snail love

I made this homage to Uchida Kahoko, who recently retired from her post office job, specifically from what was my local p.o. in the Ayaori section of Tono. Many years ago, Uchida gave me an unwitting introduction to mail art. In spare time, she would turn old Japan Post flyers, posters, and such into tiny envelopes. For years, the Ayaori post office was an absolute lifeline for me---and one of my favorite places in Japan. Uchida was very much a part of that. I hope she 'gets' the card.

cobra tram

A Swiss postcrosser sent this marvelous postcard she made from one of her own photos, of a 'cobra tram' in Zurich. The cool photo captures the quintessential attraction of trams running about a city.

a sensory feast

Mrpotani sent this postcard announcing A Sensory Feast, a group show from February 4 to 24 at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. The card, by Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, is called a A Spot of Curry. Mrpotani's right; it does bring back the recycled breakfast card (think oatmeal flakes, tea leaves, kumquat peel, powdered goat's milk) I made some years ago for a show of hers. If I were in San Francisco this month, I would definitely try to make it to Bitter is Better?, a presentation of the National Bitter Melon Council on February 16.

pitchers and catchers

I was going to make a Valentine's card (that little Hungarian bag with hearts on it is getting a lot of mileage) but it morphed into a baseball card. Pitchers and catchers start working out in Clearwater next Monday. Let's get it on!

charles the first

In keeping with the New York theme, this card shows a work called Charles the First, by the Brooklyn-born artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. I sent both this card and the Weegee below to postcrossers and was happy that both got good receptions. Go, Sixers!

weegee

The photographer known as Weegee brilliantly captured the dark side of American urban life in the 1930's and '40's. This is his ironic homage to the city in which he worked. I picked both of the cards, here and above, because the 76ers are playing the Knicks this afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The game is the second of a home-and-home. The Sixers won a thriller Friday night in Philadelphia.

from stupino

A postcrosser living in Stupino, near Moscow, sent this charming primitive art card. She wrote that Stupino has many plants, including Mars. Yes, that is the same Mars, Incorporated that produces M&M's.

more hope

Here's a slightly edgier message altered sweetly.

in between

A couple of postcrossers living in Melbourne, Australia, sent this dramatic card for an exhibition called In Between, which features self-commissioned work by Lucia Ondrusova, all set underwater. "The overriding message is to highlight the duality present within the raw power of nature, with its ability to provide peace and happiness but also threaten with death and destruction."

falling hearts

Valentine's Day does give one reason to concentrate on hearts, one of the loveliest symbols around. The hearts on this altered card are made from parts of a plastic bag from Hungary and a card from a Chinese New Year past.

high tatras

I'm not much of a fan of multiviews, but this interesting take on Mt. Gerlachovsky in the High Tatras of Slovakia is one of the exceptions. The striking photos are by Roland Liptak. The card was posted in Bratislava on December 8 by friend Jozef B.--and arrived yesterday. That's some snail.

cny stamp

This Year of the Rabbit stamp is supposed to show kumquats, one of the good luck symbols of the season. They don't, however, look like the kumquats I know and love. Those are shaped like olives. These look more like oranges, another symbol of the Chinese New Year. It's a bummer that kumquats have just gone out of season in the supermarkets where I live.

mighty niagara

Lynn B. must have a cache of postcards from Niagara Falls--and they never fail to impress. This one is a mighty view from the Canadian side.

happy new year

Happy Year of the Rabbit! Gong xi fa cai! Health and prosperity for all! I knew I was saving this laser-cut sticker, bought on a visit a couple of years ago to Mrs. Grossman's wonderful sticker factory near San Francisco, for something. It turned out to be for a Year of the Rabbit card. The blue and white bits are from a waxed bread bag from Mrpotani's favorite San Francisco bakery. She used the bag to make an envelope she sent me last week. I could hardly wait to recycle it into this card.

chock full o' nuts

This card went off about 10 days ago to a Brazilian postcrosser and, mirabile dictu, he received it, almost just like that. I'm always hesitant to send favorites out into the world; too many cards get lost. The card shows a Chock Full O' Nuts coffee truck in New York City, around 1950. There used to be a Chock Full O' Nuts coffee shop across the street from Columbia, when I was a student there. I'm not much of a coffee drinker but still recall the jingle for the brand, which finished thus: "Chock Full O' Nuts is that heavenly coffee, Better coffee a millionaire's money can't buy." For all I know it's still being played.

wood love

I used parts of an old photo I took of a neighbor's woodpile in Tono, a stunning Wharton Esherick spiral staircase, bits of a Serizawa woodblock calendar, and a guest appearance by a moose and bear, albeit of the teddy variety, in altering this card. The Chinese character for wood is on the sign for a most memorable inn in Misasa, a hot spring town in the mountains of Tottori, Japan.

but the kitchen sink

Everything but the kitchen sink seems to be falling from the sky: snow, rain, sleet, you name it. Tree branches and power lines are next. A perfect, and most unwelcome, winter hash. Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning. Is spring really on the way?

taiwan

A postcrosser in Taiwan sent this unusual map of her native land. Unsure of her English, she wrote her message in Japanese, making the card even more unique!

vintage hearts

I made this postcard last night while listening to the weather report get worse and worse. Most of the hearts I cut from bits and pieces of vintage Valentine cards. Given the weather this winter, I should have been working on a Groundhog Day card instead.

oriental art center

A Chinese postcrosser studying in Ireland sent this card from his hometown of Shanghai. It shows the massive Oriental Art Center there, designed to look either like a butterfly or an orchid--take your pick. He also sent the above stamp, which honors fashion designer John Rocha. Born in Hong Kong, Rocha is half-Chinese and half-Portuguese and is now based in Dublin.