Stamp Math, + Some of my latest favorites, received from Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, and South Korea

U.S. Postcrossers, how are you doing with the latest increase in stamp rates? This, plus my recent discover of old discounted postage for sale, has resulted in my doing a lot of math lately to get the right amount of stamps on each postcard — and often, it’s resulted in my running out of space to fit the stamps across the top of the cards!

Some postcard manufacturers barely leave enough room for a small single stamp in the corner of their cards. I wonder sometimes if the people designing the back of the postcards ever actually send cards. How do you handle the challenges?

My mailbox has been very happy, though: so many cute animals & cool ‘toons! Check them out…

This beautiful otter came to me from a Postcrosser in Okinawa, Japan.

More wonderful sea creatures, these from Germany. A funky scan of a great card.

Uh-oh: watch out, seals! This beauty came to from a Postcard Uniter from Poland

In from Japan, on a Postcrossing Forum tag. I love it!

And I love this gorgeous pup, received from the same Postcrosser! She says it’s an Akita Inu, known as the “Busakawa dog,” meaning “unattractive but very cute.” I find it both attractive and cute.

Also received via a Postcrossing Forum tag, this time from Russia. I’d love to have these two beauties riding in my car!

More beautiful creatures! These shore birds came to me from a Postcard Uniter in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Just 3 days after a sunset stroll during which I saw a family of raccoons coming out of the woods, I received this lot (no relation) from a Postcrosser in Russia!

This gorgeous beach scene came to me from Lissone, Italy (near Milan) — though by the time it reached me, the card seemed to have had a bite taken out of its bottom left corner!

From a Postcrosser in Singapore. The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore’s oldest temple, and you really should see it!

Received from Finland. The sender translates Snoopy’s thought: “An inspiration can surprise at any time (although sometimes it wears off before it gets off to a good start).”

Received from Portugal, love it!

Cool cubbies! From a Postcrosser in Ontario, Canada.

These fish came to me from Germany.

From England, some beaches. The Postcrosser who sent this to me says he got the card while on a trip to Scotland, but did not visit any of these beaches.

From Chiba, Japan

Received from South Korea via Postcard United

Nanu-Nanu Bars: Received from Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Thailand

Okay, time to press “publish” again! This post, once again, represents nothing more than a few weeks’ worth of postcards received via Postcrossing and Postcard United — but only the cards whose images were uploaded by their senders, because I have reached a very lazy time-saving phase of this blog: no taking pics of my own (and that includes stamps)!

The only organization here, really, is that my favorites are more or less around the top. What are YOUR favorites here?

Hope you are doing well & staying safe. Happy posting!

From Germany. I’m always happy to see an otter! The sender decorated the back with an otter stamp, sticker, & even return address label.

A lovely bunch of walruses, received from Germany.

A lovely pair! Received from Belarus

I really love this image of Charlie Brown & Linus I received from a Postcrosser in Bremen, Germany. The big, close-up focus is just so great.

This postcard came to me from China, & it is delicious.

Wow, so rare to receive a postcard from Thailand! You should see the wonderful stamps on the back — but even the basic posts I’ve been submitting lately are time-consuming enough.

I received this funny card from Kirov, Russia, by request. The sender writes, “I never thought that someone will pick this card. It’s a bit strange, but I like it, too. These toys are from a children’s show called ‘Goodnight, Kids.’ Every child in Russia born or grown up in the 90’s knows who they are: Stepashka, Mryusha, Karkusha, and Filya.”

Received from Oxford, U.K. The sender tells me that she is supporting a local artist who lets people download his art for free. She contacted the artist, Joshua Squashua, to get his blessing to print his work on postcards. He agreed, and as a thank you, the sender raised some money for a homeless charity he supports.

Received from Netherlands

Received from Canada

This cute hedgehog is from a new Postcrosser in Russia, who is also a postal worker who admits to “having looked with interest at small messages from all over the world.” Glad I don’t write anything too scandalous on the cards I send out, how about you?

