Here are the postcards!
I’ve been collecting postcards since 2008. Since then, I’ve sent and received over 1800 postcards from all over the US and dozens of countries. I respond to every postcard I receive, so I’m always open for private swaps.
My origin story: Back when I was a young boy, I got the idea to write a letter to several world leaders, but I only ever ended up writing the US president and the Queen of England. I was so tickled to receive responses from President Bush and then Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II! Well, they weren’t directly from the world leaders, but rather from their staff members. President Bush sent me an autographed photograph (which I lost later in a show-and-tell accident).
One of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting sent me a very detailed letter, typed on Buckingham Palace stationery, answering all of my questions about the Queen’s horses and her corgis and her favorite foods. I marveled at the strangely-sized paper, the texture of the embossed coat of arms centered at the top of the page, and the stamps on the envelope. A real person had spent time reading my letter, responding to it, folding it and placing it in an envelope, and then more real human beings had taken the time and effort to transport it from London to some mail distribution center, to an airport in England, to an airport in the US, and back through the various USPS chains until it arrived in a plastic mailbox at the foot of my driveway in southeast Michigan.
I’m still fascinated by this process today, and all for less than the price of some chocolate! So I maintain correspondence with about a dozen penpals across the world, and send and receive postcards. At last count, I have a little under 2,000 postcards that I’ve received. Keep scrolling to see the most recent postcards that have arrived in my mailbox.
colorful counties (Michigan)
Our dear friends Katelyn and Matt traveled to Matt’s and my homestate of Michigan recently and sent this terrific map of the lower peninsula’s counties! I love the color scheme; it reminds me of a math/geometry puzzle asking what is the fewest number of colors necessary to make sure no shapes sharing the same color touch.
cursive Cyrillic (Russia)
This beautiful postcard comes from a new Postcrosser. I have always found Russian cursive to be nearly indecipherable - so this should help me!
Berlin (Germany)
I do love a good night city view! This one from Berlin is really making me itch to travel, as this is a city I’ve been longing to visit for ages. I hope to be able to travel internationally soon, and Germany is high on my list!
Fallingwater (Pennsylvania)
This postcard comes from my friend and erstwhile comrade-in-arms Fawn who was visiting our old stomping grounds of Pittsburgh and took a day trip with her mother to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s stunning Fallingwater house. I was lucky enough to visit it myself a few times back when I lived in Pittsburgh and the memories are strong and clear of its beauty and art. If you haven’t visited it in person, I absolutely recommend it!
Divine (Maryland)
If you don’t know who Divine was, I’m not sure what you’re doing with your life. This postcard comes from my best-friend Mejdulene who writes that she was unable to resist purchasing this card when she saw it in a bookstore; they checks out. Divine is absolutely irresistible.
American Indian Tribes (Arizona)
This delicious postcard, oversized too which you can’t see in the scan, arrives from Arizona via Pennsylvania from our good friends Rich and Mary. They vacationed recently in Scottsdale to celebrate a milestone anniversary and enjoyed all of the art available downtown! I haven’t visited Arizona, but I have another South West state (new Mexico), so if Scottsdale is anything like Santa Fe, it must be truly magical!
Marin/Seascape (Sweden)
This terrific postcard comes from a former client who is now living and studying in Sweden. The image itself is “Marin/Seascape” (1894) by August Strindberg, and I really love the scrubby surf!
He writes that the “summer days, which are all I’ve had so far, reminds me of the chill days in California.” I love the play on words between “chill” as relaxed or cool in temperature!
les espadrilles basques (France)
Voici une carte postale que j’ai reçue par Postcrossing avec la recommendation de lire “L’invention de Paris” par Eric Hazan.
Cassoulet de Gascogne (France)
Cette carte postale est arrivée avec les nouvelles que mon ami Dominique et son BF sont allés manger chez un restaurant, plus ou moins, comment ils avaient fait avant la pandémie. Beaucoups de viticulteurs, petits producteurs, etc. sont venus de toutes les régions françaises. Il semble avoir été un après-midi très agréable.
Voici une recette (écrite en anglais et espagnol au dos) pour le cassoulet, un des plats les plus connus de la France. J’en ai fait déjà une version, mais pas l’authentique qu’on voit ici. Il faudra trouver avant des petits magrets confits…
Death Valley (California)
Do I need to say that Death Valley is in California or is that common knowledge? Nevertheless, I’ve never visited! This comes from a very lovely family of friends who hosted us for a delicious taco dinner last month. I think this was their second-to-last camping trip of the season, so I’m a bit envious of their visit.
I was just remarking to Andy last night about how amazing California is - a state of true extremes! Death Valley is the lowest point in North America (282 feet/86 meters below sea level). Just 84 miles/136 km away is Tumanguya (Mt. Whitney), which is the highest point in the continental US at 14,505 ft/4,421 m! Death Valley is also the site of the highest recorded temperature on earth (134°F/56.7°C on July 10, 1913)! Not very far away is the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, home to Methuselah, the oldest living non-clonal being on the planet (4,853 years old)! Nearby, you can find groves of the giant redwood, the largest living trees on the planet. These are not that far from the coast redwood, a species that includes the tallest known living tree at 380 ft/115 m (which is taller than the Statue of Liberty, including the base)! What an incredible state I am fortunate to live in!
dhosa making (India)
This postcard arrived so quickly from India (sent on 25 September) and is one of the few I’ve received from that large, very populous country! Some day I’ll travel there to eat all of the delicious food. Until then, there are these fantastic postcards.
