New Holiday Stamps -- Winter Fun!

Do you follow the USPS Stamps blog? If you're interested in postage stamp news, it's the place to go!

Today, the blog features a look at the upcoming "Winter Fun" stamps to be released on Oct. 23 at the American Stamp Dealers Association show in New York, N.Y. They are so cute!

The booklet of four designs includes images of a couple ice skating, kids making snow angels and building a snowman, and of a beautiful red cardinal. Art Director Ethel Kessler designed the stamps using illustrations by Janet Atkinson, Jing Jing Tsong and Christine Roy.

In addition to these Winter Fun stamps, which will be great for everyday mailing or for holiday cards for just about any winter religious observation, the USPS is also coming out with the Christmas Magi stamps, which will complement last year's Holy Family stamps, and the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the beloved TV special. I can't wait!

Vintage stamps

I finally got around to ordering some vintage stamps from Errol Murphy, whom I read about on The Missive Maven blog. They arrived yesterday, and I love them!

My only problem...I ordered these to use as postage on letters, but there are so many cool stamps in the package, I want to keep them instead of sticking them on envelopes!

As mentioned on other letter writing blogs, Murph (as he signs his e-mails) sells the stamps at face value plus the cost of postage. My order of $25 worth of stamps needed only 44 cents in postage.

The stamps are all unused and able to be used as postage on letters mailed from the United States. They range in denominations from 3 cents to 33 cents, with many of the stamps being in in the 20- to 33-cent range.

If you'd like some stamps, contact Murph by e-mail at emurphy@cot.net . He'll want to know if you have any special requests, such as wildlife or sports, etc. I was happy to let him pick out a nice variety for me.  Included were several letter-writing themed stamps, as well as a Scouting stamp (I'm a Girl Scout troop leader). Of course, there are many other stamps, featuring animals, comic strips, history, flowers and more.

I can't wait to start using these fun stamps!

Stamp Collecting Month

According to the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, October is National Stamp Collecting Month. The museum has a variety of activities and events planned for the month, including A Postal Party on the Hill for those who are in the Washington, D.C., area tomorrow, Oct. 16.

If you can't get to the museum, take a look at some of the online exhibits, including the Alphabetilately exhibit, which is on display for the next year at the museum, but is also viewable online. From "Advertising Covers" to "Zeppelin Post," the exhibit shares stamps from A to Z.

The museum Web site features all sorts of fun and interesting information about stamps. For example, the site has a little boxed  called "This Day in Postal History." For Oct. 15, it says,

"October 15, 1920
Inaugural airmail service begins between Seattle and Victoria, Canada. The service is operated by Hubbard Air Transport and was set up to expedite mail from the far east."

 Looks like they have a couple of items for today's date, so it may be a little different when you log on.

To tell you the truth, I hadn't given much thought to stamps in a long time, before I started this letter writing project. Well, I always liked to get holiday stamps for my Christmas cards, but otherwise, I didn't  pay much attention to the stamps. Then, I started finding pen pals who are interested in the stamps, so I started looking for interesting stamps.

I remember when we lived in Winnsboro, Louisiana, when I was a teenager and had several international pen pals...the post office clerk would ask if I wanted some "purty" (pretty) stamps. I always did.

Funny letter scene

We were watching a DVD of "The Lucy Show" from the 1960s. In this episode ("Lucy the Bean Queen"), Mr. Mooney gets mad at Lucy for putting 6 cents worth of postage on letters that only required 5 cents. Mr. Mooney, of course, was a banker, and that 1-cent difference was important to him.

Lucy explained that she was out of 5-cent stamps and was using two 3-cent stamps on each envelope. "It's only a penny," Lucy says, to Mr. Mooney's dismay,

I have to admit to being as loose with my pennies sometimes. When I'm out of the exact postage, I have resorted to putting more than the required amount of stamps on letters, just to get them in the mail. I try not to do that very often, though.

Happy letter writing!

Collecting Postmarks

As a kid, I collected stamps. If I remember correctly, I ordered one or more of those packages of international stamps and sorted through many of the standard stamps that come in such collections, many of the same stamps over and over again. But, it was fun.

However, I must admit, I never gave much thought to postmarks until last week when I came across the Web site for the Postmark Museum, also known as the Margie Pfund Memorial Postmark Museum, located near Bellevue, Ohio.