From Saint Petersburg, Russia

Krtek the Mole & friends, Received from Munich, Germany.

Received from Netherlands

Received from Germany

Received from Petrozavodsk, Russia

Received from Minsk, Belarus. The sender says, “Belarus is a beautiful country. It has many rivers, lakes, and forests, rich flora and fauna.”

Received from Tula, Russia

I received this card from a Postcrosser in Canada, and I think I shall have to make these delicious-sounding nanu-nanu bars! The card’s sender tells me the dish originates from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, where she lives.

Received from Brazil: “Based in a waterfall in the south of Brazil among your favorites, I decided to send you this postcard with mountains.”

Tilt your head to the left. This one came from Taohuatan, China (via registered mail!) The sender recommends this place in the Anhui province, saying, “there are lots of beautiful sceneries, delicious food, and the air here is very fresh.” I really do look forward to safer travel again…

Now tilt your head to the right. This has arrived from the U.K., and the sender tells me it’s “a very apt postcard seeing as the rain is currently pouring outside after a weekend of sunshine. Typical!”

Received from the Czech Republic. The sender wrote a lot about his country, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to read much of it, due to the tight cursive writing. This has happened pretty often lately.

Received from Russia

This in from Poland. If the town name sounds familiar to you, it may be because the sender’s daughter played volleyball there, and her team won the championship.

Received from Russia

Received from Udmurtia, Russia. The sender writes, “We have a joke. It’s cold for 3 months, and the remaining 9 months are very cold!” Well, I would hate that, seeing as I don’t even like to see photos of snow.

So Much Talk of Food: Received from Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, & the U.K.

Look at these two cool mailbox-shaped cards from my postcard pal in Tokyo, Japan! Since I am perpetually behind in logging my cards, or course these two were received 6 months apart! I swear some of today’s post will be recently-received cards. I don’t know for sure, but I’ll swear it, anyhow. These are the times in which we live.

Okay, I received this tray of XLB not so long ago. This is a really substantial, thick, plasticized card, and I love it. I love XLB. It’s a direct swap with a Postcrosser in Taiwan, and the printing on the card reads:

Taiwan mini steamed dumplings, a snack originally from Shanghai, has been improved upon and is known internationally. Their wrapper is famed for its tender, smoother, and somewhat translucent, rather than being white and fluffy.

The postcard’s sender adds still more detail:

Mini steamed dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) is one of the most famous food in Taiwan. DIN TAI FUNG is the most famous chain stores and I think it has also some stores in California! Have you tried it before? 

Yes, I have.

More food I love, Dan Tat! It’s a regular Postcrossing card from Hong Kong, and the sender says that egg tarts are her favorite snack, and…

Have you ever tried it when you were eating around in HK? Apart from egg tart, fish ball, and siu mai (pork/fish dumpling) are also popular street food here.

Okay, here comes some food I’m less excited about. This is partly because the brand is not a great one, and anything you can make that color is not actual chocolate. I do love food package postcards, though! I received it in just such a trade, from a sender in Japan who tells me:

My boss gave me Hawaiian Host chocolate. He bought the chocolate in Hawaii. I’d like to visit Hawaii someday.

More food-related fun from Japan, from a sender in Tokyo who tells me that when she was writing to me (back in January), the city was having its first heavy snow in 4 years, and she’d already seen 2 traffic accidents that day. To be honest, when it comes to snow, I’d like to visit Hawaii. And not the high elevations where there is actually snow.

If you thought you’d seen the last of postcards & food from Taiwan in this post… well, you were mistaken. The scan, unfortunately, fails to accurately portray the golden undertones & sparkly nature of this card–a card I would call “delicious,” if not for the cat stuck amidst the noodles.

My second regular Postcrossing card this time is also my 2nd steamer basket of deliciousness, this time from China. Making this post is making me really–did you think I’m about to say hungry? FULL, actually! This sender tells me she loves “K-pop, music, plants, etc.”

