Nothing in particular, just three awesome postcards, two DIY – Tsuchida cottage signpost and Don Mee restaurant sign in Victoria + one by noted Taisho-era artist Takahisa Yumeji from Okayama.
Somehow the Blue ties them all together
Sending regards, gratitude and best wishes to various humans.
Oh, and three more three more to say “thank you for coming by the cottage” and other appreciation for gentle advice & creative goodness.
Each postcard of course includes extensive backstory… So simple but somehow some meaningful, to me at least
Dropped into an unfamiliar postbox near the hospital. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be all right although I put one “international” into the “domestic” slot by mistake.
A beautiful card and letter with poetic flourish and a stunning Portugal street car in reflection.
Came from an obvious sweet soul, another Artist dealing with the same absurd medical conundrum as me and millions other #MECFS
We connected through art (I won his collage in a fundraiser auction) and have sparked a correspondence, using Portuguese and English to share encouragement, grief, inspiration, frustration and of course, creativity across oceans and continents.
Everything is a detail and every detail matters equally
What a treasure! What a treasure from the photo to the poetry to the stamps to the cancellation // swoon
Penguins, no matter where they are in the world, prefer to have a bath – in this case, likely warm/hotAnother in an exceptional collection of collage received from an artist in Arizona “specializing” and remixing the works of the remarkable author Richard Brautigan
These postcards are mailed from a shiny spaceport with pictures of a pleasant lodging.
In the next few days, the cards will part ways to find homes with poets, seekers, gardeners, dogs in a dome, and a rocker seeking a sunrise.
Not all hotels still have proper bond letterhead + pens, envelopes and postcards… even stamps at the front desk.
As such, whilst at hotels which still care enough to provide this stationæry, I’m always eager to support the endeavor. Practically speaking (or rather, scribblingly).
Same postbox, same but different cards – this time, mailed in the morning…
Although probably joining their compatriots still waiting in the box from last night. It’s a reason to take a walk.
Another handful of #Postcards dropped into the neural network which somehow brings each to places far afield.
Matcha tea bowl on a mossy rock in Metchosin
Dispatches this time are mostly DIY featuring snapshots from our #BCInvasion which caught my eye while making the commemorative flashback videos.
The reverse addressable sides are – admittedly – quite majestic, some featuring the #Japanpost ¥63 New Year dragon stamps with the “lucky number” (admittedly, I checked the numbers to make sure were not winners before affixed because they prizes wouldn’t do anyone any good in a foreign country).
Anyhow: Dropped and snapped on a drive-by at our local post office {at which I always trying to pump their stats to make sure they’re not a casualty of consolidation}.
I took down Christmas and New York cards, for the most part, from the “string of honor” (which you know also doubles as a high gauge speaker wire) and realized we hadn’t checked the “lucky numbers” which come included on the Japan Post manufactured (and customizable) new year cards and/or on the specific stamps celebrating the particular lunar year (in this case of course, dragon).
So we looked through the stack of received cards and found that we had three winners! so… I get to take to the post office to claim the well-won postage stamps. No trip to Hawaii but that’s totally fine, in fact this is very meta: stamps beget stamps.
We received so many wonderful cards – both international and domestic – which, I mean to make another one of my meandering, poorly/lit and rarely-viewed videos of putting the cards in folios to show you that I care (really, it’s just because I love the whole process of documenting these treasures), yet, in the meanwhile these three cards keep surfacing to the top:
One by Okayama pop artist Noriko Miyake and her hand-drawn/painted “goddess” art
One by Okayama modern traditional Shodo calligraphy artist Yoshiko Yoshida on exquisite paper stock
One from our friends Ed and Naomi in Nozawa onsen with a change of address (as they keep switching houses ;)) and a charming bit of art
Of course, yours is also awesome but just these three happen to be on the table waiting for their moment.
Would you like to send us a postcard? Just copy this address as above (written by Noriko Miyake) // all details also at “postal and contact“.
A little batch of postcards, scribbled at the library, maybe on a bus – here and there – with a portable writing folio.
The “double double” at the shopping plaza with the splendid green payphone box and “standard issue” postbox next to each other sending Scouter Dave on his adventure
I won’t meander (much) about the details but provide evidence of creation and/or mailing – for the archivists and biographers.
Detail of the above, snapped at the shipyards in North Vancouver and sent to a friend who will *really* understand
Maybe you’re the same way, you have a small portable pack that can fit into a side bag to keep at hand with a few cards, stamps and possibly three writing utensils, and then have a larger case which contains a much more extensive supply of stationery. Is it just me?
