I was interrupted yesterday in my quest to share with you some of my favorite tools for laptop travelling. But I’m back again today…with more!

1. Bill Bryson is one of my favorite writers. Check out his A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail for a really neat tale of his attempt at hiking the whole length of the more than 2,000-mile long Appalachian trail.

2. Next is Bill Bryson’s Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, and his African Diary. As with A Walk in the Woods, both of these books are funny and share with you what life is like in faraway places.

3. Lonely Planet the Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World. This awesome book is an almanac like no others! It gives you the basic facts about each country: population, major languages, etc. But it gives you so much more–large, excellent color photos, things to do to experience the culture, and even things about the country that will surprise you. At right around $20, this book is an awesome deal. We keep it out like a “coffee table book,” and so I regularly find my children reading it and looking at the photos.

Will post more blogs and whatnot as I find them.

What would we ever do without the Internet?!? 🙂

Let’s face it. Postcards are nice…penpals are nice. But they just don’t cut it for someone as addicted to the idea of global travel as me (only the idea of global travel because I haven’t travelled anywhere).

So I looked for…and am now addicted to…some heavier stuff.

Check them out!

1. Marie’s World Tour. Want to know what it’s like to travel the world alone, as a single woman? Even if I had twice the gumption, I don’t think I could do half the stuff Marie has done…even if someone was with me! Read through her travel journals for an amazing look at life as an intrepid, budget traveler set upon making it around the world without using airplanes. And when you’re done, buy her book: Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik about her adventurous travels from southern to northern Africa! (I read it in less than 24 hours; was that good!)

2. The Travellin Ts: Travel journal of a family on their trip around the world; I didn’t connect with them as much as I did with Marie, but I still enjoyed reading about their challenges and experiences!

3. Aaron in Africa: Excellent blog with lots of photos of a young man’s time in Africa with the Peace Corps. Love it!

Have more to share….but the kiddies just arrived home so it’s time to take care of some mommy business!

If you know of an excellent travel blog, journal or book, please let me know!

When I picked up my postcard collecting hobby again in July, 2006, I was so very excited to find postcrossing.com! I was even more excited to find the postcrossing forums, where gazillons of private swaps, tags, trades and robins are made on a daily basis! Later, I discovered swap-bot.com, which is more for the artistic among us but still with a decent supply of postcard swaps.
So I swapped.

And I tagged.

And I joined robins.

And I traded.

Then I found organized postcard groups at Yahoo Groups: Postcard Addicts and Friends and Postcard Paradise, to name two. When you join these groups and sign up for them, you’re included in your choice of organized swaps held each month.

Great!

Rec’d from my sister Maria, who traveled to Japan.

So I swapped and I traded some more!

But then, suddenly, it seemed like I was sending out a WHOLE LOT MORE than I was receiving. Plus, I was joining all sorts of postcrossing tags for fridge magnets and keychains and other touristy items, yet receiving either nothing at all or junk.

I have received homemade things that were falling apart…they were of such awful quality that I myself would have been ashamed to send them…and other stuff that is not what I consider to be of swapping quality: angel “ornaments” made from fuzzballs or foam, yellow-stained magnets that had obviously been sitting on the fridge for a decade or so, magnets made from bottlecaps or stuck to the back of photos of people’s cats. Receiving those items seemed even worse than receiving nothing at all.

And yes, I did get lots of nothing!

–No magnet from France
–No magnet from Hungary
–No 10 and 15-card swaps from a few places
–No candy
–No magnet from the UAE
–No tourist items
–No postcards from just about every swapping country I know
–No holiday cards from four different people

It’s horrendous.

I’m appalled.

I’m disgusted.

I’m ready to quit altogether and be one of those funky old stodgers who send ONLY after receiving myself.

Yet here’s the problem.

Note that this is not my image and I do not send these particular things!
I found the image online simply to represent stuff I have to send 🙂

I have TONS of postcards to send. And an entire drawerful of tourist-type items like magnets and keychains and booklets and brochures and stickers and yummies and other goodies just begging to be sent!

If I can send one to you…if you’d like to trade…please leave me a comment here to let me know.

I have not completely given up hope yet, but have quit trading on the postcrossing forums, have stopped using swap-bot completely, and–although I’m sorry to say it–am about to stop signing up for organized group swaps as well.

I just spent all afternoon uploading and writing posts for the last five blogs you’ll see here…actually, the last six. And now I still have ONE MORE to do….because blogger gave me such fits in the beginning, I neglected to upload 10 cards. And this is worth it, because this grouping shows you some of my favorite cards, including the best-ever card in my collection!

So…here they are! 🙂

1. Jalan Thamrin, Jakarta, Indonesia. Awesome busy city street view!

2. Guanajuato, Mexico. My first card from Mexico, from a private trade. Awesome image!

3. Punchbowl Crater, the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific in Hawaii. Architecturally striking, emotionally moving. From an organized group swap.