I wonder if she loves seals. I do! Third regular Postcrossing card is from Germany. We may have moved on to animals here, but the sender is still talking about food!

I’m also a big lover of the Asian food, especially Thai, as I love the spices there. In August we’ll travel to Thailand again, and I’m looking forward to all those delicious meals!      

This beautiful swimming seal came to me from Canada, from a sender who tells me she visited The Aquarium of Niagara in New York at the end of last year, and that the seals “have a nice rocky outdoor exhibit. They seemed to love the cold!”

Squirrels! I love watching squirrels. It’s fun to turn this card sideways, to make it look like the little guy is sitting at a table, giving us an odd look. Nah: he’s giving us an odd look while peering around a tree. This is a regular Postcrossing incoming from Germany, from a sender who tells me that like me:

I also like to eat Asian food, I have often eaten Thai food in Thailand and Indian food in India, what an explosion of different tastes!

The Beatrix Potter squirrels came to me in a Postcrossing Forum tag for cards bearing children’s book illustrations, and it’s from someone in the U.K.:

As a Hongkonger living overseas, its always very fascinating to hear foreigners talking about Hong Kong and other east Asian countries. As you live so close to San Francisco, I think you can eat a lot of authentic Chinese food! BTW SF is my favorite city in the USA!”

Okay, now what–oh, an otter! I love sea otters. This arrived from Japan in a Postcrossing Forum marine life tag, and I hope you are braced for more food talk:

I was living in Santa Clara until August 2017. I used to eat around in Bay Area. Especially I love “Beyond Thai” in Fremont and “Madras Cafe” in Sunnyvale. Ah… I wanna go back there… What is your favorite restaurant? Enjoy your meal!

Last card, the seagull, is from a Postcrosser in Murmansk, Russia. She tells me she is in the far northern part of Russia:

There is very, very cold all year and a lot of snow. =)

Okay… time for stamps, stickers, and washi tape!Some great stuff down here.

SCUBA Chuck: Sent to Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, & Taiwan

TWENTY outgoing cards in this post! This all happened over the course of a few weeks.

Several more Postcrossing Forum tags heading out. Charlie Brown & Woodstock are heading for Shanghai, China. If you poke around the Santa Rosa area, you will find many Peanuts statues, decorated by local artists in many different styles. My favorite of the few I’ve spotted stands outside a seafood restaurant in a coastal area: it’s Charlie Brown in SCUBA gear.

The food package is going to Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. I don’t remember much about the cookies, but it says “crisp and buttery,” so therefore I know I loved them.

From Guangzhou, Guangdong, we go to Guiyang, GuiZhou, China— that’s where this big “Let’s Go with Lucy” card is headed. A card as large as this leaves a large canvas for stickers & washi tape, as well as plenty of room for a message. I’ve obscured the message, but you can see the stamps, stickers, & washi tape below.

Lucy pounding sand went off to Hirai, Wakayama, Japan; and Linus the door-to-door salesman to Tsushima, Aichi, Japan.

I chose Charlie Brown for a recipient in Tokyo, Japan. The evil queen went to Shanghai, China, and the beautiful sea otter was destined for Eutin, Germany.

“California is So Cool.” When I made a Disneyland trip not so long back, I tried to find postcards in the park, but failed. This I bought at a convenience store across the street, and now it goes out to Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan in a Disney cards tag.

“California Has Everything.” Now we are clearly bragging. This one is heading for Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan, in a “what I’m reading now” tag. I’m reading The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead.

Completing the California trilogy is the California Coast Highway 1 postcard, careening off to Hong Kong.

Another California card? Yes, this view of Point Lobos goes via a rare Postcrossing draw, to a recipient in Gnesta, Sweden, who expressed a preference for cards showing places–and Point Lobos is a great place!

A second Postcrossing draw; this one goes to Dirgenheim, Germany. Sad to say, this lovely series of national park postcards neglects to mention the state where each park is located. This despite a long passage of text on the back so expansive that it leaves room for only a single stamp! The designer really does not understand the postally-obsessed. Not to mention that the postmark will more that likely obscure all of that printed prose.

