Happy Spring!

How was your first day of spring? I spent most of mine (after schoolwork, of course!) outside at the barn, working (cleaning stalls and feeding) and riding in my lesson. It is way too hot here for spring though! This whole week has been in the 80°s F (about 26°-30°C)! I don't like the heat.

Just in time for spring we got some more interesting mail!

It was baby trees! Not quite as funny as the chips, but still not your ordinary package. Again, it was for my dad, for donating to the Arbor Day Foundation.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Are you doing anything for St. Patrick's Day? Are you at least wearing green? Even though I'm just staying home, I do have a green shirt on! And tonight a couple friends are coming over, so we might make some Irish soda bread, or some kind of Irish/green inspired dessert.

I got a very green postcard from Kim in Amsterdam, Netherlands this week just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

It's a pretty color of green, but I'm not sure I would want my house that color...

I also got a handmade postcard from Karen in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She has a blog here. Anyway, I really like her postcard! I love getting mailart. It is so interesting to people's different styles, and to be able to actually touch a little piece of their art.

Old post office counter

I got a very mysterious postcard the other day.

Well, the front is just a normal souvenir/tourist card, nothing mysterious whatsoever. It's the back...

That's all it says: "For your collection. Good Luck." I do appreciate the card and that someone took the time to mail it, but it makes me curious as to who they were. It was postmarked in Atlanta, GA, which is not far from where I live, and we pass through Charleston, SC on our way to my grandparent's house.

Today my mom and I went to the oral surgeon's (just for a consultation, I will need my wisdom teeth removed), and guess what their front counter was? It was and old front from a post office in Kansas! I really wish I had my camera! The post office was closed in the 1980's, I want to say 1987, but I'm not sure. The front looked quite a bit older though. It was wood, and had a frosted sliding glass window to separate the lobby from the back. To the left were the P.O. boxes, I'll chance a guess at about 30. They had combination locks on them, and little windows so you could see if there was anything inside! They were much prettier than the P.O. boxes at my post office, which are just plain silver metal with a keyhole.

The Owls' school mail project

I saw this post on Viva Snail Mail, about a 2nd grade class collecting letter/postcards. It looks like a lot of fun! I just wrote a postcard to mail out tomorrow for them.

The 2nd grade class (the Owls) are studying the Post Office and how communication has evolved over the years. This touches on a lot of academic subjects: (math, geography, writing and community based learning). It would be great if you could send a post card to the class from where ever you may be. Or forward this email on to friends and family from all over the world asking them to send the Owls letters and postcards. We’ll read the letters together, find the location on the map, and place them on the bulletin board outside our door (so make sure they’re 2nd grade appropriate!)

This is the teacher’s 5th year doing this project and the kids just love it. They have set up a running post office in the classroom that is student led. Each day different children take turns acting as the mail carrier, mail sorter and cashier while other students write letters. Stamps cost 6 cents and prices go up regularly. Each student has their own set of money to buy stamps with. Eventually we’ll open the post office up to the whole school.If you would like to participate please send letters, postcards to:

Children’s Day School
Ms. Amy and Ms. Daniela (The Owls)
333 Dolores St.
San Francisco, CA 94110

 

When I was little, probably about their age, I remember delivering 'mail' to my family. I had a bag that I carried around with letters in it.  I would use junk mail envelopes, and put little notes inside, or collect notes from family members to be delivered. I used stickers as stamps; I specifically remember some square Barbie ones I had...

Kokeshi

I went shopping over the weekend, and found some really cool stores! The first stationary pack I had seen online before, and really liked. I was excited to find it in a store where I wouldn't have to pay shipping!

The Japanese notecards are based on little wooden Japanese dolls called kokeshi. Kokeshi dolls first appeared in northeast Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867). They were thought to have been sold to tourists visiting the hot springs. As they spread throughout Japan, different regions developed their own styles. All traditional kokeshi don't have arms or legs, have cylindrical bodies, and large round heads. They are painted now, but are thought originally to have been left unpainted.

traditional kokeshi

After WWII, creative kokeshi were developed. They have to restrictions on size, shape, or design. This type of kokeshi are more commonly found in cities.

creative kokeshi

I think the kokeshi dolls (and notecards!) are so cute!

