Speaking of views, check out some other fine views this week at Theme Thursday.

From my friend Susan in Ohio comes this image from The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple’s Guide depicting a couple that neither sees eye to eye, nor dances cheek to cheek. Apparently there are all sorts of politics associated with sleeping comfort in a bed shared. Who knew?

For those who zip themselves together, it’s advised to keep a supply of towels and drinking water bedside. Every time I’ve done that, it didn’t have anything to do with sleeping.

If you want to get comfortable, take the author’s sleep test.

Ana recently found a cache of reprints of antique postcards, and I’m very happy to be one of the recipients. This view shows Skopje as it was at the turn of the 20th Century; at this time it was part of the Ottoman Empire.  But this city view might just as easily be turn of the century Chicago or New Orleans or Dallas.  Of course, it looks nothing like modern Skopje.

This postcard was Sherwin’s second attempt to reach my mailbox; I am glad that he was ultimately successful. The card is oversized (13 cm x 17 cm), and he sent it inside a clear postcard sleeve — which leads me to believe that he sent his first postcard that way, and that the sleeve got caught up in the machinery, and that the postcard was probably devoured. The sleeve on this postcard was lucky to have made it through.

Surrounding the map on this postcard are a number of images of beautiful destinations throughout the islands. Rather than enumerate all of them, I will tell you that I especially like the second image at the top (“Colorful Ati-atihan Festival, Kalibo”) and the third image in the right-hand column (“Beautiful lagoon of El Nido, Palawan”). Wish there was a single view postcard available of that one. Sherwin is from the Bicol Region, famous for the perfect cone of the Mayon Volcano, depicted in the third image in the top row.

This card was produced by PhilippinesPostcards.com, which has some terrific Philippines e-cards available to send for free, and of course actual Philippines postcards to buy.

So much fine print, and in Chinese! I’m not sure that this postcard/map is of a large enough scale to be useful, since I can’t even make out the characters without my glasses, and even then just barely. Clicking on the map gives me a scale that might be useful. Guess if I ever find myself on the subway in Shanghai, I’ll have to bring along an iPad. And a Chinese dictionary.

Check out some other great Wednesday postcards today at Postcard Perfect.

This seems rather dull as postcards go, does it not? Published by the Harlequin Romance people, I suppose that it’s meant to imply that some poor virtuous lady has been enticed into leaving her bonnet and parasol behind, and is currently having her bodice ripped in that stand of trees off to the left. But the card does have the saving grace of the sinister visage of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) on the verso.

Rather that post some of Poe’s usual gothic work, I present to you a poem for our times, an economical little piece entitled Epigram for Wall Street:

I’ll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
‘Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!

For even more economy of verse, visit this week’s issue of Sunday Stamps.

Nondas sent me this interesting reproduction of a post-war (that is, World War I) card, showing the town of Thessaloniki from the air. He’s also fond of these other, modern views of his town from the air.

There’s nothing like a nice cup of tea when playing one’s dutar in the sunshine. This official Postcrossing card has one of the highly-prized low numbers (TM-38) and comes to me from Zulfina in Ashkabat. It arrived in an envelope with the Turkish/Turkmen words kimden and kime (“from whom” and “to whom”) pre-printed in the appropriate areas, so imagine my surprise when I found a message inside in Russian! Turns out Russian is the language used for “inter-ethnic communication” — that is, communication with Russians who call Turkmenistan home, thanks to its previous history as the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.

“Ethiopians aren’t in the habit of sending postcards,” writes Sean McLachlan in his recent Harar travel series on Gadling, “and the fledgling tourism industry hasn’t printed many.” Nevertheless, he found this one at the Harari Cultural Museum; it shows a typical living room. In case you’re as confused about the floor plan as I was, it turns out that this photo has been ‘shopped to be able to show three sides of the room.

Also included in the package were two one-birr banknotes, worth about six cents U.S. each. One is fresh from the bank, according to Sean; the other is what one normally sees in circulation. Thanks, Sean, for these souvenirs of your journey!

From Polona in Radomlje, Slovenia comes these terrific views of her country — not to mention a plethora of postage stamps. Based on these views, front and back, I’d have to say that Slovenia looks like a beautiful, interesting — and potentially dangerous — place.  Is that snake poisonous?

If you’re interested in stamps, check out the Sunday Stamps meme at Viridian’s Postcard Blog. This week’s theme: anything goes!

In my mailbox today were two — and only two — postcards, coincidentally both from Indonesia, and from different senders who got my address from different sources. This card, from Shinta, shows three side-by-side volcanoes in East Java. All told, Indonesia has about 150 active volcanoes, but it looks like only one of the volcanoes in this picture was feeling fiery that day.

Shinta was very generous with the variety of stamps! There are postage stamps celebrating wildlife, traditional food and clothing, the Year of the Rabbit, and… what’s that blue one? Molecular biology? Human cloning? Aspartame?

Check out Girls Go Postal! to see today’s other Indonesian postcard which, in yet another coincidence, also features three smokin’ hotties.

My first card from Bosnia and Herzegovina comes from Sonja, a travel agent living in Banja Luka, and who was kind enough to tell me all about the different views on this card. At the top left can be seen a monument from World War II, and in the top center is the city’s Orthodox church. The large view at the bottom is the River Vrbas, which seems to be missing some vowels.

