Here are the postcards!
I’ve been collecting postcards since 2008. Since then, I’ve sent and received over 1800 postcards from all over the US and dozens of countries. I respond to every postcard I receive, so I’m always open for private swaps.
My origin story: Back when I was a young boy, I got the idea to write a letter to several world leaders, but I only ever ended up writing the US president and the Queen of England. I was so tickled to receive responses from President Bush and then Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II! Well, they weren’t directly from the world leaders, but rather from their staff members. President Bush sent me an autographed photograph (which I lost later in a show-and-tell accident).
One of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting sent me a very detailed letter, typed on Buckingham Palace stationery, answering all of my questions about the Queen’s horses and her corgis and her favorite foods. I marveled at the strangely-sized paper, the texture of the embossed coat of arms centered at the top of the page, and the stamps on the envelope. A real person had spent time reading my letter, responding to it, folding it and placing it in an envelope, and then more real human beings had taken the time and effort to transport it from London to some mail distribution center, to an airport in England, to an airport in the US, and back through the various USPS chains until it arrived in a plastic mailbox at the foot of my driveway in southeast Michigan.
I’m still fascinated by this process today, and all for less than the price of some chocolate! So I maintain correspondence with about a dozen penpals across the world, and send and receive postcards. At last count, I have a little under 2,000 postcards that I’ve received. Keep scrolling to see the most recent postcards that have arrived in my mailbox.
Lille (France)
J’ai été tellement heureux recevoir cette carte de Dominique, qui est de vacances. Quand j’étais un assistant de langue anglaise, j’habitais à Valenciennes, au sud de Lille. Donc, je connais assez bien cette Place du Général de Gaulle, ce que je connaissais comme la Grande Place. Je passais beaucoup de fins de semaine là avec mes amis et même avec mes parents une fois. Malheureusement, je n’ai jamais eu l’ocasion de participer à la Braderie de Lille.
problematic Salt Lake City (Utah)
My Australian penpal continues to make the rounds on his grand American tour; this postcard comes from the capital of Utah, Salt Lake City. I’ve visited it and the scenery is truly stunning!
eye’m watching you (Colorado)
Traveling for another wedding, my brother-in-law sent this postcard from Colorado. He always knows how to pick the ones that’ll make you think!
epic view (Malta)
Our good friends traveled recently to Malta and sent this postcard from the trip. They write about how “around every corner… there’s another epic view.”
Fantastic!
ursus americanus (California)
Greg and James took a trip to Yosemite in preparation for their upcoming trip to Peru! They’re going to do some deep jungle hikes, so I think the mountainous forests of Yosemite in the summer will be good preparation for the rigors of that trip. I’m so envious to do some traveling!
Post Alley Gum Wall (Washington)
There are some tourist attractions that you can’t miss, no matter how experienced (or jaded!) you are as a traveler: I think Seattle’s Gum Wall is one of them. It’s truly disgusting, but also somehow cute and charming? This postcard comes from my new Australian penpal Matty, who is at the beginning of a 2-month tour of the US. Things look good to meet up when he’s in San Francisco later this month!
Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
This postcard comes with memories of the East Coast, in particular Virginia where I spent a lot of time when I was living in Pennsylvania. Our friends Mejdulene and Katie traveled here for a summer getaway, and saw tons of wildlife: wild turkey, deer, ground hogs. At the time of the writing, they were hoping to see some bears - but I have to say as much as I love bears, I’m not brave enough to hope to see them in the wild!
la plage californienne
Il y a des gens, par exemple ma mère, qui arrivent à San Francisco et veulent aller à la plage. Ils ont des idées sur la Californie et ses plages. Ils ont hâte de s’allonger sur les sables dorées en prennant du soleil avec les vents légers carressant leurs corps qui se réchauffent. Mais ils sont toujours déçus quand ils voyent la plage à San Francisco et les nuages gris, le brouillard roulant vers la ville, et l’océan foncé et agité. La plage à SF n’est pas de tout la fantasie californienne dont ils rêvent depuis longtemps.
