Post Haiatus

So here I am back after my heart+ haiatus. Last year, in June 2014, I enrolled in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. I found out rather quickly that I could not manage studying and keeping up with scanning and posting like I used to. Well, one of the reasons was my scanner was on the fritz for a while, so my lovely track kind of skewed, but - that's okay. I am graduated a certified Holistic Health Coach and I am back. So now, I am back to scanning and posting my postcards. Yesterday, I sent these three out...

To the Netherlands

To Hungary

...and to Poland

Curiouser and Curiouser

After getting assigned 5 'send tos' to Russia, in a row - I then received 4 postcards from The Netherlands in a row!

from Marie-Jose

from Martin (and it's a vintage card
that he found in a curiosity shop, too!)

 

from Marion

and from Hennie

Rather good cards, too.

To Russia, With Love

All three of the postcrossers I was assigned this morning to send postcards to, are in Russia. The novelty has added a bit of fun to what is already a blast - (sending postcards out into the world).

I even addressed one of them by hand in Cyrillic script. Mad fun.

Ta-Ta, for now...

PenPalWorld

I have a list of penpal sites I have been methodically checking out. They are not all equal. PenpalWorld is kinda sketchy - at least my experience with it has been thus far. The one person who seemed promising - says she sent a letter to me and it bounced back to her saying something like, 'no one lives there.' ... But we do! We do live here! And I have gotten really great mail all week long. Monday, I got a whole stack of catalogs and magazines - it was like flapping Christmas!

Anyway, I digress. On PenpalWorld it seems I am a magnet for those foreign scammer creeps with poorly accented English grammar ... And of course they're all just sure that I am the perfect match for them. Jeezum Crow guys - I just want to pass notes through the postal service not be drowned in insipid attempts to set me up for some scam or another. Sheesh!

PenpalWorld is a little too penpalweird for me.

Swarm

It's always great when a whole bunch of postcards come in at once; these four came today...

The one 'hidden in the envelope is from Logan in Ohio, and it is of an Amish Country garden...

Yippee!

I've been wanting one of these...

Finally got one.

Hallmark Passed / Posts Well-met

My 1-year anniversary with Postcrossings passed me by unnoticed, last Saturday. What is silly about that is I had been counting the date down for weeks, only to miss it once it arrived.

This afternoon, two of my postcards got registered and I got to hurry and send out yet another one with the 4 that were already going out today. What is fun is that, as I was filling out the new address to a fellow in Brazil, a new postcard arrived in the mail for me today - also from Brazil!

Now, had this been a send/receive thing from Germany, the Nederlands, or the U.S. - this might not be such a big deal, but I NEVER get or receive postcards from Brazil (or Brasil) ... It's like registering and receiving cards from Croatia or Uruguay, or something.

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.

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