Mail Menu

This is another original sending from Bryon (the USA): an airplane menu! No doubt that it is a good souvenir from a trip. And, somehow, he managed to write a whole and fun letter inside: 

Which Is the Smallest Letter You Have Received?

As far as I am concerned, I think they are these two letters sent by Heleen (the Netherlands), that arrived together. Of course, they didn't arrived naked, but inside another letter. Because... look at their size:

I still wonder how could she manage to write a normal letter this small!

Postcoaster

I have received some beer coasters as a postcards. But I had never found a coaster that was especially designed to be used as a postcard. Of course, I had to send it!

(It went to Bryon, in the USA.)

Full

Front and back of the latest envelope I got from Alan (the UK). 

But, if you have received any letter from Alan, you know that they arrive always full of art and surprises!

Women on Stamps | Flannery O'Connor

The stamp that honours Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was issued on 5 June 2015. It is the 30th stamp in the USPS Literary Arts series.

I had never heard about Flannery O'Connor, and I liked the design of the stamp at first sight. Especially in combination with the blue hummingbird and this pictorial postmark. But not everybody agrees...

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For the new edition of Sunday Stamps-II A to Z, I have decided to show some of the stamps I have got on letters and postcards, related to one topic: women. This is the post for the letter O.

More women on stamps.

To the Moon

Painted envelope sent to Valerie (the USA).

La Rue

Fabienne (France) sent me this colourful postcard from La Rue est à Amiens ('The Street is in Amiens'), a circus and arts festival hold every year in the city of Amiens, since 1978.

I added this post to Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend, for the theme Festivals.

HitM | Some Houses from Canada

Allen (Canada) sent a wonderful contribution for the Houses in the Mail project, containing several different types of housings. The bright envelope (made of a calendar), shows another tipi, that one belongs to an UNESCO WHS called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

This loghouse shows the traditional housing style of Haida people. The totem pole means who live in the people, and also depicts religious beliefs.

And still more houses!

HitM | First Houses

The Crow Nation (also known as Apsáalooke), in historical times lived in the Yellowstone River valley, and now primarily in Montana. 

Their traditional housing used to be the tipi, a cone-shaped tent, traditionally made of animal skins upon wooden poles. Historically, the tipi was used by First Nations people of the Plains in the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies of North America, as well as by indigenous peoples of northern Europe and Asia under other names. 

A vintage one, with interesting information on the back:

The Navajo Indian house or home is still built in aboriginal style of sticks and mud with dirt floors. From ancient custom the door always faces the east. During the summer months they move higher into the mountains and built a temporary Hogan.
In case of death of any member of the family, while in the Hogan, they immediately desert it and it is known as a "Chin-dee-Hogan" or haunted house.

Both postcards sent by Bryon (the USA).

From Japanese Islands

Ania sent me more postcards from the long trip that took her to Japan, among other countries. The postcard above shows Yoron Island. It is a very tiny island (only 23 km²), "with crystal clear waters, sandy beaches (that are usually empty now), green hills and very friendly people", Ania says. She suggests I would like there... but who wouldn't?

The shīsā lion-dog usually guard the entrance of shrines around Japan. But, in Okinawa, they have become a symbol and are everywhere. Even in the form of a mailbox!

Bright Stamps!

I received this nicely stamped (and postmarked) envelope from Heleen (the Netherlands). Then, I remembered that I have already received part of this set of stamps, issued in 2003:

Its title is Kind en Kultuur ('Child and Culture'). I found on the Internet a picture of the complete set. How cheerful is it?

Women on Stamps | Nunavut

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the country, Canada Post issued a very special set of leaf-shaped stamps,  dedicated to 10 unforgettable moments and achievements from the last 50 years.

One of the stamps commemorate the creation of the territory of Nunavut on 1 April 1999, after a decades-long struggle of the Inuit people (The whole story here). The stamp features the image of Leah Ejangiaq Kines, photographed by her husband Clare Kines, both of Arctic Bay.

