Green & Pink

I made this envelope from a magazine page. I usually take pictures of my sent mail, but sometimes just forget it. What I almost never forget is to write down in my notebook what I sent, just to keep track of lost items. Concerning this letter, I wrote only "green & pink"... And I wasn't able to remember the illustration until I saw it again on Phillip's blog!

Beautiful Windmills (and Watermills)

Windmills from the UK::

Letter sent by Alan. Carefully chosen stamps... almost ruined by the postal service!

Bembridge Windmill, c. 1700.
The sole remaining windmill on the Isle of Wright,
containing much of the original wooden machinery.

Postcard sent by John. Why can they cancel the stamps like these?

And more of the same wonderful set on letters from Laura... Along with one of those cancellations (Brrr!):

Windmills from the Netherlands (sent by Heleen):

Holland op z'n mooist
Charlotte Dematons

Two favourite themes on the following postcard, bridges and windmills. And an interesting postmark on the front side!

Leiden's West Gate, the Morspoort (17th century)

And a lot of Holland on a shaped postcard, with a beautiful matching stamp (and a perfect cancellation!).

Sunday Stamps | G

I received this stamp three weeks ago. I think I wouldn't possibly find any better one to illustrate Sunday Stamps-II's theme: G.

It was issued in august 2006 to commemorate the founding of The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. More information about the stamp.

Theatre Postcards

Postcards sent by Phillip (the USA).

I used to go a lot to the theatre when I was living in Spain, and it is something that I miss a bit in the city I am living now: there is no theatre life here! So I am glad to add two postcards to the theatre album (and one to the Shakespeare album!).

Postal Poscards

Today's theme in Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend is Mail / Postal. Probably a favourite theme for a lot of collectors of postcards!

This is one of the latest I have got, sent by Laura (the UK) after her visit to The Postal Museum. It is the reproduction of an old advertisement from 1956. The name of the artist is Barbara Jones.

Mobile Post Office
Lower Bayle, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

A postcard sent by John (the UK), made of pictures that he took himself . I suppose this is a clever substitute: a mobile post office with several stops. But it is also sad that these branches have been created because so many small post offices have closed down in England, Wales, and Scotland...

Made of a Poster

Envelope sent to Phillip (the USA), made of a reused poster that announced a festival of theatre.

A Big Bag

Sent to Eric (France)

I bought a shirt, and they gave me an enormous paper bag that I could recycle in the form of not les than five envelopes! I forgot to take pictures of all of them, similar but different.

Sent to Phillip (the USA), front

Sent to Phillip (the USA), back

Sent to Laura (the UK)

Coffee Mail

Despite the bad quality of my picture (too bright!), this is a rather amazing postcard, bought by Phillip in Puerto Rico and sent from the USA. It is a bag of coffee (Café Fino), real coffee (and not bad, by the way). 

You can see how it looked when full in Phillip's blog. I took the picture after preparing a cup...

Clotheslines

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)

From time to time, clotheslines appear on my mailbox...

Sunday Stamps | F(eet)

F (today's Sunday Stamps-II theme) is for Feet. Because sometimes some designs just catch your attention...

Doodles on an Envelope

At least, they inspired me when I was drawing this envelope to Alan (the UK).

Inspiring Mail-Related Drawings

Sent by Phillip (the USA). It is one of the postcards of the #Write_On Campaign, that began in 2014 with the challenge of writing 30 letters in 30 days.

Sent by Rosemary (Canada). It was created for the Letter Writing Club of The Regional Assembly of Text. If you happen to be in Vancouver the first Thursday of a month, you are welcome there!

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I added this post to Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend, that just started its second year. The theme this week is Monochrome. 

Philex France 89

By the way, one of the postcards I uploaded yesterday, Fabienne's, arrived inside this recycled envelope. It is made of the brochure of a museum.

I love the combination of typewriting and those wonderful vintage (some of them) stamps!

Roman Postcards from the UK (& France)

I have been a bit focused in the history of Rome lately, and a friend sent me some Rome-related postcards from the UK:

Trajan's Column in the Cast Courts, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.This is a plaster cast taken about 1864, after the marble originals. The idea behind the gallery sounds very interesting:

Opened in 1873, the Cast Court collections were originally assembled to allow people who could not travel abroad to admire some of the major European monuments and works of art. The galleries house faithful copies commissioned or bought from some of the leading cast manufacturers of the nineteenth century, when collecting such casts was at its most popular.

A Coign of Vantage, 1895, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).

Three Roman women watch the return of galleys from a corner, or 'coign'. (...) A Dutch painter who moved to England in 1870, Alma-Tadema has a successful career (...) His Neo-Classical portrayals of ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian life were highly popular with Victorian society. They also showed the artist's knowledge of archaeology and social history.

Cantwaraburg. anglo Saxon Canterbury, about A. D. 750. Artist view by Ivan Lapper, based on expert archaeological research.

The Saxon town, established in St. Agustine's time, flourished inside the repaired Roman walls. Only the ruined Theatre survived of the Roman buildings: new houses, workshops and markets grew up in a changed layout around new monuments -Cathedral, King's Palace and Abbey.

Fresco from the North wall showing initiation rites. First century. Pompeii. This (big!) postcard came from an exhibition in the British Museum.

A funny one!

And the last one was sent by Fabienne (France). What has this church to do with Romans? Well, as you can read on the image, it was built on the site of the ancient Forum of Trajan.

Dear John Letter

«The phrase 'Dear John letter' has come to mean a letter ending a relationship. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term probably originated during World War II and referred to letters from wives and sweethearts announcing the relationship was over.
[...]
In most [prisoner-of-war] camps such letters were pinned up on the camp notice board for all the inmates to see -not to be cruel,but so a rough and ready form of group therapy could follow. Some of the letters are quite staggering in their honesty:

• 'Sorry. Married your father. Mother.'

• 'I'm so glad you were shot down, before flying became dangerous.'

• 'do't bother to hurry home as I am living with an American and having a lovely time. Iam having his baby soon but forgive me as mother has done. Ted is sending you cigarette parcels.'»

Liz Williams, Kind Regards: The Lost Art of Letter Writing

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«Almost as feared as the enemy bullet was the 'Dear John' letter. [...] Hardly a week went by without somebody getting one. Mail call was often referred to as the 'Dear John' roundup. I always wondered if the people back home who wrote them had any idea how psychological devastating they were.»

Steven Curtis