20 Years of Postcrossing (5)

Once, Twice... Thrice!

Sent by Phillip (the USA).

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Halloween

Two postcards from last Halloween sent by Heleen (the Netherlands) .

With a terrific hand-drawn stamp!

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
October theme: COLOURS OF AUTUMN

• Week 1 - Orange
• Week 2 - Yellow
• Week 3 - Red
• Week 4 - Brown
• Week 5 - Halloween or Black

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Making Friends

 

Letter sent by Rosemary (Canada). Artistamp by Donovan Beeson.

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Kirghiz Girl

The Daughter of Soviet Kirghizia, by S. Chuykov. Postcard sent by Eduard (Russia), with a vintage matching stamp.

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
March theme: WOMAN

• Week 1 - Working
• Week 2 - Relaxing
• Week 3 - Reading, Handwork
• Week 4 - Famous Women

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Keep Calm and Read Letters

Collage on an envelope sent by Laura (the UK). I like how the stamp seems to be part of the scene.

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Snail Map

This illustration by Olga Kuleshova was sent by Eduard (Russia). But it is a sort of map, or travel diary, featuring some places in Spain. I can recognise most of the landmarks, but some of the destinations surprised me; for instance, Guadalajara (the only one I have never been to!).

On the back, the sender added some vintage Spanish stamps, just for making it more interesting.

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
February theme: MAPS

• Week 1 - Country
• Week 2 - City or Metro/Transportation
• Week 3 - With Pictorial Landmarks
• Week 4 - States/Provinces/Counties

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Long Live Snail Mail

Lilli sent this cheerful letter from Hawaii, able to cheer up everybody!

Not Only One Lighthouse

This postcard sent by Anita (the Netherlands) shows a view of the Terschelling lighthouse. It arrived with a matching stamp on the back:

But, apart form the real one, the sender added some used lighthouses from another countries:

It seems that the postal systems did not mind, and delivered the postcard safe and sound!

How Is Your Summer - XIV

Letter sent by Laura (the UK).

Pink Spring Letters

Collages on envelopes sent by Laura (the UK).

Touchnote

Have you ever sent a postcard using one of those online services? I have never tried. 

I got this postcard from Heleen It took two weeks to arrive (13 March to 27 March). It was a nice surprise from Chicago, or the Netherlands, or Guernsey!

Confusing Halloween

And a postcard I got from Heleen soon after Halloween 2022. Sent from Belgium, although the meet-up was in the Netherlands:

And another one from a meet-up in Belgium... But the postcard travelled first to the Netherlands, then to my country!

This one came with a wonderful (favourite!) stamp on the back:

Pink Tea

Collage on a big envelope sent by Laura (the UK).

Mail Is a Trip

Collage on a cover sent by Laura (UK).

Bonfires

Midsummer bonfire, sent by Leila (Finland). 

Peter Arenes in Geld und Geist, 1964. Sent by Linda (Switzerland).

Envelope sent by Imma (PC). It is an rare issue of Correos, from 1999, featuring Mingote's illustrations of Don Quixote. I sent a lot of these years ago!

The envelope features a scene from chapters 6 and 7 of the first part of Don Quixote, where his friends examine his library, full with chivalry romances and other books, and decide to burn most of them and seal the room. The comments of the priest allow author Cervantes to praise or condemn the books.

23 April: Stop and Smell the Roses

23 April is Sant Jordi ('Saint George’s Day'), and also the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, when love and literature are celebrated massively throughout the Catalan countries and, more and more, in many other places around the world. The exchange of books and roses (#BooksAndRoses) is turning into a worldwide phenomenon.

I got last week a couple of Sant Jordi-related stamps (unintentionally?):

Letter from Alan (the UK)

The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton. The stamp belongs to a set issuet on 22 October 2001.

This is the decorated back of a big postcard sent by John (the UK). The miniature sheet was issued on 6 May 2010, under the title Celebrating the Accession of King George V for London 2010 Festival of Stamps. 

And a letter from Fabienne (France) wore a stamp I was really happy to get. Issued on 12 April this year, it celebrates the 75 anniversary of Le Petit Prince ('The Little Prince').

If you have read the book, or know the story, you can see a rose in the Little Prince's hands... And you realise that the stamp on the left is a perfect match!

Oh, and I sent some dragons & roses, too!

A Global Letter

I reused an illustrated envelope (from the Philatelic Service) to send a letter to Heleen (the Netherlands). The Mafalda stamp (top right) exists as a real stamp. But it has no value impressed on the envelope. 

I looked for stamps featuring the globe to match it.

This letter took two months to reach its destination. 

And it got a couple of postmarks on both sides!