Unofficial Greetings From

 

Howdy, everyone! and just like that, three months have passed since my last post. It was a very busy summer and I got caught up in relaxing, spending some time with family, and celebrating my birthday. There was also a lot going on this summer as well, with social injustices coming to light, and it made other people, those who do not see these issues,  uncomfortable, which to me is a good thing since progress can then be made. 

Attached is a card made by a former friend, who I lost over an argument of social injustice, what is right and what is wrong. It was their decision though to cut ties, and to be honest if they aren't willing to grow and learn, then it's not worth spending energy to educate them, and to tell them the BIPOC should not be treated like shit, and why a movement like BLM exists. It's a shame really, because she was a good digital artist. Maybe she should've spent her energy there instead of trying to justify a person attacking others to protect property- property that wasn't even theirs. 

Anyway, it's also been an emotional few months. School is in session and I also worry about the risks when going back to in person. But that is an entry for another day. 

Mexico City

Long ago when Postcard United was still in its infancy, I used to get cards from more harder to find countries. Although Mexico is just south of the US, there are not many swappers. This card was sent from Mexico City (CDMX) which I am very familiar with. I know where this card was probably bought, there is a shop near el zocalo that has these cards. The last time I was in CDMX was for my aunt's funeral, and I would like to go again as soon as things get better.

Included are the buses, metro, stadiums, Xochimilco, Castillo de Chapultepec, basilica de Guadalupe, mole, and tacos al pastor. It's making me hungry! 

Sultanate of Oman

Howdy everyone,
As we get further into the length of the COVID-19 epidemic, I am reminded of how to travel with postcards. This weekend was productive, since I set up my swap albums on facebook after they had been idle for about 5 years. Here is the link if you are interested.

This card is from my friend Patricia, who I met in Postcrossing. She lives between the US/UAE and has done quite a bit of traveling. In one of her travels, she visited Oman. You might be wondering what a sultanate is. Well, it just means that the country is governed by a sultan! It is kind of like a king, but a sultan has more religious attachments. You can only find sultans in majority Arabic countries.

Guam

A few years ago, I found a pen pal that was willing to send me some postcards. Sadly, I lost touch with them, mostly because I was busy with things and just got distracted. Maybe I will reach out to them soon and see if they are willing to trade postcards and perspectives again. And yes, Guam is a US territory!

Nicaragua

I don't remember the how or why of this card, so here it is to just enjoy!

South Africa!

I received a set of cards from South Africa a few years ago, and I am kicking myself because they are all like a letter and are now out of order, one may be misplaced somewhere in my collection.

Chile

Today's featured cards are from Chile. This card came from a friend who moved from Costa Rica to Chile for their job. Come to think of it, I haven't reached out to them in a while! I should...I have the flexible time now.

National Postcard Week 2020!

Hello everyone!
Last week was national postcard week! As promised, I will post the card that I published. Here it is! It is featuring my cat Milo and Nieve. As you know, Nieve passed away about a month ago.

I also got this printed on a canvas (without the lettering) so it can always hang in my house.
if you are interested in swapping for this card, just shoot me a message through my contact form! I am looking for a one to one swap, or we can find an alternate arrangement.

Thank you so much to Demaris Swint for organizing this! I look forward to doing International Postcard week and National Postcard Week 2021! I love all of the mail coming in.

Greetings from Vatican City

I have been lucky enough to both send a card to myself and get sent a card from Vatican City a few times. This is the most recent card I received from the summer of 2017. My friend Wendy (whom I met through postcrossing and eventually met up with in real life while visiting Mexico City) has sent me a few cards from her travels. This one included a beautiful card of the city/state, as well as a stamp of the current pope. From what I remember, stamps were sold in the shops surrounding the Vatican, and you sent off the letters in a post office drop off. I'll have to ask Wendy how she was able to send this card.

The current pope, Francis. Yikes! It is expensive to send out postcards from Vatican City. 

Dealing with grief from pet loss

Howdy everyone,
I just noticed that I haven't revealed much from my personal life. Attached are some pictures of my cats.

My ginger cat, Milo. He is 8 years old. 

My foster, Diego. 

My foster, Dot. He is very weird. 

When I edit and upload pictures to this blog, I have to be very careful with how back I scroll. Meet Nieve.

Nieve, he is the white cat. 

Now, the reason I have to be careful is because my cat Nieve passed away about 3 weeks ago. Every time I go back in my pictures, I think: wow, that is when he was still alive. Or: that is when he really took a turn for the worst. The story of his passing is long and I plan on uploading a video soon about him, but dealing with pet grief especially during COVID-19 has been really hard. I was not able to hold a memorial service, I wasn't able to invite people to see him, and I mostly had to handle it alone. The first two weeks after losing him were rough. I was either really sad or angry. You see, he was only 6 years old when he passed away from feline lymphoma. This was a sudden loss, and he gave almost no warning of what was wrong; but I will go into details about all this in a video. He had always been a big boy (about 19-17 lbs most of his life), but seeing him lose so much weight in a short amount of time sent my stress levels to an all-time high.

Losing him has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to deal with. I still tear up when I see his urn (it is on my altar), see pictures when I had to put him down, or pictures during his illness.  But, in the end, I can only hope that Nieve went through his last day as happy as he could be, despite being debilitated by such a horrible illness. Milo, Diego, and Dot will all continue his legacy.

Nieve, we miss you so much. You were the light of our lives, and I hope you were happy as we surrounded you with love until your last breath. I promise we will celebrate with you properly once this invisible terror subsides. The silver lining is that I was able to be with you since we weren't allowed outside for about a month when you passed.