4. It’s Geico! This is an ad card that came in my mail after I gave Geico my name at Bele Chere in Asheville over the summer 🙂 Even though I hate the lizard’s voice and accent, I like this card. Very cute 🙂

5. MY FAVORITE CARD OF ALL TIME. From McDonald’s in China! In honor of the Olympics, of course. 🙂 This was sent to me unexpectedly by Yan as a birthday present! Which makes it even nicer! I wish you could see the back of the card. I cannot read the Chinese text, but it has the Golden Arches and “I’m Loving It” both in English and in Chinese. And it says, “Issued by the State Postal Bureau.” This is the prized card of my collection now. Thanks to Yan for his generosity!

6. Call for Coherence, the EU Presidency Project. This card is from a private trade. From what the sender tells me, Finland is the EU’s president country right now. And they have all these initiatives going on, like this one. Part of the back reads, “Policy Coherence for Development is achieved when development objectives are integrated in all EU policies, so that the policies contribute to sustainable development and poverty eradication.” I think they need a marketing writer 🙂

7. Greetings from Kenya. I love this ad card, from a private swap. The back says, “Hello! I am Sharon. I live in Meibeki, Kenya. World Vision helps my village. we have enough water now and I go to school every day. I have a kummi in Finland. His name is Juha. But some of my friends don’t have a kummi. Can you help them?” Cute 🙂

8. Anhembi, Exhibition Park, Sao Paulo, Brazil. This awesome view is from a private swap with Karla. I am amazed at the size of that city; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city so large…and I’d never even heard of Sao Paulo before I started collecting and trading postcards!

9. Pan Dragon, Tychy, Poland. Take a gander at this most unusual building! I love it! 🙂 From a private trade.

10. Call for Coherence, EU Presidency Project. This is the second EU card I received in a private trade. The back says the same thing as on the back of the last one. If you can’t read the text on the front, it says: “There is no development without security. Arms trade to conflict areas in developing countries drains resources that should be used for development, education and health care. European Union is the world’s largest donor of development aid and at the same time the third largest exporter of arms.” (So…are you saying you’re doing exactly what you say you shouldn’t be doing? You guys need some marketing help! Please e-mail me; I will be glad to clear my schedule to help you!) 🙂

Well, after wasting a good 20-30 minutes alternately cursing blogger and then uploading pictures over and over, I finally figured out how it’s working now. Now, I can upload 5 images, then upload 5 more…then nothing. Then I need to create a new post. And believe you me, it took a while to figure this out. So despite my grouch-i-ness after dealing with this lousy blogging service, I hope you enjoy the next 5 or so posts of postcards 🙂

And since I could upload five here this last time, I uploaded five, even though I only had three postcards. Just think of it as a little bonus 🙂

1. My kids during our recent visit to Cherokee, NC. Cherokee is just outside the southern/eastern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We live about an hour-and-a-half drive away and love to get out there as often as we can. Cherokee is sad in a way, seeing Native Americans on display to capture our tourist dollars. But hey…they’re making money! 🙂 By the way, I bought lots of postcards to trade during this trip; check them out at my Yahoo album, here! If you see anything you’d like, e-mail to arrange a trade!

2. Art card from Estonia. This came from a private swap with Kadri. The colors are so lovely, the scene so peaceful…I would love this blown-up many times and hanging on my wall for everyday enjoyment 🙂

3. Polksi Folklor from a private trade. My grandparents are 100% Polish. My mom was born in Germany. So I love anything to do with my roots. I remember going to catholic school when I was a girl, a very POLISH catholic school! We marched in the Polaski Day parade wearing black velvet dresses decorated with multi-colored ribbons and beads and bows. I also remember that the horses in front of us always did their duty and stunk us out…and that one of my friends inadvertently slipped in the doo and had to leave the parade suddenly…. Ahhh…childhood memories! 🙂

4. Budapest, Hungary. This large, beautiful card is from Lili in Budapest. I would really love to travel through Europe (and other continents!) some day! 🙂

5. Entering Maggie Valley, NC from Cherokee. We vacationed twice in Maggie Valley before we moved here to North Carolina. Our cabins both times were located on the other side of those mountains you see.

1. Moscow. Building of the main Telegraph Office in Tverskaya Street. Is this too cool, or what??? All the images of Moscow I’ve ever seen have been those huge, stately buildings, which really says nothing about life there. THIS, however, does! Look at the Samsung sign on the building…the colors…the vehicles…the people…the size of the street…MOSCOW! 🙂

2. Pretty flower, from Finland. This is from a flower tag…not sure why I selected this for my blog, other than perhaps because I want to be able to take photos like this someday 🙂 (This card arrived and was set aside for blogging in early October!)

3. Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. This shows the cog railway at Mt. Washington State Park, also home of the Mt. Washington Observatory. At more than 6,000 feet, this is one of the higher peaks on the East coast of the U.S.

4. Getting her hair moosed. I got this from a swapbot unusual card swap….thought it was pretty funny 🙂

5. Chile. A very exotic location from which to have postcards. The front said, un pais de ensueno…a country of….? I don’t know. Very pretty images though!

