1) Stamps from British Overseas Indian Territory Diego Garcia, thanks Cmdr
items, arrived by post
2) Postcard re: podcast “writers read their early sh!t” from an affable gentleman boxer in Gifu / Tip: he’s featured in a “beat sushi“ video
3) Kurt Vonnegut’s “A Man Without a Country” – pleasing to the feel hardback
4) small collectible card from Tōkaidō highway which came packed with satchels of seaweed and seeds to make a sort if savory rice porridge. Working on the series
+ etc
Pleasant chat with dear sensei Larry Harper in Utah this morning. Grateful for his kind words and to hear steps forward with his health and housing.
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:
Everest First Day Cover Aerogramme
Inscribed book by ephemera art master
Poetry collection from a laureate
Concorde First Day Cover from a flight which may not be useful
Investigate below:
Sagarmatha/Chomolungma (aka Everest) in Aerogramme
First day Everest Aerogramme, Aug 1, 1975, Nepal / waiting for destination.
notes from a master
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”.
new poems from a champion
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.
this flight is landing before it takes off… note to self: further research
Aqaba to Amman via Concorde, first day cover envelope with all sorts of flair!
Four views of a postcard with photo of a street car in Nagasaki on front, reverse features various inky and postal stamps. Sent to a friend in Vancouver’s West End who subsequently took these lovely photographs / thanks CA
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
The bottom box is repacked into two smaller boxes, the top one is huge slabs of vinyl weighing in at 2.2 kg and can’t be broken out so it will wait for safer passage
Aside: Paralympic stamps are already disappeared from the post office along with all other evidence of the recent Olympics around Japan. It’s not a happy feeling in general despite all the shiny shiny performances
Sharing this August batch so a recent new penpal in India can see some Paralympics stamps from Tokyo2020/1 > love the big stacks! sending vibes out to so many.
September series are thick textured tactile washi paper with ink drawings of tea ceremony items / you can get in on the goodtimes / priceless + putting “fun” into fungible.
Bits of inspiration for September’s postcard as a service assortment
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.
Ergo: 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“.
oh! comes back around so the envelope goes int an envelope and round again
Sometimes the letters come back – due to an errant digit or NATA or maybe just want another circumnavigation / so, off they go again! Get in on the rotations.
Thanks to R Scales for original snap – art’d up by dvo
[UPDATE]
The very special dispatch loaded with b&w lomography photos from Gandhi Beach & oil pastels of sherbet-colored houses in Kerala India, Jack Kerouac exhibit in Kobe items, collage of fake IDs (or are they?), & snaps from Suez Canal – which (somehow appropriately) required two circumnavigations to reach Montréal due to an errant “8” not “3”.
Question: Does the mail travel west or east from JPN to QC, Can?
