A couple of beauty postcards received in the PostBox / 1 foreign from Mumbai, India & 1 domestic from Gifu, Japan.
Plus a wonderful classic-vibe ‘zine which I brought along to the doctors office where I’m sitting sending this to you.
As such, reminding myself to add the links so you can get your own copy but in the meantime, here’s a screen grab of relevant relevance. Thanks Craig.
I am in enchanted & enhanced #grateful
These Postcards come with a scribble note of unexpected affection from my official fountain pen, meanwhile, items by post of late (and late they are) include:
Investigate below:
First day Everest Aerogramme, Aug 1, 1975, Nepal / waiting for destination.
There is only one postmaster authorized to use this stamp / do you know who? hints: #griffinandsabine #katin Yup, Nick Bantock and his new limited edition book “WasNick”.
There is always a Present Moment to spend with Gary Snyder, poet laureate of all that is good coming my way herein Japan where he roamed from just across the Taiheyo in the Sierras.
Aqaba to Amman via Concorde, first day cover envelope with all sorts of flair!
Continue reading Items: Concorde in Jordan, Everest Aerogramme, stamps from Katin, and poetry from Sierras
Sharp peekers maybe caught the preview in “Post’d: New Years “nengajyo” in process” and now fresh from various post office trips with stamping goodtimes comes our best wishes to you for a pleasing 2022 in the form of a card from Tsuchida Cottage featuring us in ‘The Linda Lindas” shirts and swag. Note the details.
130 out to foreign address and around the same in process to domestic Japan (with different back and includes Japan Post special “raffle” cards) as of this writing Dec. 27 (hurry hurry printers!)
I hope one of them is for you. I’m doing my best.
Fondly from Dave, Ryoko and Ichiro
PS On the back is a poem by me (naturally) with a few sentiments about adapting to situations and using the unexpected to reinvent as well as expressing empathy.
All the Time Reinvent Re-create Replenish, even Rejuvenate or Rejoice Adapters plant seeds and watch the trees tell time, over decades There’s no hurry We’re here forever Go slow We’ve got all the time for you Records, flowers and paints Fresh coffee with a view If you’ve had a hard year We’re here with our ears Pack your steamer trunk and be ready for queen tides, we’ll spark the woodstove Ramble forth, possibly fret, maybe cry but know – even without *believing* – light is here as needed Always fondly. By Dave Olson, Tsuchida, Okayama
Postage stamps of postboxes, from Japan and France. ¥70 is just right for international postcards.
Meta + Diplomacy.I bought them all including the example ones.
Also some classic Japanese kimono ukiyo-e designs (possibly noticed in earlier dispatch) for the stash at home.
Grateful that the kind lady at the little local (Shinogoze) post office indulges me covering the box with $30 worth of hand-picked stamps ++ added some inky stamps on standby special for New Year’s cards.
In this case, she hand-cancelled and covered the stamps with extra tape as the package was a little bit non-adhesive.
As for shipping packages, due to lack of planes and congested shipping channels, getting stuff to Canada tough. Small packets only, 2kg & 90cm WHD max. No parcels, no surface/sea/SAL :( #denied
There are many reasons I love to send postcards and letters: the first of course is to just let people know I am thinking about them, followed closely by the meditative enjoyment of assembling paper, image and decoration just exactly right, but also enjoy seeing my creations reflected back across in another medium, weeks – or sometimes months – after I drop it in the box.
In this case, the recipient is a photographer who primarily shoots humming and other birds (and who’s lovely cards are elsewhere in this archive) and also takes wonderful close-up snaps of the details of my artifacts, in this case noticing the stamps – both ornamental and philadelphic – and the fuchsia ink scrawled with a quill.
To continue the recursive cycle, I’ve smashed four of her photos together in a little collage to zoom back from Japan to Vancouver once again, with evidence.
Continue reading Post’d: inky card with details & musingsErgo: A collage of close up details from a postcard sent from provincial Japan to West End Vancouver showing a beautiful franked stamp featuring illustration of a lady in kimono, an ink stamp unofficially commemorating Vancouver international airport established 1970, another ink stamp imitating an Immigration stamp from Narita airport and excerpt of a scribble in fuchsia ink possibly saying “happy birthday“ with a bit of another ink stamp probably saying “Postcard“.