Another one of the national park cards: okay, this one does mention on the back that Acadia National Park is on the Maine coast. This one is a regular Postcrossing draw, and goes to Lahti, Finland. The recipient requested that people not use stickers or washi tape on her cards, so I won’t bother to flip this one over for you.

Scuttle and his dinglehopper are going to Kuwana, Mie, Japan, in a Disney cards tag. Ursula is on the back of the card (proof below).

Now several more regular Postcrossing draws: not something I do so often any more, but I am just in the mood to send out more cards (and by extension, receive more). The California Natural Wonders card was actually in the “favorites” of the person to receive it; she lives in Zoetermer, Netherlands.

The lemurs are going to a paleontologist in Omsk, Russia. She wanted illustrations of animals, so here she goes!

The map card goes to a map card lover in Taipei, Taiwan; and the bridge card goes to Dendermonde, Belgium, to a lover of touristy cards.

Lucy and Schroeder are going to a Peanuts lover in Espanola, Ontario, Canada. Unlike the recipient in Finland, this person loves a decorated card, so I did my best on the backside.

Time for stamps, stickers, & stuff. I love these brand-new Bioluminescent Life stamps from the USPS!

Lots of Puffy Fish Stickers: Sent to Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, & the U.S.

This post is full of postcards–jam-packed with them, along with their accompanying stamps, stickers, and washi tape. What it lacks is full detail–but who cares, am I right?

We start off here with a couple of regular Postcrossing sends, and a couple of Postcrossing Forum sends: this set goes out to Zhengzhou, Henen, China; Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; Potsdam, Germany; and Saint Petersburg, Russia.

I visited the Charles M. Schulz Museum this month & reloaded on my Peanuts postcard stock. Mostly more copies of old stuff, but they did have one great new postcard to go with their new temporary exhibit celebrating the character Franklin. Three of these have gone out in the mail recently: two to Japan, & one to Hawaii.

These Postcrossing Forum sends are going to Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia; and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

One good elk leads to another…

A food package and a movie postcard follow. I’ve had a lot of this drink; never seen the movie.

Flying squirrels & durian–this card went to Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, in a Postcrossing Forum “Last Movie I’ve Seen” tag. That movie: Black Panther. The best of the Marvel heroes movies!

Heavens help me, I’m dipping into swap-bot again. For this trade, I had to send a Disney postcard to 5 different people (4 in the U.S.; 1 in Ireland). A couple of these cards came from the Art of Disney: The Renaissance and Beyond box set, and the rest came from the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, which I visited for the first time recently-ish.

Stamps, stickers, and washi tape time. Do you have any favorites? I do!

Animal Edition: Received from Canada, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Russia, & the U.S.

Still lots of catching up to do around here! I have enough previously-unlogged cards with animals on them to make that the theme of this post. Here we go.

I’ve got a life-long love of maneki-neko! I actually have a small collection of them, though not all in my collection are small.  This came to me from Japan in a Postcrossing Forum tag, and you can read the message on the back (about maneki-neko) in the scan at the bottom of the post.

This wonderful humpback whale card is from the Philippines, another Postcrossing Forum tag, and its scanned message is also shared down below.

This next card was NOT received via Postcrossing, Postcard United, swap-bot, or any of that; it’s a thank-you card for donating to Muttville senior dog rescue in San Francisco. Senior dogs are very special, and I donate to more than one organization that specializes in helping them. In fact, right now I am expecting a 2018 calendar I ordered from Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary in Tennessee.

This beautiful seal came to me via Postcard United, from Kaluga, Russia. The sender tells me that it’s not far from Moscow, and:

We proud of Cosmonautics State Museum. I love art, music, puzzle, psychology, and to make photos.

