250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and I have been celebrating throughout the year. Apart from re-reading some Austen's books... getting and sending Austen-related mail, of course!

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them."
Mansfield Park

I guess I can add a Brönte-related postcard: the earliest know image of Haworth Parsonage.

All sent by Laura (the UK).

World Postcard Day 2025

More postcards I got, sent on World Postcard Day:

Sent by Bryon (the USA).

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Postcard sent by Anna (Russia).

And two special postmarks, from Portugal and the USA (Thanks, Pedro & Bryon!):

Lighthouses from the World

Greifswalder Oie ('Greifswald's isle')
Germany

This one arrived with matching stamps on the back:

Lighthouses near Gdynia, Poland

Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse
Rochester, New York, USA

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
USA

Cape Hatteras lighthouse protects one of the most hazardous sections of the Atlantic Coast, known as he "Graveyard of the Atlantic". Lit on December 1, 1870, the lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in North America, standing at 195.8 feet. In 1999, due to threatening beach erosion, the lighthouse was moved 2,900 feet to its current location.

Photographer - Michael Ver Sprill

(Odd lights on this illustration!!)

Postcards sent by Cardeaux (Germany), Ania (Poland), Violet (Canada), Bob (the USA) and Fleur (United Kingdom).

Summer Mail - XI

 

Collages on envelopes sent by Laura (the UK).

Summer Mail - IX

Collages on envelopes sent by Laura (the UK).

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Delta de l'Ebre

The Ebre Delta is one of the largest wetland areas in the western Mediterranean region. It is located in the southwest of the Province of Tarragona, in Catalonia in Spain. 

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
August theme: ILLUSTRATIONS

• Week 1 - Maps
• Week 2 - Art
• Week 3 - Animals
• Week 4 - Food (or Plants)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | My Happy Place Is Next to a Lighthouse!

Mevagissey
CORNWALL

1. List-Ost - 2. List-West - 3. Quermarkenfeuer Rotes Klift - 
4. Kampen - 5. Hörnum
GERMANY

Texel
NETHERLANDS

Aveiro
PORTUGAL

Barsagin Cape, Vladivostok
RUSSIA

Passing Lismore Lighthouse enroute for the island of Mull
SCOTLAND

The Cuckold's Light, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
USA

Postcards sent by Ania (UK), Birgit (Germany), Heleen (Netherlands), Pedro (Portugal), Vika (Russia) and Amber (USA).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
July theme: TRAVEL

• Week 1 - Your Own Country
• Week 2 - A place you'd like to visit (but haven't)
• Week 3 - A place you would not like to visit (for whatever reason)
• Week 4 - Getting around (train, bus, plane, stations, airports)
• Week 5 - Your happy place (beach, mountains, parks, cities, islands...)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

States Project | The Show-Me State

I guess you remember Bryon's States Project Well, the missing postcard, Missouri, just landed. Sent on 15 October 2024, but only got a postmark on 10 May 2025, and it arrived on 3 June 2025. That makes it a completely successful project: 50/50!

States Project | The Palmetto State

The South Carolina postcard, full of postmarks, is the last but one postcard from Bryon's States Project. How cool is that?

Although we have palmettos here (in our case, Chamaerops humilis), I did not know the word, and even less that a US state bears this nickname. The palmetto is also on the flag.

States Project | The Bay State

This postcard belonging to the States Project has made a long journey and even a time travel: it was written on 23 September 2024, only got a postmark on 6 February 2023 (!?). It reached me on 24 March 2025.

I really wanted to get the postcard from the state where the oldest lighthouse in USA was built!

States Project | The Mountain State

The postcards of the States Project usually do not arrive alone, and this one came along with its Virginia sister. 

It surprised me to see again the cardinal as the state bird. According to the Wikipedia: "Some state birds are shared between multiple states. Of the 50 states, a total of 32 do not have a unique state bird." The northern cardinal is the bird of seven states (See this map).