6. Paul Klee Center, Bern, Switzerland. This, I believe, is from a private trade. I love everything about this card (except that maybe the images are too small 🙂 The shape of the building….(I’ve never seen anything like it)….the outline of the streets and the jammed-in houses on the little islet or whatever it is….and the lovely, old street with boldly sized and colored flags! Beautiful 🙂

7. The University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. My sister is a professor here. It’s lovely…a beautiful campus (or at least what I’ve seen of it)!

8. FBI Building in Washington, DC. My sister, the college professor, sent this to me as well. She often travels to DC as an advisor to the government on many important issues. I always imagine that behind all the windows are all these spys on computers, hacking away and furiously trying to break codes and all that spy stuff 🙂

9. Map of the Metro, Washington, DC. The Metro is really an awesome way to travel around DC! Just hop on the train and wind your way around the city…stopping at locations all around! Love it!

10. Salt Lake City, Utah. This view is awesome. There’s something about airplanes that amaze me (and scare the bejeebers out of me!)…and with those buildings and mountains in the background…ahhh! What a picture!

See, blogger, this is all I really want to do. I want an easy way to share my photos and text about them with…well, whomever is interested. But you make is sooooooooo hard to do. Your way takes way too long. I can’t wait till someone else figures out how to provide what I need…it’ll be C-YA! 🙂

Now, on to the cards 🙂

1. Pictorial map of Japan, from my sister. As a professor at the University of Tampa, she took a group of students to Japan this past summer. And she brought back lots of postcards for us! This is such an interesting map; the text on the back says, in several languages: May this be a good guide for your trip. 🙂

2. Map of Maryland, also from my sister from one of her many trips to DC. Perfect for my map-card collection! 🙂

3. Maiko at Golden Pavilion. This is so beautiful! Back of the card says, “Maiko dancers on wooden clogs share a paper umbrella. Hanging down on their back are silk obi sashes with elaborate embroidery.” Thanks agin to my sister….

4. Nanzen-ji Temple, Kyoto. This shows what looks like monks — or their Japanese equivalents 🙂 The card is wrapped in its own little baggie, which also has text and a price tag. The baggie says, “A collection of beautiful picture.” It was purchased at ITO-YA for (I guess!) 158 yen? Very beautiful 🙂

5. Osaka. Back of card says, “Dontonbori in Osaka.” I assume that means downtown borough, or something like that 🙂 The card is also in a little baggie, but without the price tag and text on it. But that’s ok..the image is spectacular! I love busy street scenes, and this sure is one! Look at all the lights and signs…and the moon in the sky and the canal or river or waterway. I even see a Coca-Cola sign on one of the buildings in the foregroup on the right 🙂

6. Minato Mirai 21 with Mt. Fuji. What a spectacular view! I would love to see this with my own eyes someday. Lovely!

7. Hiroshima package 1: A-bomb Dome and River Cruise, Hiroshima. My sister was lucky enough to be able to attend a special Hiroshima anniversary celebration at which the Prime Minister of Japan spoke. And she and her group lucked into seats right up front! This card comes from a package of 4 Hiroshima cards she sent me, all pacakaged together in a lovely envelope. My husband scanned everything…but because I can only upload 10 at a time…and because moving things around here is so painful (thanks again, blogger!)…I’m not going to be able to show you them altogether. You will see two of the Hiroshima cards from that package in this post, and then the other two, PLUS the envelope, in the next post (or so I hope!). I have labeled them so you know which go with the package. As for this image, this dome is apparently all that was standing after the bomb went off in Hiroshima.

8. Japanese ad card. I have no idea what it’s for or what it says… but I like it anyway 🙂

9. Hiroshima Package 2: Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima Island. I’m not sure of the significance of this. But it is lovely.

10. Japanese ad card, “Transient Flowers.” For “Morita Bungo illustration exhibition, “Girlfriends of DOUGHNUT PLANT vol.4” Check it out on the Web, here! This is an awesome, colorful card 🙂

1. Greetings from Philadelphia. I was born here. Lived in Philly till I was 12. Then we moved across the river to Cinnaminson, New Jersey, where I spent my most formative years 🙂 Thanks to my sister Astina for this card!

2. Hiroshima Package – The Envelope. This is the envelope I mentioned in the previous post; it contains four cards from Hiroshima that my sister brought back from Japan. It is published by the Hiroshima Convention and Visitors’ Bureau 🙂

3. Hiroshima Package – Card 3: Hiroshima Dreamination. My sister was fortunate enough to be present for this awesome, moving event during which paper lanterns (homemade, I believe) are set asail down the river in remberance of all those souls who died during the awful tragedy that was Hiroshima.

4. Hiroshima Package – Card 4: Dream Fireworks at Hiroshima Port. Another part of the anniversary celebration. (You will find cards 1 and 2 of this package in the former post…which I guess is BELOW this one on blogger. Another great blogger feature: if you want to follow my logic, you have to start at the bottom of the page and read UPwards.

5. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. The Ben Franklin statute. Franklin established the university in 1750; here, he’s seen reading The Philadelphia Gazette, a magazine he began publishing in 1729, and which is still published by the university today! I was once here with my uncle–he was attending the university and took me, an impressionable, young high school student, to the library there with him for the day. I was duly impressed–and still love libraries to this day 🙂

6. Airports of Washington, DC. From a private trade; shows images from Dulles and Reagan National.

7. St. Petersburg, Florida. This is also my old homestead, where I lived for 20 years after we moved from Jersey/Philly. I drove by the dome many, many times…and went to the University of South Florida at St. Pete, which is located right on the water over by the small airport you see on the right in the background. The small planes used to zoom in right overtop of campus…I never really got used to it!

8. UCLA in LA. I got this from a private trade–it’s not exactly what I meant by a University card, but at least it isn’t a sports card. This is from the Conferences and Catering department–so it’s likely a free ad card. But still, the only one I have from UCLA.

9. Akha Hilltribes, Thailand. This is either from a private trade or a round robin…I can’t recall being this far removed from receiving it! But I love the image of the happy women in their native outfits….lovely!

10. Thailand. This is a nice multi-view; I especially like the map 🙂

I just found out this is not actually the “finally” post I thought it was. I apparently have another 10 or so cards that didn’t get uploaded thanks to blogger’s fantastic service–thanks again for even more work, blogger!

For this load, however:

1. Lapp girl in traditional costume, from my postcard pal Johanna in Finland.

2. Tatooing in the village fair, India. This comes from my penpal Ram. Fascinating and exotic image!

3. Hebron, Israel: The Tombs of Isaac and Rebecca. This comes from my penpal Leeba, who actually lives in an Israeli settlement–one that’s often in the news due to the Arab-Israeli conflict! But that is another story…. For now, I have to think that these cannot possibly be the REAL tombs of the Israeli patriach and matriach…they must be for respect purposes or something! The tombs are HUGE!!!

4. “Experience Music Project” Seattle. This comes from my postcard pal Ruth. What an ugly, but interesting and photo-worthy building! 🙂

5. Le Grand Louvre, Paris. This comes from my pal Therese from Ireland! She’s studying in Paris for a year and tells me that this is her absolute favorite card of all 🙂 I can see why…this must be a “must-see” view if one should be lucky enough to visit Paris 🙂

6. Israel, multiview from Leeba.

7. Panorama of the Sword Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam. This awesome, exotic view came from a private trade.

8. Finnish funpark, Linnanmaki! Looks like fun, too 🙂

9. Itakeskus, Ostra centrum, Helsinki, Finland. This, from a private swap. I love the look of the mall….looks like a place where I’d enjoy shopping 🙂

10. Art card by patient in Finnish psychiatric hospital, in the mental health rehabilitation center. This comes from my penfriend Satu, who says it speaks of the power of coffee 🙂 I agree! And I really like this unique card; it will be appreciated much in my collection 🙂

Have you seen the new Yahoo photo pages? Wow! I was loading my page of postcards available for trade so I could cut/paste the link for someone, and … WOW! It looks just like Flickr now! I love Flickr…I just wish I could do like a photoblog there. Flickr is good except when you want to show TEXT with your images…which, unfortunately, is exactly what I want to do.

My husband just very kindly scanned another batch of postcards for me. I am going to try…to try…to upload them here with comments. But no guarantees…. Blogger only lets me do five images at a time. And to get them setup right I have to do it in html…then go in and enter the text afterwards…. It’s really kind of a hassle.

So if you’re reading this post NOW without first having looked at photos, it means I couldn’t upload AGAIN for one reason or another.

So here goes….

Hello, Friends!

Do you know of a good photoblogging service? I am fed up to “HERE” with blogger. It only lets me upload 5 photos at a time…and that, even sporatically. So it is with much sadness that I tell you that I’ll no longer be sharing my received postcards and stories about them. Unless, of course, I can find a photoblogging service that lets me:

1. Upload MANY images at once
2. Batch edit the titles and descriptions
3. Show the entire description once posted!

I don’t think that’s asking too much…if I were a programmer I would develop such a software and whip all these other guys out of business 🙂 But I’m not. So all I can do is grumble and hope that someone, somewhere, finds or comes up with such a service.

I have tried all the big name services out there: flickr, typepad, wordpress (I think that’s the name), smugmug, etc. I am even willing to pay for such a service!

So if you know of one, please let me know. I’d love to keep this blog alive, but not when blogger makes it so difficult.

Thanks for visiting…enjoy the cards I have posted in anycase 🙂

Renae 🙂

P.S. I’m still trading…so check out my cards available for trade! Newly added are cards from the Great Smoky Mountains…Cherokee, North Carolina….Cars, the Movie…Pirates of the Caribbean…and more!

This past week I have received more postcards than ever before in any week in comparison. It is so many that I while I had to cull down the amount I choose to post here, I still wound up with 36 cards–that is 36 cards to post! Needless to say, I cannot spend the time detailing each and every card, but I will title it if I can 🙂

I also want to say that I’m learning a truth about postcard collecting. To save postage, I have been doing more and more “large” trades–10 or more cards in an envelope with multiple traders. Yet when I trade like that, I find that I do not get all the interesting detail on the back of the cards. So while I asked for many of these cards because I like the image on the front, I know nothing about it. Sometimes, because I can’t read the language, I can’t even say what it is I am looking at! So I think for that reason, I would like to make many smaller-quantity swaps so as not to lose sight of what I enjoy about this hobby. It is not the quantity of cards that count…but the knowledge gleaned through them!

