Leap Year's Day

I have received this envelope from Phillip (the USA) last Friday. Just in time! Because it is a letter to the future (Cf. the MA Dictionary). See what is stamped on the back:

Actually, this is also a post to the future, an scheduled one. That means that I am writing this before the due date. I have not opened the letter yet, and therefore I have not seen the content yet.

I wonder how Mr Munez can wait to open more of 200 letters...!

(Also published here)

Philathelic Diplomacy

This is an entry for Sunday Stamps - II. Today's theme is Oddities. Friendship between countries is neither an odd nor unusual theme for stamps. But it was somehow odd to find a stamp from 1987 in my mailbox three weeks ago. Of course, from the USA.

It was issued on July 1987 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship and Peace with the Kingdom of Morocco, the first diplomatic agreement between the United States and an Arab, Muslim or African state. Known also as the Treaty of Marrakesh, the accord is still the longest unbroken contract of its kind between the United States and any nation.

Actually, two stamps, with a similar design, were issued on in each nation's capital, Washington, D. C. and Rabat. The central design is part of an ornate painted door in the Dar Batha Palace in Fez, Morocco. The Moroccan stamp includes in French "Two Centuries of Friendship with the United States'' and in Arabic ''Morocco and the United States - Uninterrupted Friendship.''

More information about these stamps.I would like to receive the Moroccan as well!

Mail Is a Bridge between Us

Segura river in Murcia (Spain)
Sent by Heleen

Waalbrug bridge in Nijmegen (the Netherlands)
Sent by Heleen

Bruges (Belgium)
Sent by Catherine (France)

HSL-bridge Moerdijk (2006)
Almen bridge over Twentekanaal (1946)
(The Netherlands)

(More bridges)

Caféterras bij avond

This  postcard was sent by Heleen (the Netherlands), with no one but two matched stamps:

Maybe this painting by Van Gogh is one of his best known. But still it is one of my favourites! By the way, on both the stamps the title is written as Caféterras bij nacht. However, on the postcard is written Caféterras bij avond (?).

I really cannot complain about the Van Gogh stamps that PostNL has issued in 2015. I received these as part of a present. Correos stuck an ugly label on them, but happily I could remove it without any damage for the stamps.

Postcard from Mexico

The first postcard I have received ever from Mexico, sent by Phillip. Actually, I scarcely get mail from American countries other than the USA and Canada. It put a big smile on my face.

It took exactly two months to arrive, from 25 November to 25 January. And... yes: another month to be uploaded here.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Thanks to Heleen, I discovered that Joe (Malaysia) collects a certain sentence in all languages: Why did the chicken cross the road?, in order to add to his 17 x 10.8 cm sketchbook. He had already beautiful pages for Swedish, Japanese, Esperanto, Dutch, Balinese, Torajan...

Honestly, at first I thought that this is a sort of weird collection. But I have a penchant for weird projects, you know... So I decided to draw the Catalan version (a female chicken: gallina), and to send it along with some happy Moroccan chickens on the beach.

Air Letter

Air Letter sent by Alan (the UK).

An Aerogram or Air Letter is a thin lightweight piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via airmail, in which the letter and envelope are one and the same. Most aerograms have an imprinted stamp indicating the prepayment of postage.

There have been long time since the postage rates in Spain depends only on the weight of items (and to  measures, to certain extent). They do not sell official aerograms any more. If you send one of them (which I do sometimes), it is the same rate as for a normalized letter or postcard up to 20g. Royal Mail is not selling these neither, but they allow them to travel.

Do you know if air letters are common in your country?

Reading Women

Postcards of reading women sent by John (the UK):

Available light, by Barbara Brown

Beauty and the Beast, by Disney

Reading Girls, by Nicky Johnston

And a work of Czech painter Alphonse Mucha sent by Bryon (the USA) for the reading women album. But I am not sure she is actually reading...

Sunset

This stamp is one of the two Europa Stamps issued on 10 April 2004 by Lietuvos paštas (the Lithuanian postal service). The theme of the competition was Holidays,

This is a post for Sunday Stamps - II. Today the theme is Sunrise/Sunset.

Dancing Cow

Sent to Thérèse (France). Also published in her blog.

I copied the design from one of my favourite cowstamps.

Mail is Snowing!

From Micu (Hungary) 

From Laura (the UK)

Folded Page

Envelope made of a page of a magazine made by Christophe (France). I think he is the only person able to fold a page in such a clever way.

By the way,  Christophe has a mail art call for... teeth. Yes, teeth. 

The Sky Man

I do not why lately I show more incoming than outgoing mail, when I am drawing more than ever...

This envelope went to Heleen (the Netherlands). And, as you can see in her blog of Weird Existing Animals (along with a bear!), it arrived safe and sound.

Charlie in the Winter

Hand-made envelope, of a catalogue, sent by Phillip (the USA). I think this illustration of Charlie is the best in the set. Who would not walk in the snow just to check if there is something in the mailbox? Even a letter full of snow, can warm you in a cold morning!

The stamps made me update this post again...

Postal Additions

Heleen (the Netherlands) was trying to send this tiny piece of mail and PostNL considered it was too dangerous to send it so naked. They added this plastic bag with some explanations:

And maybe this time something went missing. At least, the stamp:

More postal additions on recently received mail:

Red Hearts on Stamps

The theme for today in Sunday Stamps II is the colour red. I have been receiving some red hearts lately...

These arrived on a New Year cover sent by Phillip (the USA). It is made of a grocery bag. And he made quite a few (a, b, c, d...)!

Every year, since 2000, for Valentine day, La Poste (the French postal service) issues postage stamps designed by the greatest names in the French fashion industry. This is last year's. Click here to see the designs.

One of the three Child care stamps issued in the Netherlands on 6 November 1991. Click here to see the set.

Stamp issued by CTT (the Portuguese postal service) in 2013, showing the art of Joana Vasconcelos.

The stamp below is more orange than red. But still it has a heart (with more hearts inside. Do you notice them in spite of the dark postmarks?). It was issued by Correos (the Spanish postal service) on 16 January 2015. It commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the National Transplant Organisation (ONT). More information here.

I also received the famous quilled paper heart forever stamp, issued on 12 January 2016m created by artist Yulia Brodskaya.

And of course... A love letter!

(More hearts).

Peace & Love

I received this handmade postcard from Heleen (the Netherlands) as her contribution to the Challenge #35 of Mail a Smile. That was the last challenge, and it was... ehem... two months ago. But every moment is a good moment to share this beautiful art and to spread the wishes of peace & love. Do not you think so?

Winter Scene

Winter scene using watercolour and ink, sent by Phillip (the USA).

I am afraid that it is necessary to see it in real, the texture, the (lack of) colour to appreciate how wonderful this envelope is. The round cancellation add the final perfect touch.

More of the series in Phillip's blog.

(By the way, I have updated this post with more really cold scenes...).

Scurry No. 7

I sent this postcard to Connie Jean's Squirrel Museum (the USA), and she sent me back the documentation of the exhibition, the picture of the Scurry No. 7.

The envelope was funny as usual, with the well known motto: A squirrel a day keeps the doctor away (?!).

And I even got some squirrel money. It was real money until 2001. (Thanks, Heleen!). Maybe I still can spend it buying... nuts?