Oh, and I decided to use my little Pride and Prejudice notebook to record all my ingoing and outgoing mail. Sometimes I forget if I've written a letter to someone new, or if I sent someone something already. I used the Missive Maven's post about how she keeps her mail notebooks as a guide. My entries look something like this:

Sent/Received 3/4/12 - if I got it in my P.O. Box/occasion (thank you, reply, etc.)

Name, location

- anything that was receive/sent with the letter

Birthday, Pride and Prejudice notebook, handmade postcard, and some questions!

I know it's been almost a week since my last post. I really want to post more often, but I seem to have had a lot going on (mainly school work) lately.

Here's the new mail from the week:

A letter from Hannah from Canton, Michigan in a cute brown and pink envelope; a postcard from Tricia from Connecticut; another postcard from Doreen in Manitoba, Canada; and lastly an aerogramme from Ana in Berlin, Germany. I never knew they were called aerogrammes, but she said that they were very popular during wars because the letter and envelope was one and the same, saving paper. She helped to create Postcrossing! It must have been amazing to have been with the project from the start, and watch it grow!

Today is my birthday, so we went to this nearby French restaurant. Their food is always so good! Today they had crayfish bacon soup, and grilled trout with a tomato burblanc sauce, topped with risotto and steamed broccoli. It was delicious! Because it was my birthday, they gave me flan, which was also really good!

I got some stationary for my birthday from my family. I really needed it!

I got a birthday card from my long-time penpal Kendall today. She sent this little notebook that looks like an invitation to Mr. Bingley's ball. I love it!

cover

inside

 Have you read Pride and Prejudice? I did, a while ago. I liked it! I have a whole collection of Jane Austen's novels, and will slowly work my way through the whole thing.

So I actually got around to making my own postcard! I came up with the idea while in bed last night, around midnight. I really wanted to get up and try it out, but the stamp is my sister's, and she was sleeping. Needless to say, it took a little while to fall asleep! I am pretty happy with how it came out, although the glue did get a bit messy. I need to work on that. I'm thinking about opening an Etsy shop. If I did, I would probably have a set of these in it. I'm thinking maybe different colored stamps? What do you think? Would you buy them? I think I would :)

front

back

One last thing. I added a widget-thing of my currently reading books (although at the moment I just finished one, and haven't started another yet). Do you like seeing what I'm reading? Or should I leave it out because it doesn't really relate to writing letters?

Ok, this really will be the last thing! I just reached my goal for 20 different states! Although I'm not really excited... I thought it would take longer than two months! I only need 4 more countries. I guess I could've set my goals a bit higher. Maybe I will, since this is supposed to be a year long project! Or I could just continue as I am, keeping track of the locations of the letters...Any ideas?

Fortune telling fish

I got a letter from Shannah in Louisiana this week. She sent a really cute paper doll notecard, and some scratch and sniff stickers. I haven't seen any of those in a long time! Michelle from Hawaii sent me a quote from Marilyn Monroe with her letter: "We should all start to live before we get to old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets." I like that! She asked me to send her a decorated quote back. Do you have a favorite quote? Some I like are:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” ― Mark Twain

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” ― Thomas A. Edison

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid." ― Albert Einstein

And some funny ones...

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” ― Jerome K. Jerome

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” ― Albert Einstein

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." ― Mark Twain

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ― Douglas Adams

I also received a letter from Rin in Australia.

I love the paper she used!

 Along with her letter she sent a fortune telling fish. I love it, it's so cute!

The last one, the postcard, is from Vicki in Boston Massachusetts. She took the picture of "Appeal to the Great Spirit", a favorite statue of hers, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, then had it made into a postcard. I think that's really neat to get your photographs made into postcards. Another thing I've thought about, but haven't actually tried.

