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.
crème catalane (France)
Cette recette est arrivée de mon ami Dominique qui écrit simplement: “Voilà, tout c’est dit.” Évidemment!
Ingrédients pour 4 personnes: 1/2 litre de lair, 75 g de sucre semoule, 2 jaunes d’oeuf, 1 ouef entier, 1 cuillerée à soupe de maïzena et de farine, 1 écorce de cannelle, 1 bâton de vanille, 1/4 de zeste d’orange et de citron.
Préparation: porter le lait à ébullition. Retirer du feu et ajouter la cannelle, la vanille et les zetes et laisser infuser jusqu’à complet refroidissement du lait.
Travailler l’oeuf, les 2 jaunes, le sucre, la farine, et la maïzena puis verser dessus le lait après en avoir retiré les éléments aromatiques. Faire cuire sur feu très doux en remuant jusqu’à épaissement (10 mn environ). Répartir la crème dans des ramequins et mettre au frais.
Au moment de servir, saupoudrer chaque ramequin de sucre semoule, puis porter sur le sucre un fer préalablement chauffé au rouge pour le caraméliser. Le contraste entre la crème froide et le caramel chaud et croustillant rend ce dessert délicieux.
Recette de M. et Mme. Cases Henri - Ferme Auberge de Graffouil km 4, route de la Preste - Prats-de-Mollo.
Carcassonne (France)
Dominique m’a écrit sur une vidéo sur YouTube (et un article du Monde) sur la chef française Dominique Crenn qui a ouvert un restaurant à Paris qui s’appelle Golden Poppy. Je connais l’oeuvre de Dominique Crenn, la première femme aux États-Unis pour gagner trois étoiles Michelin. On y a mangé il y a plusiers années avec mon frère et sa femme. Le dîner a eté magnifique.
la Cité de l’Or (Québec)
Mon amie à letters m’a envoyé cette carte postale en célébrant la nouvelle habitation avec son partenair et ses enfants. J’en suis très heureux pour elle, et eux tous en fait!
“Scène relatives aux mesures de santé et sécurité au travail peintes en fresques au mur, mine Sigma 1949. Auteur? “ de la Collection Corporation du Village minier.
Jefferson Avenue, Detroit (Michigan)
Our niece Emily sent another great vintage postcard from Detroit where she’s living now. I suppose at the time of this printing (I think the date was torn off in transit, but maybe the 50s?), a huge, wide boulevard like this would have been attractive and indicative of a beautiful, robust city. Now, of course, we recognize that wide streets aren’t beautiful and don’t make a city desirable. The most desirable cities have narrow streets (and very few cars!). Detroit is undergoing a renaissance at the moment; I hope it thinks carefully about cars and their enormous appetite for ugly infrastructure.
Tillamook Cheese (Oregon)
I seldom post more than one postcard at a time, but Kimee sent these from a recent trip to Oregon where Tillamook Cheese is made. She specifically sent both so I could see the apparent time between a vintage postcard and a newer one. How much fun! She also correctly remembered the most important quality of Tillamook, which is that it’s Pinot’s favorite cheese brand!
Cucugnan (France)
Although Cucugnan is a picturesque, small town in the south-east of France, it’s most well-known, according to Dominique, for the Priest of Cucugnan, a story written by Alphonse Daudet and studied by all French schoolchildren. In the story, the Priest is upset that his parishioners aren’t attending mass often enough, so he recounts a dream in which he travels to Heaven and Purgatory, but doesn’t find any of his parishioners there. This is because they’re all in Hell, he recounts, hoping to scare them back into faithful attendance. Shocking!
Pago Pago seeds and fruits (American Samoa)
Matty continues his island hopping, moving over in to the United States to visit American Samoa (he used a US postcard stamp!), which is surprisingly different from Apia, Samoa he writes.
Echo Lakes (California)
Our friend Kimee was enjoying an annual retreat with her friend in the Sierras, including a 14 mile trail run from Echo Lake to Aloha Lake! It’s easy to forget living in San Francisco just how wild California is!
Ketchikan, Alaska (Canada)
“But Alaska’s not in Canada!” you exclaim. You’re right. So why did I label this terrific postcard under Canada? That’s because although it was picked up in Alaska, it was mailed from Canada, where Ray lives (this is how I label cards). He was on a cruise up the western coast of North America and stopped in Ketchikan. What a charming image!
handmade wooden bus (Samoa)
This is my first postcard from Samoa! I’m thrilled to receive it from Matty, who’s on vacation on “an island adventure.” What a thrill! He writes that “[t]he people here are so friendly & polite - so refreshing to see.” Terrific!
lenticular Oh, Those (Nevada)
I love lenticular postcards, even though they don’t scan very well! That must be why Andy picked up this really stunning one from Meow Wolf with quite a lot of movement! I was delighted to receive it in the mail.
Lima the Llama (Hawai’i)
My brother-in-law Tristan was in Maui visiting friends and family and volunteering with the clean up and humanitarian situation. He sent this very cute postcard, which I hope is a representation of the resilience of indigenous and local communities in the face of disasters, natural and human-made.
München (Germany)
Wow, I haven’t been to Munich since 2013! Our dear friends Julian and Salvo are traveling in Italy and Spain this month, but somehow found time to send this postcard upon arriving initially in Europe!
artistic cheese (Nevada)
Andy traveled to Las Vegas last weekend with some friends from grad school. While there, they visited Meow Wolf, which he had visited together in Santa Fe way back in 2016. What a trippy experience! At first, this just looks like cheese, but if you look a bit closer, you can see that there’s more than initially meets the eye!
downtown Detroit (Michigan)
Our niece Emily moved to Detroit earlier this year to be closer to her work as a pastry chef. She found this delightful historic postcard of Detroit, and even included some historic stamps on the back!
la quiche Lorraine (France)
Voici une recette que je connais bien. J’ai bien préparé cette quiche plusiers fois. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais beaucoup d’américains pensent que les quiches sont difficiles à préparer. Je peux vous assurer que cela n’est pas le cas. Merci, Dominique!
Chinese University of Hong Kong
This postcard from the Chinese University of Hong Kong comes from a former student I worked with who’s now working at the CUHK. I’ve only received a small number of postcards from HK, so this is a special treat!
tourte lorraine
Mon ami Dominique m'a envoyé cette recette pour la tourte lorraine, un repas que je ne connaissais pas. Elle a l’air très bon, donc il faudra que je l’éssaie bientôt.
“où diable se trouvent mes pantalons?” (Oregon)
Ha ha ha. How funny is this re-casting (ha! See what I did there?) of the classic Rodin sculpture?! Thanks, Linda, for sending it.
Lego birthday balloons (Indiana)
Nozomi got these great Lego postcards a while ago and has been generously choosing a few here and there to send to me. This one is a great one, of course, in honor of my birthday which passed recently. Thanks, Nozomi!