On the Hudson

Wolfey began her message by asking if I had ever seen the paintings of Hudson River Valley School. The art movement is familiar to me, but I can't say I knew any of the artists, or paintings, just by the name of the movement. Much of the art created during the heyday was created in this area of New York, along the Hudson River. My sister has a home in this area, and it is indeed quite beautiful, though not as open and rural as it was during the time of the Hudson River Valley movement.

Olana is one of many 19th century mansions (many of them are castle-like) overlooking the Hudson River. The owner, Frederick Edwin Church, was one of the Hudson River Valley artists. Most of the mansions are now open to the public, and I've visited some, though I haven't visited this one yet.

Wolfey lives south of Olana, in a town with its own rich history and architecture. The land she lives on was once a plantation, with slaves. She writes that it is very hard to image that where she lives freely, people once lived in bondage. One of the buildings in her town is now a "living museum," where people in 18th century clothing re-enact life of that period. Wolfey writes that finding such a museum is pretty cool in suburbia!

Interlude XXXIII - Housekeeping

Over the last few months I have received lots of donations to Orphaned Postcard Project. It is very exciting, however, I delayed adding to the database until I knew I had a hour or two to devote to the task. Yesterday morning I got up early, and gathered all the donations together and heading out to where I could watch the birds and enjoy a cup of coffee while updating the database.

I dropped all the cards. They went everywhere. Mostly because as they were falling, I was trying to catch them, so I scattered them all the more. At least one hundred postcards. This photo is not what it looked like. I was too angry with myself to take a photo of the mess when it happened. This photo is just the cards neatly spread out on the floor this evening before putting them away in the "waiting for adoption" storage boxes.

Anyway, I picked them all up and added to the database. I highlighted all the new orphaned postcards in light green so they stand out. I'm going to do that from now on. There are quite a number of newly added bells/clocks that all came from the same person, but now I can't figure out who that person is ... I had little scraps of paper with notes about who sent what, but most of that scattered, too. If you donated to OPP and I have added your orphaned postcards to the database, but didn't thank you, please let me know.

And in other housekeeping. Once I got all the new orphans added, I caught up with all adoption requests. I was about three months behind in sending out cards. They are all out now, and I am sure my mailman was quite surprised. There was almost 1 pound (about half a kilo) of mail in my box this morning. And that was just OPP mailings. I wish I had remembered to take a picture. It was quite an impressive stack.

I am still behind in my thank you postcards, but catching up on those, too. My regular mail has gotten woefully behind, but I'm confident I'll be caught up on that soon, too. All this is due to getting used to being back at work fulltime. I love my new job. It is lots of fun, and not at all stressful, but I had been a bit tired when I got home at night. Now that days are brighter, I'm feeling much less tired.

April in Boston

April lived in Boston, Massachusetts, for more than 16 years. She has lived in New Zealand for four years, but misses Boston every day. I know the feeling. I've lived in Pittsburgh for seven years now, and though I really like this city, I miss Boston. Especially the postcards stores. We don't have many places to buy postcards in Pittsburgh. Just not that kind of town.

A few years ago, April and her kiwi boyfriend (she isn't dating a bird ... folk from New Zealand are called "kiwi," which I think is quite charming) visited Boston and walked down this street in the Beacon Hill section of town. This neighborhood is one of my very favorite neighborhoods ... it is a very expensive neighborhood and I used to walk through it, trying to imagine living in one of the brownstones. For April, this particular street has special meaning .... her nickname is Acorn. I couldn't help thinking she and her boyfriend should start a business and call it Kiwi Likes Acorn. I don't know what their business would do, but sometimes just coming up with a name is all it takes to come up with an idea.

And I love this series of postage. There are so many different images for KiwiStamps, all rather ordinary scenes but when combined, almost tell a story. Here we have a man out for a drive on Route 1 ... he encounters a very windy storm and his umbrella is whisked away ... but he recalls the lawnmower waiting at home and decides the windy storm is a better option.

I don't know if the sticker is an official postal sticker, but it is quite funny. What would be under the sticker to indicate the mail isn't a letter? Postcards are obviously not letters. Perhaps advertisements?

Wondrous Wall

This is one of my top "must see" places. It isn't just because it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, though that does play into my desire, but more because I imagine the landscape to be as sweeping and dramatic as the Wall itself. And, this is a World Heritage site that is not fenced off, or guarded. Visitors can stand on the wall if they wish. I don't think I'd do that, because even being very careful, I could cause damage. But, I would like to sit beside it, gaze out over the countryside.

When Suzanne visited UK this was one of her first stops. They drove down a very narrow lane, and had to climbed over a low section of stone wall into a field full of sheep (I've had my own sheep and ruins experience in UK). Out there, in the midst of the sheep, there was Hadrian's Wall.  A piece of history, sharing the landscape with munching livestock. It must have been wondrous.

Rock Puzzle

These rocks aren't just any rocks ... they are rocks at Machu Picchu in Peru. Dora explains that the rocks are notched, so that the fit together, like a puzzle, without cement, and have held together for more than five centuries.

There are some people who believe that the amazing architecture at Machu Picchu (and other ancient sites) are the work of extraterrestrials. Dora warns that idea is not well received in Peru.

Dora treated me to some very interesting Brazilian postage stamps featuring occupations. Fun way to learn a few words in Portuguese!

Cathedral Intrigue

AmyMarie was treated to a wonderful story about Salisbury Cathedral in England when she visited. A story of unrequited love, death and conspiracy. Like all good stories, this one ends with a question.

The story is of William Longespée, whose tomb is in Salisbury Cathedral. William was off on many trips and was thought to be dead. While William was gone a church official took a liking for William's wife and tried to convince her William was dead. However, William's wife was steadfast, and did not give up hope her husband was alive. William did return, and that very same official hosted a banquet to celebrate. However, poor William took ill soon after the banquet and was dead in three days. Years later the tomb was opened upon suspicion that William did not die of natural causes. A dead mouse was found in the coffin, and it had traces of poison. Could it be that the mouse feasted on William, who had feasted on poison days before? It is a mystery unsolved.

Magical Meteora

This place looks magical! Like it exists only in the movies. But, it is real, very real, and close to Thessalonik, Greece, where Katerina lives. She writes that it is a steep climb up to the monasteries perched on, and in, the cliffs, but it is a beautiful climb.

Once, these monasteries were only accessible by ropes and baskets. Imagine being pulled up along the craggy rocks ... what a test of faith! Even if faith was not in a higher being, one had to have faith in the person pulling, or the person who made sure the ropes were not frayed, or even just faith there would not be a strong wind.

Inspiration for a Master

A few days ago I posted a lovely postcard featuring one of the lavender fields in Provence, France. Now I have a lovely aerial view of Aix-en-Provence, with Saint-Jean-de-Malte church mirroring the mountain in the background as the spire reaches for the sky.

Marie writes that the mountain, Montagne Sainte-Victoire (Mount Holy Victory), was inspiration for French painter Paul Cézanne and he painted it many times. I am quite sure I've seen one of those pieces at the Metropolitan in New York City years ago.

There is a cross at the top of the mountain, and Marie has much better eyes than I, because she can make it out on this postcard. It is called Croix de Provence and when Marie was 22 she climbed to the top and walked all along the crest. She doesn't imagine she could do such a hike these days, though. I don't think I could, either.


I like this French postage featuring the town of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. Marie writes a wonderful blog called Benches On My Way, and places like this are often prime real estate for lovely benches.