Anyway…so forgive the lack of detail here. I do have information on some of them but am not including it due to time. But, frankly, for most of them I simply have no detail! Thanks to everyone for trading 🙂 I still love the cards 🙂

1. Map of Estonia showing counties

2. Map of Bulgaria, shaped like the country!

3. Kirkkonummi, Finland; near the border of the the old USSR.

4. Berlin, Potsdamer Platz (the most modern area in Berlin; before 1989 there was nothing here but the Wall!)

5. Hapag Llyod Express; Fokker F-100

6. Gesterby Museum in Kirkkonummi, Finland. (I want to point out that this is a lovely homemade card by Satu; she also did the other Kirkkonumi card above, and shared many fantastic details on both!)

7. Map of Zeeland, a providence in the Netherlands.

8. Skyscrapers in Jakarta, Indonesia (love this view!).

9. Art card, Lapland, which is the northernmost area of Finland…sparsely populated.

10. Map of Lahti (in Lapland), Finland…the Business City.

11. Mushrooms in the rain (from Finland, lovely image!).

12. Art card from Lapland.

13. Portugal: inspiration, go deeper.

14. Air New Zealand, Boeing 737-300.

15. Map of the Metro, Paris.

16. Paris, La Defense.

17. Hostel Dieu, Main Courtyard, the Tower (Paris, France).

18. Satellite array, Raisting, in the state of Bavaria, Germany. (I didn’t know Germany had states till now! Also love this image with the white and blue, blue sky!)

19. Modern Art Museum, Kiasma, in Helsinki, Finland (learned from the sender that this is the most “modern” building in Helsinki…when it was built everyone hated it…but now they’re used to it :).

20. Casino in Dortmund, Germany.

21. Dusseldorf on the Rhein; Airport.

22. Bergbaumusem in Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

23. Barnegat Lighthouse, Barnegat, New Jersey. (Being an old Jersey-ite who frequented the shore, I love cards that remind me of those time 🙂

24. The Roman Baths, in Bath. According to the sender, these baths are still operational today…even after 2000 years!

25. The Schwebebahn Wuppertal, a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. Pretty awesome!

26. Koln, Germany. Magnificant.

27. The Crayola Factory, Easton, Pennsylvania.

28. The Ark with Elephants. Kenya’s Forest Lodge in the Aberdare Mountains.

29. Famous Finnish painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallenlan.

30. University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada (awesome!).

31. Powerpark in Harma, Finland.

32. HundertwasserHaus, Wein.

33. Lufthansa, Airbus A320-200.

34. Afrikaans Language Monument, Paarl, South Africa.

35. Tycho Brahe Planetarium, Denmark.

36. Art card by Dick Bruna, Amsterdam.

Out of the many postcards I received over the last week, I’d say about 1/3 of them could have been posted here to my blog–they were that good 🙂 But because time is a factor in how much I can scan and load, I’ve only upload the best of the best here.

1. The Market Square, Helsinki, Finland from my postcard pal Johanna. I love this card because it shows a real shot of a day-in-the-life in Helsinki at this particular location. I love the colors of the umbrellas; that most people are wearing jackets or long sleeves (save for one young guy in short sleeves!), which speaks of, probably to Fins!, very cold weather; the colorful flag and Finnish text on the stall on the right side. Thanks Johanna 🙂

2. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Views from Jeddah, from a private trade with Kim. Needless to say I love this card from such a far-away, exotic land. I love the city view…the art/fountains (aren’t they spectacular???)…the shopping center…the youth playing in a lot! A nice mix of day-in-the-life, art and regular postcard-type photos! Thanks Kim! 🙂

3. Montreal Stairways, from Christine. Another excellent atypical postcard showing me a real snippet of a real place in Montreal! Love the color! I can almost envision walking into one of these places as a guest visiting from the states 🙂 Thanks!

4. Night view of Taipei, Taiwan, from Yvan. I think just about anyone would love this card: exotic city, sparkly night-time view, HUGE unique building in the center…what an awesome, bustling place Taipei must be! Thanks Yvan!

5. Doors of Trondheim, from a private trade. Trondheim, a city in Norway, obviously has lots of beautiful doors 🙂 I love this card…colorful! And I can only imagine how colorful and different are the homes within each of these doors!

6. Daytona International Speedway, from 2004 Daytona 500. My son loves all things racing…I love the coloful cars 🙂 Need I say more? 🙂 From a private trade.

7. Continental Divide, from a private trade. I would love to drive down this road. Nuff said. 🙂

8. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, View of King Fahd Fountain and Jeddah City Center. Again, from my private trade with Kim. These images are awesome! Check out SIZE of that fountain (which looks like it’s spewing oil, by the way :))…and the architecture of that building. Wonderful images!

