a wintry thanks

These wintry greetings came today from Dave the mail carrier. Thank you, Dave, for keeping the cards and letters coming and going!

christmas collage

This collaged card from Priscilla is only the second handmade Christmas card to arrive this season.

elves at work

My mother went the retro postcard route for Christmas and New Year's. This one shows elves making dolls for holiday presents.

polish stamp

A pretty holiday stamp from Poland.

all in a boat

A Polish postcrosser sent this card but no explanation of the tag. It brought two things immediately to mind. One was Joanne B. Kaar's paperboat project from earlier this year, the other the shichi fukujin, or seven lucky gods, of Japan, who sail in a boat bearing health and wealth and happiness. The seven are particularly popular at New Year.

castle of mir

A dentist in Minsk sent this glowing view of the castle of Mir, a favorite place of hers, which is located about 100 kilometers from Minsk.

bamboo grove

A Chinese postcrosser sent this fab postcard of a man in a bamboo grove.

greeting tree

A pretty Christmas postcard from a postcrosser in Germany.

a flurry of stamps

Top to bottom, stamps from Estonia, Japan, and the Netherlands. The Estonian one may be a repeat but it's dramatic enough to warrant a second post.

balloons of happiness

An Estonian postcrosser sent this happy card and wrote: "Since it's impossible to be unhappy when you have a balloon, I added a few hoping that the amount of happiness will increase with the number of balloons!" I wish her a colorful life filled with balloons!

juar postcard museum

This postcrossing card from Hungary is all about the Juar Postcard Museum in Hegyfalu, which just happens to be in the region that some of my ancestors are from. The museum was started in 2001 and is looking for postcards. Good luck to all involved.

"sleigh bells ring"

This Christmas postcard, made by friend Sandy Sapienza, brought song lyrics to mind.

downtown pix

Downtown Pix, on from January 12 to April 3 at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, in New York City, features more than 300 photographs and printed materials from the Downtown Collection in the Fales Library at NYU.

china and malaysia

Two stamps, one a misty landscape from China and the other an illustration of a jicama, from Malaysia. Jicamas, native to Mexico, turn out to be popular in Southeast Asia.

knitted, knotted, netted

There's still time to see this satisfying exhibit at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, but make sure you don't miss it. Featuring 12 contemporary artists, it will make you think anew about some old techniques. Knitted, Knotted, Netted runs until January 24.

blue bumpers

Sandy Sapienza made this handsome postcard from a photo of a tugboat that she took on a recent cruise with her husband Louis. She wrote: "The tugboats in Nassau harbor had beautiful blue rope bumpers. Wonder how they got that rich color and luscious texture?" This was her favorite photo from the cruise. Love it!

old places

I made this postcard from a map that my last landlord in Japan drew for me so that I would know all of my neighbors in our hamlet. He brought it to my house a couple of days after I moved in. I was touched and impressed. The man had lost an arm in an accident as an adult and had had to relearn his approach to life.

three kings

This Christmas stamp was on a pretty postcard from Australia.

stand tall

This was part of a card from the American Visionary Art Museum, a national treasure. The other part showed a giant whirligig, made by Vollis Simpson and now in the museum's permanent collection. Simpson, a 90-year-old farmer, decided at age 60 that he had to do something with all the junk he had and started making whirligigs or, as he calls them, 'joy machines'. You can visit his Windmill Farm in Lucama, North Carolina.

wild cat and acorns

I'm sending this postcard to a postcrosser who says she likes cats and astronomy. It's an illustration for a Miyazawa Kenji short story called Yamaneko to donguri, about some acorns who want a wild cat to decide who is the best. It sounds goofy but it's a sweet tale (oops). I like the way the acorns mimic a constellation, suggesting Kenji's passion for astronomy. Actually, I like everything about this card, from the wild cat's polka dot muffler to the blue bird on the stump.