Bringing in the Recycling: Received from Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States

Some very special, unique postcards just in–hewn from food packaging of one kind or another.

These are presented in exact proportion to one another. The two postcards to the right are actual postcard-size. What I am saying is, that doggie card is HUGE. Spanning my hand wide along it, it reaches vertically from the tip of my middle finger, on down, well past my wrist bone. Horizontally, my thumb & pinkie do stretch beyond the edges, but I am unable to grasp the card without bending it. Huge, I say.

Did I mention that the card cut from the box of dog biscuits is huge?  Well, it is.  It was sent to me as part of one of my favorite swap-bot trades, the Chunk O Cardboard swap.  It arrived from Brakpan, South Africa–becoming not just my first card from that country, but also my very first from the entire African continent!  Wikipedia tells me that Brakpan is a gold & uranium mining town in the province of Gauteng, and that…

The name Brakpan was first used by the British in the 1880s because of a non-perennial lake that would annually dry to become a “brackish pan”.

Insert joke about California swimming pools here.

The “chonju Redginseng Tonis” card was sent to me from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, part of a food package postcard tag in the Postcrossing Forum.  The sender helpfully tells me,

“this is red ginseng tonis from Korea, it was bought by my mum from Dodam thermal massage bed company.  They have their branch in Malaysia though.”

Massage bed–so that’s what that other thing on the box is!  Couldn’t tell if it was some kind of odd remote control, or what!  Doesn’t look too relaxing, but maybe the ingestion of ginseng is what makes that happen for a person…

The wake-up workout comes to me from somewhere in the Jacksonville, Florida area, another swap-bot chunk o cardboard.  “Do you sudoku?,” asks the sender, “I can’t even spell it.”  In my thank-you message, I let her know that I used to sudoku quite a lot.  I did this because I’d heard it’s good for the brain, but then I finally stopped when I realized it was curtailing my reading time.

Stamps!  Some really nice ones, and if you’ll notice, there is a bird representing each of the three countries.

Sent to Canada and the United States

Two more going out in swap-bot trades:

I don’t remember how the bird postcard came into my possession–perhaps in a swap-bot envelope-full-of-postcards type trade–but now it’s on its way to Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, in a “for the birds”-themed trade.  When I saw that opportunity on swap-bot, I remembered the card, and saw my chance to set it free!  I can’t tell you what kind of birds these are; the text on the back is printed in Chinese.  I wrote my message in English, though.

The other swap-bot trade here today is going to Kansas City, Missouri, and it is a “reuse a postcard” one, in which participants are to slap a new backing on a card we’ve received, & send it on to someone else.  I love these, even though I realize that in the end, it does not actually reduce the number of postcards in the house–though it does feel like it when I am sending it out!  I received this bus card from Hong Kong, and in sending it along the pipeline, I was careful to preserve my very favorite part: that snowman stamp!  Hope it doesn’t confuse the post office.

Mail Carrier (Pigeon)?

There’s a gate at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) dedicated to “snail mail” and those who bring it to us.  Waiting to greet you:

More mail-y stuff from my recent travels coming soon, maybe…

Received from Belarus, Netherlands, & United States

A new trio of cards in today:

The beautiful bird card (White-tailed Tropicbird, by John Audubon) came to me from Minnesota, U.S.A., in a swap-bot “art postcard” swap.  The sender tells me she loves my toy photos, confirming her good taste.  The back of the card is covered with an amazing collection of stamps:

Yes, all of the above on ONE postcard!  Incredible.  I’ve never seen most of those.  Cool whale tape, too, though I am not really showing you most of it here!

The Girl with the Citrus Eyes comes to me from Netherlands via Postcrossing (5,516 miles, 7 days).  The sender tells me the words on the front are a Shakespeare quote: “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.”  I fear I may be both.  The stamp:

Finally, the food card comes from Belarus (also Postcrossing: 13 days; 5,863 miles). The sender writes only, “Many greetings from Belarus!” The rest of the card is covered with pre-printed text, in what I assume is the recipe for this mystery meal.  Sadly, the Belarussian language has a different alphabet from my own, so I am at a loss to translate! I really like the stamp, though:

Sent to Avondale, Arizona

“Avondale is a modern city…” — http://www.avondale.org

 

For a swap-bot “Random Postcard Swap.”  I was more specific than random, though. Hope they don’t kick me out!

 

She said she liked birds, so I gave her the gift of puffins.

 

Received from Palm Coast, Florida

I’ve received my first inbound postcard from the “recycled, homemade” swap on swap-bot (I showed my own entries in a couple of recent posts here), and I love it!

This postcard artist really went all out! Not only did she choose an amusing panel to cut out–she turned it into a full-on bird party! Love the “plarrg!”

 I’d have to say this is my favorite kind of postcard.  Years ago, when I had a regular pen pal, collage was always involved, and even today, when I ship packages of gifts off to friends, the lady at the UPS Store always comments on my funny attachments.  

I think it’s time to stock up on glue sticks & up the ante.

Cool stamp!