Happy New Year I

From China (sent by Angela)

If I am not wrong, today starts the New Year in a lot of countries. So for those who celebrate this festival: Happy New Year and 招財進寶!

It will be the Year of the Horse. But I want to show some New Year postcards/stamps I have received in the previous years (I hope there isn't a lot of mistakes in dates; I took the information from the Wikipedia). I love the Taiwanese series, do you?

26 January 2009 – 13 February 2010: Year of the Ox

Handmade postcard sent by Russ (the USA)

14 February 2010 – 2 February 2011: Year of the Tiger

Sent by Goldcrest (Ireland)

This Chinese New Year stamps  launched by An Post shows an image of an 18th century Tibetan-Buddhist painting from Gansu Province in North-West China.

Sent by Melissa (Canada)

Sent by Chi (Taiwan)

Sent by Chen (Taiwan)

I am not sure if the last one is a New Year stamp or just a tiger...

German postmark about the Year of the Tiger

3 February 2011 – 22 January 2012: Year of the Rabbit

Postcard sent by Jia-Yun (Taiwan)

Matched stamp which arrived on the previous postcard

Sent by Chi (Taiwan)

23 January 2012 – 9 February 2013: Year of the Dragon

Sent by Chi (Taiwan)

Sent by Hanxi (Canada)

10 February 2013 – 30 January 2014: Year of the Snake

Sent by Chi (Taiwan)

A Month of Letters

A Month of Letters is a challenge started by Mary Robinette Kowal in 2010. It is a very simple challenge: 

1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.

1. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

I have never participated in the challenge and I am not sure I am going to participate this year. Especially when my sort of New Year Resolution was about quality and no quantity of letters... But still I think it could be full of fun. I have been twice or three times the happy recipient of pieces of mail from Lettermo participants. Otherwise I had never got these letters! (And of course I answered, as usual).

What surprised me the most when I entered the site yesterday was the number of people registered: more than 10,000! Wow! If I was Mary I would be really proud to have encouraged so many people to write. Of course not all of them are active users; maybe most of them registered and never started the challenge. But still!

Have you ever participated in Lettermo? Are you thinking of joining the challenge this year?

Postcards from Africa

I am glad to add a new country to the list: Mozambique. But there is a trick, in fact! I received these two postcards written and stamped (both with the stamp you can see below this lines)... not by snail mail, but in hand. 

A friend of mine travelled to Mozambique and South-Africa, bought the postcards for me, wrote them, bought the stamp (in South-Africa; she had no time in Mozambique)... and then she realised she had forgotten my address!

Anyway, I like them and I am very grateful for having thought of me!

Orange Mail

Some orange postcards received by Heleen:

I'm inviting you
Postcard by Fair Mail.

Another for my Fiep's collection!

Late arrival at Schiphol
Did I say you I like planes and orange?

Made of food packaging

Windows To The World

Windows are the eyes of the house and the soul of its landlord. Artistic works dedicated to the theme “Windows” are accepted. You can use any painting or other technique. The deadline isn’t established. The interim exhibition will probably be in 2014. It will take place in one of Alexandrov museums.

Address of the project: http://oknowmir.blogspot.ru

Please, send your “Windows” here:

Eduard Egorov 
Sosnovskiy pereulok 14 - 61 
Alexandrov 
Vladimirskaya region 
Russia 
601655

Geology and Landscapes

The theme for this week in Sunday Stamps is Geology or Landscapes. Happily Viridian offered this alternative. Because I have realised that stamps about geology are quite common around the world. However, I have received just one so far!

Anyway, I am proud to show it, as I love the theme, its colours and its triangular shape:

The second part to the theme allows me to post some stamps about beautiful, sometimes distant, landscapes. I love the stamps made of a real picture. You can discover more and more details if you look closer to them.

From Australia

From Germany

From Lithuania

From the Netherlands

From New Zealand

From Russia

From the UK

Long Letters

« D'habitude, je ne raffole pas des longues missives. Ce sont généralement les moins intéressantes. Depuis plus de seize ans, j'ai reçu un si grand nombre de courriers que, sans le vouloir, j'ai développé une théorie instinctive et expérimentale de l'art épistolaire. Ainsi, j'ai observé que les meilleures lettres ne dépassent jamais les deux feuilles A4 recto verso (j'insiste sur le recto verso : l'amour des forêts contraint à l'opisthographie. Ceux qui se refusent au nom d'une vieille règle de politesse ont d'étranges priorités). Ce n'est pas absurde, il y a de l'irrespect à s'imaginer avoir plus à dire et le manque de l'égard ne rend pas intéressant. Madame de Sévigné l'a très bien dit : "Pardonnez-moi, je n'ai pas le temps de faire court." »

Amelie Nothomb, Une forme de vie

Arabic Alphabet

I have made this postcards and envelopes from a book for practising the Arabic handwriting. There are still some pages left, and I want to finish them. So far:

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands). The letter ه shown in the envelope is the first letter of her name. It was sent to the Weird Existing Animals project, published here.

Sent to Eric (France). He has two projects about ضفدع ('frog'): Frogs and Frogs of the World Challenge. Published here.

Sent to Phyllis (the USA), as thank you for her contribution to the VQR Postal Project. As in the first case, the letter on the envelope (ف) is the first letter of her name. Also in the two following: ك = k and ر = r.

Sent to Keith (the USA).

Sent to Richard (France).

Sent to Servane (Belgium).

The Wrong Side

Postcard sent to John (the UK).

I just wanted to say if a postcard with the address in the wrong side reached its destination.

Update: It did!

Liverpool

Postcards sent by John (the UK).

I like a lot when I receive postcards from a place I have been to. I don't know why, but probably because I keep nice memories of all my trips. So, when I receive a postcard it is like if the postcard says: "This place still exists!", and it recalls me good things. 

The two postcards feature St. Georges Hall (Liverpool), two different views from two different ages. The postcard below these lines shows the sea line of the same city with the so-called three graces: the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. They make part of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 2004).

Little International Post Museum

Letter sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).

This is one of the letters of which I feel proudest. I spent a lot of time designing and building this little museum. My friend has been really busy during the last months. So, I tried to offer her the chance to visit a museum without leaving home. 

More views of the main and only (so far) room of the museum:

One of the purposes of this work has to do with one of my resolutions for 2014. I must say it is the first time I have something like "Year Resolutions". And, probably, I have just this one: send less mail. Strange? The fact is that I sent a big amount of mail last year. Let's say too much. I know that usually the letter writers wish a full mail box every day. But I am the kind of people who answers every received piece of correspondence. And who tries to do that in a reasonable period of time. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed. Indeed my goal is not sending less mail, just better. I guess that if I spend more time in every letter, I will be sending less mail. But this will be more meaningful for the recipients (I hope).

And the second purpose of building the museum? It was doing something I had never dared: writing a letter in a white wall!

 Of course the exhibited works are worth visiting!

And is really useful to have a museum you can fit in a normal-size envelope. Especially if it needs to be sent to your friends!