Happy H-OWL-oween!

This postcard is from one of my vintage Halloween postcard books that I purchased via Amazon.com, but in all honesty, I forget which one. It was either this one or this one.

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a fun and spooky day.

Common sense about smoking

Here we have Postrcrossing US-1282619, one of the fantastic offerings in the "Postcards from Penguin: One Hundred Book Covers in One Box" by Chronicle Books.

I wonder what common sense this dated book offered? I love the cover image with the rebellious-looking boys smoking, but here is a little Missive Maven secret: I abhor cigarette smoke. I am zero tolerance about it. I have ended friendships because I can't stand to be around people who smoke. My nose wrinkles in disgust when I read a letter from a smoker, because the paper absorbs that awful cigarette smell. I have a friend who sometimes writes me letters from European pubs, in countries where they still allow smoking in those establishments... and I always know when he's done so.

Nonetheless, I dig this postcard. There's still something kitschy about it.

To mystery "B"

I got a letter today from "B" in California, with thoughts on a recent post I made. It was written on paper with illustrated Hallmark dogs around the edges.

B, thank you for writing. I am glad my post resonated with you and meant something. That is exactly why I decided to finally write that post.

I would write you back, but you didn't leave a return address, and I imagine you are just preserving your privacy and wanted to get something off your chest. I am sorry you are feeling so alone, and I hope you find some more resources online or among friends. My heart goes out to you.

p.s. No one is a cliché. Everyone is a complex individual with her or his own unique story.

I ♥ U.S. Postal Workers!

I was inspired by the Send the Love campaign to draw a little something special on a recent outgoing order from my etsy shop. Nothing fancy, just a little something that I hope showed some appreciation to all the mail handlers on the way.



Soda often helps me package up orders, and this one was no exception. Since she was posing so nicely, I had to grab a shot of her with the little package, too. Hooray for the Feline Postal Brigade!

I'm a day late for National Coming Out Day!

Yesterday (Oct 11) was National Coming Out Day, and I missed doing a post about it on time! Oops! Better late than never, I hope. This fabulous postcard is from Syracuse Cultural Workers, a great organization with excellent progressive postcards. This one reads "Unfortunately, history has set the record a little too straight" and references 10 famous LGBT/queer people in history. They are, from left to right, top row: James Baldwin/writer, Willa Cather/writer, Errol Flynn/actor, Michaelangelo/artist, Edna St. Vincent Millay/poet; bottom row: Cole Porter/composer, Eleanor Roosevelt/social activist, Bessie Smith/singer, Walt Whitman/poet, Virginia Woolf/writer.



I often feel admiration for someone who is "out" openly and casually in mail-type internet settings, such as on a Postcrossing or Swap-bot profile. In the past I've been tempted to come out on this blog, but have held back because I want the focus of this blog to be on mail, not on me and my personal life. And I admit, I'm well aware that it's one of those things that once I put "out there," I can't take back. But I am mostly "out" in the aspects of my life where people come into personal contact with me - at work, with friends and most family, etc - so in a sense, I'm putting this out there for people who know more of my online persona than the real me, per se. I digress. Every time I see one of those little casual out mentions, I contemplate what I'm doing in this post. A lot over the past year I've been thinking how important visibility is, especially with the USA making so many wonderful, positive civil rights changes like repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" and promoting marriage equality in so many states. A lot of people can be casual in how they come out by referencing a partner, but my referencing my husband (I don't mention him often, for aforementioned privacy reasons) doesn't tell our whole story. I am bisexual and he is transgender. We do not consider ourselves a straight couple. I do not want this blog to become about me, and I don't want to grandstand by getting into any complicated explanations that don't have anything to do with mail or letter writing, but I am thinking it is time to just put it out there. I've come out to some of my pen pals, and not to others, and I am honestly reaching the point where in some cases, I forget to whom I've come out and to whom I haven't! So now anyone who reads this blog knows. I hope every single person who comes out, on National Coming Out day or any other day, makes it a little bit easier for everyone else in the world to come out, too, if they want to, and to lead normal, happy, hate-free lives.

So now, may my own record not be set a little too straight!

Another mail blog to share

I just bumbled on to another mail blog, which has been around for quite a while - more than a year, anyhow. How did I this one? It has such a fabulous name: The Society for the Prevention of Empty Mailboxes. Alas, it seems oriented only towards college students (umm... why?), but if you are a college/university student, or even if you just want to read the posts, it's worth checking out.

One more for Halloween postcard?

We need ONE more for the Halloween postcard... USA only swap, though more than one would certainly be welcome! Any takers?

New shop section: vintage postage

So y'all probably know I have a lot of stamps. I am rich in vintage postage, both from my Grandpa's old stamp collection as well as my many purchasing ventures. I'm now putting a few for sale in the new vintage postage section of my etsy shop.

Many of you also know I'm Jewish, so I'm not going to use the many Christmas stamps that have come my way in various stamp lots. I've just posted two different listings for holiday/Christmas stamps that people other than myself will probably be a lot more interested in.