Side note: one a scale of one to ten, how much do you think I should get a chef’s toque like this to complement my chef’s coat?
schöne grüsse aus Mannheim (Germany)
I do love a good, long-exposure night shot and this postcard from Postcrossing does not disappoint. Even better are the hand-drawn views of Hamburg Town Hall and Lake Hennessee, which apparently dried up once and allowed the sender to walk on the lakebed!
city planning (Portugal)
This postcard from Postcrossing depicts Park Eduard VII and Liberty Avenue in Lisbon, Portugal. I haven’t visited this country, yet, but it’s very high on my list. Seafood, wine, beautiful art and architecture - what’s not to love?
greetings from China
This week brought a few more Postcrossing cards, this one among them. It’s from a high school student in Fujian who has really beautiful and neat handwriting in both English and Chinese!
Nature of Russia (Oregon)
This striking image comes from my dear friend Linda in Portland who writes “At least the places I’m not going look exotic on the cards!” That’s the kind of intelligence and humor that drew me to her in the first place. I’m so grateful for the great cards and of course her strong friendship. I’m so lucky to count her among the many people who have touched my life and helped me generously and patiently along the way.
Balkan views
My good friends Aleks returned from a visit to Serbia and Montenegro and brought me these beautiful postcards! I’ve long wanted to visit this corner of Europe so this is additional motivation for an upcoming trip!
Metz (France)
Voici une carte postale de mon ami Dominique qui est retourné à Metz pour visiter la ville. J’ai eu un ami à lettres il y a très longtemps qui a été également un assistant de langue anglaise au même temps que moi. Mais il a été placé à Metz, donc j’ai lu assez sur la ville. Néanmoins, Dominique me raconte plein de choses intéréssantes sur la ville et la gare qui est énormement belle.
unknown image from New Jersey
This postcard arrived via Postcrossing. It’s a pretty view and makes me want to know more about it. Unfortunately, nothing beyond the photographer is written on it.
West Lake, Hangzhou (China)
This terrific postcard comes from the famous West Lake in the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang, China. In fact, I have visited this very site back in December/January 2019/202 when I traveled to Shanghai and Hangzhou. I gave a lecture at Zhejiang University and I truly enjoyed my trip to China. It was beautiful, the food was excellent, and the people were very friendly!
Incredibly, this postcard took 138 days to arrive! I’m not sure where the holdup occurred, but I think part of it may be from our side. The postcard came with a rubber band on it, which is typically how our mail is delivered in bulk when we’ve requested a mail hold from the USPS. It took us some weeks to get all of our mail delivered after our trip in July/August to Seattle, so I wonder if this was found at the bottom of the mail carrier’s bag? Well, that wouldn’t account for the entirety of the hold up, but part of it at least.
quiche lorraine (France)
Voici deux cartes postales qui sont arrivées ensemble, comme un cadeau! En première, une carte postale de Metz, autre ville que je n’ai jamais visitée. Mais la deuxième carte est une recette pour la quiche lorraine, qui est décrit parfaitement par Dominique au dos. Au début, il était un plat aimé par la peuple par sa simplicité et frugalité, mais maintenant il est mangé par tout le pays, surtout en groupe car il est facile à préparer, a découper, et à servir avec une salade. J’en ai mangé avant, et j’ai bien préparé des quiches avant, mais je ne sais pas si j’en ai préparé une comme celle ci. Au dos, la recette en français et en allemand. Je vous réproduis la version française ici:
Recette de la Quiche Lorraine
Préparation: 30 mn. Repos: 3h10. Cuisson: 50 mn.
Pour 4 personnes: 250g de farine, 160 g de beurre, 5 oeufs, 175g de lard de poitrine fumé, 2 dl de crème fraîche, noix de muscade, sel poivre.
Préparez d’abord la pâte: mettez la farine en tas sur la planche à pâtisserie. Ajoutez une bonne pincée de sel. Creusez une fontaine, mettez-y un oeuf entier et 140 g de beurre ramolli à température ambiante et divisé en petites noisettes.
Travaillez d’abord du bout des doigts puis avec la paume de la main, jusqu’à ce que vous obteniez une pâte souple et homogène. Roulez en boule. Laissez reposer 10 mn.
Au bout de ce temps, abaissez la pâte au rouleau et garnissez-en une tourtière préalablement buerrée avec le reste du beurre. Repliez le bord extérieur en cordon, piquez le fond avec les dents d’une fourchette, couvrez avec un torchon et mettez au frais pendant 3 h au moins.
Coupez alos le lard en petits bâtonnets et faites-les dorer à la poêle, sans matière grasse.
Pendant ce temps, battez les oeufs en omelette dans une terrine, avec la crème fraîche, un peu de sel, beaucoup de poivre et un soupçon de muscade.
Disposez les lardons soigneusement égouttés sur le fond de tarte et versez la crème aux oeufs par-dessus, sans déplacer les lardons.
Faites cuire 40 à 45 mn à four assez chaud (200C, thermostat 6/7). Démoulez sur un plat rond à la sortie du four et servez.
Et pour le vin: Côtes de Toul, Riesling.