The Lady Behind

I’d like to thank the lady behind the A Year of Letters blog for adding me to her “links for the letter writer.” Thank-you! I see that you have many other wonderful links on that list which I will be following in the comming days!

Yesterday I found a message in my email box sent from a fellow postcrosser – she had followed my link there to this blog, and requested very nicely that I send her a card.

I will be happy to!

(The only problem is, I don’t know how to “categorize” this mailing – should I count it as a postcrossing mailing, or as a request through this blog? Well, it dosen’t really matter, at least not yet…)

Her address is interesting to me – country, city, of course, and her house number and street, but then – it also directs the mailcarrier by neighbourhood and sub-bairros (sub-neigbourhood.)  After some quick internet research, I find that Brazil is considered to have one of the best postal systems in the world, so even though (or perhaps because!) the addressing dosen’t look quite like what I’m used to, I’m sure it’s very efficient.

I wonder where one could find a list of “best” postal services in the world…and what qualifies as best? The fastest? The least-expensive? The highest volume? The fanciest stamps? The least number of lost pieces of mail? The service with the snaziest uniform?

Another blogroll

Seems like I spent two maybe even three hours yesterday (although when i sat down it was only going to be for ten mintues) visiting lots and lots of blog/sites with themes similar to this one – just scanning and being amazed at the creativity and dedication out there surronding snail mail – and we found we were listed in another blogroll – over at Letters and Journals! Thank-you. I’ve signed up for their free newsletter.  Right now, they’re giving away a pen shaped like a key. All you have to do is leave a comment on the site, or on the site’s twitter or facebook accounts. It’s quite neat looking!

I feel very untalented after seeing some of the great things mail artists can do with a little bit of paper and imagination. I have enough trouble getting the arms and legs of stickmen attached at the right places when I try to draw.

But then, I thought, I do have some scissors, and far more “comic” postcards then I’ll ever want to use…and a glue stick…and…well…

As I was happily wandering through a few online mail-loving nooks (is there a name for those of us who enjoy talking about and sending mail? Post-ophiles? Snailmail-huggers?) Another individual requesting mail popped up – Rachel B at http://iheartletters.blogspot.com/

So she will recieve today’s piece of mail. My first piece of mail art ever! Can I call it mail art? All I did was cut out two bits of another card and glued them on to this other one…well, I’m counting it!

This is the box down the street where I post most of my mail – it’s right beside a fancy restaurant, that likes to put up seasonal decorations, which is why there is a christmas tree standing beside it!

Day Seven

So I’ve been sending one mail a day for an entire week now! It  dosen’t feel that long – and it shouldnt -  it’s  not long at all – I’m only seven percent long into the project! I have to say with some trepidation, that yesterday my computer began to act a bit strangely – I had trouble uploading my photos, and today it’s on the sluggish side – so I may have caught a virus :(

I do have a back-up computer, although it is quite a bit older then my own,  and if I’m forced to use the back-up blog posting will become much more tedious.  (And I’m not sure if the other computer will let me upload pics.)  I’ll be having a look at my computer programmes later today to see if maybe  I’ve done something silly that is causing these problems.n

I’m quite happy with the number of visits my blog has recieved over the first week – and the number seems to be building up, which is great! Please let me know if there is something I can do to make this a more interesting place to visit. (I’m no code whiz, so please don’t ask me to make it look all fancy-schmancy!)

This morning I wrote a note to Ms. Bianca of  Goodnight Little Spoon fame. Her site is scrumptious! I hope she’ll send me something back, I’m sure whatever she sent would be really pretty!

I also signed up at sendsomething.net – but having done so, I’m a bit unsure about the privacy provided through the site – so I’m not going to recommend it right yet – I’ll wait a bit and see if I get inudated with weird mail or not. I hope not, of course!

Please let me know if you have a favourite address source! Thanks!