The Elasmosaurus, like the humpback whale we saw earlier,  came my way thanks to a Postcrossing Forum marine life & sea creature tag, this time from a sender in Texas, and she tells me:

Living in delightfully dry North Texas means I don’t get to see the ocean a lot. But I love reading about life millions and millions of years ago, when Texas was nothing but swamps and seas. Did you know they found plesiosaur bones when they started tearing up land to make DFW airport? Awesome!

Then we have this meerkat! As I type this, I think of the meerkats at the Santa Barbara Zoo, which I am POSITIVE get handouts from scofflaw zoo-goers. Every time I visit this beautiful zoo, and come around the corner toward the meerkat enclosure, these little guys become very attentive, especially if I have a bag from the gift shop. People who like to feed wild animals & zoo animals don’t give a damn about health concerns & dietary needs.

Anyhoo, this very tall card is from Biberach, Germany, via Postcard United.

He seems to be keeping his eye on that hawk, and for good reason. The card is from Canada, received in a swap-bot “currently reading” trade, and the sender tells me:

I am reading H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. Please remember to rate me.

I would have rather heard about the book than had that prompt. I kinda hate swap-bot.

Time for stamps, etc.! I really like that pair of raptors from Canada, so well-paired with the card to which they are attached!

I think I like this rooster from the Philippines even more! I’m also a big fan of the whale & fish stickers. And what a great shore bird sticker from Japan!

Thanks for the List, Buddy: Received from Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Northern Ireland, and Ukraine

WOW, look at this Totoro card! I love it. It came to me from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, via Postcard United, & here is just a little of what the sender tells me:

I will be 29 on Friday. When I was 26 I had this weird phase where I thought I was 30 and now that I am actually just about there I’m feeling like I wasted my 20s worrying about getting old. Oy vey.

Oy vey, indeed. I know there have been people in my life who were so age-obsessed they surely hit that “30” wall quite hard–and “40,” even harder.

I’ve been on a couple of food tours while traveling, so I really am happy with this card, another one via Postcard United–but this time from Japan.

The sender writes:

I have a girl who was born in January 2015. She likes Disney characters! In this summer, we traveled at Tokyo Disneyland! That was fun! Have you ever been to Disney World? I like okonomiyaki and sukiyaki in Japanese foods. If you have chance, try to eat them!

Still another card from P.U., still another great one! This is a gibbon, I think, and it’s from a sender in Portaferry, Northern Ireland. She says:

I would absolutely love to visit California one day even if it is a wee bit too warm there for me. I really want to visit Disneyland and even Disney World! I live right in the town center and I can see the sea from my bedroom window. There is a subway next door to me but I only really like their cookies haha. We only have one aquarium here in Portaferry. It was closed for a long time and only opened not too long ago. I enjoy visiting zoos, Dublin is great!

That “there is a subway…but I only really like their cookies” bit really confused me. I thought she was talking about the underground! I know from experience that many underground systems do have food sellers, but still. Then I did a little Asking Jeeves & confirmed that there are Subway sandwich stores in Northern Ireland. And let me say, the cookies they sell there must be better than the ones available at my local Subway outlets.

The next card, bearing a painting by the Malaysian artist Mohammed Hoessein Enas, came to me from, yes, Malaysia–yet another P.U. card received in the last 2 days, as all in this post were! The sender writes:

Have you tried nasi lemak, satay, and our rendang? I love Malay food.

As do I.

How about that magical dolphin? That’s from Hong Kong, this time in a Postcrossing Forum trade, and the sender gave me a tip:

Try to put the card under the light for a while and put it in a dark area. You will see something interesting happen.

And so I did!

Here’s something I got from Malaysia in a Postcrossing Forum food package postcard tag. The sender writes:

This is a card from ‘Brown Rice Noodles.’ Let me share a quote with you: “Beautiful Things Happen When You Do Something You LOVE.”

Is a quote really a quote when it is unattributed? I think what we have here is a saying; quotations can be attributed to someone specific. I am picturing someone trapped in a plaque factory, writing this multiple times in 9 different fonts for sale at Joann’s, or–far worse–Hobby Lobby. On the other hand, I like the idea behind the words.

