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.
berceau légendaire d’Henri IV (France)
Voici une carte de Dominique qui écrit de la fin de ses vacances. Néanmoins, il m’a envoyé cette jolie carte postale du berceau légendaire d’Henri IV. Si vous régardez avec attention, vous verez que son berceau est une carapace de tortue marine! Je suis étonné.
“Berceau légendaire d’Henri IV, décor de 1822 | Carapace de tortue marine et orenementation de lances, couronne et casque debois doré, plumes d’autruche; tapis et drapeau de taffetas, velours de soie brodé d’or reposant sur une table de sapin.”
Pacific Grove (California)
This cute postcard comes from Pacific Grove where Tracy and Cynthia were vacationing this past week. We were very lucky to host them a few days prior for dinner and enjoyed our evening together. I’m thrilled they took the time and effort to find and send a postcard. This one is especially cute!
friendly hellos (Oregon)
Mon beau-frère et sa copine sont allé au Pacific Northwest pour rendre visite ma belle-mère. Pendant son voyage, ils ont visité Portland d’où vient cette carte postale si mignone. Je l’adore!
the Acropolis (Greece)
Our dear friends vacationed in Greece and Italy recently, sending us this postcard from their stop in Athens. Although I’ve been to Greece before, I haven’t yet visited Athens, so this is high on the list! They wrote about great sights, biological and not!
Taranto (Italy)
I will admit that at first I thought Lino had visited Toronto (Canada) and then when I flipped it over and looked at the front, I thought ‘Well, that’s not like any part of Toronto I’ve seen before! Granted, I’ve only ever visited twice, but…” Instead, it’s a beautiful city in Italy!
Do you believe? (Oregon)
I’m embarrassed by how long it took my to figure out this postcard - but I get it and I think it’s quite clever! I am particularly struck by how many of these I don’t really think of as aliens. Thanks for Linda for this postcard. She also writes a hilarious story that I can absolutely identify with. “I tried cleaning my oven this week with the ‘It’s sooo easy’ baking soda paste method. Even Martha Stewart raves about it. Clearly she has never cleaned an oven because it was not easy and took forever.” Well, at least the oven is clean now? Ha ha ha.
1st Gotland Adventure (Sweden)
This beautiful postcard was sent by Jussi, who must have attended the 1st Gotland Adventure in Visby, Sweden between 12 - 14 August of this year. I know this because tucked away in among the beautiful signatures on the card I can see his recognizable signature.
Bamberg (Germany)
Dominique est allé en Allemagne pour visiter Bamberg. La-bàs, il a acheté une nouvelle montre pour sa collection. Je ne sais presque rien sur les montres sauf que les amateurs les adorent beaucoup et sont disposés à voyager assez loin pour la bonne exemplaire.
Orthez (2) (France)
Dominique est allé sur un voyage au sud de la France, visitant plusiers lieux, cette ville comprise. Malheureusement, il n’a pas pu visiter ce musée (Maison Jeanne d’Albret) car il a eté fermé. Moi aussi j’aimerais bien le visiter dans le futur!
Greetings from Otherworld (Ohio)
This postcard comes from Leah and Jesse, who made a trip through Ohio and visited this place. The description they give is bonkers, but included “crawl[ing] inside a giant mouth and punch[ing] its uvula” and it goes on from there. Based also on the image, this sounds a bit like Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which I visited in 2016.
“hello from beautiful” (Washington)
As I wrote earlier, sometimes a postcard strikes my fancy. I either send it to myself or to my husband. This one is a case of the latter; I imagined that the dog and person depicted here were Pinot and me, and we were on our way to the cabin in the background to see Andy.
poisson cru (Tahiti)
Here’s is a card sent from Moorea, near Tahiti in French Polynesia from our dear friend Kaylé. Poisson cru is French for “raw fish” and is a Tahitian version of ceviche. It sound delightful!
Orthez (France)
J’ai reçu cette carte de mon ami Dominique qui explique un peu sur l’Orthez et Gaston Phoebus. Il y a tellement d’histoire dans le monde, mais l’histoire française et romaine est tellement bien documentée. On aurait besoin de toute une vie pour en apprende un tout petit morceau!
beautiful Hawai’i
Matty ended his US travels in Honolulu - not a bad way to leave the country! I feel so fortunate to have received so many great postcards from his trip in the US; that he took the time to find them, write them, stamp them, and mail them on the whirlwind tour he had is quite generous and thoughtful!
Laa mie! (Isle of Man)
Lauren, my friend and former colleague, was in the Isle of Man for the International Linguistics Olympiad, accompanying Team USA. It was a great chance to practice her Manx, and of course spend some time with the incredibly smart and talented future linguists of the world! I volunteered for the ILO a long time ago checking problems and it was a LOT of fun.
Disneyland (California)
I always confuse which one is in Florida (Disneyworld) and which one is in California (Disneyland) so I usually just abbreviate it “Disney” no matter what. Well, Matty was visiting Disneyland and sent this postcard from a childhood dream!
Chambéry (France)
Mon amie Jennifer est allée en France pour des vacances d’été, et elle a même pensé à moi pour mon anniversaire, en écrivant: “Que tu trouves de l’espace de quatre ou cinq ans où tu jouis d’un siecle de vie.” J’adore ça!
Chambéry: la Maison des Charmettes. R’sidence de Jean-Jacques Rousseau en compagnie de Madame de Warens de 1736 à 1742. “Une maison isolée au penchant d’un vallon fut notre asile, et c’est là que dans l’espace de quatre ou cinq ans j’ai joui d’un siècle de vie.” Les Rêveries du promenteur solitaire 10ème promenade.
Badlands National Park (South Dakota)
My dear friends Kay and Pei sent this postcard from a recent trip to Badlands National Park, one of my favorite parks, too! I love this art style of the postcard so it was a great birthday card to receive.
grey whale (Washington)
Why not send yourself postcards? When I find a postcard I especially like, I will send it to myself to make sure that it goes into my collection. Here’s a great one that the scan doesn’t reflect all the way since it’s cut out to the shape of a grey whale. The next time you’re traveling and see a great postcard, go ahead and send it to yourself! You already know the address!