Now Forbidden

According to this German postcrosser, this card cannot be sent to anyone in Germany because of the subject matter. 

Vintage Stamps

A lovely collage card of vintage stamps from a Japanese postcrosser. I recall using these stamps as a child and espeically loved the swan image. The deer reminds me of Nara, which is full of them at temples, waiting to be fed cookies. I wonder if the dog is Hachiko, the legendary loyal dog that came to the train station every afternoon to meet its master. 

A Magical Place

A lovely card from a Turkish postcrosser. I imagine this is the Bosphorus with minarets in the distance. This magical view brought back fond memories of my visits to Istanbul, where friends treated me to a lovely ride along the Bosphorus, to delicious seafood, and of course, a glass of ayran. 

Red-Whiskered Bulbul

I received a lovely bird card from an Indian postcrosser. According to Wikipediak, the red-whiskered bulbul has a scolding chatter and is often heard but rarely seen. Interestingly these birds are also found in Florida.

Paws Dialect

A Dutch Postcrossing dog by the name of Disney sent me this cool card of the Little Mermaid. I don't know how Disney discerned that this is my favorite Andersen's story. 

Is This My First Maxicard?

I learned from the Postcrossing blog that a maxicard features an image on the card similar to the image on the stamp. Am I to believe that this is one? I can't what this building is that the postcrosser from Logoisk, Belarus sent me. 

Summertime

An old grey Christmas card transformed by flowers and family photos of this happy Finnish postcrosser.

Glowing Plants

From the Ukraine 

From Germany

Eye of the Beholder

There's a German sense of humor lurking somewhere in these cards. 

Postmodern Rembrandts

From Ukraine

From Lithuania

Blue

Two blue altered cards, the top one from a Russian postcrosser and the bottom from a German postcrosser. I liked the way the drawing follows the geometric shapes that form the wolf. And the band of white across a row of chairs by the sea completely changes the original image. The doodles are reminiscent of sea life.

Rio + 20

A postcrosser from Brazil sent this lyrical Rio+20 card. Since my organization was peripherally involved with the UN conference on this subject, it drew my interest. The postcrosser lives in Florianopolis, an island in southern Brazil. I had never heard of this island. Wikipedia mentions it as a hot tourist destination. Nonetheless the writer remarked, "I hate don't have money." 

A Cold Path

Here's a wintry card from a Polish postcrosser. This scene reminds me of Napa vineyards in winter. I used to reserve time on my calendar to drive to Napa in late February to photograph the grapevines, live oaks and mustard flowers. I can almost smell the fog and earth in this photo.

That Awkward Age

A young Chinese postcrosser, having a rough day with his dad, sent this lovely card. It's the age-old story of a parent pressuring his child to study, so that he would have a bright future, He wrote this card locked in his room after the argument. After a while he began to reflect about all the good things his dad did for him. I was moved to receive this card filled with a young son's frustrations and his kind heart.

The Day I Discovered Contacts

Was a total revelation. It was in Manhattan in 1975 at a shady optometrist's office. They did a lot of ads in the paper and when I went there it was bedlam. The place was filled with patients and the doctor, the one in the ads, was rushing from room to room with a carton of ocular lenses.When my turn came, he held a lens up to my eyes and asked if I could see. It was something out of the Marx Brothers. I knew this guy had to be a sham. Still, I really wanted a pair of Bausch + Lomb soft lenses. And I got them! The next visit, the place had changed hands and I got a more professional exam and fitting. That was many moons ago and I still love wearing soft lenses. A cute reminder card arrived from my current optometrist the other day. Now it seems soft contact lenses are being phased out by lasik surgeries. I don't believe in them and feel lucky that my optometrist bucks the trend. 

A Collection of Summer Stamps, Cancellations and More

Here's a lovely cluster of stamps, cancellations and a miniature collage of beautiful places in Munich.

Ripening Wheat

This postcrosser from Shanghai took a shower with this card but it came out ok. It's a lovely scene with wheatfields in the foreground, snowy mountains in the background. I wonder where this is?

Magical Sparkly Fairy Land

A heavily altered postcard from a Finnish postcrosser. I love the wild use of many types of media to create the sparkly world of fairies.

Nature & Design

Lovely owl card from a Filipino postcrosser 

Great use of little fruit stickers from a Canadian postcrosser

Gorgeous layering of flocked paper over hot pink cardstock from a Dutch postcrosser

Wintry Thoughts on a Sweltering Day

Over-exerting Santa from a  Chinese postcrosser 

Snow gremlin from a Dutch postcrosser

 Trees dressed for winter from a Japanese postcrosser

Polar bear and paw prints from a Russian postcrosser

I can only imagine that the sweltering summer weather around the world inspired these postcards that arrived in late July. I went to Decatur, GA for a long weekend and was relieved that they were having a small cooling period (80's rather than 90's). And I am glad to live in San Francisco where we've had unusually chilly weather this summer. 

DWA + Jeden

A retro band card from a postcrosser in the Ukraine, which she identified as very strange and ugly. Well, this is vintage 1970's style with the high-wasted denims and twee tanks. DWA + 2 was a Polish folk/pop band formed in 1971. It had a pretty long run of it, and is doing a version of their comeback since the late 1990's. I somehow suspect this postcrosser wasn't even around during the band's heyday.

A Pot of Red

A charming pot of red geraniums from a Finnish postcrosser. She's a researcher in the city of Tampere, the most populous of nordic cities. Two lakes are linked by rapids, and provides a great source of electricity.

From the Tatras

A lovely card filled with images of stamps from a Polish postcrosser. He said he was from a small village in the Tatra Mountains, a range that forms a border between Poland and Slovakia. Apparently these are the highest mountains in the Carpathian range. I happen to be reading Dracula again and I could only imagine how scary cool this postcrosser's little village must be...The Carpathians are definitely on my bucket list.

Summer Relaxation

I love this summer card from a Japanese postcrosser. It reminds me of childhood. No air conditioning. Just a fan, electric and paper, to get the humid air circulating. An inner tube to float in a child's pool. The open-mouthed ceramic pig on the lower right is an incense burner for a coil of mosquito repelling incense. And the cats all laid out as flat as possible rings true too. Sitting here with Sabrina all stretched out across my knees as I type this... 

Cheerful Pestilence

An altered card from a German postcrosser who wasn't happy with a gift from a relative. He saw this as an ugly painting and I was amused by his take on the image. I love the fistful of radishes and the grubby garden boots.

Taiwan Endemic Species

This gorgeous postcard was sent by a Taiwanese postcrosser. Mushrooms that look like human brains. Bloody brains at that.