Tag Archives: stamps

Japan Cottage Musings

Postbox Haiku and Paintings – Japan Cottage Musings

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Rocking a plaid track suit, Dave catches up about an exhibit of postbox haiku and paintings at pal Mac Kobayashi’s goat farm and in Shibuya by dDesign and shares the story of the post box haiku and painting plus details of: Kathmandu, Nepal; Muscat Oman; The Vatican, and Olympia, Greece (including accompanying postcards of course) and riffs about importance of personal archeology and making things for future generations while drinking including coffee and jamu and digression about persimmon chutney.

Special ahoys to Gary, Beth, Arild, Jared, Erin, Sandra, Lance and especially you.

Postbox haiku exhibit corner at Rural Caprine Farm (more to come)

Bonus:

dDesign Okayama exhibit blurb

More about Painting / Haiku ~ exhibit intro and round-up (preview)

+ new postbox Haiku in *unconfidential* kokoro postcard (variations)

 

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Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: usual dossiers of art, poetry and ephemera (and tea)

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The usual, ergo:

dossiers of art, poetry and ephemera

scrapbooks of same(ish)

piles to Post offices.

Also tea.

PS I enjoy this sort of activity on many levels for sure, i.e.: find playing with scissors and glue and pens very pleasant and, like the thought of spreading a little bit of goodness to various places around the world and, going to the post office gives me a little manageable errand.

I have a hard time getting “out and about” and really have to minimize screen time so this allows me to communicate and create and keep my brain active.

In these dossiers, i included prints of my paintings, bits of poetry, various insta snapshots, and letters on expired aerograms etc.

Enjoy the goodness / (of course) my address is available and you can sign up for Postal Club. I hope you hang on your fridge or put in a shoebox. 

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Shoebox

Haiku – *unconfidential* kokoro postcard (variations)

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Often, a poem comes out fully-formed, fiddling and remixing only dulls the knife, sometimes however, variations are eager to come out to shine light in another corner: Lonely, Joyful, Melancholy, Mysterious.

In this case, (my) familiar themes of un-confidential love letters on postcards mailed from foreign places and glanced by – or maybe sadly not glanced – by personnel along the way who (may) add their pathos to the journey. 

One version of this (do you care to guess which?) will go on the reverse of the post box at Farmer Mac’s goat farm – Perhaps another painting will follow… and then a postcard a photograph of the painting mailed to the post box and so on. Always be remixing. 

No pardons for redundancies, variations on a theme require riffs on the same blues.

Do you care to posit which your prefer? 

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Personal Musings, Post'd (cards + letters)

Thankful: a Postcard to Pals

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Hello You,

Having the best year somehow / full of gratitude for surprising treats, healthy lad, remarkable wife, poetry flowing, paintings regarded, a cottage abode, archives in a sturdy hidden fortress.

So many years lost/hiding in various wildernesses & now pure joy + wonder. (I live with pain but matters less). #grateful

Fondly, dvo/UW

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Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: Japan stamps of Importantcy

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If the stamps say so, must truly be IMPORTANT.

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Scrapbooks + Journals

Inky Stamps: variety sampler, redux

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Inky stamps, assorted/currently in use, annotated. (created to include in a package to a friend, including here to provide confusion and amusement)
 

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Japan Life/Travel, Personal Musings

Diary: Days Before New Year’s Eve / Lead-up Activities + Goodnight Year of the Boar

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Well, the days between Christmas and New Year’s aren’t really a thing per se in Japan as Christmas is just a reason for decor and music (as it should be at most) and all the build up is for New Year’s – this being my first “real” New Year’s in Japan, i just sorta held on for the ride… 

Anyhow, regardless, during this time, Ryoko and I were out and about for various events, errands, chores, adventures and whatnot – much of which is documented elsewhere in this archive and here are the pleasant mundane-ities which didn’t fit anywhere else – with minor annotations perhaps of “Japan Life”. 

Let’s begin with a few lunches and beverages – after a shop at a hardware store, we slipped into a little Yoshoku restaurant – sorta Japan remix of western dishes – this one sorta French but ya know, not really (and that’s not the point). Anyhow… had a sort of cutlet above and a pot of tea to follow. 

Another lunchtime, our relationship with pizza toast continued at home. 

And this seems absurd but the wonderful konbini stores can provide fresh ground/brewed coffee – i mean, it seems weird to say this but dang, not bad and well priced. That’s me in reflection (literally and metaphorically). Continue reading Diary: Days Before New Year’s Eve / Lead-up Activities + Goodnight Year of the Boar →

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Shoebox

“Shortest Distance” / a postal haiku

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Bend paper to find
Shortest distance between points
Or apply a stamp

My pal P. Singh Gill at world’s highest elevation post office

Tushar Wadhwani provides details: “At 15,500 feet in Hikkim which is a part of Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh which is in India.”

