Shanghai Beauty

Another lovely view of Shanghai, China, from Louisa. This is Shanghai Grand Theatre, and is in People’s Square. The many windows also give this building a look of crystal in the evening when the lights are all on. Louisa writes that her favorite program at the theatre was Phantom of the Opera, which is indeed a dramatic show. One of my favorite big stage productions is Les Misérables, which I saw many years ago in Boston.

Years ago I thought I would collect theatres, and I do have many, but I let that theme go and all my theatre cards are now mixed with all the other cards. Sometimes that little voice that likes to sort things tries to convince me to sort the theatre cards back out, but I resist.

Of Maps and Megalithics

Netherlands has twelve provinces and Drenthe is one of them. Auktje adopted this card because her grandmother, whose name she shares, lived in Drenthe, in a town called Erica (close to Emmen, where you see the giraffe on the map). And, Auktje’s father lived in Ruinen (bottom left on the map). She also notes that Drenthe is known for its bicycle paths.

One of the images on this map features a pile of rocks... in the far right-center. I received postcard below last summer and thought it would make a nice addition to this post because it features those very rocks. They are part of a large prehistoric megalithic tomb and there are lots of these scattered in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, northern Germany and this part of Netherlands. I'd love to make a tour of those sites someday.

And another idea this particular postcard sparked... I want to sort all my country postcards into administrative districts, like I do for US postcards. I haven't started that project yet, but I am going to do it, and I'll enjoy every second.

Utrecht Mystery

This building is not identified on the postcard with anything more than “Het zandkasteel” (the sandcastle) and that it is in Rijnsweerd-Zuid, Netherlands. There is more Dutch text, but I can’t figure it out using translator tools.

Erica adopted this and sent it to her daughter to send back to me because she is in Utrecht and Erica hoped it would carry that postmark. Sadly, it does not, but that is not surprising. In order to get a clear, specific postmark it is usually necessary to have it the mail hand-canceled. Most mail is canceled by machine these days and lots of it goes to one central sorting location, which may or may not be in the same town/city where the item was mailed. But, cool postmarks are not a priority with Orphaned Postcard Project, so I’m not concerned that this one doesn’t have a Utrecht postmark.

The building does look like a sandcastle, doesn’t it? The rest of the Dutch text is “Van oorsprong gelijk aan de andere huizen in de wijk, hoofdkenmerk: vrijwel alle rechte hoeken zijn werdwenen.” Maybe a reader might know more about the building, its history or maybe has even visited it.

Of Fishing and Birthdays

Another collection interest a few years back was fishing vessels and this card was sent back then for that collection. I think the boats in this photo are probably pleasure boats, but, even so, they are probably used for fishing at some point. The text on the front is Dutch for “Happy Birthday” and it translates literally to “warm congratulations,” which I like very much because it encompasses more than just a day.

Henriette adopted this postcard… well, she didn’t so much adopt it as have it thrust upon her. I know Henriette from SendSomething and sent this postcard to her unsolicited. She has never been to Zierikzee (the port featured on this card) but is fond of the double z. Henriette has a project of her own, Favorite Words .

And today is my 52nd birthday. I did the math, and it is true.

Interlude VIII

About a month ago, MissiveMaven announced on her blog that she was doing a cat postcard swap over at Swap-Bot. I don't use Swap-Bot all that much anymore because the site has blinking ads and some of the user profiles include blinking images, too. All that blinking bothers my eyes. But, I couldn't resist a cat postcard swap. I love cats.

The postcard above went to Japan this morning. I wrote about how sweet my cat, Amber, was being at the time. Amber is not a very cuddly cat so it was particularly nice to have her sitting beside me, purring and looking for pets. Seconds after signing the postcard, Amber swatted me (she didn't use her claws... just wanted to remind me that she has her limits).

The card to the left went to New York state. On that one I wrote about a memory from my teen years. My mother did lots of volunteer work for a local animal shelter, so in addition to our own three cats, we often had foster cats waiting for adoption. It was not unusual for us to have 6-7 cats, especially over holidays.

While in California, visiting relatives on my own, I found a button-pin at a flea market (my first ever flea market). I bought it to give to my mom. It said "Support Your Local Cat-House." Now, I didn't know the actual meaning for "cat-house," until it was explained by my cousins, and I turned a million shades of blush. A cat-house is a bordello.

Yesterday was my mom's 71st birthday. When she turned 70 last year, I told her that she had done the math wrong. I was sure she was only 69. She told me it was my math that was wrong.

Seattle Redux

A while back I had two people request the same Seattle, Washington, postcard orphan. I ended up disappointing one and sending a different orphan, which she did enjoy but she was hoping for the Seattle. A week or so later I discovered in my bottomless box of orphans another postcard featuring Seattle, quite dramatic as you can see! I quickly sent it off to Natasha. And she returned it with a wonderful message about Seattle.

Natasha writes that construction of the Space Needle, Seattle’s iconic symbol, faced opposition when it was first proposed. People thought it would spoil the view. Natasha notes, “Now it is the view.” And, indeed, it does fit nicely with the skyline and I can’t imagine Seattle without it.

From Niagara to the Yin and Yang of Mail Projects

Eileen lives minutes from Niagara Falls and writes that she has stood at Table Rock (Canadian side) many times, watching the Falls. She never tires of visiting, and I suspect that is more likely a common view these days than it was back at the turn of the 20th century. The National Park system was put in place back then so that the natural wonders of the US would not end up like Niagara Falls, which was cluttered with tourist traps and commercial enterprise. It still is, but preservation efforts have controlled some, though not all, of the development on the US side.

This card was adopted via a listing a placed in The Letter Exchange. I've been a member, of and on, since mid-1990s, and can't say enough about this wonderful magazine. They forward letters and postcards to members worldwide, though mostly in the US. It is a simple system.... you respond to a listing in the magazine (there are examples on their website), put your response in an envelope with the unique LEX ID number for the recipient in the lower left of the envelope, affix proper postage, and then mail that in another envelope to the kind folk at Letter Exchange. They match the LEX ID to the proper address and mail it off.

It does mean you pay double to send your mail, but it also means that recipients have the comfort of knowing their address is never shared outside the confines of the Letter Exchange, unless they decide to write back and share their address. Since I now use a post office box, I don't worry so much about my address appearing online or in print, however back when I first started writing letters to strangers, I didn't have a box and I was thrilled to have a safe way of finding new correspondents. I still love Letter Exchange, though. It is the yin to SendSomething's yang.