Spring Readers

This is the perfect season for reading in the garden.

But maybe you prefer to read indoors...

Letter sent by Laura (the UK) and door tag Phillip (the USA).

I Love to Write

Thursday Postcard Hunt | London Buses

Trafalgar Square in London, and the iconic double-deck red buses.

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
May theme: COLOURFUL

• Week 1 - Trees/Flowers
• Week 2 - Skies
• Week 3 - Wildlife
• Week 4 - Buildings
• Week 5 - Vehicles (trains, buses, boats, cars)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Enigmatic Postcards

I have got this postcards through the Postcrossing site, from China and Russia. No clues on the back. I have used online tools to read them... but certain degree of mystery remains!

Typewriters

'Those who have nothing to say
now say it on Twitter'

Cards sent by Fabienne (France) and Heleen (Netherlands).

Postcards from the Peaks

Hi, I’m Stu and I’ll be carrying a cast, iron Royal Mail Post Box in flip-flops to the highest point in all 15 of the National parks in the UK to combat loneliness by sparking meaningful connections and conversations.

Go to Postcards from the Peaks to know more about this unusual challenge and how to participate.

Sunday Stamps | City Birthday

On October 27, Amsterdam will celebrate its 750 anniversary. Along with other celebrations, PostNL released a special stamp sheet. This sheet contains 5 unique stamps designed by Amsterdam-based designer Michiel Schuurman.

And I have got almost the whole set!

Go to Sunday Stamps to see more stamps on the theme City/Urban.

Lighthouses from France

Sent by Catherine and Fabienne (France).

And this postcard, featuring some places I visited long ago, in Brittany (France), made me think of this other card sent by Fabienne...

C'est à moi ? Ça!... (='Is this mine? This!')

Fishing?

I do not get that often stamps from the United Nations in Geneva.  This one belongs to the 2024 United Nations Endangered Species. It celebrates the Itaituba river stingray (Potamotrygon albimaculata), illustrated by Brazilian artist Julia Izabela.

It was on the back of a postcard sent by Bryon. It arrived together with another postcard from the same sender, bearing the following stamps, featuring close-up photographies of popular Freshwater Fishing Lures!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Blue Delft

I guess the houses are not so blue in real Delft...

Postcard sent by Ania (the Netherlands).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
May theme: COLOURFUL

• Week 1 - Trees/Flowers
• Week 2 - Skies
• Week 3 - Wildlife
• Week 4 - Buildings
• Week 5 - Vehicles (trains, buses, boats, cars)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Spring Cow

Back and front of a collage sent by Fabienne (France). I cannot decide which side I prefer!

And Not Only Daffodils!

Not only daffodils, but the spring mail has brought tulips, wisteria...

Letters sent by Laura (the UK).

Only to Have them Returned

«Així la Penèlope escrivia cartes a l'Ulisses i les enviava a adresses desconegudes només perquè les hi tornessin i sentir totes les mans que l'havien estat buscant.»

Joan Barril, "Fer i desfer" (201 Contes corrents)

Sunday Stamps | Scottish Heraldry

Today's Sunday Stamps topic is Shields, Crests, Heraldry. The following stamps were issued in 1987. They belong to a 4-stamps set commemorating the 300th Anniversary of Revival of Order of the Thistle.

Arms of the Lord Lyon King of Arms

Arms of Royal Scottish Academy of
Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Nothing to do with Scotland (as far as I know). But, when I was writing this post, I got the following stamp, issued in 2018, to commemorate the centenary of Russian Diplomatic Courier Service.

Current Mode: Reading Letters

Letter sent by Imma (PC), with a drawing on the envelope.

Letter sent by Rosemary (Canada).

States Project Update

One year ago, Bryon started a project with the Alabama postcard.

From May to December 2024, he accomplished this big postal project: sending me a postcard from the capital city on every USA state, with matching stamps: Greetings from America (2002), the state birds (1982) and the state flags (1976).  See here all the postcards.

The list of the  States Project postcards sent in order of arrival (although they were sent in alphabetical order):

1. ARKANSAS
2. CALIFORNIA
3. COLORADO
4. DELAWARE
5. CONNECTICUT
6. ARIZONA
7. ALASKA
8. HAWAII
9. GEORGIA
10. IDAHO
11. ALABAMA
12. FLORIDA
13. INDIANA
14. ILLINOIS,
15. IOWA
16. KENTUCKY,
17. KANSAS
18. LOUISIANA
19. MAINE
20. MARYLAND
21. MICHIGAN
22. MINNESOTA
23. MISSISSIPPI
24. NEBRASKA
25. NEVADA
26. NEW HAMPSHIRE
27. NEW JERSEY
28. NEW MEXICO
29. NEW YORK
30. OHIO
31. OREGON
32. MONTANA
33. SOUTH DAKOTA
34. TEXAS
35. UTAH
36. NORTH CAROLINA
37. NORTH DAKOTA
38. OKHLAHOMA
39. PENNSYLVANIA
40. RHODE ISLAND
41. TENNESSEE
42. WISCONSIN
43. WYOMING
44. VERMONT
45. WASHINGTON
46. VIRGINIA
47. WEST VIRGINIA
48. MASSACHUSETTS
49. SOUTH CAROLINA -- No project is perfect. Out of 50, 49 postcards landed. MISSOURI is still missing!
50. MISSOURI

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Colourful Bird

Not sure it is wild enough... But do not say it is not colourful!

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
May theme: COLOURFUL

• Week 1 - Trees/Flowers
• Week 2 - Skies
• Week 3 - Wildlife
• Week 4 - Buildings
• Week 5 - Vehicles (trains, buses, boats, cars)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Thank You - 14 Years

Tomorrow, this blog is 14 years old. Thanks for your visits and comments. And, of course, for the wonderful mail you send!

Mail sent by Laura (the UK), Bryon and Phillip (the USA).

Art of the Skateboard

You can find stamps about virtually any subject. Some of them are really surprising! If you are interested, you can read more about this issue here.

Envelope sent by Phillip (the USA).

Postcrossing Meet-Ups

11th February 2024. Utrecht (the Netherlands), sent by Susanne.

4th April 2024. Banyoles (Catalonia), sent by Imma.

5th April 2025. Figueres (Catalonia), sent by Imma.

Sunday Stamps | Random Women

AL 288-1, commonly known as Lucy is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone comprising 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis. It was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia. Lucy was named after the 1967 song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles.

Julie-Victorie Daubié (1824 – 1874) was a French journalist. She was the first woman to have graduated from a French university in 1871.

Françoise Sagan (1935 – 2004) was a French writer. Her best-known novel was her first, Bonjour Tristesse (1954). On the selvedge, however, you see the title of another of her works: Des bleus à l'âme (1972).

I have chosen these stamps for the theme Women of Sunday Stamps because they were all issued in 2024 and arrived together on this envelope made by Fabienne (France).

Side Effects

Sometimes, publishing a postcard leads to getting a new one. I learned some facts of Ohio from this postcard, and a bit more from the present card.

Same with Tennessee!

Cards sent by Phillip (the USA).

A Colourful City

Front and back of an envelope sent by Phillip (the USA). The more you look at the illustration, the more you like it.