Antique/vintage postcards and prints

Last minute, we spent the weekend in Savannah, GA. My great-aunt lives there, and we hadn't seen her in about 10 years. Before we left, I got this postcard in the mail from Patrick in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

They don't have the "Aqua Follies" anymore, and the structure is long since gone (although there is a smaller version of it as a playground). There is said to be a time capsule from the 1950's at the bottom of the lake that he hopes to dig up one day. How cool is that? He also said that at his wedding (it's his 6-month anniversary) they used old Minneapolis postcards as invitations!

On the same subject of old postcards, while we were in Savannah we found a store, V. & J. Duncan, that sells antique maps, prints, and books. In a back corner they also have a big file cabinet of postcards! To give you an idea of what the store looked like, here is their postcard/business card.

I could have stayed there for hours! My mom and my sister each bought a print...

 I bought a few postcards. I don't think I can part with all of them, though!

I love the first one, it's adorable! The middle two I thought were funny, and the last one I just liked. I think it's a scene from China, the writing on it looks Chinese.

Singapore and some interesting mail!

I got a letter from Rachel in Singapore today! I love her paper! The stamp is really cool too! And the stickers are cute! Asian stickers and cartoons are so cute!

It's my first letter from Asia! She said that Singapore was colonized by the British in the early 20th century, so they have a mixture of western and eastern cultures. They speak English, but also Mandarin, Hokkien, and "Singlish", a mixture of English, Mandarin, Malay, and Hokkien. It would be interesting to visit, because there wouldn't be as much of a language barrier as there would be in a place like Japan.

So today there was a package on our front porch addressed to my dad. When I brought it in, I noticed that it had "Fragile" and "This side up" stickers on it, and although it was somewhat large, it was light. Nobody could remember ordering anything. When we opened it up, this is what we found!

My dad had called the company to tell them that their chips were too salty, so they said he'd get a free bag. Instead of just sending a coupon, they sent a whole bag of chips through the mail! I think this is the most unique package we've ever gotten...

International letters, state farmers market, and Valentine's Day!

How was your Valentine's Day? Did you get chocolate, or do anything special? My  parents gave me chocolate and candy hearts :)

Four new letters! Two of which are from outside the USA!

Melody sent me a letter from Washington D.C. where she is interning at the Smithsonian Postal Museum. She goes to college in Arizona. I would love to intern somewhere like that when I'm in college, it would be so interesting! She also drew some places from there, like the Washington Monument. I visited Washington D.C. a couple years ago with my family, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the Postal Museum. Melody also sent me some Valentine's themed stamps. Some of them I remember from a little coloring book of love stamps I had when I was little. I didn't color all of them, because they were too pretty!

Anyway, I also got a letter from Susan, from Custer, South Dakota. It was my first letter from the mid-west. I think she's Melody's mom, because they have the same last name, and Susan said that her daughter was interning at the Smithsonian Postal Museum. I wonder if they knew each other wrote?

I got a letter from David from Poland! He has a blog here. He sent me a Polish coin, 20 groszy, and a few phrases in Polish!

The last letter is from Caddie, from Germany. She also has a blog, which is in English! She used really cute bear stationary!

So today we went to the history program at the National Archives in Georgia again, and it was very interesting, but I don't have anything to post from it (like the draft cards from last time). It doesn't have anything to do with mail, (except you could probably get some good postcard pictures there!) but on the way home, we stopped at the state farmers market, since it was on the way, and for once we had time. It was really interesting!

 As well as people like us going just to pick up some produce for home, restaurants and stores will buy their produce there. They also have little places, more like small stores, with other things in them, not always even food. They had a lot of Mexican/Hispanic foods. We tried some candy:

It was pretty sweet, but really good.

I know I diverged (quite a bit!) from the mail theme, but I thought this was interesting :) Hopefully you thought so too!

Postcards :)

I was looking into buying some postcards on Amazon (I just found out they sell postcards!), because most of mine are of Georgia/Atlanta, with some random postcards from my mom and Connie. I mentioned it to my mom, and she pulled out a stack of art postcard books! She said that she had gotten them for my sister and I when we were little, to play a matching game with, so she had two of each book! She gave me half, and kept the rest for herself.