The museum is affiliated with the Post Mark Collectors Club, which I also did not know existed.

But, when I discovered the hobby of postmark collecting, I started wondering what kind of special postmarks had been coming in the mail. I picked up a collection of old envelopes that I had stored for several years and started paying attention to the postmarks. These particular envelopes were from the late 1980s, early 1990s.

Right away, I noticed that several envelopes that had more than the traditional postmark. My favorite is one that says "Journey to a New Frontier...Collect Stamps." In the scan to the right, I've darkened it up a little so that you can see the postmark better. If you look closely, you can see a picture of the USS Enterprise from the TV show "Star Trek."

In looking around on the Post Mark Collectors Club Web site, I found a list that describes the different kinds of postmarks that people collect. These are called "Slogans," and the few I found in this one stack of envelopes also promote Goodwill, children's dental health and the 1992 Olympics, as well as stamp collecting. One from New York, N.Y., encourages citizens to "Include Your Apt. # for Better Service."

I did a quick check of the new mail I've been getting...not very many slogans. One from January says "Happy Holidays," and another has a quote by John Adams:

"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write"

The newer postmarks look like they were applied digitally and are more difficult to read, in my opinion.

Now that I know about postmark collecting, I'll have to take a look and see what all I have.

Roosevelt's Stamp Collection

U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt started collecting stamps as a child and continued with the hobby throughout his life.

During his years in the White House (1933-1945), he was greatly involved in the design of about 200 stamps that were issued, according to the Smithsonian Institution.

There's a great video, The Stamp Collector in Chief, that you can watch online. It's an interesting story.

Women on Stamps: Part 2

There's a new online exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum: Women on Stamps: Part 2.

From nurses and educators to aviators and Girl Scouts, the exhibit features dozens of stamps and the history of the women pictured on them. This is the second part of a series of four exhibits on Women on Stamps.

Currently, Anna Julia Cooper is on a First Class stamp. She was an educator, scholar, feminist, and activist who gave voice to the African–American community during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the end of slavery to the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

New National Postal Museum online exhibit

The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum has a new online exhibit, "One Giant Leap for Mankind: Celebrating NASA and Apollo 11 Through Stamps." (I can't get Blogger's linking to work, but the exhibit is at: http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/ I'll try to update the link later, if it's working.)

It is an interesting exhibit, with pictures of a variety of space exploration-related stamps, as well as some photos of the actual events that the stamps were based on. Additionally, there is some explanatory history.

It's worth a look.

My stamps arrived!

As I've ventured more and more into the 21st century penpal world, I've remembered some things from the past. When I was in high school and had penpals from all over the globe, I often used the less expensive self-mailers that the post office sold. The postage was pre-printed on the all-in-one stationery/envelope. If I didn't use one of those blue mailers, I most likely used a standard U.S. Postal Service airmail/international postage stamp.

Maybe I didn't realize I didn't have to use those particular stamps; maybe I just didn't fully comprehend the popularity of "stamp art." I remember one penpal writing and asking me to use some different stamps. I'm sure he or she was collecting stamps and wanted something new for the collection.

After reading some comments on letter writing blogs and forums, I've once again realized the fun in using a variety of stamps. So, I logged on to the U.S. Postal Service's Web site and ordered some stamps.

What fun it was! I calculated all sorts of postage rates and picked out stamps in several different amounts.

It took my order a week to arrive, but to be fair, I did place the order on the Friday of a three-day weekend. Now, I'm having fun choosing just the right stamp for each envelope.

...the only pleasure I now see is in perusing your very precious letters. . . .

The title of this post is excerpted from a letter written by Confederate Lieutenant William Steele to his sweetheart, Annie McFarland, in December 1864.

I found the letter on the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum's Web site. The Web site is quite fascinating and has information about the museum's permanent exhibits in Washington D.C., as well as about online exhibits on topics such as "The Art of the Stamp" and the devoted mail clerks aboard the Titanic.

The "War Letters: Lost and Found" online exhibit features letters that were lost or discarded by the original recipients. According to the Web site, the letters were found by strangers, recovered from the trash, yard sales, construction sites or former homes and were forwarded to the Legacy Project. The exhibit, which was originally on view at the museum from 2005 to 2006, copies of letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

If you're interested in letter writing, stamp collecting or U.S. history, the National Postal Museum Web site is worth visiting, as, I'm sure, is the museum itself.