The video about pet grief and Nieve's loss is forthcoming. It is also I hope a way that I can be productive with my sorrow and turn it into something creative. Thanks for hanging around and I will post the video when it is ready.

Greetings from Tunisia

One of my favorite cards to collect are glittery cards. This card came to me a few years ago through a postcrossing swap. I still love it when I run across it.

Bahamas Conchers

This awesome postcard came with a recipe too! I don't think I've ever had conchers, but when I get to the Bahamas eventually, my first stop will be to get some! It'll have to have a beach side view of course.

Balmy Breezes from Belize

I am still wishing I was on a balmy beach somewhere with an icy drink. As summer nears, I am getting in the mood to go outside more, but also stay inside because I hate the heat. This card is from Belize. Located in central America, on of its official languages is English. 

Greetings from Jamaica

The beach sounds good right about now. This postcard from Jamaica brings a lot of good vibes. I really like the postage, paying an homage to Bob Barley. Good vibes during these tough times for everyone!

Winning the lottery to Bhutan

A good way to get postcards from countries was to enter lotteries in the Postcrossing facebook group. I have won a few of them and just ran across them again as I was organizing my cards a few nights ago. This was sent by a fellow postcrosser who was an avid traveler and was always going to fun and exciting places. I haven't seen them around online in a while and hope they are doing well.

Banksy Art from Palestine

I was organizing my rare/uncommon countries to receive cards from, and I found this card from one of my friends. They lived in Palestine and was an English teacher for about 2 years. This was sent when they had just moved there. They knew I liked cats, and Banksy was still a pretty big deal at the time. Pretty cool blast from the past.

Palestinian Authority 

Armenia

I received a postcard from Armenia a few months ago- it was postmarked November 30th, but it took at least 2 months to reach me. Armenia is a land locked country in the middle east, its neighbors are Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia. My favorite band, System of a Down, traces their heritage to Armenia and a lot of their lyrics deal with Armenia influence. Some of their musical notes also have Armenian music influence. Check them out sometime! Glad I got this long sought after card.

Greetings from Bangladesh

This lovely card came to me from Bangladesh. Thank you for the lovely tigers, they will always be the true kings.

British Antarctic Territory

Wowee! Two posts in one day.
This card was sent to my by a good friend who took a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica. While there, they were able to post a card for me! I have received one from Antarctica before, but this is from the British Territory. I also noticed the card was printed in Argentina, where my friend flew to catch their excursion down. They also said they had a hell of a trip on the boat! That it rocked almost the whole way down from Argentina to Antarctica.

Can you tell who lives in Antarctica? 

Penguins of course!

National Postcard Week 2020

Howdy everyone!
National Postcard Week will be May 3-9th, 2020. I have printed off some postcards and I am just waiting for them! If anyone is still reading this, I am open to swaps anywhere. There is also a swap-bot exchange that you can still join. It is open until the 26th. This swap does require you to print off your postcards along with the following guidelines:

Here are some guidelines originally from The Tucson Post Card Exchange Club.

1. National Postcard Week and the date must be on the postcard, preferably on the front. 2013 is the 30th year.

2. Your name or the name of the club and mailing address should be included, preferably on the front, but can be on the back. 

3. The minimum size is 3-1/2x5-1/2 inches. Those are post office requirements. 

4. Maximum is 4-1/4x6 inches. (I have seen larger)

5. The minimum thickness of is 90 lb. card stock. Most home printers will print on 110 LB cardstock, sold in many discount stores. 

6. All postcards printed should be of the same designs. You can design more than one. If you do you should send all designs in a trade. 

7. A minimum of 100 copes is recommended to give other traders a change to receive a copy.

8. To give your card extra worth, numbering them is an excellent idea. /100 on the back is okay.

9. Be sure to Autograph your postcard. A first name is okay.

10 All NPCW postcards should be mailed during NPCW, especially those sent individually with a stamp. Get a hand cancel at the post office desk.  

 Happy swapping!

Greetings!

Hello one and all,

I hope you are staying safe through this crazy time. Please remember to think of others and yourself as well.

Since my time is a bit more flexible now, I will be updating with pictures of postcards. I have a big back log of them!

The first one I wanted to feature was one I sent myself from Andorra, from the Spanish Post office there. They do not have their own postal service and rely on the French and Spanish Post. The French post was already closed when I arrived there (around noon-1pm). Trying to find postcards there on a limited time was a feat in itself! They don't have a lot of souvenir stores in La Vella, but they did have a lot of tobacco shops and other shopping stores.I finally found a tobacco shop called La Casa Des Tabacs that sold postcards and other souvenirs. It was a race against time because I was only there for a few hours!

The bus station in Andorra was probably the nicest one I have been to. It was small and had a lot of direct trips to Barcelona, since I was visiting my friend there. You need a passport to go in and out of the country, because they are not an EU or Schengen country. The gist of that is because they have always stuck to being an independent nation (they don't want to join Spain or France) and their Catalan heritage has a strong presence in this decision as well. The buildings in the city were just stacked and really close to each other, I didn't see any houses as there were mainly apartment buildings and businesses.

Overall, I had an interesting time in Andorra. The next time I will go will be to check out their thermal pools and spas! I really wish I had two days to explore the country.

Eerie nod to the future. I think this was one of the cool stamps I sent out. This was designated to send a card to the US, 

Andorra! The land of the Pyrenees Mountain dogs!