World Postcard Day...

 ...was yesterday. Initiated by Postcrossing, postcard exchangers were encouraged to send cards out on October 1st.

I received the official card sponsired by Postcrossing in September, from a US Postcrosser.

And I sent a handful out myself.

From Japan

I had sent an extra card to postcrosser Mitsumi in Japan, and some time later this nice envelope arrived.

It contained a nice surprise - several pre-paid postcards, all featuring Mount Fuji.

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.

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)!

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!

Juguetes

Juguetes is Spanish for toys. Europa had the theme classic toys in 2015 and Correos issued this pine-scented stamp featuring a wooden train. It makes me think of Christmas a little bit. Eva gave me instructions to make sure I didn't miss the fragrance :)

For more stamps with a 'made from wood' theme, head over to Sunday Stamps and explore the links.

Bonus wood-related postcard received via Postcrossing from Canada

A postal almost-misadventure

I started sending and receiving postcards via Postcrossing this year. I've received some great postcards so far, and had fun choosing cards to send out. 

Today I received a great postcard sent from Belgium featuring a drawing of Amsterdam's famous red light district by artist Guus van Eck. You can see more of his work at his website.

Even better than the postcard is the story told on the other side by the sender.

"I bought this card in Amsterdam. My sister lives there (followed her love). We wanted to send a card to our nieces who were at camp with the youth movement. We found one in the style of Van Gogh. And then we searched for another one in the same style. We found this one (we were in a hurry). At home we realized by looking at it more closely it was an adult card :| and we never sent it."

This put a big smile on my face, thinking about her realizing the nature of the card, and also imagining this card showing up at a kids' camp :) Definitely my favorite Postcrossing postcard received so far.

Have you had any funny almost-misadventures with a letter or postcard?

Doggerland will rise again!

Mail art with mammoths and a message, from Alan.

Bonus postcard about a bonus day

In her mail from earlier this week, Heleen included a card from a postcrossing meetup held on February 29th, with some attendees on the back and a lovely stamp.

Thanks for this bonus, Heleen!

What about politics?

A fascinating altered postcard arrived from Sam V in Minnesota.

Notice anything odd?

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!

Any color but red

Hester's message that arrived with this handmade postcard:

And accompanied by a largely non-red rat :)

Postcards from the Vatican and its suburbs, part 2,

This card came from Eva some time ago.

One of the stamps she used was this one celebrating International Year of the Periodic Table of Elements. The United Nations chose 2019 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev's first organization of the elements known at the time into a table in 1869. The highlighted elements Vanadium, Tungsten and Platinum were discovered by Spaniards.

For more stamps on the topic of science, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Mr (Quarter) Moon

A very nice moon postcard from Eva - and Correos thought he needed a postal addition :)

Today also happens to be the moon's first quarter.

Postcards from the Vatican and its suburbs, part 1.

On a trip to Italy Eva sent me this funny card from the Vatican...

and this card from the National Etruscan Museum in Rome.

Thanks for thinking of me on your trip, Eva!

Postcards from Spain

Some fun postcards that Eva sent me last year with various topics.

Plants

A beautiful house with lots of stairs

Mice... of the postal adventuring variety (Mus morrisi)...

...and of the grammatically correct variety (Mus grammaticus)!

Have you received any fun topics on postcards recently?

Happy New Year

Eva sent me this card to wish me a happy birthday last year, and I think its message is also perfect for welcoming in the new year.

I hope all who stop by the blog have a great 2020.

Waiter, there's a fly in my mail art

In from Amalgamated Confusion aka Keith C

Hand-painted card

This work is from Leah.

Ides of cards and postcards

I haven't had an ides of cards and postcards post in a long time.

A few from Eva: