguing features headless characters in a what looks like a beauty parlor. She enjoys making art when she as a moment to spare, and I love the whimsical story she tells on this card. She said to watch out for the crab. Indeed, indeed. 

Summer Travel

A fun postcard from a postcrosser in Belarus. She used nail polish, glue and stickers as well as her ladybug earrings. One came off in transit but the other stayed on. I'm about to fly off to Atlanta this week and this postcard reminded me that summer travel isn't going to be as breezy as the image of this girl. Things will be dicey, especially with the tragic accident at SFO yesterday. I am also guaranteed a looong day of travel as I couldn't get a direct flight. Flight transfers inevitably equal delays, missed connections, canceled flights, hot tempers, and frantic running from one gate to another.   

Beetles from Sweden

An interesting oversized card from a Swedish postcrosser. She writes that this was her second attempt. She cut out the address and stamped portion of the first card and affixed it to the back. Nice save on those stamps! She wrote that it was midsummer's eve in her country. Brought back fond memories of visiting a Swedish friend in the summer. I remember the sun in the middle of the night. And lots of bugs. Lesson learned: don't wear black leggings if you're hiking in Sweden in the summertime!