Needless to say, I’ve been a little lax in sharing my good mail days with you.  Life gets busy.  My desk remains cluttered and things get buried beneath other responsibilities, tasks, and daily mayhem.  So I’ve been “decluttering” my desk at a rate that makes “decluttering” pointless.  BUT, I’ve found some great things so far–obviously some things that I’d planned to blog about months ago.  POSTCARDS! (Yes, I’m screaming).

World Postcard Day was a month ago—October 9 to be exact.  I joined a WPCD swap and received cute little Ernie the Envie from Rachel, one of swap-bot’s founders.

She writes that she started swap-bot to connect with people all over the world in a tangible way.

Then, there were these 31st National Postcard Week 2014 surprises waiting in my “check-when-I think-about-it” postal box.  Although, NPCW is in May,  I actually received these some time in August or early September.  Apparently, I’m on some NPCW mailing list somewhere.  (I haven’t even had time to investigate that).

William sent two cards–a fun one and a touristy one:

Steve, a postcard collector from Fresno, California sent this postcard of a San Francisco early morning:

This postcard represents his “Plan B.”  Circumstances prevented him from getting his postcards printed in time for NPCW.  Of course, I’m not complaining about the beautiful sunrise.  Not complaining about the vintage postage and postal markings that cover the back of the postcard either. 😉

The message on the back closes with, “Living the postcard life.”  Love it!

Earl Bucken from St. Augustine, Florida sent:

He had a bit of the lighthouse’s history printed on the back:

Located on the North Fork of Long Island, NY.  The first lighthouse was built in 1803, at a cost of $15,000. When the War of 1812 came to eastern Long Island, the British visited and demanded the light be extinguished.  The keeper refused, and the British removed the  illuminating apparatus from the lantern. The proven vulnerability caused the government to erect a hundred food diameter wall around the tower and keeper’s quarters in 1817.  The wall cost $24,500 and was 300 feet in circumference.  In 1978 [the lighthouse] was automated, ending 172 years of light keeping tradition on the tiny island.

And here are the postcards I received during National Postcard Week 2014 from swap-bots:

From swap-bot “rubyhouseslippers,” this fun and quirky card:

You can find more of Vanessa Valencia’s fun artwork at her website.  She even lets you inside her studio and gallery.  If you’re into elves and dolls and other fun creations, you’ll love visiting her site.

From swap-bot Andi who hosted the NPCW swap I joined:

From the postcard back:

Galapagos Islands: Situated in the Pacific Ocean, some 1000 km from the South American Continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique “living museum and showcase of evolution.” Located a the confluence of three ocean currents, the Galapagos are a “melting pot” of marine species. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Demaris, whose swap I participated in last year, sent several cards.  Here are the three I like best:

Demaris introduced me to National Postcard Week last year.  She has more information about it here.

And here are the postcards I sent:

I remember designing this one because I felt I should toss some purple out into the world.

Then, this one, I couldn’t resist:

After almost two academic years, this trike “mysteriously” appeared outside my office window one day.  I raced out to snap a few shots.  And then, I didn’t see the trike again for the rest of the year.

This year, however, I see it quite frequently.  In fact, I captured it with my camera phone as I was walking back to my office from a meeting one morning. The owner had attached an evergreen tree car fresheners to each handlebar. This was funny to me at the moment.

I didn’t quite achieve the goal of full participation this year (making and sending 100 postcards for NPCW), but I managed to make them and send about 10.  Close enough.

If you’re interested, you can check out the cards I sent last year here and the cards I received last year here.

Happy Postcarding!