OFFICIAL Card - Lithuania

Lina from Vilnius, Lithuania sent me this card which I received last week. She writes that she too likes map cards and that she likes to look at the world from a different angle. This put such a smile on my face! So unique.

OFFICIAL Card - Russia

I {heart} this card that Kaa from Novosibirsk, Russia sent me. The dolls are all wearing traditional Russian costumes. She wrote telling me her city had a big folk festival last year and there were many similar costumes. So colourful and fun!

OFFICIAL Card - Belarus

Tania from Belarus sent me this card which I received two weeks ago. She was excited as this was the first card she sent to Canada. I have no idea what the views if of or where. Yes, it looks like a church but oddly there was no printing on the back at all, not even a manufacturer or anything. Hoping one day I can solve this mystery. She also used one of my favourite stamps.

OFFICIAL Card - France

Jean- Jacques lives in the southern part of Alsace, France which he tells me is the most beautiful part of his country. Check out those flower baskets in the lower right. They are wonderful!  Reminds me of the baskets they have in Victoria, BC. I could only dream about having flowers that beautiful. The stamp he used is really neat, I can't see that it is an Olympic stamp but nice nonetheless.

OFFICIAL Card - Taiwan

Emilly from Taipei, Taiwan sent me this ad card from a local hotel chain - Zenda Suites. Most times I don't mind an ad card if they somewhat match my wish list or are "nice" - yes, a highly subjective phrase I know. What got me about this one is she states on her profile that she doesn't like them. I always have to wonder then why someone who doesn't want them themselves feel it is OK to send?!?!

OFFICIAL Card - Great Britain

It was raining the day Charlotte sent me this Puffin Book Cover card. It shows the book "ABC" from 1943. While much appreciated it is one of only a handful of duplicates in my collection.

OFFICIAL Card - China

These lovely blue watercolour parrots found the way into my mailbox on Monday thanks to Chujun in Shanghai. Such a beautiful card.

OFFICIAL Card - Germany

Norbert from Dusseldorf, Germany sent me this map card of the town of Bielefeld in the northern part of the country. The town hall is shown in the view in the upper left corner.

Direct Swap - Melanie from Canada

This is the last card of the initial swap I did with Melanie - a super map of Great Britian including the flag. I have a bit of a soft spot for this country as my husband is from Belfast.

Random Act of Smiliness - JJ from USA

Last December I had yet another "I can't believed I just squealed getting the mail" moment. This time, once again, I can thank J.J. She sent me a Christmas from the North Pole. Just how cool is that?!?!!!! It is gestures like this that really make me feel good knowing that a "stranger" is willing to go out of their way to put a smile on someones face. OK, I do mean my face. This really is special. As always, she used some great stamps, especially love the Peace Bridge. I've crossed that several times on trips to Buffalo and beyond.

Direct Swap - Rolf from Canada

When I contacted Rolf about swapping a Manitoba map card he mentioned that he had an extra card of Wisconsin in his collection and was I interested. I was. Imagine my surprise when he also sent me an extra map card he had of Hawaii. I hadn't even tried to swap for that state yet but somehow figured it may not be an easy one. Two more great maps for my collection.

Direct Swap - Val from USA

In early July I connected with Val to see if she had a map of her home state of Illinois. She was happy to send me a card, however never followed up with my requests for her address. Either way much appreciated! Funny thing this is the first card I received with a "postage due" stamp on it. I have often wondered as some countries you get cards from have completely different amounts on them but they still somehow arrive. No one asked me for the $.53 cents so I guess I get to keep it!

OFFICIAL Card - Germany

This picture reminds me so much of my two kids when they were younger. They would hug and kiss often and now barely want to be in the same room as each other! It is just so precious and innocent, even with a big old postal smudge.  Chantal in 10 years old and simply wrote "Hope you like this picture of young love?" - I do.

The card also has another UNESCO stamp on it. Never even realized it before I posted about it the other day as I have received several of these in the past. This one is of the old town of Regensburg in Germany.

OFFICIAL Card - Ukraine

This sweet black and white illustration came in the mail Friday after travelling to me for 46 days from Chernigov, Ukraine. Oksana is an accountant and wrote to me about her hobbies. She also shared with me one of her favourite quotes from author Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "Never stop smiling not even when you are sad. Someone might fall in love with your smile." She then went on to wish me a lot of smiles - sweet! The stamps she chose are pretty great too.

