fish

by

With love from Costa Brava, Spain (1979)

with-love-from-spain

Dear Hiraly, we are in beautiful sunny Spain and having a great time. We’re staying in the place on the front of the postcard. I’ve put a dot & a cross where I think our villa is. It’s a bit hard to distinguish one from another at that distance but never mind! So far I haven’t had time to write postcards but I’ve got a headache at the moment which really throbs so I haven’t been swimming. Too much sun I expect! I’m convinced I’ve got sunstroke though! I’ve bought myself some snorkelling stuff (very cheap here) and we (me, Neil, Ally, Paula, our friends) went snorkelling off the rocks. It was great fun. We saw shoals of fish, black very spiky sea urchins which I so cleverly got stuck in her big toe despite wearing plastic sandals. Luckily we managed to get most of it out. Trust me. I’d better go there’s not much space left as you can see. Hope to see you at end of summer love Jackie xxx PS Neil saw an octopus. I’ve never got of the sea so fast.

Another card from Jackie with her distinctive method of writing all around the edge and back across the top! Despite feeling under the weather she’s managed to pack a lot of news and anecdotes into the space.  The cross she refers to is just visible to the right of the trunk and on the wooded area in the distance; the dot is just below it.

The postmark date is 16 06 1979 and the stamp is one of a set of three encouraging us all to save energy.

Porta de la Selva is featured on the front and still looks much the same although that tree might have gone now!

Jackie was seemingly quite a prolific card writer and enjoyed many holidays with her family.

by

with love from California (2016)

With love from US

Here is a super special bonus card. it takes me hours to make something like this so i just want to let you know that you’re a great postcard pal! You’re so busy, always doing intresting places. You sent me cards when i wasn’t replying that really made me feel good. Love CBC “fish lips” 7/16

This is a beautiful original painting on a postcard, that I received the other day.  CBC has called it ‘fish lips’ – see how all the fish have big lips 🙂  I was lucky to receive it, as the number was wrong on the address; a kind hearted person obviously took it back to the post office for a second chance.

The card is postmarked ‘OAKLAND CA PM 25 Jul 2016’ and carries an unusual circular stamp, featuring an image of the moon.  This global stamp was issued earlier in 2016 and can be used to mail a one-ounce letter from the US to any country which has a First-Class international mail service.

CBC (aka Crazyruthie) follows this blog; about six months we began exchanging postcards via snail mail.  We do the odd email too, but receiving the postcards is far more exciting!  CBC always sends me an original painted one, or something hand drawn and coloured; they’re all different depending on what technique she’s experimenting with at the time.  We have become postcard pals as a result of this blog, maybe one day we’ll meet in person 🙂