The postcards are coming in more quickly than I can process them 🙂 Here are 8 cards from the last two days, plus two bonuses 🙂

1. Chinese booklet on The Great Wall of China, from a tag with Yan in the People’s Republic of China. This is a very lovely book with almost archival quality paper and many beautiful images, although written in Chinese. According to Yan, the English version is very rare…and therefore out of his budget for penpalling purposes. Quite a treasure…thank you! 😉

2. eLong.com discount card, as an added bonus from Yan in the tag above! I love how there’s an “e” and then, I presume, the word “long” in Chinese. 🙂 Very neat!

3. Before I turned this card over, I looked at it and said, “Hmmm…. Europe.” Then I tried to narrow it down: “Germany?” Nope! This is a great aerial view of Szeged , Hungary, from a tag with Hanan! I love the card…the city looks so lively and busy and bustling…just not what I have in mind when I think “Hungary.” My mind is obviously skewed and does not perceive reality properly 🙂 But that’s what this hobby is about…it’s to correct my misperceptions and clarify my view of the world 🙂 Thanks Hanan! Love the card!

4. Pottinger Street, Hong Hong, from a private swap with Ameko. I love this view! It is almost like I am stepping into a busy street in an average day-in-the-life of a native! And look at all the detail: the signs have both Chinese and English (shoes, fruit juice, photo supplies); on the right see the box of cereal featuring Tony the Tiger. And on the back, “Chinese” English: “Neighbored with modern buildings, this is where old and new charmingly mix.” 🙂 Love it! 🙂

5. The Olive Pit, Corning, California. A unique card from a private trade with Amy in Oregon! I love it! It’s unusual…it’s local…it’s a real establishment! Thanks, Amy! 🙂

6. Atomium, Brussels. This card is from a private trade with Ron in New Jersey. I love science…especially cutting-edge stuff like M-theory…so this really appealed to me! I would love to visit this place…bet they have some cool souvenirs to be had! 🙂

7. Cape Town, South Africa, another card from my trade with Ron. I selected this card because it seems so hard to get cards from African nations…they are therefore rare and exotic to me…and any view I get is a treasured one 🙂

8. Ruta de los Volcanes, Quito, Banos, Ecuador…this, another card from Ron…chosen for the same reason. How many people have a card from Ecuador??? 🙂

9. Som Moro, Hervannan Kirjasto…an official postcrossing card from Maija in Finland! I love this card as well! It shows contemporary architecture…Finnish text…and it’s just not your typical Finnish landscape-snow-bird card 🙂 It represents the Finns well! 🙂 Although it was not easy, Maija attempted to translate this card for me: “Words, this is a weird thing! Your dream has come true. Every one has it’s own place and has been organized to lines. Just come in sight with smile.” Now isn’t that just the coolest?!? 🙂

10. The Forth Rail Bridge, also from Ron. This bridge is so unusual looking–and I just love unusual looking things 🙂 It is a view from North Queensferry in Fife..which, I learned when I looked it up…is in Scotland, in the U.K. 🙂

Traveling and Postcarding!

What an excellent week this has been–both for acquiring new postcards to trade and for receiving postcards for my growing albums! Last Tuesday, I took the kids over to the Forest Discovery Center in Pisgah National Forest (near Brevard, North Carolina). We stopped at the ranger station and saw beautiful hummingbirds everywhere…and postcards for a very nice price! 🙂 We then went to Pink Beds picnic area for lunch, and then over to the Forest Discover Center so the kids could do the scavenger hunt and so mom could practice her photography 🙂 Then…we stopped at the Center for Wildlife Education and saw where the forest service raises trout for local rivers 🙂

Yesterday, the whole family headed south to Greenville, South Carolina, which is less than an hour away. We stopped at The Children’s Garden, a lovely little character-oriented garden to help children learn all sorts of neat stuff 🙂 They didn’t have potties there, so needless to say we couldn’t stay long 🙂 Next stop was Falls Park on the Reedy River in downtown. What a beautiful place! There are waterfalls there…a swimming hole for the kids…gardens…flowers…art…and the only cantilevered people bridge that crosses a river in the world! I took lots of photos; hope to translate at least a few of them into unique postcards to share and swap with you all 🙂

My postcard trading album now hosts a bunch of South Carolina cards; check it out to see! I also added many new homemade cards, a selection of Johnny Depp cards, Pirates of the Caribbean cards, and new mountain cards!

My personal albums have grown as well after this week! I received nearly 50 cards from various trades and swaps….many, many lovely cards! I can’t take time to post them all, but what you see here are a few of my favorites–and a sample representative of the whole 🙂

Enjoy!

1. Alaska Railroad along Turnagain Arm, from a private trade with Sarah in Alaska. I love trains and I love mountains…this has both 🙂

2. Alaska from Space, again from my private trade with Sarah. Once upon a time, I wanted to be an astronaut…or at least a scientist at NASA. That didn’t happen…but I sure enjoy visions from space like this!

3. University of Alaska at Fairbanks, from Sarah for my university collection. Very pretty campus…would love to see it in person! Thanks Sarah! 🙂

4. Windmills in the Mojave Desert from a private trade. Something about windmills is very appealing to me. And to see them all in a row like this is even more awesome 🙂

5. This awesome image comes from a private trade with Edwin in Hong Kong. I absolutely love the colors of the paper bags/lanterns/ornaments all over this tree…plus the action of the chidren at lower right! This shouts, “HONG KONG!” to me, which is another reason why I love it so 🙂

6. Plane flying over Kowloon City, Hong Kong…again from Edwin. I know I keep saying this, but this is very close to–or actually is–my favorite card! I have a thing about airplanes…especially LOW FLYING airplanes! This image is foreign…colorful…a bit scary…AWESOME! Thanks, Edwin!

7. Card design by Minna Immonen, a tag from Kiti in Finland. Lovely! Wish I had a large-sized version of this…would be great in a frame in my office 🙂 Thanks Kiti!

8. The next two cards, Rainforest and The Great Barrier Reef, by Richard Galloraith, come from a private trade from Carol in the states. I love local art cards like this! And the detail on them is amazing! If you look closely you see all kinds of neat creatures everywhere 🙂 Colorful and fun! Thanks Carol…I am proud to host these cards in my collection! 🙂

9. Great Barrier Reef

10. Budapest, from a private trade with Lili, who will be attending school there this fall. I love how busy and active the city looks, even from up here! Just a good photograph 🙂 Thanks!

11. Tallinn, Estonia…from a private trade with Merike! Wow…this is my first card from Estonia…a country I know just about nothing about. But that’s why I love postcarding…I get to learn about so many people, places and things! 🙂 Thanks Merike! Look forward to more swaps! 🙂

12. Japan map card from my dear sister Maria, who should be home from her month-long trip by now 🙂 Another great addition to my map collection! 🙂

13. “Naturally! Beautiful!” Austria, from a private trade with Elke 🙂 First Austrian card as well! Thank you! 🙂

14. Last, but not least, a Lyrikart card from a tag with Kirsten! I love this card because I love the German language! It says, “Only at the end of our way we find the answers.” Thank you Kirsten! 🙂

Hey! Thank you very much for stopping by! I hope you enjoy my blog 🙂 While you’re here, would you mind taking a moment to leave a comment? It’s nice to know I’m not just talking to myself here 🙂

Thanks!

Renae 🙂

Yesterday was another HUGE mail day here! Not only did I receive the cards you’ll see below (which are just my favorite of the bunch!), but I also received a fantastic Paua shell keyring from Rachel in New Zealand, a Puerto Rico magnet from my sister (who went there on vacation a while ago and forgot to send it to me until now :)), and a magnet and little black purse from a swapper in Hungary! Thanks to everyone 🙂

1. Bryce Canyon National Park, from a private trade. I still cannot believe there are such awesome places on this earth. Amazing! I also received four other national park cards in this trade…and it’s these cards that have started me on the road to collecting national park cards 🙂

2. Amsterdam, from a private trade with Mikiko. Even though the image is a bit dark, I still love all the interesting detail: FujiFilm sign, Bazar2000, trolley 658, Presitge Gallery–oil paintings and bronzes. This really makes me feel like I’m “there,” and is exactly what I mean when I say I like cards showing “busy street scenes.” Thanks Mikiko! 🙂

3. Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From Susan through a postcrossings tag! Susan writes that there are hundreds of parks in the Vancouver area, but that this is one of the most famous and a common site for wedding photos. I see why 🙂 I am guessing that building in the background is “Bloedel Floral Conservatory,” as it is mentioned on the back of the card. Very nice! Thanks Susan!

4. Schiphol Airport, The Netherlands, also from trade with Mikiko. I love airport images for some reason. Must be the repeating images of planes? Either that, or it’s just my fascination with planes…that such beasts can fly at all! 🙂

5. This image is either from a book, or it is artwork, called “Wounded Angel” published in 1903 by Hugo Simberg. I received this lovely card as an official postcrossing card from Heini in Finland. She is a librarian, so we both share a love of books 🙂 The image here is stirring to me…a wounded child…a wounded angel. Same difference? 🙂

6. The Dolomiti: Misurina Lake and the Sorapis Group, from a private trade with Barbara in Italy. I love how the mountains absolutely dwarf the buildings in this image! Living in the mountains of North Carolina, I see mountains all the time. But I’ve never traveled west…nor anywhere else…so I’ve never seen mountains like these! Thanks Barbara!

7. Bradenton Beach, Florida, from a trade with my sister Jessica 🙂 Thanks Jess! I lived in various places on the west coast of Florida, from Tampa to Fort Myers, for 20 years! That bridge in the foreground leads to my parents’ home…they’re less than a 10 minute drive to that spot on the island.

8. Sunshine Skyway Bridge, from my sister again 🙂 I traveled this many times…the bridge replaces the two spanner, one of which crumbled when a barge hit it many moons ago! You can still see the remnants of one of the spans in the background. This bridge connects St. Petersburg to Bradenton.

9. Holland, from private trade with Mikiko. I love windmills…and I love colors…so this is a great card for me 🙂

10. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. This card is from a private trade; only LDS members can enter the temple…the rest of us have to admire it from the outside 🙂 Very lovely!

11. Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand, from a private swap with Pip 🙂 It’s a perfect addition to my uni collection! Love it! Thanks, Pip!

The last few days have been so much postcarding fun! Not only did I receive a TON of postcards (so many so that seeing only “one” lonely card in my box today kinda seemed sad!), but I also tried my hand at rubber stamping cards in blank spaces and then coloring the stamped images with gel pens and markers! The images look oh-so-lovely! And they help take up space on those cards where I really don’t have all that much to say 🙂

Here’s a good handful of the cards I received recently. While they were scanned in similar groups (like Philly cards with Philly cards!), they uploaded in quite another order. And I don’t have time to fix it 🙂

I didn’t think you’d mind!

1. Nyonya Kebaya Malaysian Creations from a private trade with a generous and artistic friend in Malyasia! This is one of the more popular traditional dresses among the ladies. Beautiful! (All Malaysian cards posted in today’s blog were from the same generous friend–not only are the images on the cards superb, but so are the images on the back! He took the time to draw and color cute little images on each card, which gave me the idea to stamp and color on my cards! I can’t draw, so stamps had to do it!)

2. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, right down the street from a pretzel factor. Several times a week, people would come by the house pulling red wooden wagons filled with Philly pretzels…at 10 for a dollar! They also carried mustard so you could top one or two off right there for quick munching 🙂 Well…I moved away from Philly 20 years ago. And it has been nearly that long since I have tasted a Philly pretzel–a REAL Philly pretzel! Others may call themselves that, but I have never yet found one to live up to the real thing. (These pretzels are making me thirsty!!!! 🙂

3. US Air Force Academy Chapel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I just love the architecture here!

4. Connecticut map from a private trade.

5. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, from the same private trade. I love academia–if I could, I’d go back to school full-time for a doctorate, and then teach at the college level. But since that doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening anytime soon, I’ll collect university postcards instead 🙂

6. Yale Campus, from same private trade. Would love to hobnob among the Ivy Leaguers…if only for a day to see if the rumors are true 🙂

7. Katharine S. Day House, Hartford, Connecticut, from the same private trade. I love the color and style of this building. This looks like the kind of home I’d like to live in…I think it’s all that brick that appeals to me.

8. New Zealand map from a private trade. This map is excellent in its simplicity. No photos…no facts…but a neat cutout showing where NZ is in the world’s geography.

9. The Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar–one of the oldest in Malaysia. Beautiful! This must be breathtaking in person!

10. Puala Perhentian Besar (puala = island; besar = big), part of the National Marine Park in Malaysia. Has a smaller brother island, Puala Kecil (kecil = small) that’s more isolated and much prettier…according to notes from the sender 🙂 Best time to visit is right before monsoon season…low prices and less people! 🙂

11. Fishing village on Pangkor Island. Can you imagine actually living in such a place??? I am so far removed from such a life….

12. University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This sent me over to the Wharton Business School site…and to ask my husband, “What do you think about living in Pennsylvania?” 🙂 Well…one can continue to hope…. 🙂

13. Benjamin Franklin Parkway in downtown Philly. I think my last time there was on a kindergarten field trip 🙂

14. City of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia and its financial and commercial center. I love this view because it’s so contemporary…and green…and awesome! Looks like a place I would love to visit…I bet there is much to do!

15. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. This has got to be one of the best of the bunch. I love the architecture…the shimmer…the modernness!

16. Greetings from Malaysia. This card is spectacular for its various colorful images from Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur. According to the individual who sent it, the kitework you see is today a dying art. In fact, all of these games, says my friend, are, sadly, dying in Malaysia. In with the twin towers…out with yesterday’s games, I suppose. Same as anywhere else.

17. Greetings from Malaysia. Another lovely, colorful card showing images from Butterfly Park…yummy images at that! Here you see sate and fried and sweet cakes, all of which are, according to my friend, very delicious 🙂

18. Last, but certainly not least, is this wonderful view of Guangzhou, China, sent by my new trading friend there. Guangzhou is the 3rd largest metropolis in the mainland, known as the “kitchen of China.” The river is the Pearl River. Again, what strikes me about this scene is the contemporary look of the city. I seem to have a preconceived notion in my mind that places like China and Malaysia are more filled with ancient temples and buildings rather than skyscrapers and business centers! Shows how ignorant I am! 🙂

1. A Scene of Sannen-zaka Slope in the Rain, Kyoto; from my sister who is currently in Japan.

2. The Peachoid at Gaffney, South Carolina. This is one strange site to see driving down I85 in South Carolina! So I was very pleased to be able to obtain it in a private trade 🙂

3. The McCarran Airport, Las Vegas Nevada. This has got to be one of the best cards ever! Look at the layers…mountains, then black buildings, then sphynix and luxor monument, then trees…then airplanes! I love this card…from a private swap!

4. Corkscrew Canyon. Not sure where this is (Utah? Nevada?), but I would love to see it in person. The photo is extremely impressive! Also from private swap!