Spooky & Vintage

 

Halloween mail sent by Phillip and Bryon (the USA). It is difficult to take a proper picture of these foil stamps, but, believe me, they are wonderful in person!

... And Picassian Muppets

Bryon (the USA) has sent the whole series of the 50th Anniversary of Sesame Street stamps. As a little thank you, I sent him a watercolour postcard with two of my favourite characters, Picasso-inspired (or Internet-inspired).

Muppets...

I guess this is one of the most successful USPS issue in 2019!

(Did you have a favourite among these?)

Grover & Julia

Zoe & Oscar the Grouch

Telly & Snuffleupagus

Elmo & Abby Cadabby

The Count & Cookie Monster

Big Bird & Rosita

Ernie & Bert

Herry Monster & Guy Smiley

HitM | Norwich Houses

Elm Hill

This postcard wasn't sent for the Houses in the Mail project, but I thought I could add it. How beautiful is this street?

Another interesting house from the same city:

Strangers’ Hall Museum, Norwich

Along with these, I got more postcards from the city of Norwich. Not featuring houses but... they are just beautiful!

Deanery View

Poules Ferry and Watergate

Norwich Castle

St. Julian’s Church
Julian’s Cell Artist: Irene Ogden

Sunday Stamps | French Bridges

Some French bridges for today's theme in Sunday Stamps: Bridges.

2011, The 100th Anniversary of the Train des Pignes

2014, Via Tolosana (to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle)

2014, Rivers - Joint Issue with China
(The Seine in Paris)

2017, World Wrestling Championships
(Alexandre III Bridge, Paris)

2018, EUROPA Stamps - Bridges
(Passerelle des Deux Rives, Strasbourg)

2018, Architecture - Viaur Tarn-Aveyron Viaduct

Diwali

I think that in USPS you can find a stamp for every celebration, like this one for Diwali. 

According to the Wikipedia, it symbolises "the spiritual victory of light over darkness". Certainly, the postal workers needed a big lamp to see this almost invisible address on the envelope!

HitM | Croft House

Picture: Colin Baxter

Intended or not, John (the UK) sent another contribution to the Houses in the Mail postal project. 

The postcard features a Croft House, a traditional dwelling in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It has a chimney, but some of the earlier houses just had a hole in the centre of the roof and the fire in the middle of the flor. Maybe for that reason they were also known as black houses. Very few remain: Now there are only exhibition ones and renovated ones to be seen.

Dear Autumn Mail,

Keep coming!

Envelopes Galore

Letters sent by Eva (Germany), Fabienne (France), Micu (Hungary). Julia and Rebecca (both from the USA)

150 Years of Postcards

On October 1st, postcards celebrate their 150th anniversary (you can read more about this here). Some postcrossers and postcards lovers around the world celebrated it in different manners. For instance, there were, according with Postcrossing:

• 58 meetups
• 11 postcard exhibitions
• 8 special cancellation marks
• 8 workshops
• 6 seminars
• 4 commemorative postcards issued by post offices
• 3 guided tours
• 2 postage stamps

I didn't participate other than sending postcards. And I have also received two postcards from the meetup in Amsterdam, and the Joint Meetup Netherlands-China. What a cool idea!

On the back, along with a cool map, you can read:

Windmills, a well-known symbol of The Netherlands, is written as '风车' and pronounced as 'Fengche' in Mandarin. It can also represent pinwheels in Chinese culture, which recall us back to our childhood, in the cheerful beginning of Autumn.with six hours time difference, members from UCPC Beijing (China) and Amsterdam (The Nethelands) will celbrate the #150yearsofpostcards event together on Oct 1st 2019.

The postcards are signed by A LOT of people, and sent by Heleen. She added Postcrossing postage stamps :D

Sunday Stamps | Mooi Nederland

Today's theme on Sunday Stamps is Towers, tall buildings. I was tempted to show lighthouses (my favourite theme ever!), but I decided to go for something different instead.

The series Mooi Nederland (='Beautiful Netherlands') started in 2005. It shows different places of the country, drawing attention to local history, cultural wealth and scenic beauty. The sheets are incredibly detailed! 

I have received some of them (thanks to Heleen!). I have noticed that, usually, they include a tower or tall building... among many other details not always easy to decipher for the foreigner. Anyway, these stamps are both beautiful and entertaining. 

Woudrichem, 2006

Sittard, 2006

Deventer, 2006

Zwolle, 2006

 

Utrecht, 2007

Groningen, 2007

Enschede, 2011

Naked?

This stationery makes the letters look as if they had been sent naked...

Practice Makes Progress

That is why I continue practising my faux calligraphy on envelopes...

Letters sent to Laura and Malcolm (the UK), Fabienne and Catherine (France), Josep (PC) and David (the USA) and Heleen (the Netherlands).