Collage of current assortment… As you’ll notice, mostly snapshots, well actually all snapshots, from #BCInvasion
The one shown above used to hold photographic slides (although my wife’s uncle insists that it was once a Mahjong case) and is now held together with decorative tape for practical as well as aesthetic reasons.
Specifically: a couple for birthdays // yes, me lounging in a hotel lobby in monogram’d pajamas, silk robe & dapper hat (natch) waiting for food delivery; another a message about healing with grace and facing demons; and, the other variation of time traveler daguerreotype as another special delivery for a late address.
check that paper grain – swoony right?
Oh and this one *is* a New Year card, even though past official “new year” time. Hand-decorated and personally-deliveredwith bonus dragon accessory and special stamp from a country I can’t quite read with my fuzzy eyes.
Crafted with kohi at the goat farm to a very lovely recipient i’ve known since she was in a high-chair and is now a wonderful mama to 3 rambunctious lads. And whilst clear coating a postbox haiku you’ve already read about and yes more coverage to follow.
“With over 400 cards now posted for this new year – in four different styles/variations/purposes – I flip through a special historical retrospective collection constructed for a friend who missed out… While drinking coffee on *coming of age* day.”
Bring your own coffee, chair provided however
Note: Cards are accessorized by cancelled international postal stamps as well as a wide variety of custom and standard ink stamps.
Usual anecdotes, digressions and back stories included, as usual.
Includes:
* 2024 Ichiro airplane special edition “see you again” w/ JAL at Okayama Momotaro airport
The Inaugural Ichiro special edition “see you again” airport card
* 2024 “Kinome 10th anniversary” 2 variations, both from Varley Trail, Lynn Canyon {to follow}
* 2023 “Baseball Halloween squad” with Japan, Mariners (both Ichiro) and Canada uniforms + persimmons and tiger and rabbit haiku on reverse plus Noto
Reverse side of the “Halloween baseball squad” card… I’ll find the front side eventually
* 2023 “BC invasion” coming soon! commemorative card on NHK Taro-man set (shared with friends met along the way)
Taro-man NHK teevee set “BC invasion!” Preview movie poster
* 2023 “Japan normal life” Tsuchida cartographic signpost / representative item (1/30 designs bundled into sets of 5/ea envelope)
* 2022 “Linda Lindas” shirts & swag at Tsuchida yard with insta-cam & dymo label
“Linda Linda’s fan club” before and after adornment by Dymo label
* 2021 “Steady on Time Travelers” featuring Fluevogs, vintage dress, typewriter, red horse and 101 day old Ichiro
“Steady on, time travelers” – standard and representative special edition
* 2020 “pink collage” with typewriter messages, photos from Shinto shrine wedding ceremony, goat farm wedding party, Ceningan honeymoon etc.
“Pink collage” along with other enveloped items
Note: eventually reference copies of original art may appear here so you can “make your own” if you missed out on any of the series – because I know some of you must be really fretting about an incomplete collection :-)
I pretend to make best festive seasonal greetings cards but truth is: ours are 3rd place.
In 1st place every year are album cover remixes by Emily Elias & hubbo John Lyons created in an ongoing collaboration with the obviously-very-versatile Danny Wong, in the UK.
A few more of Ichiro’s inaugural custom friendship cards off to cousins and a few other young friends he hasn’t met yet.
yeah these are truly stellar and he was so fantastically cool (*not cute* papa) stamping em up
A couple card packets were put in envelopes due to specifically excessively long addresses (i.e.: Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand) to ensure reliable delivery.
This includes a card addressed to a forthcoming baby in Mexico who will be born in the year of the dragon to a mama I met in India – we enjoyed some pleasant time together and have remained penpals of sorts. I love the feeling of having the first postal mail addressed to a child. Managed to do the same to a baby in the Netherlands (born to brilliant multi-multi-lingual parents) and though not a baby, the first card mailed to a friend who, after unstable housing situations, finally has a home with an address. All of these please me.
While I’m being unnecessarily thorough, I printed out a few more Kinome cards for Ryoko to send to various customers, colleagues, supporters etc. of her business. She’s got some special things planned this year so I am so proud/excited for her.
Onwards with “definitely not new year cards”
For #PostboxSaturday this humble and unassuming small unit sits at the entrance of a national heritage shrine in Okayama Japan: Kibitsu Jinja.
Of course I mailed a postcard & curious about the cancellation stamp (sometimes special ones from historic locations).
{if, you happen to be looking closely, you might wonder about the card which is a “certificates of completeness” regarding the collaboratively forged passport project now seeking a museum}
mixed-media art library, global diary, project dossier and whole life documentation
