Sent to China

Postcrossing time again, & I finally pulled another address in Asia!

Lounging alongside California’s Tuolumne River.

This card goes to a high school student in Hengyang, Hunan, China.  She says, in part:

I love travelling with a good spirit,and I love photography too. If you like,you can share your travelling or photography experience with me.

I chose this postcard for her because it combines my traveling & photography experiences.  Since she also expressed interest in food & culture, I wrote a bit about those things, too.  I had to squeeze my writing to do it: my postcards almost always have about 13 written lines from me; this time it was 18!  ALL PERFECTLY LEGIBLE, thanks for asking.

Received from Canada, England, Russia & Poland

Came home to four new cards today, from all over the world–uh, that is, if you consider a few locations in Europe & North America to be “all over the world!”

Such an assortment.

The Ural Owl flies to me from Russia (from Russian with stamps, it flew to me), from a Postcrosser who owns two parrots, and would like to have an owl.  She writes, “if you need someone to cheer you daily, I highly recommend to have a pet birds.”  Birds are lovely, but I prefer to look outside to the trees & other birdy places to see them!  The card traveled 5,520 miles over 65 days to reach me. WHOA!

As far as animal-related situations that really disturb me, I absolutely hate what is happening in that bottom-center postcard, which comes to me from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The card’s printed caption reads:

Chuckwagons may have been invented to provide food and supplies for cowboys out on the range, but here at the Calgary Stampede they serve a different and more exciting purpose. The chucks and their crews barrel around the track in a nail biting competition, making chuckwagon racing the signature event at the stampede.

Screw you, boys.

By the way, it traveled 1,010 miles in 9 days–and no horses were exploited to transport it to me.

The funny card on the far right moved 5,937 miles in 17 days to get to me from Poland, where the Postcrosser wrote to me about some of her favorite Christmasy habits.  Her favorite Christmas dish, for instance, is makówki.

Finally, my favorite card in the group, at top center, comes from England, reaching me after a mere 9 days. This panel is from a box of “ice-lollies,” as the sender of this card calls them.  It’s the result of a swap-bot “Chunk O Cardboard” trade, which I’ve brought up many times here as being a favorite of mine.

Hey, stamps!

Sent to Germany

Postcrossing news: a postcard I sent to Germany has arrived, and now I get to send a postcard to–(:click:)–Germany! I don’t feel like I am exactly covering the globe here, but I think at this point the system has nearly got me beat down into complacency.

This one goes to Landscheid/Hof-Hau, Germany:

A fun couple on the beach just south of Half Moon Bay, California.

The Postcrosser was very interested in having people tell her about their hobbies, so I picked a card that showed them.  It’s fun to create these silly images–but the toys are constantly complaining that these beach days leave them with sand in their joints for weeks afterward.  I. Don’t. Care.

Sent to Czech Republic & Netherlands

Two of my Postcrossing cards have been received–I’ll tell you the countries they’ve reached & how long they took to get there, but you’ll have to muddle through my blog to the approximate right date to view the card & read the other pertinent, uh, whatever:

A card I sent to Poland has reached its destination, after traveling 5,913 miles in 13 days.

A card I sent to China has found it recipient–finally–after a journey of 6,237 miles and 40 days.

OKAY, so now I get to send out two more cards!

Two young brothers in Drunen, Netherlands–an 8-year-old & a 4-year-old–who apparently like Smurfs will receive my Smurf babysitter card.  Apparently these two run to the mailbox every day, and whenever they receive a postcard, they stick it on their living room wall.

The guitar card goes to a music lover in Prague, Czech Republic.  He’s been Postcrossing about as long as me–since last summer–and according to his profile, is mathematically-oriented.  Truth is, he had expressed interest in landscape cards, but I thought he’d like the guitar better than any landscape I might have in my stash.

Received from Germany

I love this card that made its way to me today via Postcrossing from somewhere near Hamburg, Germany!

Funny, I always remember them as being much better dressers than this…

Statler & Waldorf are my two favorite Muppets–Muppet Show division.

The sender tells me,

“the best food which we here have is ‘Grünkohl ‘ for me.  Comes from North Germany and it’s winter food.”

That was the extent of her description.  As near as I can determine, that is kale, and nothing more.  Looking at Grünkohl photos online, though, the stuff does always seem to be accompanied by a large hunk-o-sausage.