It'll cost more on Monday

For those of us mailing in the United States, postage will go up Monday, May 11. It will cost 44 cents for the first ounce and 17 cents for additional ounces for letters. Postcard postage will cost 28 cents.

I'm not complaining...just reminding you. In my opinion, 44 cents is a good deal for someone to come to my house, pick up a letter and deliver it anywhere in the United States.

Of course, more information, including all of the postage rates are at the United States Postal Servive Web site, www.usps.com.

You can also order postage there and have it delivered to your mailbox. There are some new 44-cent stamps on there. But, to me, one of the fun things to do is come up with combinations of stamps to equal the correct postage.

For example, you can use one 41-cent Beautiful Blooms stamp and one 3-cent Star FP stamp. Or you could use a Polar Bear (.28), one Navajo Necklace (.02), one American Clock (.10) and one Chippendale Chair (.04). Or, how about this combination: one Tropical Fruit (.27), one Silver Coffee Pot (.03), one American Toleware (.05), one Chippendale Chair (.04), one Tiffany Lamp (.01) and two Navajo Necklaces (.02 each).

Just remember to use the correct amount of postage on Monday!

Peaceful Pastime

I don't know about you, but nowadays I often feel overwhelmed with everything that's going on in the world. I'm a journalist, so I'm not blaming the media, but often it's just too much to handle...war, mass murder/suicides, economic woes, salmonella poisoning, and the list goes on and on.

But, last Thursday, our electricity was off at home for almost the entire day. It went off in the middle of our morning rush, after I had fixed breakfast but before I had dried my hair. We lit some candles and finished getting ready. After too many phone calls to the electric company, they finally showed up out on the highway to replace the pole that had broken off at the ground. (Best I can tell, the wildfire the week before had weakened the pole, which was never replaced despite being burned, and then high winds snapped the pole at the ground.)

When the lights went out, instead of creating panic or mayhem in our household, the sudden quietness enveloped our lives in a gentle peace.

Except for our voices, there was total quietness. No TV blaring out the tragic news of the day or the upcoming weather. No radio screeching the latest hits or telling me what they decided at the recent city commissioners' meeting. No hum from the computers. No rumbling or buzzing from the dryer. Things we never realize make noise (coffee pot, lights, etc.) were quiet.

The lack of things to compete with brought down our own level of chaos. No need to yell in order to be heard. No need to rush...there was much less to do. I couldn't dry my hair with the hair dryer; a quick brush would have to do — it would dry on the way to work. I couldn't check e-mail or the blog. Those would have to wait till later. There was no choice.

Letter writing can produce a similar sense of peacefulness. Writing a letter doesn't require electricity, Internet service or much of anything else. All you need is a writing utensil, some paper (sometimes, that's not really necessary -- you can mail a coconut with a message written/carved on it or a wooden postcard), an envelope (again, not really needed -- any piece of paper can be folded into an envelope or self-mailer), a postage stamp, and access to postal service.

Stamps can be ordered by mail (ask at your post office for a form). Depending on where you live, you should be able to drop your letter in a nearby mail box for the postal employee to pick up. Obviously, some places don't have door-to-door mail delivery (see this earlier blog entry), but I think most do.

I'm recommending that you take a few minutes, maybe more, today to sit down, relax and write a letter. Turn off the TV. Turn off the radio. Turn off the (yikes!) computer. If it's still daylight and nice weather at your house, take your pen and paper and sit outside to write a letter. Enjoy the peacefulness of reconnecting with an old friend, introducing yourself to a new friend or catching up with family.

What makes a letter better

After writing lots of letters and receiving several in return, I think one reason that "real" letters are so appealing has to do with the connection that the letter provides between the sender and the receiver. I want to use words like "intimate" and "sensual" or "sensuous," but I don't want to imply a romantic feeling, just a sense of closeness.

