Tag Archives: lovethiskid

Ichiro: cards #61~65 “5ive Set / Farm, Minako, Canadian, Rice, Superstar” 12.2~9.2020

5 – count ’em 5ive – new #Ichiro cards for your on-going collection from early Dec. 2020 (Reiwa 2), series includes:

Ichiro: card “Farm guys” hanging out at uncle Mac’’s goat Emporium Rural Caprine Farm with a haiku post box in the sunshine
Ichiro: card “meeting Minako-san” the remarkable elder lady proprietor of the finest tiny restaurant with ridiculous Okonomiyaki & a completely psychedelic painter (minus the psychedelics)
Ichiro: card “Officially Canadian“ no big deal, came with an awesome sweater and a citizenship certificate
Ichiro: card “Let’s try rice!“A.k.a. “Snacktime“ or “spoonful of wasabi…“ Yep, trying a little bit of sort of solid food in the form of smashed up rice soup. Next step, pierogies
Ichiro: card “Okayama superstar” our prefecture ain’t so famous (unless you count peaches, peach boy legend, denim and school uniforms…) but that’s changing with this dashing dude

Ichiro: card #60 “Child Prodigy-ish” 12.1

Ichiro card 60 / “Child Prodigy-ish” (Glenn Gould Redux)
Won’t say he is *concert-ready* quite yet but he’s using fingers not fists, posture is solid, chord shapes developing… another couple months he should be ready for Okayama Symphony Hall.
 
Will let you know when tickets go on preorder.

Ichiro: card #59 “Generations of Fujitas”(in Tsuchida) / 11.28

Ichiro: card #59 “Generations of Fujitas”(in Tsuchida) / 11.28

These shining lights continue to connect the centuries of culture & community The family gravestones go back so far the words are obscured / we wash (sometimes), light incense (Nag Champa in this case), clap and bow + bit of a conversation > In this case, namesake Grandfather Ichiro & Grandmother Tomiko’s ohaka / note: this “ohaka” has served as an important destination and part this year’s actions as documented in this archive.

Ichiro: card #58 “Capn’s Chair”/ 11.21

Ichiro: card #58 “Capn’s Chair”/ 11.21

This chair helps strengthen up his back for sitting up and such fun!  

Ichiro: card #53~57 “Dapper, Nice, Out n About, Gathering Stories, Rookie”/ 11.5

5 new Ichiro cards #io in the ongoing series… Coming from the last fortnight in spectacular & pleasantly autumnal Okayama, Japan. 

This assortment includes:

Ichiro: card #52~56 “Fancy hat and mustache” (dapper, esq)
Ichiro: card #52~56 “Nice to meet you” (dandy man)
Ichiro: card #52~56 “Out n about” (in the stroller towards the post office)
Ichiro: card #52~56 “Gathering Stories” (with Frederick)
Ichiro: card #52~56 “Rookie of our year” (with jersey of the goat)

Ichiro: card (bonus) “Boo”(Halloween Canucks) / 10.31

Ichiro: card (bonus) “Boo”(Halloween Canucks) / 10.31

At a special Halloween (safe and all that) gathering at local community centre / for our “trick or treat” station, we did insta-photo with annotations and kids chose stickers (sent by R & S in Montréal) Mama was a Canucks hockey player and Papa rocked lederhosen (possibly documented elsewhere).

Ichiro: card #52 “Thanks for the Treats” (postal) / 10.27

Ichiro: card #52 “Thanks for the Treats” (postal) / 10.27

Memo: So much awesome stuff arriving in the mail these last days/weeks/months.

We are all very grateful and doing our best to send each of you a proper personalized thank you card.

In the meanwhile, we send our sincere gratitude for your thoughtfulness, efforts and (often excessive) postal rates.

As always, keep an eye on your post box, ya never know when something will come through the portal. 

Ichiro: card #52 “Oh the Places…”(you’ll go go GO!) / 10.24

Ichiro: card #52 “Oh the Places…”(you’ll go go GO!) / 10.24

…Once he stows aboard on a tramp freighter heading through the south seas, he’ll make it… with nothing but his satchel of poetry and pressed flowers. Thanks to Uncle Anders for the Dr. Seuss art.

