Mystery Mail

The letter is from Nepal and the postcard is from Finland but I do not know who they are from. I kind of think that the postcard might be from my penpal Niina so I need to retrace to see if she signed her letters as she has on the postcard. I have not opened the letter yet to read it - that is something to be savored.

It is my son's (my eldest child) 22nd birthday, today. I made quiche tarts for brunch for Cerridwen, Daddy, and I. We had each gone back to our own pursuits when Joseph and Alicia came by en-route to an afternoon/evening of birthday fun, followed a minute later by my godson Michael. So it has been a bit busy, and there are other things... Later tonight when everything is quiet, I will open my letter from Nepal. The writer will fare better than some other penpals who have waited quite a while to hear from me but the latest ebbs have finally transitioned back into a flow where I can catch up with my letter writing and such. Finally. I miss the busy fun of it all but yesterday I finally got all of my postcrossing postcards up-to-date on my postcards page.

PERFECT for postcards...

Another good thing from Martha ... I love it!

Outgoing

I am almost caught up on postcards going out. This lot makes up the maximum I can send out at Postcrossings so far, included are two re-sends to cover expired cards ... Hate it when my postcards expire.

I am able to send out nine postcards at a time but once the next three recipients register their cards from me, I'll be able to send out 10 at a time.

Hoped to get more of my received cards posted by now but I am not even close! It is NaNoWriMo time and that is definitely going to be cutting into the time I have available to catch up to penpals I owe letters to. But I figure if I can do at least one a day, I'll be caught up before long. The challenge is doing the envelopes. I cannot make myself mail a dreary envelope ... I'll have to be inventive.

With the postcards above I must post the swap going to Canada and a package to Amy in Maine and a late birthday package to Esther in the Netherlands. But first I need to cut into the amount of words I need to accomplish on my novel today, so I am off to do that now.

 

Catching Up...

I missed this space. Life has been extremely interesting since I last posted here - and very busy and full. But I am back. I have spent a good deal of yesterday - into the wee hours of this morning, organizing all of the postcards I have received via postcrossings since I was listing them here. I had only gotten up to 3, but I now have 42 from there and it was quite a task scanning and filing all of them. I will post them all in order over the next couple of days, but for now, here is a group shot:

The next step is to catch up on all of my penpal pals I owe letters too [hoo-boy!]  But I am looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

Outgoing: Finland, Finland, Australia

Postcard Swap [My 1st]

 

Postcard Sent

Recent Mail

The first letter of June - from Niina in Finland. There is a gorgeous postcard in there too which I will eventually get up on the postcards page...

The last letter of May from dear Sharon in Australia. She does those woodcuts herself! Check out her journals and mailart.

Letter to TJ

Listening to some great tunes on spotify radio right now and while writing this letter. A few were: "Kalabancoro" by Richard Bona; "Yolele" by Papa Wemba; "Kita Kaira" by Toumani Diabate; "Mandjou" by Salif Keita; "The Man I Love" by Rokia Traore, and more. Great music, time spent with friends ... Life is abundant with good moments.

Finally catching up with mail that was supposed to go out last week! 

Outgoing Batch

I am running a bit behind. If I weren't, there'd be an extra few letters here. A new guy has been preoccupying some of my schedule but I'll be back on track soon ... Today, hopefully.

New Mail To Be Answered

Mail from Cylvia, Esther, and JoAnn.

Ebb

My laptop is out-of-service for a couple of weeks, so this slows me down. Hoping to figure out how to get photos up here via my track phone & nook hd. If it's doable, I will. Got a bit behind on my letter writing. I got sick right after my birthday and have been in bed ill, Tuesday-Thursday.

Cerridwen and Brittany got me an American Girl doll for my birthday; that was amazing! Finally, on my 47th birthday, I get an AG doll. She's adorable! It'll be fun to make clothes for her ... She wants hipper, funkier clothes than one usually finds for 18" dolls. I plan to hook her up.

So I got another letter written today. I plan to have two more ready for the mailcarrier tomorrow afternoon...At least. My flow has been ebbing recently, but Ican work with that, too. The flow will pick back up soon enough. Pics whenever.

Posted Today...

Plum Brandy

I just realized that I forgot to photograph the two letters I sent out today ... Bummer because they were really cute! But I was afraid that I'd miss the mail carrier who usually has come and gone by the time I finished up that second letter this afternoon. Besides, I was distracted. My godson brought by an early birthday present last night - a large bottle of a Serbian plum brandy...