From Jackie comes this preview of the cover of the premier issue of Letters & Journals, slated for publication sometime this year. Their website is already full of useful information for those of us who put pen to paper.

As you can see, this beautiful view comes all the way from… West Virginia, after Julie decided to start a swap of postcards of places that you aren’t. I have a number of Singapore postcards very similar to this one, but this particular one is new to me, and gorgeous.

“The San Joaquin Valley is the ‘Raisin Basket’ of the world, producing over one half of the total world’s supply. After two or three weeks of drying in the sun, these grapes will become delicious raisins.” I never did care for raisins. I mean, you’ve already got grapes; why go out of your way to make them dry and chewy?

This is a modern “Colorscope Photo Prints” card, published by Scope Enterprises of California; the photo is by Arnold and Carole Compolongo.

This very clear view of Westminster Abbey (with Big Ben in the background) comes from Aimee Dars, a prolific swapper extraordinaire. This card was sold in England but produced by a company in Barcelona. Next to the stamp box, it has the phrase “the friendship post card” in ten languages.

Hot off the mailman’s hands, this handmade card arrived today, crafted by Lauren from love and ladybugs. It’s a shame that the scan doesn’t do justice to the three-dimensionality of the card. The time that went into this card means a lot to me, and I am sending something appropriate — though much less artistic — to her in return.

A view of the Meridianas, moored in Klaipėda, Lithuania. She was constructed in 1948 and was used to train sailors. Today, she is primarily a tourist attraction and restaurant. You can see additional views of Meridianas at Wikimapia.

Just for fun, I will frequently post a tweet or status update listing the destinations of my outgoing mail for any particular day. Today, however, in addition to some of the normal swaps and correspondence, I’m sending out the latest issue of Permit Patter, the newsletter of the Mailer’s Postmark Permit Club. Thankfully, the Club sends the materials and pays the postage.

Turns out that too much of anything can be a good thing: while I enjoy cancelling my own mail, I would not want soon to repeat having to do it nearly 200 times in one sitting. But the membership will know the joy of receiving mail cancelled with Gainesville, Georgia, Mailer’s Postmark Permit #1.

Today’s mail goes to:

Alabama: Theodore

Arizona: Sun City West, Tucson (x3)

Arkansas: Bryant, Rogers, Sherwood

California: Albany, Alpine, Chatsworth, Denair, Fort Bragg, Half Moon Bay, Lodi, Modesto, Northridge, Sacramento, San Diego, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Yucca Valley

Colorado: Broomfield (x2), Crook, Olathe

Connecticut: Berlin, Bristol, Enfield, Tariffville

Florida: Cape Coral, Ft. Myers (x2), Milton, Ormond Beach, Seminole, St. Petersburg (x3), Tampa

Georgia: Gainesville (that’s me!), Harlem, Powder Springs, Stone Mountain

Hawaii: Wahiawa (x4)

Illinois: Addison, Champaign, Chicago, Galesburg, Peoria, Rockford, Schaumburg

Indiana: Buck Creek, Muncie

Iowa: Iowa City

Kansas: Caldwell, Caney

Louisiana: Talisheek

Maine: Bangor, Greenville

Maryland: Annapolis

Massachusetts: Easthampton, Oxford, Weston

Michigan: Bay City, Cheboygan, Delton, Hazel Park, Munising

Minnesota: Bemidji, Rochester, St. Louis Park, St. Paul

Missouri: Birch Tree, Joplin, St. Louis

Montana: East Helena

Nebraska: Omaha (x2), Sidney, Virginia

Nevada: Henderson

New Hampshire: Contoocook, Epping

New Jersey: Englewood, Marlboro, Union

New Mexico: Albuquerque, Santa Fe

New York: Bronx, Farmingdale, Lake Clear, Liberty, Newark, Potsdam, Rochester (x2), Syosset, Owego

North Carolina: Cary, Sanford

North Dakota: Pembina, Warwick

Ohio: Akron, Canton, Chardon, Lakewood, Marion, Oberlin, Sidney, Solon, Stow, Warren

Oregon: Ashland, Newport, Portland

Pennsylvania: Bellefonte, Hughesville, Lemont, Mount Joy, Murrysville, Pittsburgh, Royersford, Spring Mills, Temple, Upper Darby, Valley Forge

Rhode Island: Newport

South Carolina: Columbia

South Dakota: Deadwood

Tennessee: Lawrenceburg, Portland

Texas: Atascocita, Austin, College Station, Garrison, Kilgore, Luling, Nome, Port Neches, San Antonio (x2), Silsbee, Sugar Land, Texarkana, Longview

Utah: Highland

Virginia: Alexandria, Colonial Heights, Falls Church, Herndon, Norfolk

Washington: Duvall, Kent, Seattle, Snohomish, Spokane, Tacoma

West Virginia: Moundsville

Wisconsin: Madison, Oshkosh

Today’s International Destinations: Don Mills, Ontario, Canada; Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico; Skopje, Macedonia; Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles; San Salvador, El Salvador; Madrid, Spain; Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK; North Walsham, Norfolk, UK; Tripoli, Libya; Vaivadai, Panevėžio, Lithuania; Minsk, Belarus; Moscow, Russia; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Brookfield, Queensland, Australia; West Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia; Dordrecht, Netherlands; Guangdong, China; Brunnen, Switzerland; Kouvola, Finland.