20 Years of Postcrossing (1)

I have not been a full 20 year postcrosser (only almost 17 years), and I confess I did not properly celebrate the day*. However, I am happy to see one of the most wonderful projects ever is still alive and growing in its 20th anniversary. 

As I was happy to get these postcards from Bryon! --Have you noticed the red postcard is also on the other one?!?

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*No worries: everyday is a good day to send postcards!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Schiphol

These views of  Schiphol airport sent by Heleen (the Netherlands) years ago cover almost all the topics of this month's Thursday Postcard Hunt: sunset, seasonal, departures...

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Thursday Postcard Hunt

June theme: TIME

• Week 1 - Sunrise/Sunset
• Week 2 - Seasonal
• Week 3 - Ancient (geology, buildings, artefacts)
• Week 4 - Clocks or daily rituals (eating, working, arrivals/departures...)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Yellow Spring Mail

Letters sent by Laura (the UK).

Oxbridge Again

A view of the University of Oxford (UK) sent by John. 

And some from the University of Cambridge (UK) sent by Laura:

Trinity Street

St. John's College

St. John's College Gate

More postcards of Oxbridge universities, here.

From time to time, I also receive postcards showing other universities!

Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

Shakespearean Mail

Handmade postcard (from a brochure and green tape), made and sent by Laura (the UK).

On this postcard sent also by Laura (the UK)... Can you spot Shakespeare among so many Great Britons? (Artwork by Martyn Ford, from the famous series How to be British).

A line of Twelfth Night that is perfect for any thank you card...

Postcards sent by John (the UK) showing Stratford-upon-Avon. On the picture above: Holy Trinity Church, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's cottage. Below, Shakespeare's birthplace again, from a painting by Alfred Robert Quinton.

My album of Shakespeare-related postcards is growing!

Women on Postcards

Retrato femenino (17th century)
Ludolph de Jongh

Postcard sent by Bruno (PC). The painting is in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano.

Desafío (detail)
Verónica Alcácer

Postcard sent by Laura (Spain). The artwork belongs to a series of paintings named Cuerpos libres (='Free Bodies'), exhibited in the Museo de la Evolución Humana (Burgos, Spain).

Postcard sent by Lluïsa (PC). One of the 18 muses represented in the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. Actually, I had received more of them, but here I can appreciate more details.

Henriette Sauvant's Rapunzel, illustration of the book Zaubbermärchen (='Fairy tales). Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Foundling Girls at Prayer in the Chapel, by Sophia Anderson, late nineteenth century. Foundling Museum (London, UK). Postcard sent by Laura (UK).

Postcard sent by John (the UK).

Postcard sent by Fabienne (France). Poem by Patricia Castex Menier.

The Cheshire Cat

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice.
It looked goodnatured, she thought:
still it had very long claws and a great
many teeth...

Postcard sent by John (the UK).

It belongs to the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by John Tenniel (1820-1914), like some postcards I have received. Also the Cheshire Cat is a protagonist of a lot of them. But I have been particularly happy to receive these two versions of the same illustration:

I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly:
you make one quiete giddy!

And a radically different version, sent by Eutrapèlia (the USA)! It was made of chocolate packaging:

Postcards from Algeria

In the past, I used to have a pen pal from Algeria. We never were very regular penpals, neither the best friends. However, we exchanged interesting letters, postcards and pictures during some years.

Wahiba's letters became more and more sparse until she disappeared. That happens with penpals now and again, doesn't it?

I have just realised that I have never published mail from Algeria on this blog. Well, here you have some postcards. She usually did not use stamps.

Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in western Kent (England, UK) about 64 km south-east of central London. The town was a famous spa and tourist resort in the Restoration period, when the Pantiles attracted visitors who wished to take the waters.

I have never been there, but after some postcards sent by Laura (the UK) due to different trips, I feel like I have been. 

And did you know that disgusted of Tunbridge Wells means a certain type of letter-writer?

The phrase disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is a generic name used in England for a person, usually with strongly conservative political views, who writes letters to newspapers in a tone of moral outrage. According to local historian and former newspaper editor Frank Chapman, the phrase originated in the 1950s with the staff of the former Tunbridge Wells Advertiser. The paper's editor, alarmed at a lack of letters from readers, insisted his staff pen a few to fill space. One signed his simply "Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells" (Source: Wikipedia)

The Pantiles

Church of King Charles the Martyr, 1676

Wellington Rocks

Belgian Beers

Sent by Theo and Tino (Belgium).
Big and small version of a postcard, sent by different people (from different cities) within months.

Mama Feelgoods

Sent by Laura (the United Kingdom).
I love the silly idea of having the same postcard twice, the big and the small version. And this cheese looks delicious... 

First Alphabet

Sent by Riet and Marion (both from the Netherlands).

In older days, kids in the Netherlands learned to read with this book. I like the relationship between these postcards: the second one it's the first one through a magnifying glass.

The postcard with the complete alphabet is the very first I received through the Postcrossing site (in September 2008). And Heleen also sent me the matched stamps!