Lion Bridge (Russia)

This postcard comes from and English teacher who also speaks Spanish and French who writes that this was one of her favorite places as a child: the Bridge of Four Lions over the Griboyedov Canel in Saint Petersburg. Stunning!

Jazan Folklore dance (California)

Our friends Kimee and Michael sent us this terrific postcard from when Michael was living in Saudi Arabia. It depicts a Jazan Folklore Dance at Janadria Festival in Riyadh. I think this is the first postcard I’ve ever gotten depicting Saudi Arabia!

matchbox art (India)

This terrific postcard comes from southern India, where the writer tells me about the complex interplay between Hindi (one of the 22 scheduled languages of India) and Tamil (one of the local languages official to parts of the south of the country). This old matchbox lid features English written in the Tamil script, which I really love!

Lagrasse (France)

Voici la 70eme carte postale envoyée de la France par mon ami de lettres, Dominique. Malheureusement, il a écrit qu’il a aussi eu le CoVID-19 dans cette cinquième vague de la maladie. Il n’est pas seul; mon amie a aussi eu la maladie en Bordeaux, peut-être d’être allée au travail à l’université ou peut-être l’ayant eu par un de ses fils qui vont à la crèche. Je leur envoie pleine de santé, de positivité, et de paix pendant leurs convalescences.

Sydney Olympic Games 2000 (Australia)

This postcard comes from Australia, where the sender writes about how the 2000 Olympics still loom large in the collective memory. This postcard itself comes from when the Olympic flame was passed from Atlanta to Sydney, hence the Bald Eagle and the Kangaroo!

birds of North America (Oregon)

Linda worries that this card might be a repeat, but I don’t think it is. In any case, I wouldn’t mind because I love birds and I love LouPaper’s style! It was in fact Linda who turned me on to this artist, and now I’m working through several dozen that I bought a while ago. Thank you, Linda!

“My heart beats Hessian” (Germany)

This postcard is a response to my call for local, indigenous, and minority languages, and features a variety of German that translates roughly as above: My heart beats Hessian. Not only do I speak no German, but I know almost nothing about the other varieties of German that are spoken, so this is a real gift to receive!

Alfie and Olive play the crossword (New York)

One of Andy’s and my new traditions since the pandemic is to complete the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning without hints or cheats. We’re well into our mid-500-day streak already! After solve the crossword puzzle, we immediately turn to Rex Parker’s blog to see his thoughts on the puzzle, and it’s become a daily activity that we share over breakfast.

We recently sent a small token of our appreciation for his hard work and he thanked up with this postcard, designed by his daughter Ella Egan. I hope it doesn’t sound callous to ask this, but what joy have you found during the pandemic? Among ours has been the crossword puzzle and Rex Parker’s blog.

atlas of China

This postcard presents one view of China, and comes from a college student in China. She writes “First of all, I wish you and your husband happiness. You have courage.” Perhaps I’m reading too far between the lines but I’m happy to represent one possibility of happiness for folks all over the world.

a treasure trove of postcards (California)

These four postcards highlight the problems of my titling scheme. Although they were sent from California, two of them were obtained first in Costa Rica and one was obtained in Arizona. They come from a dear friend of mine, Marina, who collected these postcards during some fairly recent travel and work experiences, and makes some important recommendations to me and Andy. I so enjoyed receiving these cards as they definitely qualify as later-cards (one of my favorite genres of postcards).

