another italian stamp

Love the grace and energy in this stamp for the Youth Olympics.

quilt show

This may be the summer of found-photo postcards for me. It's odd how these photographs are suddenly surfacing but they are. This one is of Eli Leon, a noted collector and authority on African-American quilts, who sometimes has 'shows' outside his house. I attended one several years ago while doing a piece on the collector. It was fun getting to know Eli a bit. We are now most often in touch by email but I think it is time for a postcard.

green not green

A Lithuanian postcrosser sent this card from a textile show in Vilnius. The piece is called Zalia zole bet ne zole (Green grass but not green).

porto antico

The ancient port of Genoa is shown in this card from postcrosser Rosa, who writes that the galleon was built for a 1980's Roman Polanski movie called Pirates.

the big piece

Here's a postcard for slugger Ryan Howard. Long may he swing that bat.

some light, some bull, and some stamps

Some recent stamps.

Just some bull on the side of the road, captured by a German postcrosser and turned into a postcard. It's the kind of travel encounter I love.

A Spanish postcrosser in Cordoba sent this 'wow' view of el Cristo de los Faroles (The Christ of the Streetlamps) illuminated by candles.

liz whitney quisgard in jim thorpe

New York artist Liz Whitney Quisgard is having a show at the Anita Sharpolsky Art Foundation in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Called Pattern and Structure, the show runs through August 22 in the foundation's gallery, an old Presbyterian church. The card at top, from a show earlier this year, shows a Quisgard painting called Moroccan Interior. www.asartfoundation.org

inari

This card shows a painting called Inari, by Susan Seddon-Boulet. It depicts Japan's fox god, who likes to seduce hapless humans into all manner of folly. Inari shrines can be found all over Japan. The old men at my local post office in Ayaori used to tell stories of being tricked by foxes while working in the mountains. What I really like about this fox, ready for a wedding, is its foxy seriousness.

coastal carolina

This is a make-up card for one that never reached its destination. I hope this one does. Having things lost in the mail is so disappointing.

cool sweden

A cool stamp from Sweden.

too damn hot

I'm sending this classic to a friend who loves hot weather. (Is she mad?) Supposed to hit 98F and beyond today and all week. Run for cover!

happy 4th of july!

It's going to be a hot (mid-90's) and sticky one here in the Northeast but enjoy the holiday, folks!

blue

The Swedish postcrosser who sent this intensely blue card wrote: "Midsummer in Sweden. Flags everywhere. People celebrating summer." Perfect timing for this holiday weekend.

postal savings bank, vienna

This card shows the interior of the Postal Savings Bank in Vienna, Austria, which was built in 1906. In the photo it looks like a place of measured beauty. I wonder if it still stands and what it looks like now.

knowle sarnies

An English postcrosser mad about girls sent this card of St. John's church in Knowle. He wrote that he often eats his lunch 'sarnie', otherwise known as a sandwich, on a bench there. He adds that there is a great bakery just around the corner from the church.

grand central terminal

This card shows an photograph of Grand Central Terminal in New York, shortly after its completion in 1913. The architects were Warren and Wetmore, Reed and Stern, and the photo is by Warren and Wetmore. The terminal is still grandly beautiful. It's a great place to hang out.

a little reminder

Among the vintage cards I received the other day was this one for the "white sands, blue skies, and golden sea oats" to be enjoyed along the Gulf of Mexico.

stamp quartet

two from mrpotani

Mrpotani sent these two cards, one from a cat show she saw while in Japan, the other when she got back to San Francisco. Both arrived on the same day. The white cat makes me sad.

tiger on the bay

Sandy Sapienza sent this altered card, of a tiger doing a tightrope walk on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.