When you receive a personal letter in the mailbox, you know that the sender thought about you enough to put her (or his) thoughts on paper and mail them to you. You know that the sender held the paper in her hands, that she held the pen, that she sat somewhere in the world and thought about what to write to you. She found (or remembered) your address and wrote it on the envelope. She found (or bought) a stamp and affixed it to the corner of the envelope. She so wanted that letter to get to you that she went to a mailbox and deposited the letter in it, and then she went home and awaited your reply.

If it is a romantic letter, maybe she spritzed the paper with a little bit of her perfume or even put a big lipstick kiss at the end, or more subtly added a couple of X's and O's to send you kisses and hugs.

If it's from someone you know very well, you can imagine her voice, as you read her words. You know when she was smiling as she wrote and when she was angry or sad. You remember the memories she's writing about and it makes you think of more good times you shared in the past. The letter may make you wish to see her soon or to pick up pen and paper and write back as quickly as you can.

Oh, sure, phone calls, e-mails and text messages are great for immediate conversations, but they lack the warmth of a hand-written or -typed letter. Yes, even a hand-typed letter says something personal. Over time, you come to recognize a person's typewriter's characteristics, and you know that even a typed letter is put into an envelope, just the same.

I can't remember how many times I've read about how important it is to be careful with e-mails, how an innocent comment in an e-mail can be misinterpreted. That's what they invented the "smilies" for...indicating the emotion that an e-mail can't convey.

Somehow, a hand-written letter manages to convey those feelings. Maybe the letter writer spends more time crafting a phrase than does the e-mailer. Maybe it's the handwriting itself, maybe you can see the happiness in the softness of the letter or the anger in the harsh slant of others.

I know we're all busy people in this day and age. It seems like there's never enough time to get it all done. But, just try it. Find some paper and a pen. Write a letter and mail it. You'll make at least two people happy...you and the receiver of your letter.

Typewritten letter

After I blogged about the typewriter story yesterday, I was surprised to find an envelope on my desk at work this morning, after the mail was delivered. I rarely get mail at work.

Even more surprising was to see my own home address typed in the upper left corner of the envelope.

It seems that my husband was inspired by the NPR story to find an old typewriter at his office and type me a letter. From his description, the "old" typewriter sounds like it's about he same vintage as the one I received when I went off to college. And, after 20+ years, the quality seems to have declined somewhat. I guess those "daisy wheels" didn't hold up through the years.

Tony was just having fun typing again, after all these years of computer writing. His letter is mostly about typing the letter. At the end of the letter, he does suggest that we find an old typewriter for our daughter to use. We have a couple of really old ones, early 1900s, I'd guess. She likes to push the keys, but they're not in working order right now. We might look for a slightly newer version.


Another interesting thing about Tony's letter to me was the stamp. I noticed it immediately -- not just your ordinary "Forever" stamp. It has Ella Baker and Ruby Hurley, two Civil Rights activists. They are included on the U.S. Postal Service's commemorative "Civil Rights Pioneers" souvenir sheet.

I asked about the stamp. Tony said he asked the post office employee for something different, and she suggested this particular stamp.

That makes the letter even more special.

Encouraging young letter writers

After I wrote yesterday's post, I got to thinking about how to encourage kids to write letters. Oh, I'm not anti-email or anti-texting...I just think that there's some value to knowing how to write a "real" letter, some joy in receiving a piece of snail mail, some satisfaction in dropping an envelope in a mailbox.

The best way to encourage kids to write letters is to write to them first. Write a letter to your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.

Try to make the letters meaningful, something they'll want to keep and re-read. Congratulate them on a recent accomplishment, tell them how proud you are. Then, add in a little something about yourself, maybe mention how you enjoyed playing basketball, too, when you were in school, or maybe how you always struggled with math but that once you took geometry, you really enjoyed it. Ask them some questions, something to reply back to. Maybe ask about their pet or their plans for the summer.

Speaking of replies, one way to encourage the kids you're writing to, to write you back is to send them stationery. With your letter, include a piece of stationery, an envelope addressed to yourself and even a stamp. Find or make some fun note paper and envelopes, depending on the age of the child you're writing to. (See the fun envelopes I made, at left.) Don't forget...stamps can be fun, too! If your local post office doesn't have the ones you want, order them online.

Another way to make letter writing fun is to send postcards from places you visit. You might encourage a new hobby — postcard collecting, stamp collecting, etc. — as well.

Now, go write a letter (or two)!