Hopping off the soapbox, and into the sailboat: the last card came to me via a Postcrossing draw from Bucha, Kiev, Ukraine. The sender included his address and this message:

I collect and swap postcards: art, nature, flora, fauna, national costume, transport. Also: coins, banknotes, stamps, badges, pocket calendars.

Uhm, thanks for the shopping list, buddy.

Time for stamps, stickers, & washi tape! Malaysian stamps are so beautiful, and I love the first two here.

 

Blast Off to the Eclipse! Sent to Canada, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Poland, South Korea, & the U.S.

Here comes another post that I started, but shelved for some reason. I had pretty much finished this one, but did have to go back & fill in a little detail here & there. You can tell it’s been sitting in the fridge here for a couple of months or so, seeing as it relates in part to that well-hyped eclipse, now pretty far in the rear-view mirror. Read on, & enjoy!

This great work of art is from 10 Little Rubber Duckies by Eric Carle, and I picked it up at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.  The card went off in a Postcrossing Forum tag to Saitama, Japan, to a recipient who enjoys picture book art.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the post, you’ll see there is more picture book art on the back of the postcard: Green Eggs and Ham washi tape, purchased at the Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden in Springfield, Massachusetts.

To a cat lover in Echizen, Japan, I sent this Jetoy postcard.  It also goes out in a Postcrossing Forum tag, and since the recipient says she likes reading, watching movies, & traveling–and I do, too–I told her about my last read, last movie attended, and last trip taken.

Next up, the card on the left (a scene from the Hearst Castle gardens) went to Chantilly, Virginia; and the Rocky Mountain National Park scene went to Chicago, Illinois.

Another Postcard United draw: this reading kitty went to Räyrinki, Finland.

And ANOTHER Postcard United draw–this one went to Seoul, South Korea–and I like that this user offers writing prompts:

*If you don’t know what you should write me, here are some hints 🙂 May 2017 question :> Pick one and answer it please! 1. “Why some people are fascinated with vampires?” 2. “If you can get a superpower, would you like to be a superhero or a villain? and why?” Backside ideas :> -your favorite book / writer -your favorite movie / series -favorite animal, have you got a pet? -favorite food -favorite quote -your hobbies -your love story 🙂 –

One of the types of postcards she wanted was movie-related, so I sent her this l’il movie poster picked up at a local cinema.

The next trio of cards are hewn from food packaging, all sent off in the current round of a swap-bot “Chunk O Cardboard” trade.  Babu’s Kati–Masala Pizza flavor–was okay, but too sweet, I think.  Needless to say, it was munch better than any Hot Pocket.  It’s on its way to a swapper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Instant update on Babu’s Kati!  The card has been received:

Hi there! Thank you so much for the Masala Kathi chunk o cardboard. I especially like the orange price tag on the front, and particularly the postage you used. The postmark situated itself just between the spaceman and the solar eclipse! Was very fun to receive, and brightened my day!

The gardening tips went off to Topeka, Kansas.  They are from a box of off-brand Chex cereal.  Actual quality cereals do not have room for gardening tips; they use all of that space telling you what cool toys are inside the package.

The DeliChoc panel landed in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada.  I don’t remember where or when I got this stuff, but doesn’t it look delicious?  I love these dark chocolate/biscuit combos, like the LU Little Schoolboy.  Mmm.

BraveStarr here went to Budapest, Hungary, to–well, I just don’t know whom. I was assigned this user when I clicked “send a card” on Postcard United, and the user had absolutely no profile at all. I wrote a friendly note:

Greetings from California, U.S.A.! I was sad that you have no profile. Most of the fun here is getting to know a little bit about other people. Maybe soon?

Another Postcard United, this one to Rybnik, Poland:

Stamps, stickers, & washi tape time. Do you have any favorites?