Finally going to sneak up to Kobe just before the end of the Jack Kerouac exhibit (aug 3/4/5).
Was hoping things would be chiller and I would be healthier and could bounce up to Kyoto for a couple of days while generally absent in overseas tourists but it just doesn’t seem to ever lineup… Seems every time I leave the house, I “crash“ again #mecfs #digression
Anyhow, this is a little round up of dossiers I’ve mailed out to various Kerouac/beat enthusiast, collectors, archivists and generally-kind folks so that professor Matt Theado & colleagues work is amplified to other corners of other continents.
Of course I love it when folks send me “static montage“ snapshots of the dossiers. As you will notice, along with the Jack Kerouac stuff, also added in different combinations Of my paintings, postcards, various snapshots, occasional goat farm brochures or museum catalogs and as usual, resplendent with stamps, both inky and postal.
Shared here in slightly obstificated versions to pretend I’m protecting anyone’s privacy or whatever I don’t know.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “Kerouac in Kobe“ or variations thereof, the short version is: this year, like everything else, it’s complicated 🙂
Was scheduled for last year with the original s/croll and a bunch of workshops (including mine) and ancillary exhibits but, due to quarantine etc., the “keeper of the scroll” (cool job!) couldn’t come… so this year it’s a painstakingly reproduced digital version of the scroll + there was a symposium a couple of weeks back and a nice collection of books and artifacts and typewriters in display.
Loads more about elsewhere in this archive >> worth checking it out and giving them some support if you’re in the area. Runs until August 8.
Anyhow, today is father-in-law‘s birthday and think I’m gonna wear my new Fluevog shoes in celebration and we’ll eat curry & new secret hideout. Big moves all around. Ha ha
Bend paper to find
Shortest distance between points
Or apply a stamp
{for Amber}
Mailed:
Also: piano moved, laundry started, Ichiro has a fever, Pokémon stamps acquired for a special packet, next step is the tatami mats getting re-wrapped.
Clarification about Pokéman: putting a packet together of Pokémon (and other Japanese cuteness) for a friend’s 13-year-old grandchild dealing with some heavy medical situation and facing eight months of chemotherapy. He loves Pokémon. So: (eager to help) put a message out to the local foreigners FB group for advice and trying to understand what makes a Pokémon card exciting (is it opening of the new packs or getting a super collectible card etc.?) And while I was at the post office, I noticed the Pokémon stamps so I bought a sheet to add to the packet. They’re here somewhere, I’ll snap a photo…
Wife studying for tree doctors certification level-up.
End of dispatch, more laundry to fold.
Re: hat & workclothes >>
Related Annotations:
Japanese workwear stores are awsum & cheap > fun to explore // my arborist wife lets me tag along for kei-truck trips & i get a whole outfit (plus big hat, belt & cooling shirt) for like 4000¥!
Tabi (toe/sock-boots) are great & cheap to replace &/or have a few pair in rotation.
Baggy trousers keep ya cool (actually) & act like “cat whiskers” when on scaffolds to know how much space you have.
PS Sent requisite messages about baseball All-Star game and Tokyo Olympic conundrums (Note to self: post that radio interview you did)
Quickly before running a bath, Dave – regaining equilibrium – discusses creation of a slightly-delayed but very-pleasurable project, ergo: “Time Travelers“ handmade cards including outfits, printing techniques and paper choices, fire hazards, inky & postal stamps, and fingerprints.
Plus riffs about carrying on in strange times, wonderful events, fountain pens and puppets. And expressing gratitude to friends who sent cards and letters, often reciprocated by Hokusai woodblock prints and/or “cheap and cheerful” time traveler cards.
++
+ Books by Post / Japan Cottage Musings catch-up riff +
Wearing stolen hotel pyjamas, Dave riffs about: Larry Harper’s “70” variety collection, various Richard Brautigan items (Rick Lupert’s Van Nuys Tokyo Express, William Hjortsberg’s Jubilee Hitchhiker, and “the world’s mightiest hat” gift from Marty and Willis), then onwards to the legendary Joan Anderson letter from Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac, and Jack Micheline’s poems and ephemera… also riffs about analog and digital creative symbiosis and and namechecks Douglas Coupland and others… plus importantly, Ichiro bathtime, Ryoko’s chainsaws, and the usual postcards. Yowza.
Fondly from Tsuchida Cottage, Okayama, Japan.
