Double magic

I received this postcard through postcrossing.

The sender described it as magical, and I agree. Equally magical is the stamp.

It features the famous Russian wooden Church of the Transfiguration at Kizhi Pogost, and has a foiled background.

Sadly the person who sent it is no longer active at Postcrossing, so I am unable to thank them.

The 200th anniversary of Maine's admission to the Union

Maine achieved statehood 200 years ago on March 15th, 1820. In modern times, USPS has typically celebrated each sate joining the Union by issuing a stamp on anniversary years divisible by 50.

The bicentennial stamp features a painting by Edward Hopper titled 'Sea at Ogunquit' (1914) showing a part of Maine's rugged coastline.

I sent some envelopes to receive a pictorial postmark, and here are the very nice results:

From Eva's blog

From Heleen's blog

To see more anniversaries on stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

There's a bonus anniversary stamp on my blog post from yesterday - 60 years of Asterix the Gaul.

The earliest abstract art

Fafa sent a letter that arrived recently with a wonderful stamp showing off the cave drawings of prehistoric humans found in the Lascaux Cave (link to wikipedia page) in the Dordogne region of France. And Asterix celebrating his 60th birthday is a perfect accompaniment.

And inside, a couple of cards that are connected via the stamp and a play on words on a classic brand of bicycle, Velosolex (in French 'silex' means 'flint').

Thanks for the clever connections in this lovely piece of mail (and the bonus stamps), Fafa.

Envelope 1000 - for real this time

Once upon a time I made about 120 envelopes by hand, took a long hiatus, then started making more.

Recently I made envelope 1000 which went to Jean in an envelope exchange.

Today is the blog's 7th anniversary! I'm amazed you're all still here - thank you for your interest and support. 

I know this year of the rat isn't turning out like we imagined it would - hang in there, we are all stronger than we think. 

We will be able to look back on the blog's 8th anniversary and see how we made it through some tough times with determination, and some good mail.

(Link to first post titled Envelope 1000 if you're interested)

Hump Day

Heleen sent me this great postcard featuring camels drawn in the style of four different artists.

I managed to identify two right away, one I was a little unsure of, and one I had no idea.

See if you can guess them, and maybe you could try and guess which ones I guessed correctly.

And happy Hump Day (even though most days feel the same during the pandemic)!

She wasn't doing a thing that I could see...

...except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together. 

JD Salinger

I sent one of my literary calendar cat envelopes to CJ. I love the clever design of the main image. CJ liked it, too, and you can see how it traveled on her blogpost from last week.

Father Christmas

Father Christmas features in Finland's entry into this year's EUROPA theme of Ancient Postal Routes. You can see all of the 2020 EUROPA stamps here, and even vote for your favorite.

This non-denominated world rate stamp has a beautiful foil effect which is not possible to appreciate in a 2D scan. Father Christmas is more of a British name in the English-speaking world, and has an interesting history if you want to know more (link to wikipedia). These days Father Christmas is synonymous with Santa Claus.

For more stamps with a theme of Father Figures, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Fast cats

A fast journey across the pond in these covid times - just 7 days from the Netherlands.

With a drawing on the envelope from Heleen - thank you!

Tracking

Hmmmm....

I don't *think* it went from Columbus to Kansas City in 2 hours. With a delivery date of today. 

And 'the item is currently in transit to the destination' is code for 'we have no idea where it is'.

Fish banana time

Mail art from MomKat that arrived before lockdown.

Sent in this envelope.

No mail from Greece in months. Occasionally mail makes it from the US to Greece. Maybe one day the mail service will normalize.

Celebrations

This week's prompt on Sunday Stamps is celebrations.

I didn't think I would have anything to show, then a wedding invitation arrived in the mail yesterday.

This is the Contemporary Boutonniere 1 oz  stamp designed with wedding invitations and RSVPs in mind. I didn't even realize that the stamp on the envelope was torn until I took the photo.

There is an accompanying Garden Corsage 2 oz stamp, usually used on the invitations, as they typically weigh more. Image from virtualstampclub.com.

I am not sure if I am ready to attend a wedding in the days of covid-19. I think currently Ohio allows weddings with a maximum of 300 guests.

Would you attend a wedding? Would it depend on how many people? Inside vs outside? Would your answer change if it was a friend versus family versus a co-worker?

There are more links to stamps that celebrate things at Sunday Stamps.

Around the coronaglobe in fifty five days

From Eva, sent during the height of lockdown, with the height of irony. Perfection.

Space cat

I upcycled a piece of junk mail advertising food delivery into a postcard for Eric.

Space cat had a long journey - I posted it March 4th, and it arrived last week. 

One stamp challenge

This week's prompt for Sunday Stamps is your own choice.

In a post unrelated to today's theme, Eva at Mailadventures suggested choosing a single stamp that explains your life during the recent weeks or months.

Here is the stamp I chose.

A few links to other people's One Stamp:

The Postal Picture

See it on a Postcard

Update 8 June: Eva complied all the responses on her blog.

To see other people's free choice stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Strawberry Moon

The June full moon is known in the US as the strawberry moon. This was sent to MomKat.

Stay strong

A great message in these times of COVID-19, protests, and murder hornets.

Thanks for this great card, Eric.

Audrey

This fantastic handmade envelope arrived from Eric. I love the Boucheron heart stamp he used.