Postcrossing Meet-up

Another aspect of this hobby is connecting with others who share it. From time to time members arrange to meet one another in person to chat about all things Postcrossing. In July I had the opportunity to meet up with nine of my fellow South Western Ontarians in the town of Ingersoll for one such event organized by Lynda. In hindsight (which is always perfect!), it was a bit far to drive - almost 2 hours one way. Once I was there I was glad that I made the trip. It was nice to see others collections, hear some of their stories and just generally chat with people who enjoy the hobby as much as I do. Lynda designed a great card which we as a group signed and sent to 12 Postcrossers who responded to a post in the forum. I also purchased some to send out and the response from those who have received them has been fantastic. Great job Lynda!

Some of the participants brought cards for everyone as a remembrance of the afternoon and signed them before handing them out. I wasn't quite so organized but did follow-up with a few of the ladies down at my end of the table who I was able to exchange addresses with before the day was over.

Overall, a fun day and one I would certainly do again - hopefully next time a bit closer to home.

First the meet-up card designed by LyndaC-

Woodstock Museum and Museum Square from alidam2

Downtown Tillsonburg from unicorn11

Colourful Snail Mail from lisadora

Two fabulous vintage John Deere views from Corinnacr

And a super fun "Love is..." from muddslide

And finally a slightly blurry picture of all of us who attended that day - that's me second one in on the left in purple.



Random Act of Smiliness - J.J. from USA

J.J. spent a weekend last month visiting Virgina Beach, Virgina and found the time to send me this card. She really is super thoughtful. She wrote telling me she climbed up the light brown lighthouse in the picture, how cool is that! I couldn't quite understand the Bay Bridge Tunnel when I saw it in this picture so I did a little googling. This is what I came up with, how neat, it literally is a bridge and a tunnel! I could do the bridge part no problem but the tunnel, that could be a different story.

Direct Swap - Rolf from Canada

I contacted Rolf in early July to see if he was interested in a swap. He was and also had a few others to offer me. I was quite surprised reading the back of the card to hear that Manitoba has over 100,000 lakes - that is a lot of water!

Direct Swap - Melanie from Canada

When Melanie and I connected about swapping a map of her home province she said she had some duplicate maps in her collection if I was interested. One of them was this map of New Hampshire, one of my favourite US States. Funny thing, I received an official card through Postcrossing just days after receiving hers - what are the odds of that! This one is a different design and both are great in my collection.

OFFICIAL Card - Germany

I received this card from Tina, a taxi driver from Northern Germany earlier in the week. It is a city map of Kiel, which looks like it is fairly close to where she lives.She wrote telling me how her summer has been cold and rainy and how she is hoping for sun in the last few weeks of August. She used an interesting stamp on this one. It is part of a multi-year series of UNESCO sites issued by the German post office. This one in particular is of Biertan, which is part of the Fortified Churches of Transylvania.

Random Act of Smiliness - Io from Puerto Rico

Last June, I sent a postcard to Io an 8 year old Postcrosser in Puerto Rico. Two weeks ago I received a message from her asking for my address as she had a card she wanted to send me. I was certainly surprised to hear from her and just delighted when this card arrived last week in my mailbox. It shows the flag and coat of arms of Puerto Rico. She tells me the flag was a sky blue before the USA and that she has an original design of the flag flying on her house. She also says one day she hopes her country is free. I have to admit I really do not know the politics of the area at all, but read a bit about her country here to learn more. Such a sweet girl to think of me, I truly appreciate this small act that help the world smile just a little bit bigger.

OFFICIAL Card - USA

Becci sent me this card which I received on Monday. It shows a map of her home state, Massachusetts. She describes where she currently lives and where she grew up in terms of what is on the map - near the apples and the Native American. Really made me laugh when I read it. She also used a totally fun stamp from Toy Story thinking about my kids - very thoughtful!

OFFICIAL Card - Poland

One card today in the mail for me and a great one at that. Kinga from Poznan, Poland sent me this card last week after seeing it in my favourites. It is a great map of her country and the coat of arms for the major cities of the country. It also has the flag of Europe which is something I just learnt about today. Who knew?!?