Bats and cats... and hands

I received this odd little gem via Postcrossing recently. The sender noted I liked both bats and cats - and oh, I do! I do! - and that I might be especially fond of them in combination. Indeed! This was RU-2324265 from Russia. Granted, they're not real cats or real bats, but I like the fanciful intersection of photography, craft, and illustration. And what's with the hands? I don't know, but I think they're kind of creepy cool.

This is why I keep on Postcrossing year after year (I've been Postcrossing for more than 7 years now) - all these fantastic little surprises in my mailbox.

New postage rates for 2014

For my USA readers: postage rates changed on January 26, 2014. Yes, I am a month late announcing this news here on Ye Olde Blogge, but I hope this fabulous graphic makes it worth the wait. Thank you to Donovan of the Letter Writers Alliance for sharing this lovely image detailing the new rates, and for making it Creative Commons licensed so we can all share the love; you can see her full post here.

Here's the breakdown of the new rates, for sending letters and postcards:

Postcards within USA – 34 cents

Letters within USA (up to 1 oz.) – 49 cents*

Letters within USA (1-2 oz.) – 70 cents

Letters additional ounces – 21 cents

International letters and postcards – $1.15

*Oddly enough, metered letters are 48 cents instead of 49 cents. But isn't a stamp prettier than that ugly meter label, and worth another penny?

Postcrossing: multiple accounts unwelcome

I have blogged before about the phenomenon of some Postcrossing users having more than one account, and my frustrations and mixed feelings around that situation. (Since my aforementioned blog post was more than 2 years ago, I'll lay your questions to rest: no, of course not, I never created a second account and have only the one Postcrossing account, as I feel pretty strongly about this.) I've just come across this wonderful answer in the Postcrossing FAQs about this matter:

Can I have more than one account?

Spoiler: the boldface leading sentence reads "Postcrossing does not welcome multiple accounts per person," and then goes on to explain the reasoning in a very logical and thoughtful manner.

Hear, hear.

Postcard signed by Inge Löök

Another lovely Postcrossing surprise came to me recently: an Inge Löök "old ladies" postcard, signed by the author herself! Inge Löök is a Finnish artist, and I am a big fan of her illustrations, especially the joyous old ladies.



No, she herself didn't send this to me, but a Finnish postcrosser had the postcard signed by the illustrator, and sent it to me throughPostcrossing. It came to me as FI-1978556.