I poured some earlier for a friend of mine who was over visiting. Excited to show me (via her cellphone) a photo of this hottie she spotted on facebook, she excitedly reached over and spilled her brandy on some absolutely lovely envelopes I made from pages of Yoga Journal (eek!), my personal journal, my nook, a penpal letter from an Australian friend that was next in the queue to be answered, the envelope of the letter I was working on at the time - and a couple of drops on the letter I was writing! Thankfully, my letter-in-progress to Tony-in-Liverpool was not harmed, the next-in-queue envelope was soaked, but surprisingly, it did not leak through at all so the letter itself was unharmed (quality paper, that stationery she used!), my nook and journal got dried quickly as my daughter was moving fast as were my friend and I in the whole damage control process - but alas, my beautiful Yoga Journal envelopes! (Sigh) It could have been a lot worse. However - I have gone over to her facebook page to retrieve a photo of the guy who caused all of this trouble in the first place...

...And so it is clearly understandable how my girl - any girl - could lose her cool!

wOw!

Happy Birthday Mail!

I was answering a letter to my penfriend Cylvia when the doorbell rang. The mail carrier had a package that needed to be signed for and she also had my mail, of course -  and what a surprise that among it was a pretty orange envelope with a birthday sticker on the front, from the very friend I was in the midst of writing a letter to! I thought that was cool!

What wasn't cool, however, was the condition in which the card arrived ... I haven't opened it yet, but one can tell it is likely a card by feeling it, and I can see that it is a card because someone between Cylvia's home and mine, has pried into it! I am assuming it is on this side because unfortunately, this kind of thing does occur - our postal system does not have the kind of people of integrity that it once had long ago. People sometimes put money or gift cards in cards so there are people in the trusted positions of postal service who will try to get it out of the envelopes. Disgraceful. Of course, I could be assuming that was what happened, but here are the photos. . .

. . .So it is clear that I am not being completely paranoid, even if I am jumping to the wrong conclusions!

Even so-

It is a very exciting,

and happy surprise

to receive a birthday greeting

from my friend Cylvia!

And

I

will save it 'til

Sunday

so I can open it up

on my actual

birthday.

:D

A New Batch

A few days had gone by with no new mail at all. What a drag that was! But toward the end of the week, they started to come in - so I have a batch of 5 new letters from: Tennessee, England, Finland, the Netherlands, and Australia.

My friend from the Netherlands did such a lovely job with that checkered envelope! I'll answer as many as I can before the post tomorrow. It'll be a challenge because a few of the writers in this particular batch, write really great letters that requires extra effort in the response. . .My favorite kind! :D

Stationery Set(s)

Postcards I've Made

Here are a couple of postcards I've made...

I think I'll make some more.

Recycled Envelopes

It only took about half an hour to whip up this batch of envelopes made from pages of old magazines.

I found my blank labels so it will even be convenient to address them. I am sorting through stationery designs I've done in the past, and developing some more. I was going to order packaging but I think I should like to design the packaging, instead. I have an idea...

Outgoing

With these two outgoing, I am all caught up.

I did track down the lady who sent me mail from Indonesia and forgot to add a return address - I sent her a message online this morning requesting it.

Swamped!

I got swamped with a lot of mail all at once last week and have had to scramble to respond to them all. What an adventure! I finally caught up, but the last person to write never left a return address!

A Post Office Run

I actually ran out of stamps!

International stamps, that is. The letter I am writing to a penfriend in Japan is already stamped, but there are four that I will write this weekend that will need stamps - plus five postcards going to international addresses. I am thinking that maybe it is a good idea to simply buy my stamps online so that they too can come in the mail! It's more efficient, I think. Plus, it'll be easier to get the stamps that I want.

At any rate, the shortage makes it easier to know who to write to first. I have three American penpals whose letters need answering, so I can post those three tomorrow!

It was another good mail day...
I got three letters, this afternoon from: Montana, Germany, and the Netherlands.

I also prepared my first batch of postcards for postcrossings . . . Happy to get that ball rolling!

Anyway, the remainder of my penpalling ventures for today - writing letters to Todd, David and T.J. - means it is time for me to get off the internet and get to it! 

Just A Really Good Mail Day!

I woke up to my Amazon package of postcards and this book I got as an assist to help me improve the quality of my zines and other alternative, indie publications. . .

But then, later this afternoon, this anticipated letter from an Australian penpal arrived (like 10-minutes ago).

Just thought I'd share that here before going to chill with my Aussie pal!

The other cool thing about the mail today is that my daughter got 2 netflix movies today that she ordered as surprises for me, and I don't get to know what they are until they show up on the screen (she likes to see me the look on my face when I am happily surprised). Little minx even hid my Aussie letter just now, when she brought up the mail; she slid it into some junkmail. I didn't notice it and set it aside so she had to redirect me to it - and then giggled delightedly at my surprise!

