You -Ism Onward

Dada postcards sent by Keith aka Amalgamated Confusion (the USA) continue arriving in my mailbox...

Due to non-adapted/not-updated word processors, it isn't the first time that I receive a piece of mail with the name of the country written like that, from left to right. So an Arabic reader would read something like Occorom or Birgamla, instead of Morocco/Al-Magrib. Properly, an Arabic reader would consider it gibberish, because most letters in Arabic should be written joined together.

I found this particularly Dada.

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Dada is self-aware

Some meanings have no words

Reality Is Ƨubjective

Thinking of You Week

It's Thinking of You Week!
Send a card to raise a smile

It is always the Thinking of You Moment when the post arrives...

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Link to the Thinking Of You Week site.

Fireworks on Stamps

I have published some of these stamps before, but I am glad to upload them together for today's Sunday Stamps - II' theme: Fireworks.

The Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

The United States

Night Views of Cities

This is a post for Sunday Stamps-II. Today the theme is Fireworks or night views. 

This Canadian stamp was issued in 2010, commemorating the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It shows a night view of the city of Vancouver. (More about this issue.)

And this Spanish stamp is another commemorative: of the 5th Centenary of the birth of Teresa of Ávila. The stamp show a detail of the sculpture The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and, on the background, a night view of the walls of Àvila.


(A second post with fireworks on stamps.)

Chip Butties and More Food of the World

Today's theme is Postcards for the Weekend is Foods of the world. So I wanted to share a postcard with a recipe (if you can say so) sent by Laura (the UK):

Chip Butties - The easy way!. No more struggles with complicated recipes! 

1. Put two pieces of white bread on a plate, if a plate isn't available use a clean worktop.

2. Spread plenty of real butter on both pieces of bread, no using healthy margarine.

3. Place a big pile of hot chips on your bread.

4 Add ketchup or brown sauce to taste, also lots of salt and pepper.

5. Complete the sandwich by putting the top piece of bread over the chips - magnificent.

Impress your friends it's easy!  

And more British humour, form the famous collection of postcards by Martyn Ford and Peter Legon: How to Be British, also sent by Laura:

Get around in English. Lesson sixteen: How to complain. 

He: The meat is as tough as old books. How's your fish?

She: It tastes off. And these vegetables are cold.

He: This wine is awful... I asked for dry and they've given us sweet!

She: And look, there's a worm in my side-salad...

Waiter: How is your meal? Is everything all right?

He: Oh, yes, it's all lovely!

She: Excellent, thank you!

And let me share another postcard that fits in the theme. A picture by Harry Gruyaert: Restaurant in Paris, France, 1981.  But it was sent from the United Kingdom, and they serve food from Tunisia...

A Postcard among Thousands of Postcards

I have a mail adventure to share with you, but it is not possible to upload the picture. You are going to understand why.

Last April Ana, who lives in Macedonia China, spent her holidays in Spain. She was kind enough to send a postcard from her holidays. The postcard arrived one week later in Morocco.

When I found it in the post office box, at first I did not understand. Ana? Who is that Ana? Because the postcard she has chosen for me was a -let me say, beautiful- picture of my home town. She did not know I am from there; we had exchanged just two or three postcards, always sent to my Moroccan address.

But there it was: a postcard that features my village. Exactly, my street. More exactly: my parents' house. The house I was born in.  

And still more: I was actually there the very same day she wrote that postcard! (Without knowing she was there, of course).

Make It Merry

MakeItMerry, a non-profit organization, is about spreading the joy of Christmas to every homeless person. How did it start?

When Barb visited a local homeless shelter in November of 2015, she wondered when the last time would have been that any of the clients of the shelter had received a Christmas card. Being someone who loves sending and receiving cards she knows first-hand how meaningful receiving a card can be. This simple act of receiving a Christmas card means someone remembered you, that you are cared for, and that you are not invisible.