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Parties + Events + Invites, Post'd (cards + letters)

Thank-you Cards (“making of” and delivery evidence) / Kekkon-shiki

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settling in for a session of addressing, signing, inking, glueing, stamping and stickering these cards to prepare for a journey

Following our wedding festivities, we dutifully and cheerfully made up several batches of thank you cards to sent to folks who made the trip or sent gifts or letters/cards. 

Thank you card source materials, ready for scissor, glue, ink and substrate
a stack all ready to go, with special stamps and stickers and sparkly envelopes

While each batch of cards was different – and some cards required boxes and packets – the general design aesthetic captured in exquisite little photo essay created by nature photographer Cheryl A. (you should check out her cards for sale) which captures the details of the envelope treatment:

Continue reading Thank-you Cards (“making of” and delivery evidence) / Kekkon-shiki →

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Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: Round-up of letters and post making, vol. 2 (undated, variety)

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Post’d: Round-up of letters and post making, mailed from Sanur, Indonesia, 2019

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.

oh! the be an explorer… (envoys to distant lands)

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.

a card to 3 of my fave youths

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. 

a unpacked dossier with painting, poem, goat propaganda and a letter , stickered up envelope

Continue reading Post’d: Round-up of letters and post making, vol. 2 (undated, variety) →

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Parties + Events + Invites

Giftbag Round-up / Dave + Ryoko 4-20 Kekkon-shiki

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At weddings in Japan – unlike in “western” countries, guests usually bring cash in special envelopes as a gift rather than a household appliance or other oddment from a registry. The cash is often in 2 envelopes – one as a “gift” and other the cover their portion of party expenses. Regardless, the notes as fresh and crisp and in a special envelope with appropriate decorations and minimal written sentiments.

The guests are almost always sent on their way with a gift bag of treats with items which reflect the spouses personality (not always the case), or the region or season of the wedding. Anyhow, we took the gift bag part on with great enthusiasm and vigour as we wanted all the guests to take a piece of our heart reflected in hobbies, interests and whatnot.

As it goes, with all the work assembling the gift bags of disparate objects, we neglected to document the items dutifully. Fortunately our pal Robert Scales did a pretty decent job of capturing the assortment which included the following

  • Bizen Yakima saké cup – nearby Bizen one of 6 great centres of pottery of Japan, the cups were handmade by master potter Hosokawa-san and fired with no glaze for 2 weeks at 1000 degrees Celsius in a massive kiln
  • Note: cups were wrapped in newspaper and packed into hemp cloth drawstring bags

  • Matcha tea – from Kyoto, in a metal tin with bamboo accessories: whisk chasen and scoop chashaku
  • Gig Poster – the Taisho-era jazz/travel inspired art for the wedding made by Joanna Ambrosio of Ganamo Design (Vancouver/Mexico) and professionally printed (A4) by Fujii Printing
  • Sakura oil painting print – from Dave’s Gravelly Beach series, printed A4 by Fujii Printing, signed and number (150)
  • Commemorative postcards (2) – featuring paintings by Dave of Rural Caprine Farm’s noted gingko tree in full yellow splendour and haiku postbox (there is the actual postbox on site) of a poem about letters and peaches. Postcard backs designed with Olympia typewriter. Printed by moo.com
  • Thank you card – hand-lettered (Japanese and English) by Ryoko, accessorize with stamps from US and Vatican, printed by Fujii Printing
  • Incense – ceremonial from Bali
  • Ceningan Divers invitation – a special offer from our friends with a dive resort in Bali
  • Vendor thank you – round-up of all the vendors who assisted, contributed etc to the wedding, including URLs for thanks and reviews etc.
  • Gift bag – blue heavy corrugated paper bags with string handles from Usigaya decorated by hand with a special ink stamp (thanks parents) and gold/silver paint marker flag flourish (by Dave)
  • Finally, a special “typewriter card” paper clipped to each one to make unique and washi tape to close each bag.

All the materials were ordered, delivered etc and then moved to the goat farm’s kitchen table where dear helpful pals (under supervision of lawyer Lindsay and the Jen-eral) assembled and moved down to the goat farm so the area looked like a splendid festive morning. Then, each guest (mostly) received their bag with (hopefully) delight.

Note to self: there is a snap somewhere of the guide to assembling gift bags to add here.

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Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: Round-up of mailed items, etc, vol. 1 (generally 2018~2019)

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Poet Adam in Utah hills enjoy his letter with a can

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). 

Before leaving Sanur, left some special notes for the fine young ladies who look out for me (as Vincent, a Mae Maes CD, a literal laundry list and a dragon fruit look on), also cash
Diligent postal worker in Sanur shows excitement for his work

Continue reading Post’d: Round-up of mailed items, etc, vol. 1 (generally 2018~2019) →

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