 

Here comes the scan that gives this post its title.  I’m glad I finally found a use for these spacey stickers I bought quite a long time ago.  If you compare this scan to my previous post, (or if you’re lazy, even just the moon stamp that appears right above this text block), you will see that in the day between those scans and this one, the temperature in my house (and of course, out) has risen considerably.  These heat-sensitive stamps are showing their full moons. At the very bottom of the post, you will see a colder version of the stamp.

Unwanted, Recycled–and Otherwise: Received from Austria, Belarus, Canada, China, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, & the U.S.

I am SO behind on posting postcards I’ve received.  I grabbed a big handful to scan, and the main theme for most of them seems to be “unwanted cards.”  We’ll soon get to what that’s all about, but I want to be sure to start with two cards I really do like!  Both of them found their way to me in Postcrossing Forum tags.

I just love this sketch of a Hong Kong storefront & apartments; it really takes me there!  The sender asks, “have you tried egg tart before?  It has to be my favorite Hong Kong snacks.  California has always been somewhere I desperately want to visit, and hopefully I can visit there soon!”

That breathtaking mountain view came to me from Shaanxi, China, and the sender tells me it is called Hua Mountain, and “it’s a little dangerous to climb, but because of the wonderful scenery, lots of people still trying and enjoy it.”

Next up, the kitty classroom, comes to me from Belarus, thanks to a Postcrossing Forum “favorites” tag.  I’m so forgetful, I didn’t even remember having marked it as a favorite.  Good thing to check those once in a while!

Another cat, this one riding a tortoise, and it comes to me from France as a regular Postcrossing card.  The sender’s writing is quite difficult to decipher, which is a lesson to me, even though I THINK my printing is neat, that I could stand to try harder.  I thought she wrote that she is in the “Louie Valley,” but a consult with Ask Jeeves (or whomever it is running the internet these days) let me know she probably meant Loire Valley.  Also, if I’m reading this correctly, she hopes to open a bed & breakfast next summer.  Or it could be that she just got back from a waterslide with Santa–I just don’t know.  Well, I do know I prefer the latter.

These next 3 cards all came my way via swap-bot.  The big building is the Fine Arts Gallery in San Diego, California–but the card was sent to me from a swapper in the state of Georgia.

I think the Santorini, Greece, card actually came to me from that locale.  The sender wrote:

“You can walk to the top.  To get to the volcano you can get a small local boat to take you straight there.  Otherwise you can take a tour that includes Thirasía.  When you get to the top, the view of Santorini is incredible!  This is must place to visit if you here.  You can jump into the warm springs if you want.”

The last card of that trio is the boat on the river.  The card was sent by a swapper in Illinois.  She sent it in a “recycled postcard” trade, but if she did indeed but a new backing on a card she previously received, I sure couldn’t tell–and I picked away at 3 of the 4 corners!  When I do these, I always like to leave the original stamps exposed (but on the bottom left of the new backing), as a bonus for the new recipient.  Anyhow, this card’s sender says the scene pictured is the Mississippi River, a sight she’s never seen in person, but that she imagines herself taking “an old time paddle wheel river boat ride down this river, if they still exist.” They do.  No, I’ve not been on the Mississippi, but more than once, I HAVE ridden a riverboat on the Rivers of America.

There’s a tag on Postcrossing Forum called “The Card You Want to Get Rid of,” and if I’d had this next card, I’d have sent it off in this trade, too!  I might just send it out in the next “recycled postcard” trade in which I participate.  The sender is in Tampere, Finland, and she told me, “I find this tag superb; it’s hard to find a suitable recipient to every postcard, but every postcard deserves to travel.”

Another postcard I’d be happy to get rid of is the “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt” card–that comes from Sheffield, England, in a swap-bot trade.   The sender wrote the card on July 11, telling me: “right now it is nearly 10 a.m. and it’s raining, and probably won’t stop for the rest of the day.  Typical UK!”

Still more cards getting no love: the trio below were sent to me together from Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, in a swap-bot “I Don’t Want These Postcards” exchange.  I’ll have to post them in my page of cars available for trades!  That one that looks like a b&w “magic eye” game will probably have to go out in another round of these “I don’t want it” tags!