Russian tea time

This terrific postcard comes from another linguist who lives in Moscow. On the back, she’s written the names of some Russian treats that often go with tea in Cyrillic. I can read Cyrillic if it’s printed, but handwritten Cyrillic causes me some trouble (just like handwritten Korean or Chinese, actually). I just don’t have the practice looking at what the letters can be. It was fun to try to transcribe it, but I know I was very wrong with a great many of them!

the northern lights (Finland)

This postcard depicts the Northern Lights on its front, and on its back, the sender sent a recipe for blueberry pie. I always thought of blueberry pie as a distinctly North American recipe but of course blueberries also grow well in the north of Europe (and other places, too, I’m sure!). So it makes sense that Finland would boast delicious blueberry pie, too. Here’s the recipe for those who are interested:

Crust

• 100 g butter

• 1 dl sugar

• 1 egg

• 2.5 dl flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

Filling

• 4 dl blueberries

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 dl crème fraîche

• 0.5 dl sugar

• 1 egg

Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg while stirring constantly. Combine flour and baking powder and add the mixture to the batter. Press the dough into prepared pie dish. Gently add berries, combine the ingredients of the filling and add to the pie. Back at 200C for 30 minutes, and eat!

facts and figures (Germany)

I love this style of postcard because it’s so informative! The font is also quite fun. I don’t know why I was so surprised to find out how many people live in Germany, but the number is really quite large!

Live Oak Avenue, Brookgreen Gardens, near Mrytle Beach (Ohio)

This postcard comes from a sender in Ohio, but depicts a place not far from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wonder if Live Oak Avenue at Brookgreen Gardens still exists? We used to vacation frequently in Myrtle Beach as kids; I remember all six of us piling into the van to drive down from Michigan. In fact, it was in Myrtle Beach that I had one of my earliest awakenings to the mysteries of language.

My little brother and I were playing on a playground at the campground where my family was staying, and we were playing with some other kids who were local to South Carolina. At some point, one of the kids remarked to us, “Yall talk funny.” I indignantly responded, “No, you guys talk funny!” Later, I realized that to them, we did indeed sound funny… just like they sounded funny to us. Maybe that was one of my first realizations about how much identity is wrapped up in the way we talk to one another? Now, of course, I know that everyone talks funny, depending on who’s listening.

more German bread

In my profile, I request a few things, among them local cuisine and beverages, as well as favorite recipes. This postcard comes with both of these things! The sender includes a recipe for farmer’s bread (Bauernbrot) which includes some ingredients that might be difficult to get in the US: fresh yeast (I’ll have to find the appropriate substitution of active dry) and beet syrup (I’m thinking either barley malt syrup or pomegranate molasses). I’ll let you know how it works out!

they judged Jesus (Germany)

The sender of this postcard lives in Germany but picked this postcard up in Graz, Austria. It depicts a window in the Graz Parish Church that is of some controversy, apparently. In the upper right-hand corner you see two faces which are Hitler and Mussolini, joining in on the judgement of Jesus.

The sender of this postcard asks whether this scenery is appropriate for a church; I personally think that any condemnation of unrepentant murders and dictators is warranted and welcome, no matter the setting. But what do you think?

Buckler non-alcoholic beer (New Hampshire)

Some people really dislike handmade postcards or advertising postcards, but they don’t bother me! In this case, the sender cut this postcard out of the box that the near-beer came in! What a fun way to re-purpose packaging!

cuttlefish chess (California)

This postcard comes from my former student YL whose boyfriend brought this postcard to her on a surprise visit from Taiwan. It’s really cute! Of course, sepia plangon is a species of cuttlefish, known in English as “mourning cuttlefish.” If my Chinese translation is correct, there’s a pun happening here. The cuttlefish says to itself “傑出的一手” or “outstanding first hand,” a pun on the many “hands” that the cuttlefish has, and the opening move of chess.

Yasaka no to, Hokanji, Kyoto (Japan)

This is a beautiful postcard of Kyoto, Japan, even though the sender lives in Gunma Prefecture. I don’t know a lot about Japanese geography, but I had never heard of Gunma Prefecture before, nor its important cities: Maebashi (capital) and Takasaki (largest city). I love this night scene, and I’m curious about the red trail that was left through. Is it a bicycle light?

skyline (Hong Kong)

This is a really gorgeous postcard that I received today from Hong Kong. I haven’t visited yet but I hope to soon!