OMG - My Postcard Books Arrived!

My postcardbooks finally arrived - they're perfect!

My venture into postcrossing was awkward from the giddy-up. Postcrossing is a fantastic site that matches people around the world who are into sending and receiving postcards. I think of it as a social penpal network because, well, that's what it is.

Whenever you want to send a postcard to someone, they give you a name and address, you send a card to that person and they, or someone else, sends one to you. There is a serial number associated and when you receive your postcard, you register it on the site, and a tally is displayed in your profile of how many postcards sent, how many received. Many people also display their postcards received, in a gallery that is part of your profile. Some have their display categorized as, "favorites". There are enough options to make it fun, interesting and, social.

Some people list what types of postcards they'd prefer- and/or, prefer not to receive. This can range from subtle suggestions to obnoxiously demanding ... I've discovered that listing preferences can be a sketchy option if done indelicately, but it can be handy if well executed.

I was eager to get into the mix. First things first. How to register? I clicked on the option I thought would lead me to the answer and it ended up popping out the name and address of a 20 year old woman in Russia that I needed to send a postcard to. I just wanted to know the process at that time - I didn't even have any postcards and it'd be at least a couple of weeks before I could get any. So I ordered some from Amazon. After a week + and no postcards, my daughter suggested I check my account to verify that the order even went through. I followed her sensible suggestion. Sure enough, the order had not gone through. Now this young woman in Russia was going to wait even longer for her postcard! I was starting this whole venture, feeling like a dweeb! However, humble is good.

This morning, my postcards finally arrived! ... And they're fantastic! I think I chose really well.  Actually, it wasn't until after I had unwittingly registered to send a postcard, that I even discovered postcard books. Once I had made the discovery, I went a bit ape-shit on Amazon. Holy cow are they cool! It wasn't easy deciding which 'books to choose. I had a budget. And the mid-range was about $7. to $16. depending upon my choices, I could afford 2-3 'books. After a while, I recalled how people from other countries don't seem to grok that NYC is one city [ albeit The City of Earth ] in a larger state. I kind of get it. But I was closer to The City in Connecticut, where I grew up, than from up here in The Capitol Region of New York. Anyway, although there are NYC postcards, I felt it would be misleading of me to use them. When the absolute perfect option presented itself: A postcard book of 100 (The) New Yorker covers (spanning 10 decades)! LOOK!

I haven't even scanned a third of them yet and I can assert that they are just terrific! I can certainly see why some enthusiasts claim to always buy two of each book - one to mail out, the other for themselves!

And then, the other obvious choice for me was...

Since I have been so delayed in sending my first postcard pal her postcard, I think that sending her one from each book is the thing to do ... Don't you?

Two More Letters

I've gotten two more letters since I last posted. A letter came from Australia the other day, and this afternoon I received one from a fellow in Tennessee. I really loved the letter from Tennessee because he wrote about writing and poetry and his experiences with small press. I just love independent publishing, especially for something like poetry. He even sent me a great little zine of poetry from Lilliput Press. Anyone that sends me a zine, is automatically on my "favorite people" list!

I have four letters to return before I even get to respond back to him, which is what I shall do this afternoon and this evening. The past few days, I have been making crocheted backpacks and got no letter-writing done at all. But it's all about keeping balanced.

Words From Japan!

I received a new penfriend from Japan, yesterday. Excellent match up! Her letter was fantastic and I have a feeling that we will be penfriends for a long time!

Nice One!

I love the way this one came out.

A Couple of Envelopes

Yesterday evening, I wanted to fix up a few envelopes to start gathering up a collection again. I finished a couple of them, so far. This one...

And this one...

...The one I am still working on is a bit ambitious! Geez, I remember I used to do this kind of thing all of the time back in the 90's when I was penpalling regularly via The Letter Exchange! It's been a while!

A Good Mail Day!

Oh it has been one of those GOOD mail days! I got letters from three penpals today!

From:

Finland

Holland

Minnesota

My penfriend in Finland also sent me this postcard of her beautiful city of Jyvaskyla...

And ... My first issue of Mental Floss showed up today, too!

Utter awesomeness!

=D

Grrrr ... Computer Crashes!

It is annoying enough whenever the computer crashes, but it seems to happen most, at the worse times!

I was listing a few items onto my TwoBirds Shop when everything froze just before I was going to post it! Now that it is up again, I am simply too exhausted to go through that now ... It'll have to wait until after I have had at least a few hours of sleep, but here is a peek at one of the cards I was listing...

The quote on the front reads:

"Let us

be silent

that we may

hear the whispers

of the gods."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson