Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Direct Swap - Melanie from Canada

Here is another map card Melanie sent me that was a duplicate from her collection. She received it from a friend whose dad was a cartographer working in New Zealand on a map of the ocean floor. How interesting!


Random Act of Smiliness - Eileen from England

At the end of June the kids and I received a very wonderful parcel from Eileen. Her and I connected through a card she sent me back in March. I sent her some vintage cards of England and from there we have been surprising each other here and there. I have yet to post the pictures of the goodies she sent the kids that day but will hopefully get to that soon. Part of the parcel had many fabulous cards of all sorts of things - hot spots of London, Buckingham Palace and the Queen and several wonderful cards for the 2012 Olympics. Seeing as it has been Olympic Fever in the house for last few days I thought it would be a great time to post these cards. Hard to pick out which one if my favourite they are all so good.





 


 

Random Act of Smiliness - J.J. from USA

This super cute card arrived last October from J.J. just in time for my birthday - her favourite holiday. Love it and all the wonderful stamps she used. J.J. always has some interesting combos on her cards. Three months today and we are out trick or treating again!




Monday, July 30, 2012

Direct Swap - Heather from Australia

I think this is the last of the swaps I did with Heather last summer. Busselton Jetty is about 3 hours south of where she lives in Perth and a place she has been to many times. She says it is quite iconic and is used by both photographers and painters for inspiration. I think going 8 metres down to see sea life would be the next best thing to learning to scuba dive!


Direct Swap - Mia from Canada

Yes, this card may look familiar. I had contacted both Mia and Roxanne at around the same time. Both asked for my address and said when they next had a map card they would send it to me. I didn't think they would both be lucky and get one within days of each other. I also didn't know how to go back to one and say thanks but no thanks. So I received two of this great card with lovely notes from both.


OFFICIAL Card - Taiwan

Amanda is a 17 year old from northern Taiwan. The view is from Hualien, an area on the eastern coast. The title on the card is "Fishing Alone", the sub-text is "There are always fishers at the coastline of Hualien and Taitung, in all kinds of weathers, on the most dangerous rocks." A very brave fisherman indeed! She wrote telling me that she loves to travel and would like to visit Canada one day. She really would like to experience snow and thinks throwing snowballs would be funny. Snow can be fun and pretty until you've had several months of it - shovelling and driving through it are somehow not quite as fun as the first snowman of the year.


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Direct Swap - Melanie from Canada

A little over a month ago I contacted Melanie to see if she was interested in swapping with me. I had seen a map card of her home province, Nova Scotia, and still needed that for my collection. She agreed and this is the gem that she sent me. She has been collecting cards for many years and had some other duplicate map cards that she was kind enough to swap with me. Since then we have swapped another five cards which I will post in upcoming days.




OFFICIAL Card - Russia

Ravil from Ishimbay, Russia sent me this card which I received on Friday. This beautiful view shows volcanoes of Kamchatka a UNESCO site.


OFFICIAL Card - USA

On Thursday I received this card from Ana a 6 year old who is home schooled and lives outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She sent me this fun postcard of dinosaurs from her favourite museum - Milwaukee Public Museum. I love dinosaurs and always have, sad though to see the triceratops has lost his battle with the T-Rex.


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Direct Swap - Binay from India

At the end of June, Binay got in touch with me as he had seen a card I had sent recently of SkyDome (Rogers Centre) and was wondering if I would like to swap. He collects stadium cards from around the world. He had quite an extensive trade album to choose from and to be honest I couldn't. While I like being able to select cards, sometimes I still want the element of surprise. I liked many of the cards he had with people, I gave him a few suggestions and let him decide. I received these great cards from him a few weeks ago. One shows three snake charmers and the other shows a fish merchant at the Mapusa Market. His words were really charming and talked about his studies, the weather, his homeland (Nepal) and a recent encounter he had with a snake!

As it turns out he also collects stamps and football tickets. In my package to him I surprised him with a ticket stub to an Argos game as the kids went on a field trip the day we arranged the swap. I also included some low domination stamps and received a very kind thank you when he received it last week.




OFFICIAL Card - USA

Papa Skip from Wareham, Massachusetts sent me this map card of Cape Cod yesterday. I had just seen this in the Postcrossing Gallery the day before, so the timing was perfect. He used a pin to mark where he lives so when the card is held towards the light you can see it. Brilliant idea! I will have to start doing this with the map cards I send out. Cape Cod was my first vacation when I was a kid, first time out of the country and on a plane. There is much that I remember but the one thing that stands out was being bit by a baby crab. Not too much fun, but memorable!




Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Direct Swap - Roxanne from Canada

About a month ago I connected with Roxanne about swapping for an Alberta map card. She was happy to swap and I was happy to have one more province for my collection. She decorated the back of the card with a really fun variety of stickers.


OFFICIAL Card - Germany

Sabine from Bavaria sent me this card last week. It shows the Pilgrimage Church of Wies, a stunning rococo church built between 1746-54. Sabine wrote saying it is close to where she lives. It is also a designated UNESCO site.


OFFICIAL Card - Switzerland

Markus from Amriswil, Switzerland sent me this card last week. It is a card he had made from a photograph he took. He wrote saying the area he lives in is famous for having thousands of apple trees. This picture he says is a typical Autumn landscape and is about 10 km from his house. When I receive cards of this quality with such a personal affinity to the view I don't understand why others are not interested in "homemade" cards. There loss is my gain I guess, as this is a stunning card.



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Direct Swap - J.J. from USA

How neat - J.J. sent me this card exactly a year ago today! This, if I remember correctly was our second swap. One of the things we connected early on with was our shared interest in the British Royal family. This picture of Diana has her wearing one of J.J.'s favourite ensembles during a Royal tour of Hong Kong in 1989. If I remember correctly this was one of  the dresses I saw when on exhibit in Toronto in the late 1990's.


Direct Swap - Heather from Australia

Here is another card I received last summer from a multi-card swap I did with Heather. This time it is one of her favourite map cards of her home state - Western Australia. It is neat how it also puts the size into context with other states in the country as well as other countries in the world. She wrote saying all roads are dead straight and flat. To go from her hometown of Perth to Albany (south and east) is a 5 hour drive. And I thought driving though Ontario and Quebec could be long and tedious, that sounds almost painful. Except for the fact that it would be Australia!


OFFICIAL Card - Russia

Olga from Kaluga, Russia wrote that she liked my profile so she sent me one of her favourite cards. It is from a series called Faces of Asia, Landscape & Ethnic Photography from Mongolia, Altai and Tuva. The view captures a Shamanistic ritual of kamlanie in Tuva, Russia. You can read more about it here. Olga also used a Sochi 2014 stamp which is the first one for me!


OFFICIAL Card - Netherlands

Rycardo from Spikenisse, Netherlands sent me this multi-view of Rotterdam which I received yesterday. He wrote telling me that it was a "bad" summer - it has rained for the past six weeks and the other day his heat actually came on. Complete opposite to what we have had - high heat and humidity and no rain. Funny, as I would describe it as being not so good weather wise too.


OFFICIAL Card - Taiwan

Mia from Taiwan sent this old style map to me which I received last week. It is very similar (obviously it's a map!) to this one I received in a swap. She wrote telling me about an upcoming party she was going to - beer and volleyball - sound fun!


Monday, July 23, 2012

Direct Swap - Yi-Ting from Taiwan

After our first swap Yi-Ting wanted to do another as there was another card she was interested in receiving. Can't say that this card really fits the style that I like but it is the thought that counts.


OFFICIAL Card - Ukraine

Last Monday, I received this card from Rita in Kiev. The card shows the Ukrainian alphabet and has been in my "favourites" gallery for quite some time. I was quite happy to receive it. She wrote telling me how great it was to have experienced EURO 2012 and how alive and vibrant her city was during that time. She also used some wonderful bird stickers throughout the card which were too hard to scan and the glitter on them didn't really show up so I wouldn't have done them any justice.


OFFICIAL Card - Germany

I am cuckoo for this card! Two friends - Andi & Ralf from Berlin sent me this card last week. We had a cuckoo clock in our kitchen when I was growing up and I don't think I have thought about it in at least 30 years. This card brought it all back to me. Love it!