Degas is one of my favorite artists! So I am really excited about all these new postcards! 36 of them! Well, 34, because my sister took a couple.

I also got a postcard the other day from Christy in Port Neches, Texas. She said it is an early effort at a handmade postcard. I think it came out great!

I would like to make some postcards, but I'm never sure what kind of paper to use. Cardstock seems to flimsy, especially to go out of the country, but the only thing thicker that we have is cardboard. Any suggestions?

Letter Projects

Three letters!

The first is from Jenny in Winston, Georgia. She has a wonderful blog, The Modest Peacock. She also sent me some Earl Grey Tea! The second one is from Ontario, Canada. It doesn't have a name, it is from the Cue Happiness Project, an anonymous project to send out (and leave around) little cards to make people smile! I was sent three cards, so I think I will leave a couple of them around for other people to find!

Another similar project I found (I don't remember where!) is The World Needs More Love Letters. Both of these projects sound fun! I love the idea of leaving a note for a random person to find, knowing that it could really brighten up dark days.

Oh, I almost forgot! The last letter is from Gina in Ireland! I had seen her penpal ad on Julie's blog, and wrote her a letter.

Since Valentine's Day is coming up (I had almost forgotten about it!), maybe contributing to one of these anonymous letter projects would be just the thing! It would be fun to invite a few friends over, make some tea, and all write love letters! The only thing that would make it better would be if we had snow, instead of this 60°-70° weather we've been having here in GA lately!

Puerto Rico

So today (I guess actually yesterday, but I picked it up today) I got a letter from Willmari in Puerto Rico!

She sent me some cute temporary tattoos with her letter!

My dad's family is from Puerto Rico, so that makes it especially interesting for me. I went there once when I was a baby, so I don't remember it. Anyway, I've never quite gotten the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, besides that it was a territory. But what exactly does that mean? According to Wikipedia (and correct me if I'm wrong), Puerto Rico elects their own governor, and has their own constitution (which was approved by the US in 1952). They also have a nonvoting delegate in the US congress. People residing in Puerto Rico can vote in the primaries, but cannot vote in the presidential elections. Anyway, I thought this was kind of interesting, hopefully it's not too boring to you! I'm wasn't really sure how I should list Puerto Rico on my map, because it isn't a state, but it also isn't quite its own country. It costs the same to send a letter or postcard to Puerto Rico as to any US state. I think I will list it under countries though...

Exploding cucumbers!

Yesterday I got some really interesting mail!

A postcard from Kate in Portland, Oregon (I just read a book that took place in Portland, If I Stay. It was pretty good!). It has a really cool stamp on the back!

I got some Exploding Cucumber (Cyclanthera Explodens) seeds from Jeff in Shelbyville, Indiana. I can't wait to try growing them!

Here is a video of one. Isn't it funny?

Connie in Cuddebackville New York sent me all kinds of fun stuff!

I really like the stickers on top! They are kind of weird, but really cute! She also sent me a bunch of postcards!!!

There is one with a picture of Rue Anemone...

It makes me think of a character in the book The Hunger Games, Rue. I'm pretty sure she was named after a flower, and now I know what that flower looks like! I highly recommend the book. I am so excited about the movie coming out in March! The previews I've seen so far for it look really good!

Teacups and fancy letters

I received a letter from my dear friend Alex (Alexandra) in Lithia Springs, Georgia, and a postcard from Debra in Wauconda, Illinois.

I like all the different teacups on Alex's card! On the postcard from Debra, I like how the letters look like they're cut out of pictures. I'm going to have to try that some time! Debra works with postcards every day at the Lake County Discovery Museum. She has a blog too. I just wrote back to Alex, but Debra didn't put a return address on her postcard.

I have been thinking. I made that postcard book and filled it with postcards I had gotten from Postcrossing (the only ones I had at the time). Well that one is full, and I need to make another. I don't know, though, if I want it to only be of Postcrossing cards, and keep all the letters from my blog together, or if I want to include in the book postcards from other places. I like the idea of having all my postcards in the one book, but I also want all the letters from my blog together.