This Vintage holiday greetings postage book is in excellent unused condition, with 20 29-cent stamps. Perfect for the current postcard rate! They are glue-backed, so you do need to moisten for the adhesive.



Also, a smaller lot of 6 unused individual Christmas stamps.

I'm on the fence about selling some other stamps. The Christmas ones are the only ones I have that I know I'll never, ever actually use. But I've seen a lot of folks selling vintage unused postage on etsy lately, and it seems to be pretty popular. I'm considering selling some of my other postage that I have a lot of, even some of the letter-writing themed stuff...



...like the stamps pictured on this postcard. What do you think? Would you be interested? Should I sell other vintage stamps? Feedback most appreciated!

Giveaway: handmade swaps organizer

I received this today in the Swap-bot 100,000 swap, the swap celebrating Swap-bot's 100,000th swap. (Wow, that was repetitive.) It calls itself "My Swap-bot Swaps Organizer." It is handmade, clearly with love and effort, and it is something that I will never, ever use for anything. (In all honesty, I would have preferred a groovy postcard, but there's the Swap-bot smorgasbord serendipity for you.) But it's hard to throw in the trash, since someone put so much effort into making it, and maybe someone would use it... does anyone else want it? I imagine someone does. So, I'm offering an immediate giveaway for anyone in the USA. Sorry, USA only because I can send this very inexpensively via media mail, but it gets much pricier beyond American borders.



Inside the front cover there are some post-it notes of different sizes.



All pages inside are blank, and there are a few plastic tab dividers.



Behold the back.

Want to take it off my hands? Read the rules below and comment on this post.

THE INEVITABLE RULES

1. HOW: To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post. One comment/entry per person, please.

2. WHO: No anonymous comments will be approved. You need a blogger profile to enter this giveaway (simply because I need to know who you are - I'm not going to count through "anonymous #7"), and if you don't have a blogger profile yet, just make one. It's fast, easy and free, doesn't require a blog, and I think only requires a valid email address. Also, your profile with email address MUST be viewable, or you must provide a valid email address in your comment. If you don't have an email address in your comment or viewable from your Blogger profile, and I don't magically randomly already have it, I won't approve your comment/entry. Lastly, keep your eyes peeled for this magical phrase after you submit your comment/entry: "Comments will be visible after blog owner approval." If you miss that and comment twice, or three times, or more, I'll delete duplicates.

3. WHERE: USA only. I will be sending this Media Mail.

4. WHEN: The deadline for comments/entries is Saturday, October 29 at 12pm EST. I will announce the winner Saturday afternoon or evening.

Halloween postcard swaps!

I adore Halloween! I have a bunch of awesome Halloween postcards, and have already participated in a couple of great Halloween postcard swaps on Swap-bot.

There are two more that close today and tomorrow; if you're looking to sign up for a Halloween postcard swap on swap-bot, the more, the merrier!

Halloween PC swap: this one is technically international, though right now all the swappers signed up for it are from the USA. Last day to sign up: TODAY, October 14.

Halloween PC... USA only swap: Last day to sign up: tomorrow, October 15.

Come join the spooky postcard fun!

Orange printed "Save the Postal Service" postcard

So this is one of those awesome free printable "Save America's Postal Service" postcards that I blogged about a couple of days ago. The savvy designer recommends cream card stock, but I don't have cream card stock. I do have glaring bright orange card stock! So, I printed on that, jazzed it up with some washi tape, and taped it to some paperboard, as my card stock felt a bit flimsy for the mail processing machines. It makes me smile to think of any postal worker than handles this, and notices it.



I made this little doodle of appreciation on the back.

Free printable postcards: Save America's Postal Service

Somewhere jumping around in the Twitter vortex, I discovered these incredibly adorable free printable postcards: Save America's Postal Service. Really fun design. I don't have a color printer, but I think I'm going to have to try out a couple of these in grayscale. I love the adorable artwork of drowning mailboxes! Check out the link, where you can download this design + two more.

Mucha stamp from the Czech Republic

This incredible Alphonse Mucha stamp recently came to me on a Postcrossing postcard from the Czech Republic. I'm a Mucha fan, and this truly delighted me! It has zodiac imagery, and the stamp is titled "zodiac." I can't tell which zodiac sign this lovely lady is representing (is it Libra, because Libra is on the top here?), but it has a warm, autumnal feel in the mood and colors.

Official White House petition to for the U.S. Post Office

I guess Twitter is good for some things. I just learned about this official petition from the U.S. White House to save the postal service. Yes, you have to create an account in order to "sign" the petition, but I see the validity in that. This probably does not have the power of a personal contact to your legislators, and it definitely doesn't have the power of a handwritten letter to your government officials, but it seems like a good idea to make our voices of support for the U.S. Postal Service heard in myriad forms. As of my signing it, it had 63 signatures, with 4937 needed by October 26.

For my international readers, thanks for your patience with all my posts that concern only the U.S. Postal Service.