Ichiro: card #48~51 “Roar, Track Suit, Burger, Twinning”/ 10.23

4 New Ichiro Cards in a busy month catching up on all sorts of life stuff (glasses, ID cards, dentists, construction plans and Ryoko back to work…) see “Personal Musings” for more. Anyhow, importantly, more Ichi-kun! (collect ‘em all for best results)

Ichiro: card #48~51 “Ichi-Roar” with lion (long-ago gift from Andrew or James – really don’t know – Olson)
Ichiro: card #48~51 “Burger time” at Heap #Okayama (bigger than his head!)
Ichiro: card #48~51 “Tracksuit Magic” (papa’s best outfit ¥700)
Ichiro: card #48~51 “Twinning” in tiny kitchen (w/ mama Ryoko Olson)

Ichiro: gift thank-you cards (vol. 2+) / 9.25~Oct. 13

Continuing on with Ichiro Cards (see vol. 1 of the meta proces documentation if inclined) obsessively custom, handmade of course, to send to folks who sent such lovely gifts from around the world.

The batches change due to supplies (esp paper stock and printer ink) as well as as we fresh-up ideas… In general include special snaps cut with dear Mom’s (heavy metal) pinking shears, attached to custom stamped (inky & franked postal) postcards then enveloped with family photo / am I ruining the surprise?

As such, some started simple…

and got more “maximalist” as we went along:

Some get a few photos to connect other stories (with annotations on reverse), e.g.:

Or catch up with life and things folks might like:

with “bonus snaps/items” which simply amuse metaphorical reasons or have some backstory:

sometimes the assortment doens’t make sense until you receive somehow corresponding items crossing in the mail. In this case, Richard Brautigan is the connective magic.

Sometimes we receive a snap of the delivered mail. In this case, the elegantly placed postal cancellation stamp from the folks at Higashi Okayama post office:

And while i sorta try to take snaps of most of the finished pieces, i invariably forgot most, but here’s a snap of a note which made the journey to California. Thanks JJ:

In general, we are trying to make a little something extra special special for everyone to brighten up their day in evidently strange times. First was to the dear folks who have mailed remarkable gift packages, care boxes and cards from around the world in commemoration of the birth of this dude.

Here’s another on display on a fridge in Vegas, to which we replied: 

“… fantastic to see! You know we absolutely love making these and seeing them complete their journey, hopefully bringing a smile to the recipient, especially in times of tumult. We truly appreciated your thoughtful gift.” (thanks C &T!)

Update Sept 26:

Ichiro cards batch, Sept 26

Each envelope receives an extra kiss before we send out upon a wormhole journey to points on earth Each one unique (of course) and crafted with affection for recipients… Get so excited thinking of the splendid cards arriving to post boxes elsewhere.

The stamps are chosen with care at the post office. Oddly, the standard international Air Mail rate of ¥110 is challenging to match up so we often over pay in order to get colourful designs rather than boring meters.

Update, Oct. 6:

Another 18 dossiers dropped at post office today (on a stroller walk with lil Ichi-Stan who is neighbourhood famous).

Each dispatch is hand-crafted / unique + that’s “batch 4” for Ichiro-cards, batch 5 already underway (about 23 envelopes) / noting each batch varies by materials available & inspiration sparks (do you want to see them all?)

Note: likely puts over 500 analog mail-outs for the year (including New Year’s cards) > this hobby does get a bit expensive (ink! stamps!) but joy to send a piece of “us” (with Ryoko Olson) is worth every yen. #kokoro

Let’s enjoy international correspondence from global correspondents!

Update, Oct. 13:

Another 18 going out into the world, or was it 23? Either way, another variation on the same idea… inky stamps, franked postage stamps collected around the world, special snaps of Ichi and other treats… scissors, glue, labels, love.

Batch 5, (or is it 6?) of Ichiro cards going out into the world… / hopefully finding hearts which are as grateful as we are. Each made with affection and truly unique. And yes, each is “important“ because the stamp says so.

Note: Persimmon not included

Redundant notes

Further annotations & postal tips.

Get in on the fun by mailing to:

Ichiro Olson
937-1 Tsuchida, Naka-ku
Okayama-shi, Okayama-ken
703-8217 Japan

Fondly from Tsuchida Cottage