This next card came my way from Graz, Austria, in the “recycled postcard” tag I’ve been mentioning, and I may just have scanned & posted the other side here before, but I didn’t mark it as such, so either way–here we go.  In this tag, a person is supposed to slap a new backing on a postcard they received from someone else, & then send it to their assigned partner.  Let this serve as a warning that all glue sticks are not created equal; there was no postcard attached to this backing.  When you flip it over, all you see is shiny streaks.  In any case, I thought you might enjoy reading the hand-written recipe.

Well, it’s just about stamp time, so let me ask you now:  what are your favorite cards this time?  Which ones would you first choose to send off in a trade of recycled or “I don’t want this” cards?  Remember, one good use of a postcard you don’t think anyone else will love, is as a vehicle to send a message to your elected representatives!

Traveling, Recycling–and Whittling Down the Dissapointassortment: Sent to Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, & the U.S.

I’ve got cards going out to seven different countries, all but one being signees of the Paris Agreement.

Hey, I got rid of one of my Disappointassortment cards!  That heart locket card goes out in a Postcrossing draw to Brasschaat, Flanders, Belgium, to a recipient who said she likes cards with hearts on them.

The mail-a-sea-lion card goes to a sea-lion-loving family member.  I love sea lions, too!  Scroll down, and you’ll be able to see the other side of this very functional card.

It’s the Grinch!  He and a lot of other offspring of Dr. Seuss’s imagination reside in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden.  I visited this site in May, just missing by a couple of weeks or so the grand opening of the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum!  But I did get some postcards, & sent this one to Cindi in Hawaii.

I also visited the PEZ factory in Orange, Connecticut! What a fun experience.  I bought a lot of stuff–and I also picked up some free postcards they had, promoting their party room.  This one went to North Hollywood, California, for a very specific swap-bot trade: “Free/Ad Card: I picked this up on vacation.”  I just knew these would come in handy.

The fox went off toward Tokyo, Japan, for a Postcrossing Forum USA/Asia tag.  The recipient said she liked foxes!

There’s a second Disappointment card going away!  These ballet folklórico dancers are not the problem; it’s that the card manufacturers failed to give context for the card, and…oh, just refer to the original post.  The card went off to Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, in a Postcrossing Forum “China Meets the World” tag.  The recipient said he liked cards featuring cultural celebrations for our area, and, well, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, this counts!  I grew up enjoying ballet folklórico in schools, museums, and other settings.

Something not so easily found in the Bay Area is great Thai food.  Oh, there are Thai restaurants absolutely EVERYWHERE… but just try finding a Southeast Asian person who would want to eat in any of them.  I have finally found two restaurants that break that sad mold, and one is San Francisco’s Kin Khao.  You, I assume, being someone who is interested in postcards, you may love to walk into this restaurant to find a wall decorated with a huge postcard rack, full of food cards yours for the taking!  I’ve mentioned this before; you can see the rack in that post, here.  This one goes to Stetten, Germany for another specific swap-bot trade: “Free Postcard–Restaurant/Coffee Shop.”

Next we have a couple of cards I created from boxes of frozen food, for another swap-bot trade of “up-cycled cardboard.”  I don’t usually buy frozen prepared food, but these two items from my local Indian supermarkets reeled me in.  The Kati sandwiches (card going to Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada) seemed like an improvement on Hot Pockets (a low bar; Hot Pockets are nasty), and they were.  As for the other package (going to South Elgin, Illinois), I really like good sambhar.  This was not really good sambhar.  Better stick with home or restaurant-made.  THEY MAKE FOR NICE POSTCARDS, THOUGH!

This Mickey Mouse card went to Longquan Station, Taiwan, via a Postcrossing Forum Disney card tag.

Okay, let’s move on to the stamps, stickers, washi tape, & stuff.  I think there may be some stamps here you haven’t seen before.  Please share your thoughts!