...JungYoun's mouse...

Nice mail from South Korea from JungYoun.

Year of the Rat postage

With a couple of cards inside.

Heleen's cat...

A great quote on this envelope I made to send to Heleen.

It seems to me to be just as apt for today's world.

Timber-frame houses

The theme for Sunday Stamps is architecture.

This definitive non-denominated stamp from the Czech Republic features timber-frame houses. Z indicates the international rate. I have no idea why the letter Z was chosen. A is used for domestic mail, and E for European destinations.

For more architecture on stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

...and mouse!

Fafa sent me a wonderful piece of mail with the French Year of the Rat stamp.

And some mice (amongst other animals) on the inside.

With one of the door cards that I had admired on Eva's blog. This one with an eastern theme.

Thanks so much, Fafa.

Fafa's cat...

A cat family sent to Fafa, made from a calendar page.

Frida Kahlo

Excellent template online free download by Rachel Ignotofsky colored by Eva and turned into an envelope. She cleverly has the King of Spain being painted. 

I missed Eva's instructions and opened it the 'wrong' way, however it all worked out fine. Thanks for another great piece of mail.

We all see the same moon

Wonderful mail from Heleen that was a surprise arrival two days ago.

And inside one of her favorite postcards of her home country - stunning view.

I was very happy to see that both PostNL and USPS worked very efficiently for me to receive the letter on March 21st, with a postmark of March 16th, even in these tough times!

Thanks, Heleen, it really lifted my spirits after what felt like one of the longest weeks of my life. (And I will answer your moon-related question in my next sending).

Signs of Spring

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is signs of spring, and I think this trio of stamps from Taiwan fits the bill. Birds, and flowers blooming!

The two stamps valued at 5 NT$ are from a set issued in 2017 titled Ancient Chinese Palace Museum - Immortal Blossoms of Spring II. You can see the others in the set at this link.

As for the 13 NT$ stamp, I have come up empty in my online search.

Find out what others have chosen by exploring the links at Sunday Stamps.

Out of this world

Fantastic star-catching astronaut from Eva.

With perfectly matching postcards inside.

And fun stickers on the back.

It reminded me of some other stickers I received on a postcard recently. 

Equinox

Today is the equinox, and the stamps on this envelope from Fafa made me think of half light, half dark. 

My scanner certainly did think so on the light stamp, a photo shows off the stamp better. They are from the annual series of heart stamps with designs created by French companies, often in the fashion industry.

And some color on the inside for the first day of spring, and a message of hope in these difficult and uncertain times.

Thanks, Fafa.

To everyone who reads the blog - stay safe, and stay strong!

Cinco de Mayo

A stamp was issued in 1998 celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the day in 1862 when the Mexican Army defeated the much larger forces of the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla.

Generally celebrated these days in the US by drinking margaritas - although I wonder if there will be much celebrating this year given the COVID19 pandemic.

Stay inside if possible, and explore the links to more celebrations at Sunday Stamps.

Be safe, everyone.

Thanks to the post office

In these weird times, USPS is keeping me sane.

Thanks for all you do to keep the mail moving!

Add and return - fruit sticker version

This was sent to me quite some time ago by Patricia.

And this is what I added.

Worm moon

Here is a piece of moon mail sent to Eva, shown today in honor of the full moon - known as the worm moon in north America.

This is Phobos, one of Mars' moons, and shaped a bit like a potato. Perhaps one day humans will land there.

Flowers on Leap Day mail

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is flowers.

A cactus flower arrived on this nice exchange envelope from Carolyn, complete with a once every four years 29 February postmark. The stamp is from a set of 10 issued last year.

Some other flowers I've received recently include this one from the German definitive series. The 20c marigold stamp also has a very nice postmark from Bremen. Below that the 15c shows a meadowfoam flower (I think - I confess I've never heard of this flower), while the 10c shows a winterling, a type of buttercup.

To take your mind off what I consider to be the second worst day of the year, explore more links to flowers over at Sunday Stamps.

An unexplained mail adventure

This postcard from Eva arrived yesterday, postmarked 21 January - so a journey that took 42 days - quite a long time from Spain.

The only clue to the adventure is the fact that it had 5 barcodes on it - so presumably it was misdirected a few times before finally showing up.

It will be interesting to see if the Olympic Games and Expo go ahead or not.

Happy 2020!

Listen to any good stories lately?

I sent Heleen envelope 959 made from a paper bag, and used some Harry Potter stamps (issued in 2013) to go with it.

This envelope is the sibling of this one I sent to Eva last year (image from her blog):

Any guesses (except Eva and Heleen) which shop the bag is from?