Par contre, la plage à Santa Monica, et les autres plages à coté de Los Angeles, là-bas on peut prendre du soleil, nager, et jouer comme dans les films. C’est de là que je recóie cette carte postale envoyé par mon beau-frère, qu’y a visité pour la marriage d’un ami. Caveat viator!
rainy Seattle (Washington)
Our friends Rob and Paul went to Seattle for Pride Weekend and thought this postcard delightfully ironic because the weather was in counter-expectation “blissfully sunny and warm”! Good for them!
craniometry (Indiana)
As Nozomi rightly writes, “Our understanding of the brain has come so far!” But it’s a great illustration nonetheless. A question I have, though is: what is “amativeness”? How is that different from “conjugality”?
le Jour du Seigneur (France)
Dominique m’a envoyé cette carte postale, même s’il ne sait pas où ni quand exactement qu’il l’avais achetée. J’en ai aussi des cartes comme ça - de provenance inconnue! J’adore l’ocasion de les envoyer aux ami(e)s quand je peux.
Dominique écrit que cette émission de télévision a été une des seules disponibles sur les chaînes publiques depuis longtemps. Il dit aussi qu’il y a maintenant une série de documentaires sur internet.
peace, pride, and love (California)
A few weeks ago, we visited Sacramento and bookended our first visit with our new puppy with a great visit with our friends Greg and James! They sent this lovely sentiment of peace, love, and pride after our visit. We’re looking forward to having a whole doggy weekend together with their three girls and our boy.
hard-to-find Disney postcard (Florida)
Our niece took a two-week vacation to Disney World in Florida recently. She somehow found the time to find this great postcard and send it to me, which is no small feat as postcards are a disappearing practice. It’s getting harder and harder all the time to find touristic postcards, but I would have thought it would be easy in Disney World. The truth is that I also had a hard time finding Disney postcards when I was visiting Disney Land in Anaheim a few years ago. It’s too bad because Disney properties are so iconic and I’m sure lots of people collect them.
This is a very meaningful postcard to me because a) it came from our niece, and b) she worked so hard to save up for this trip, a graduation gift to herself. She worked and saved for years to pay for this trip, which is just an amazing testament to her dedication, perseverance, and hard work. Well done, Alyssa!
hand-stamped poodle (California)
Our friends Kimee and Michael, the former of which makes her own hand-stamped postcards, were scheduled to meet our new poodle puppy Pinot this past week, but unfortunately we had to reschedule due to an upset stomach. We can’t wait to have them over to meet - they’re going to love Pinot, who I’m sure will love them even more!
opossums (Indiana)
Did you know that opossums (or “possums” as I grew up calling them) are the only marsupials native to the US and Canada? This depiction of them is actually quite cute, which doesn’t surprise me since Nozomi has a knack for finding the cutest, best cards. Thanks!
Alberobello (Italy)
My penpal Lino sent me this terrific postcard from Alberobello in Italy, where he traveled recently and stayed. These houses are called “trulli” and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
As I learned from the UNESCO site, these are built without mortar of limestone boulders from nearby areas!
Off we go! (Germany)
Thanks to Google Translate, I can figure out that this postcard means “Off we go!” and the image certainly captures that. Dominique has been able to travel more frequently to Germany, the country of origin for this card, where he picked up this ad card from Deutsche Telekom. What’s interesting is that the logo is the same as T-Mobile here in the US; it’s owned by Deutsch Telekom!
Pinot the Poodle (Oregon)
Some of you already know that Andy and I adopted a standard poodle last weekend and named him Pinot. He’s black and so fluffy it seems criminal. Naturally, we’ve been very busy keeping up with the demands of a nine-week-old puppy, but we’ve certainly fallen in love with his goofy face and sweet disposition!
Linda celebrated our new family member with this handmade card, and a very touching and accurate message on the back. She is the best dog-whisperer I know, and the person I turn to first for advice on so many topics (work, co-workers, career, friends, baking, plants) and now of course dog-raising.
Hôpital Stanislas (France)
Cette carte postale est venue, vous le savez déjà, de mon ami très fidel Dominique. Il a lu mes commentaires sur la tarte flambée, et il m’a envoyé quelques informations de plus. Il écrit que les tartes flambées dont j’ai ecrites ne sont pas faites à la bonne manière, comme celles en Alsace. Là-bas, elles sont faites à main et cuites au feu de bois. Il faut, alors, vraiment y aller pour les manger et faire la comparaison!
Soviet (?) Pride (Indiana)
My friend Kimberly sent me this great Pride postcard from Indiana! It looks like it’s an edited version of some Chinese-Soviet propaganda posters. I may have even seen one when I was at the Propaganda Poster Art Museum in Shanghai back in December 2019? The truth is that many of these posters are (unintentionally?) homoerotic on their own and they need little editing to bring them into Pride month, but I’ll take the wins where I can get them!
Happy Pride everyone!