(Update: I have just realised that I had already uploaded these stamps to the blog, along from others from the same set!)

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For the new edition of Sunday Stamps-II A to Z, I have decided to show some of the stamps I have got on letters and postcards, related to one topic: women. This is the post for the letter N.

More women on stamps.

Envelopes Made of Posters

Sent to Eva (Germany)

Sent to Rosemary (Canada)
Illustration by Pilar Campos

Sent by Bryon (the USA)
Actually, this is the whole poster (folded),
featuring all the USPS 2017 postage stamps

Moroccan Men

On this postcard, two men are dressed in one of the traditional costumes you usually see in the north of Morocco, mostly in the mountains, but also in the city I live in (especially in festive days). The postcard shows the touristy city of Chefchaouen, not far away from my home.

I think this is only the third postcard from Morocco I have ever got by post.

This one came from an exhibition in Spain. It is a painting by Catalan artist Marià Fortuny (1838-1874). He travelled to Morocco and some of his works are inspired in this country, like this one from 1869: Un marroquí ('A Moroccan man').

Postcards sent by Mercé and Bruno (Morocco & PC). 

I added the post to Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend, that is dedicated this week to Costumes.

Contains No Live Animals

I guess that the post workers could rest easier when they learned that this envelope sent by John (the UK) contained no live animals, and no snails were harmed in the making of it. Me too!

On the contrary, a lot of paper animals, safe and sound, arrived with it: the happy green snail mail, some fishes on the stamps, and some stickers on the back. 

Happy Blue Keyboard

Now I don't know if I should add this (folded) postcard sent by Heleen to my Typewriters album...

The Older the Fiddle...

The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune is an old Irish proverb used in many parts of Ireland to express how older age brings much greater experience.

I received these postcards for my birthday. I guess it can apply also to the blog anniversary (7th!), can it? So...

Sent by Laura (the UK) and Eva (Germany).

HitM | 3D Home

Inside this recycled paper bag, Micu (Hungary) sent a quite original three-dimensional house for the project Houses in the Mail. I don't know how to take nice pictures of this dream house, made of new and repurposed materials. So I will show you how it look closed...

And how to open it...

And the whole house (If I mount it, there is a room I can't see!)

And now, if you feel curious... Come inside!

Women on Stamps | Music Icons

One USPS series I love is Music Icons, that started back in 2013. I think I have received most of the stamps, and I find their design superb in general.

The fist issue honoured Lydia Mendoza, on 15 May 2013, a greater star of Tejano music.

 

On 8 August 2014 was released the stamp dedicated to the rock singer Janis Joplin (1943-1970).

And on 29 September 2016 the stamp dedicated to Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990), nicknamed The Divine One, was issued. (More information about this stamp)



But this wasn't the first time the US Postal Service issued music stamps. The Legends of American Music series began in 1993. I have received two from this series:

Issued on 17 September 1994, and dedicated to the Jazz singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959).

On 11 September 1996 they dedicated a stamp to Dorothy Fields (1905-1974), and American librettist and lyricist, who wrote more than 400 songs for Broadway and films.

From Canada, I have recently got two stamps belonging to the 6-stamps series Canadian Country Artists, released on 31 July 2014. Renée Martel (born in 1947) and Shania Twain (born in 1965) are the two women honoured by this issue.

And just to add another country and another completely different music style, let me show the Portuguese stamp dedicated to Hermínia Silva (1907-1993), from a 2011 series (Another stamps set dedicated to fado appeared one year later.)

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For the new edition of Sunday Stamps-II A to Z, I have decided to show some of the stamps I have got on letters and postcards, related to one topic: women. This is the post for the letter M.

More women on stamps.

HitM | Stone House

This is the second contribution of Debb to the Houses in the Mail project (see here the first one). The title of her painting is Stone house in Benton (Eastern Sierra, California, the USA). 

Two of the stamps on the back depict two historical houses I had never heard about: Gropius House (in Lincoln, Massachusetts) and Decatur House (in Washington, D.C.).