The Postcrosser also calls my flickr photos exciting, saying they inspire her for her own photos: largely shots of numbers on houses.

Received from Netherlands

I love this postcard that came to me from Sas van Gent, Netherlands via Postcrossing!

A Greenpeace card depicting a whale off the coast of Antarctica.

The sender tells me her province (Zeeland) is a beautiful one, and that she enjoys swimming , quilting, reading, local history, walking & shopping.

Sent to Germany

Drawing a name on Postcrossing can be like pulling the handle on a slot machine: results that are displeasing may leave one wondering whether fate would have been kinder if the push of the button had been ten seconds earlier, or perhaps a minute later.  Ohhh, look, yet another Germany!  Second Russia in a row! Oof, another boor who lists a strict list of wants and dislikes!  Aww, another person who lists expired cards!

This card is going to Oelde, Germany, to a Postcrosser who lists vintage cards among his likes.  The photo depicts a motel in Tennessee.  No, I have never been to that state; I received the card through a swap-bot trade of unused postcards.

Sent to Finland & Russia

Three went out today via Postcrossing: 2 to Russia, one to Finland.  I sent the coolest cards ever, as you can see:

There are three VERY lucky people in Europe…

The top card–shot at Liliʻuokalani Park and Gardens in Hilo, Hawaii, will eventually land in Oulu, Finland.  I just looked up Oulu.  It looks like someone covered it in royal icing.

The tiger goes to Irkutsk, Russia, which doesn’t look so warm, either. The recipient’s postcard interests include toys and “funny, funny pictures,” so we will see how she likes this.

Lastly comes the interesting adventure in babysitting, which also goes to Russia, to a much-warmer–but still quite brr-y–Nizhny Novgorod.

Nizhny Novgorod, colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with a population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. –Wikipedia

The card’s recipient, I think, really prefers cards that depict coffee, but she did also say, “I’d be happy receive a postcard with cartoon or fairytale characters that are popular in your country.” Which both of the characters are.  Well, were.  At some point.

Received from Brazil, Canada, & Finland

A big day for Postcrossing activity; these three were waiting for me in my mailbox:

The “Paulista” card came to me from São Paulo, Brazil, and traveled 6,454 miles in 40 days to find me.  The sender wrote me a message in both Portuguese & English.  The English message, in part, tells me the city is:

… a giant city with 25MM inhabitants, dreams, and wishes.  Those who are born here is called “Paulista…”

The Newfoundland card loaded with puffins was sent to me from Ontario, Canada, and traveled 2,159 miles over 8 days to reach me.  The sender tells me puffins are her favorite waterfowl.  I’ll bet she gets as annoyed as I do to here someone call them penguins!

The cookie & candle card comes my way–after 14 days and 5,403 miles–from Finland.  The sender tells me she likes Christmas: “it’s nice to bake then.  Have a delicious season!”  I think I did, but it’s January 3 now, so the season is now so far past, who can remember?

STAMPS!  I really like the Canadian Santa.

Sent to Canada & United States

Time again to rustle through the recycling bin to create postcards for a swap-bot “Chunk-O-Cardboard” trade!  I think these are a lot of fun.

Reduce * Reuse * Recycle (There’s a 4th R–ROT–but let’s talk about something more pleasant)

Clockwise from the left:

The first postcard is headed for a swap-botter in Port Coquitlan, British Columbia, Canada, to whom I’ve sent a couple of previous cards. She says she likes surprises in the mail; I hope she’s amused by this little mascot from a bag of taro chips hanging out in front of a pile of pineapple cakes! By the way: after seeing my scan, I noticed I had not trimmed the card neatly; it has since been fixed!

The next card is on its way to Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A., to the person who arranges these wonderful “chunk” trades!  Her card comes from a panel from box of of facial tissues, so cute it demands this second life.

In the final card, we see the character from a bag of spicy peanuts hanging out in sweet territory, a selection of cookies I bought for trick-or-treaters.  The card is going to Somerville, New Jersey, U.S.A., to a swap-bot member who says of postcards, “I have a good sense of humor so even funny and bizarre ones are welcome!” Hope she finds this amusing!

Do you ever repurpose old packaging & such into cards to send to friends (or, I dunno, even strangers)?