Wild Postcards

Thea in Queensland sends in this First Day of Issue maxicard, cancelled at St. Marys, New South Wales, Australia in 2008. (You can see another card from this series today at Girls Go Postal.) While the card doesn’t specifically say so, I expect that this is the angel who appeared before the shepherds as described in the book of Luke:

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

A very happy Christmas to you.

Thea in Queensland sends in this First Day of Issue maxicard, cancelled at St. Marys, New South Wales, Australia in 2008. (You can see another card from this series today at Girls Go Postal.) While the card doesn’t specifically say so, I expect that this is the angel who appeared before the shepherds as described [...]

This “rosebud” comes from Rosa in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. She doesn’t get enough snow to need a sled, so she sent it my way. No snow here either! Here in North Georgia, our portion of the storm that gave most of the Eastern US a blizzard just gave us some cold, driving rain. No White Christmas for me this year.

This “rosebud” comes from Rosa in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. She doesn’t get enough snow to need a sled, so she sent it my way. No snow here either! Here in North Georgia, our portion of the storm that gave most of the Eastern US a blizzard just gave us some cold, driving rain. No [...]

Kudos to the postal services of the United States and the Republic of Singapore for delivering this Christmas card intact; it’s only four inches square.  Of course, Ammy, who sent this in, also wished the postman a merry Christmas on the back of the envelope, so it may have gotten special handling.

Ammy writes that, “in Singapore, almost everyone — regardless of race and religion, celebrates Christmas, even the Malays, who are traditionally Muslim by birth (they are born into Islam). In fact, every year, our government decorates a stretch of road in our prime shopping district, Orchard Road, with Christmas lights…. There’s also a contest among the Orchard Road shopping malls, for Best Decorated Mall.”

Kudos to the postal services of the United States and the Republic of Singapore for delivering this Christmas card intact; it’s only four inches square.  Of course, Ammy, who sent this in, also wished the postman a merry Christmas on the back of the envelope, so it may have gotten special handling. Ammy writes that, [...]

Marco was kind enough to send me two beautiful cards from Naples, Italy, so I thought I’d use them to inaugurate a new feature called Two for Tuesday.  Really it’s just a way to remove the guilt from skipping a day here and there, like I did last Saturday.  First off, a panorama of the city:

This card attempts the same description in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese; the English description reads “Foreshortening panoramic street Partenope and Saint Lucy”.  Looks like somebody’s Babel Fish is playing tricks on them; I believe that the correct English translation is “panoramic view of Via Partenope and Santa Lucia”.

The Russian translation is even worse; it reads “Foreshortening panoramic улица Partenope и Святой Lucy”.  German is probably the most accurate; however, I can’t speak to the Chinese version.  Nevertheless, the view is stunning; it’s a great oversized postcard.  I don’t think we could get away with these colors in the US; our architecture isn’t suited for it.  But here it’s gorgeous.

The second card shows the Via San Gregorio Armeno (“Saint Gregory of Armenia Street”), also in Naples, where — well, I’ll let Marco explain: “This postcard shows the famous street of the Nativity scene makers. On this street, many handcraftsmen create true masterpieces of miniature, to decorate the Neapolitan Crib (presepe in Italian). Most shops are open all year, but a good period to visit the street is in September – November, when all the handcraftsmen start to prepare their shops for the busy Christmas time. During Christmas time, more than half a million tourists come to see the shops with the original miniature figurines, and the shops are especially busy.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

In case you don’t already think Marco is awesome, he also found three age-appropriate cards for each of the grandsons, and tied up each group with a personalized gold ribbon.  He also sent the envelope with a number of interesting Italian stamps, which came all the way from Italy without being cancelled.

It turns out that Marco is a great fan of all things American, especially New York City.  I sent Marco a similar number of cards, trying to find as many as I could that were as uniquely American as possible, including an NYC postcard that I hope he will find very dear.

Marco was kind enough to send me two beautiful cards from Naples, Italy, so I thought I’d use them to inaugurate a new feature called Two for Tuesday.  Really it’s just a way to remove the guilt from skipping a day here and there, like I did last Saturday.  First off, a panorama of the [...]