Motivated by her faith, Barb decided to see if anyone else would join her in sending Christmas cards to the homeless. Partnering with the Calgary Drop In Centre, the initial goal was to collect 80 cards. It soon became clear that 80 was a drop in the merry bucket as over 1200 cards came in from all across Canada, UK and the USA in a little over three weeks.

Everyone deserves some merry in their Christmas. In fact, those who have no roof over their heads, who struggle for the basics of life, are more deserving than most. Will you join us in sending a bit of merry this Christmas? It is as simple as sending a Christmas card.

You can get involved, too. Do you feel like sending an extra Christmas/season cart thisyear?

The Most Important Thing about a Postcard

Written on the back of a received postcard.

Halloween Spiders

Halloween letters sent to Phillip (the USA) and Gemma (PC). You can find this envelopes with spiders as free printables on The Postman's Knock blog.

And you can see here and here that all this Halloween mail arrived safe and sound!

Mysterious Stamps

The topic today in  Sunday Stamps-II is Bizarre or unexplainable. I guess somebody else will post the same stamps...

On 15 September 2016, Royal Mail issued a six-stamps set to mark the centenary of Agatha Christie's first crime novel, and also the 40th anniversary of her death.

The Special Stamps depict key scenes and principal characters from six iconic novels: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Murder on the Orient Express, The Body in the Library, And Then There Were None and A Murder is Announced. 

To add even more mystery, the six stamps contain hidden secrets in the form of microtext, UV ink and thermochromic ink. These concealed clues can be revealed using either a magnifying glass, UV light or body heat and and provide pointers to the mysteries’ solutions.

I have received the two I am posting, but I haven't still had the time to find the hidden clues*...  Now I feel like reading again all these novels.

*Explained here.

Jack-O'Lanterns Stamps

What do you think about these Jack-O-Lanterns stamps? They arrived on this funny envelope from Phillip (the USA), made of a reused catalogue (I guess).

(Update: I was intrigued about the strange shape of these stamps... and I found this article.)

Front

Back

And on this vintage Halloween postcard, sent by Bryon (the USA):

The Umbrella Girl

Phillip (USA) sent to me this nice postcard of the Umbrella Girl. There is a kind of legend behind her:

The original Umbrella Girl was placed in German's Village's Schiller Park in 1872, only to disappear mysteriously in the mid 1950's. Renowned Columbus artist Joan Wobst sculpted the replacement and donated her to the German Village Society in 1966. Placed in the Grace Highfield Garden, the charming young girl enchants all who stop by.

I have never seen her in person. But thanks to the postcard, I also realised that umbrellas are very common on postcards. I found some in my collection. For instance:

Sent by Gabriela (Germany)

But, of course, umbrellas are not only for the rain...

Sent by Laura (Spain)
Ladies fearing the sun in vintage Burgos.

Sentby zhang (China)
Mr. Tomo... Do you have any information about this guy?

The sea air it does well. It's unfortunate that you must eat.
Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)

And umbrellas can be very useful too when it is raining... err... delicatessen?

This is another post for Maria's linky party: Postcards for the weekend. The theme this week is Anything you wish. I wish it was raining right now.

Update 16/07/2019. Pstcard sent by Fabienne (France).

Have I Said That I Love Letters?

Letter sent by Alan (the UK) some time ago. Sometimes I enjoy so much reading the letters, and then replying to them, that don't think of taking pictures to share.

From Other Planets

Envelope and postcard sent by Eric (France), about two of his favourite sci-fi movies: Forbidden planet and The Man from Planet X.

That reminds me that I also sent an envelope (made of a page of a magazine) to Phillip (the USA) that shows creatures... from another planet?

Unconventional Monkeys

This was my third contribution to FinnBadger's mail art call: The Year of  the Monkey. It is a detail from Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, printed on balsa wood. I couldn't go to the post office to sent it, so I wasn't sure about the postage. Happily, it arrived safe and sound to the USA.


And the thank you mail that I received was everything but conventional: a monkey-shaped paper plate! A little ear wound, but, anyway... I would have never thought that an item like this could survive an intercontinental mail travel.