The postal services of the world create a magnificent neural network of sorts – dispatches leaping across borders, bypassing squabbles and avoiding incidents // due to creative time-tested systems and intrepid workers.
In front of a wood stove, Dave stashes cards from the “string of honour” into archival book while recounting tales of the wonderful folks who sent greeting cards and letters to Tsuchida Cottage.
Along with banter about:
* having several scrapbooks on-the-go at all times
* special collections and on-going correspondence
* topsy turvy start to the year
* “lap projects” like mending and scrapbooking
* thoughts about last year (lots of paperwork!)
* theme for this year (letting go)
and usual digressions, meanderings and anecdotes (i.e. hanging stereo speakers and maybe something about solar panels). Oh, there is a Dymo LabelMaker in action.
Very grateful for your friendship and lovely correspondence.
PS if I’ve missed sharing your card I probably shared under separate cover / somewhere else, or will do another time (thinking of you Astrid in Germany who’s art is already hanging up).
Quite an assortment in the Post box yesterday:
1) postcard of painting of a postbox from Wales with a commemorative Queen Elizabeth 2 Memorial franking & 3 language Air Mail seal
2) postcard from a dear correspondent in Gifu who’s postmaster always does a fantastic cancellation stamp (subject matter: motels around the world)
3) big envelope with collage art from Portugal with a fantastic oversize 4£ portfolio style stamp
4) a postcard i mailed to India that sadly, was returned because “mail to this region is not currently possible“ – keeping it on standby in the meanwhile
Postcards are scribbled, intentions pure, arrivals intermittent, thrilling nevertheless, as such, recursively documented in a situations and circumstances as possible, incomplete as expected.
First, to a friend (who ive forgotten if met in real life or not, the coincidences are far more than coincidence after all) rowing through some turbulent tides yet radiates such gentle goodness – and a touch with curious scripted languages, meditatatuve practice, and love of typewriters. Sent him a talisman of good fortune right from the Zen source of the DT Suzuki museum in Kanazawa.
A very pleasant correspondent who shares, again, so many life touch points – but none within 3 m at the same time so far determined – replied back to a postcard of this very street corner, with a photo of him at this very street corner (the statue now toppled, the restaurant behind turned into 6 acres which was my secret hang out for sometime and where I did my “job interview” for what turned out to be my last job, kitty corner from One Alexander, Suite 420 where I spent another job and across another street – it’s a five street intersection – where wrote a snippet of prose about ‘three men in cowboy hats,’ one of which is seen in the background, at the “old Irish Heather” when the benches would still give you splinters). He replied with the following quote (& caption):
“Just as there are genres of skies, and car alarms, and many other things, so there are genres of the hangover. Tragic treatments, enriched with various amounts and shades of irony. The epic frame, which finds the hero, towards evening on the second day, still sitting there wiping his eyebrows with his fingertips and still saying to himself things like oh dear oh dear.”
— Martin Amis, ‘The Information’
“In a bad way in Gastown, summer 2005.”
This one found its recipient who replied (in amongst abandoned watermelons and possible pickling project) “Happy recipient up in the salty north!”
Well this was a digital postcard, hit the spot for my German friend visiting a Greek island where a Canadian poet once conversed with birds on a wire (and a well documented assortment of lovers)
At first blush, it seems to be extraneous to embed Twitter messages into this creative life archive (i’d best not make a habit of it) but my goodness!, this lovely documentation of correspondence with a real life friend in far away Vancouver stuck with me since our exchange of dossiers over the last couple of years.
I just didn’t want the artifacts to be lost into the endless vortex of ephemeral short form messaging so, at the risk of being redundant and forever incomplete, here is evidence – both written and photographic – of an exchange between a.k.a. @Hez and me (and my family).
Highlights include: her fine Japanese writing, and all kinds of papery treats (a mobile which was used on our festive tree), there are other “parts” to his but for now, here we go (note: I did my best to reciprocate by including some cute dog stamps to amuse her).
Continue reading Post’d: lovely correspondence with @Hez (involving Japanese characters, famous dogs, & wonderful paper / stamps)
Nostalgia for a Present Tense – Japan Cottage Musings
Amidst construction on Tsuchida Cottage, Dave runs-down recent events, both contemporary (seitai treatment, café poetry, CBD shop, family life) and coincidentally historic (regarding, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, Edward Abbey, Neal Cassady, SxSW, Beez, Cmdr Bob) with usual digressions about postcards, pacifism, creations, inspiration, book collecting, San Francisco, and removing the meta rather than enshrining dinosaurs – also namechecks for Joe Strummer, plus riffs about meditation class, Japanese houselife, wonderful in-laws, adorable wife and baby and current catching-up (trying anyhow) on correspondence, with special regards and affection for pals who are in transition and friends who are flying high.
Fondly, dvo
Sure, i mail a lot of cards and letters and dossiers of ephemeral treats, poems and painting. Especially to folks who have inspired me or otherwise lent a hand, and to folks (know and unknown) who seem to need a little spark to help them along their journey.
As part of my semi-obsessive documentation for my memory and amusement, i assemble photos (likely) enthusiastic correspondents send of their received items, along with “still life” photos of postal-related items or post-in-process, and often just scenes of post offices/workers/boxes.
Often times these items are organized chronologically-ish somehow, or maybe to a theme, but some cases (including this instance), neither applies and what follows is simply a batch of odds and ends hanging out for another cycle into the world.
Generally an absence of annotations as the meanings either aren’t meaningful or rather self-evident (that said, maybe some annotations will appear). Carry on, bring your own stamp.
Continue reading Post’d: Round-up of letters and post making, vol. 2 (undated, variety)
As i mail a lot of items, well also just write cards and letters to hand-deliver as well i suppose, i try to document bits and pieces for my amusement and archive including photos enthusiastic correspondents send of their received dossiers, “still life with postal” related items, and post offices/boxes.
Often times these items are organized chronologically-ish somehow, or maybe to a theme, but in this case, neither applies and this is simply a batch of odds and ends hanging out – possibly waiting for another cycle into the world. So zoom zoom go around again (for my own amusement you see).
Continue reading Post’d: Round-up of mailed items, etc, vol. 1 (generally 2018~2019)
Artifacts from likely forgotten places. Resurrected with fresh stories augmented with inky pens, broken typewriters, scissors and glue. Possibly sent to you.
