Happy New Year

In Japan, instead of sending Christmas cards, it's tradition to send new year's postcards. Towards the end of December there are special mailboxes to put your new year's mail into, and it's all delivered on New Year's Day.

I try to send nengajo to my Japanese friends each year. This year I did manage it!

It's the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac.

Gratitude 2012

I made a list of things I was grateful for in 2012. Of course, postcards was one of the things on the list! Many of them were also places I went and people I met this year, so I thought I would share a few of them with you all.

In no particular order:

Postcards

Viking ships

Sagrada Família




Hugs

Skee Is

 


Bayon




Cambodian stamps

family

waffles

Chichen Itza
new friends
laughter

old friends
love
music
fuzzy creatures
ripe nectarines

♥

Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Best wishes everyone for a healthy and happy 2013.

Stanley, Idaho

Stanley, Idaho

Nestled snugly at the base of the Sawtooth Range, Stanley, Idaho offers a tranquil mountain retreat. Fishing, hiking and exploring opportunities are only a step away.

I sent this card to myself when I went to Pocatello for my cousin's wedding in September 2011. It was a challenge to get postcards in Idaho since I was only there for 24 hours and none of the tourist attractions seemed to be open. I finally found some at a gas station, and mailed them from the airport.

Since I mailed it to myself, I used my faaaaaavorite stamp. This is from a 2011 set of four on the U.S. Merchant Marine. Clipper ships, ushered in by the California gold rush of 1849 and noted for their streamlined shape and majestic cloud of square-rigged sails, set numerous speed records for their time.

Polish horses

From Castielle for vacation RR group 493.

I love this card!! Such beautiful horses. :D

This is one of a set of 3 Polish cities issued in 2002. This one shows the royal castle in Warsaw and Syrenka the mermaid of Warsaw. There is a fairy tale about Syrenka which you can read in its entirety here.

 I posted another stamp from this series here.

Zelhem, Netherlands

NL-1454925

Despite being a multiview, I really like this card. Artistic, nice font, well-designed!

Zelhem is a village in Gelderland, Netherlands. Apparently it's not famous for much, but is known for the good witch Smokshanne, who in the 19th century flew around Zelham on a broom backwards, with only one clog, the other having been lost in flight. The village's 1200th anniversary party was Smokshanne-themed.




The stamp on the right is familiar to us. I can't find any info on the stamp on the left.

Chiufen, Taiwan

Chiufen is an old town in northern Taiwan. According to the senders of these cards, the town was famous for its gold mine. Now the mine is closed and Chiufen is a famous tourist spot with many old grocery shops and teahouses.


From vickietsai for the favorites tag.


From shui for a vacation RR group.

Two movies have been set there. One is a Taiwanese movie about Chiufen. The other is Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away." I can definitely see the resemblance. Can you?

I may have to add this to my list of Ghibli pilgrimage sites. I've already been to the Ghibli museum in Mitaka; Seiseki-sakuragaoka, the inspiration-place for Whisper of the Heart; and the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architecture Museum with the bathhouse from Spirited Away. I also still want to visit Yakushima, inspiration-place for Princess Mononoke. Have I forgotten any other locations? 

Tabebuia chrysantha (golden goddess), a 2009 definitive.

On the left is 2009 definitive of Calliandra emarginata (pink powderpuff). The other two are commemoratives from the 2010 Taipei International Floral Expo (which I posted about here), tulip and lily.

Selfprinted Ad

I was pretty disappointed when I got this card. It's a selfprinted one. The majority of the cards sent by this person are similar selfprinted ones. Either this or with a different graphic but mostly the same message. This time the reason I don't like the card isn't that it's ugly. It tells me absolutely nothing unique about the person who sent it or the place they live. It's basically an advertisement for postcrossing - but I already know about postcrossing! This would be a good card to give to people who ask you why you're buying so many postcards when you're not a tourist (this happens to me a lot!), if it explained how postcrossing works on the back. But I don't think this is a good card to send to someone who is already a postcrosser. (Of course I registered the card and thanked the sender even though I didn't like the card. I am glad they took the time to send me a card.)

I know many people disagree with me though, because a lot of postcrossers have put this card on their favorites wall. This is just my personal opinion. You are all welcome to voice yours in the comments. And if someone really likes this card and wants to swap for it I am happy to send it on to someone who will properly appreciate it. ;)

It seems like cards I don't like also usually come with boring stamps or none at all. This is a scrap of paper printed from the internet and pasted on the card.