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.