Postcards!

A friend introduced me to this wonderful program called Postcrossing. You send postcards to other people in the world, and in turn you receive postcards from others who have signed up with Postcrossing. It is not a direct card exchange (although you can do that if you wish) but rather randomly selected people from the Postcrossing group list.

There is something special about opening your mailbox and seeing a colorful picture and a handwritten note. I've been a letter writer and postcard sender most of my life. My cousin and I were great penpals all through high school, and even though we have never lived near each other, pen and paper have kept us close. My sister traveled a lot and it was always fun to get a postcard with a summary of her latest adventure. I've collected postcards for years so when a friend told me about this project I enthusiastically joined. It has not let me down! I've received postcards from Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, China, Poland, Russia, Spain, Belarus, and the USA. It is so interesting to learn what people in other parts of the world do in their daily lives and see the places where they live.

I just received this lovely message from someone in Russia who received the card I sent her of San Francisco:
"Hello!
I've just received your card with the view of San-Francisco and its cable-car. Thank you!
I happened to live in NewYork for 3 months a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I had no enough time to travel throughout the country. So I didn't manage to visit California as I dreamed about it. It must be the first place that I'll visit next time when I go to the USA.
You wrote that you live in agricultaral area where they grow lettuce and strawberries. It sounds like a paradise for me cause I'm a vegetarian and LOVE strawberries and greenery! =)
Have a sunny day,
Anna from Russia"

Now it's my turn to send a card to someone else -- let's see who they pick for me to postcross to....

....going to the site
....logging in
....requesting name

...Ah-ha! A college guy in Germany. Well, I'm off to scribble a postcard to him!
Interested? Check it out:



Happy Postcrossing!

Life At The Sea - Part 5 (The End)

To complete our week together, we drove up to the mountains north of Santa Cruz and spent a lovely afternoon taking the Roaring Camp steam engine train through the redwoods.
It is so peaceful there and was a relaxing way to end our family time together before everyone flew back to their homes.

Life At The Sea - Part 4

Our visit with my sisters, nieces and dad this summer went by much too fast. We squeezed a lot in to a week. We spent a very full day in San Francisco, riding the cable cars, meeting some friends for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoying ice cream at Ghiradelli Square.

Pier 39 has a colorful carousel, lots of shops and a delicious looking farmer's market.
At one point we split up -- some went to Alcatraz Island for a tour and others went shopping on Pier 39. It was a memorable day.

Alcatraz!

September

Realizing that I haven't blogged for the past two weeks, I must explain. I really did not abandon ship in the middle of the course. Life just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go! I started back to work at the school district mid-August (earlier every year, it seems) with the usual fall initiation craziness. Then loose ends from my summer projects and fall prep responsibilities nagged and nagged until I took care of them, one by one.

Now September is here. That gear-switching month, scolding in that stern school teacher voice, "No more nonsense now! Time to get back into your routines!" Go to bed on time, get up on time, take out the trash on Sunday night, fill up your tank before the weekend prices. Keep your bed made, your laundry caught up, and stay on schedule with your book club for a change. I'm listening. And there is comfort in returning to routines. A sense of being productive. A sense of stability. Peace. All is well.

So now, I can also get back to writing in my blog -- my wonderful outlet for whatever topic I feel so inclined to discuss. And to make sure I have tied up ALL my summer loose ends, I'll continue with another entry or two to wrap up our Life at the Sea (aka "days with summer guests"). A coworker went to an Earth, Wind and Fire concert last night and mentioned their song, "September." I've had it in my head ever since.

September
Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away

on and on - say that you remember
on and on - dancing in September
on and on - never was a cloudy day
...
Some bells were ringing
Our souls were singing
Do you remember, never a cloudy day?

Now that's the September spirit!