We Are Not out of the Woods Yet

Picture by José Luis González Reche, than won a contest organized by Correos, about the St James Way. They made a prepaid (prepagado) postcard (so: no stamp and no postmark on the back);

Sent by Laura (Spain).
 

The Mail Monsters Project | 7

Did you know that there are Mail Monsters
hidden in the postal system?

This contribution is a very special one, because the mail monster was drawn by a girl... And I think it is the scariest I have ever got!

The stamps chosen by Rosemary, that belong to the Haunted Canada series, are pretty scary too. They were issued on 14 September 2015, and belong to a set of five. From left to right, the stamps depict the grieving Grey Lady of the Halifax Citadel, the Headless Brakemen from Vancouver’s Gastown, and ox cart apparition passing down a Manitoba pathway.

And, about the question Do you believe in Mail Monsters, Rosemary answered:

Yes, I believe in mail monsters. Once it took over a year for a Valentine's card my husband sent to arrive in the mail!

On the back of another letter beautifully stamped:

I hope the postal system doesn't mark the stamps too much. Otherwise I have to blame the mail monsters!

Moon Postcards

 

 Mount Rainier, with full Moon. Photo by Edward Nugent.

THE CRESCENT EFFECT A last-quarter Moon occurs about three weeks after New Moon. Its lighted posrtion typically faces the horizon of the Earth, as shown in this photograph.

Both postcards sent by Bryon. The latter arrived with this stamp featuring Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space in 1983. The stamp was issued on 22 May 2018.

The Mail Monsters Project | 6

The Mail Monsters huddle up inside the post boxes,
waiting for your letters...

And, as many of you know, they don't distinguish between countries... Here you can see a German Mail Monster in action!

And Eva's emphatic "yes" to the question Do you believe in Mail Monsters?

Yes, they eat my mail and don't let them arrive... no matter what I sent where

STEM

Some months have passed since I left Morocco. So, it took a bit of time to upload this envelope sent by Phillip (the USA), with the STEM stamps and the illustration of an old mail sorting machine.

But the fact is that it never arrived to Morocco: it was sent to Spain inside another (nice!) envelope, because I announced my moving when the sender had already prepared the envelope.

Sunday Stamps | I for Insects

Some insects arrived from different countries, for the letter I of Sunday Stamps:

Petasida ephippigera
(Leichhardt's grasshopper)
Australia, 1991

Stigmodera gratiosa ("Jewel Beetles")
Australia, 2016

Castiarina klugii ("Jewel Beetles")
Australia, 2016

Dragonfly ("Protected fauna")
Spain, 2015

Anthophora bee ("Solitary bees")
France, 2016

Ants
USA, 2012

Western honeybee ("Protect pollinators")
USA, 2017

Greetings from...

 

Two different styles of Greetings from... postcards. The postcard sent by Heleen from Belgium belongs to the Postallove's series Greetings from...

The one below, sent by John (the USA) is a bit older, probably 1930s-1940s.

HitM | The Crookedest Street in the World

Bryon sent this postcard from Lombard Street, in San Francisco (the USA), for the Houses in the Mail project. The street, paved with red brick, makes eight turns in one block, and for that reason is known as "the crookedest street in the world".

The Mail Monsters Project | 5

A little nibble never hurts if it appeases the Mail Monster

I guess that only the recipients noticed, but most of the Mail Monsters I drew, were personalised. I mean, related to the previous letters, or the recipients' hobbies, or so on. So to  speak, every Mail Monster has its own story.

This was the last Mail Monster I sent, but it shows the origin of the project: the comments on this post.

It never came back, though. It is disappointing when the letters get lost in way. But, well... this is what Mail Monsters do, isn't it?*

_______

* When a Mail Monster eats a letter like this one... Is that a form of cannibalism? Monsterophagy?

Incredible Eye

Joyce (China) sent me this incredible postcard (painted by herself), inside of a funny envelope literally covered by stamps!

The Mail Monsters Project | 4

Don't be such a guzzler, Mail Monster!

But it really was! When the Mail Moster came back all the way from Canada, it has swallowed another envelope (the red one)!

You can see here a big scary Mail Monster, awaiting for fresh letter to be posted:

And Barb's answer to the question:

I've never heard of mail monsters before but the more I think about it the more I'm pretty sure they exist. Take for example how sometimes mail travels with rapid speed between two places and other times takes forever to reach destination. Perhaps the mail monster ate too much candy for breakfast and was working in hyper-alive :)

Then, there are times when a letter simply vanishes or shows up months later with 'return to sender'after so much time you actually forgot all about sending it. Perhaps, the mail monsters have a unique sense of humor and send mail to the wrong people... on purpose?

Do you think that Mail Monsters have a peculiar sense of humour?

Postcrossing Meetings

Two friends of mine attended their very first Postcrossing meet-up last week-end. And both sent to me the meeting official postcard signed by 7/8 postcrossers, from their respective meeting: Rochester (the UK) and Almelo (the Netherlands). How coincidental is it?

I have never joined one of those meetings, but I think it would be full of fun!

Sunday Stamps | H for Hamlet & Herda

The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre, located in Lambeth, London, England. It celebrates its bicentenary this year.

On 30 August, Royal Mail has issued a series of stamps to celebrate legendary performances and productions from 1960 to the present day. I have received two of them:

• Hamlet, 1975 by William Shakespeare starring Albert Finney
• Hedda Gabler, 1970 by Henrik Ibsen starring Maggie Smith

By the way, I received the first one two days before they were officially sold. Just because the post office where a friend of mine buys the stamps had run out of any other stamp!

See the complete set and read more about this issue, here.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, letter H.

The Mail Monsters Project | 3

Have you heard about the terrible Mail Monsters?

It seems that, in Hungary, Mail Monsters are really colourful!

And this was Micu's friendly answer to the question Do you believe in Mail Monsters?

Yes, I believe in Mail Monsters. In fact, I think they want to be good friends with me so they keep "borrowing" my letters. In the beginning when I didn't know they exist I was really frustrated when some of my letters didn't arrive to their destinations. Now I know everything happens for a reason.I don't want them to be lonely, so every now and then I allow them to play with my letters :)

Would you allow the Mail Monsters to play with your letters?

The World is Small

Hand-painted envelope sent by Imma (PC). Inside, a letter explaining an incredible mail adventure...