Isle Wandering

One of the fun things with large mapcards is finding all the unusually named places. My favorite on this one is John O'Groats up in the northernmost part of Scotland. But Fishguard in Wales is a close second.

This card comes via Juli. She sent it to Mary Beth, a correspondent in UK. Mary Beth lives in the northwest region of England, on a farm. She doesn't say what sort of farm, but I think there are lots of sheep farms in that area.

Interlude XII - "stayed neither by snow..."

So the postal carrier creed includes "stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed." I have a feeling my mail carrier is "stayed." I'll leave the mail in there until the evening, just in case. The area around the mailbox is nicely cleared so he can get in if he comes.

We did get out and shovel the driveway, though only one half. I suspect we will have a one car driveway until spring, which the groundhog says is six weeks away. The snow is too dry to make a snowman, but the sun is out now, so maybe later.

This is me getting ready to shovel, but I didn't last very long. I got too cold after only one hour. Greg spent about 2.5 hours shoveling. I don't think we will be going out, but cabin fever might set in, so I'm glad the driveway is clear.

I am doing a lot of postcard and notecard writing today. I think I will be quite caught up with Orphan Postcard Project returns by the end of the day, too. Then I can start on the stash of mail that I discovered a couple weeks ago ... mail that has been stored for years ... back as far as 2003 ... lots and lots of mail. It is my Time Capsule project and will be the stuff of another post later in the month.

Interlude XI - Blizzard of Twenty Ten

This is my mailbox, this morning. I put mail out but I don't know if the mailman will be able to get to us today. The US Postal Service says they deliver through anything, but this is a lot of snow! About two feet right now, and more coming.

I walked out from the garage, through the snow, without shoveling. I fell in the snow a few times, but it was lots of fun. I felt like a little kid. My boots were just silly, the snow is up to my thighs and my boots end at my calves. The snow is "dry" so it didn't feel cold, though it would if I had left my clothes on long enough for the snow to melt.

Maybe later on I'll go make a snowman.

Chili In Snow

What a delightful image. It doesn't snow very much in New Mexico, but when it does the landscape is indeed enchanting. I would love to visit in when there is snow, just for the contrast. But, I'd also like to go back for the annual balloon festival. Juli attended it one year and writes that it was great fun.

EDIT: This post was written about two weeks ago (I often write well in advance and schedule the posts to appear automatically) and I had no idea then that I'd be sitting here today watching the biggest snowfall since the early 20th century. It is gorgeous here today. And so very quiet. I am glad I don't have to go out.

In the Middle of Spain

I learned a new word from this postcard ... alcázar. It is a type of Spanish castle, usually fortress-like. You can see the Alcázar of Toledo in the background, on the right. It really dominates the city, which is UNESCO World Heritage.

Edit writes that the alcázar houses a library now and in one of the towers, a restaurant with a wonderful view of the city.

Clock Trumps Government Building

Heleen wrote that she visited Waalwijk, in the Noord-Brabant region of Netherlands, several times years ago to see a friend. When the friend moved to a city closer to Heleen, they lost contact. Odd, and sad, how that happens sometimes. I've experienced similar lost connections.

Heleen also added detail about her family connection to this area of Netherlands on the back of the card. I am amazed at how much writing she managed to fit on it!

The building is the town hall and it also has a clock. In my organization system, clock towers trump goverment buildings so this one goes to the clock tower collection. I have to keep a list of what themes trump others because I've got so many themes. UNESCO is the only one that trumps all. If ever someone sends me a camel standing in front of a windmill with beehives in the background and someone reading a book in the foreground, I think my head would explode trying to figure out what theme wins.

I Was Waltzing With My Darlin'

Thanks to Juli I know that the three stars on the Tennessee flag represent the east, middle and west of Tennessee. And Juli has covered all three areas on her motorcycle, including Paris, which has its very own Eiffel Tower.

The state song is "Tennessee Waltz" which is a rather sad tale of a man waltzing with his loved one when he sees an old friend. He introduces them, and the friend waltzes off with the lady and that is the end of that romance.

"A General View"

The caption on the back of this postcard of Edinburgh, Scotland, reads "A general view of the city ..." but it looks anything but "general" to me. Such a wide boulevard! There is a thank you to the North British Hotel also included on the caption, so I'm guessing that the photo is taken from one of the hotel upper stories, or maybe the roof, which I think you can see in the background on this postcard.

Su, who sent me the wonderful post-script zine that features Orphaned Postcard Project, writes that Edinburgh is not really very large, and it can be difficult to avoid tourists, but buses are very cheap and she can fly there from her home city of Derby in only 30 minutes.

The card arrived with a bit of postal signature. Some people get upset by the marks left by mail travel, but for me, it only adds to the charm. 

A Really Big Card

This card measures 9 inches by 6 inches (about 23cm by 15cm) and features the approximate areas of the Native Americans upon the arrival of the European settlers and explorers. The USPS was not as rough as they can be with the card. Only one tear in the upper left corner. These large cards often get chewed up by the postal machines.

This card was adopted by Chelle, via Juli in Wyoming. Chelle's family, on her dad's side, is Native American. Chelle writes that she is proud of the many ancestral tribes she is decendant from and though she is enrolled with the Colville Confederation, she doesn't ever feel "just" Colville. Chelle also has European ancestry, German Swede, so she says she is as "American as you can get."

I wish we could undo the misery caused when it was decided that the original people should be relocated to reservations.