Cool notecards

We took a box full of stuff to Goodwill last weekend, and, while we were there, I was looking around to see if there was any good stuff there. I found several vintage books and these great notecards!

Unfortunately, I've looked around on the Internet, and apparently they were only available at retail stores until earlier this year. They aren't available any more.

These Karma Cards by New Leaf Paper are made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Additionally, after you write on the inside of the card and mail it to someone, the recipient can then tear off the front of the card and send it as a postcard. Of course, you can do that with any card, I suppose, but this one is pre-printed with a postcard form on the inside of the front of the card, and the center crease of the card is slightly perforated for easy separation.

Maybe you can find some on clearance somewhere, like I did. Or, maybe New Leaf Paper will print some more.

First postcard!

About a week ago, I mentioned that I had sent some postcards to people I found at Postcrossing. This week, I received my first postcard!

It's an interesting postcard, shaped like a bookmark and sent from a girl in Poland.

And, it looks like two of my postcards have now reached their destinations!

What international fun!

I still have four postcards en route, and I'm looking forward to receiving more postcards in the mailbox!

This is a fun complement to my letter writing project.

Fun Project

Through the friends I've made with this blog, I discovered Postcrossing.com and joined up.

If you're not familiar with it, Postcrossing.com is a postcard penpal type group. You sign up for free and request the name and address of someone to send a postcard to. When you get the name and address, you also get a postcard ID number that you put on your postcard. Then, when your recipient receives your postcard, they log it into the Web site and everyone knows your postcard has arrived.

This is a fun project for me because I used to collect postcards from my penpals, and I have a lot of unused postcards that I bought through the years but never sent. This gives me a chance to put those postcards to better use than sitting in a box under my bed. Many of them are probably considered "vintage" postcards, since I've had them for more than 20 years.

I've mailed out two postcards so far, one to Finland and one to China. The one to Finland arrived safely. I have four more ready to go to the post office.

There is a Postcrossing blog, for some interesting notes.

Of course, this isn't replacing my letter writing project; it's just a little side hobby. It doesn't take long to jot a note on a postcard and address it. And, I might make some new friends!

Spreading the word

In the latest issue of "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine, on the "Ideas for Living Well" page, is this suggestion:

Kick Back: Celebrate summer by enjoying life in the slow lane. Go offline for an afternoon and pen a postcard to a friend. In an age of Facebook, Twitter, and other online connections, receiving a handwritten note is a welcome surprise.

Write a letter this weekend! Surprise someone.

Postcard Exhibit

These days, I'm working on my letter-writing project, but when I was in high school, I started a postcard collection. I'm sure it's still around somewhere.

So, I have an interest in postcards and in the postcard projects, such as Post to Post, Post Muse, PostCrossing, and more.

My ears perked up Sunday when I heard about a story on CBS's "The Sunday Morning Show" about an exhibit of postcards. The story focused on an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which is featuring some of the 9,000 postcards in Walker Evans' collection.

Evans was an American documentary photographer who shot many photos in the Depression. He collected the postcards as snapshots of everyday life in the early 1900s.

According to the story, at one time, 800 million postcards were mailed a year in the United States. I don't think that many are mailed today.

A slide show featuring some of the postcards can be seen online on "The Sunday Morning Show"'s Web site. Currently, it's under the Photo Essay section. If it's moved, just use the site's search engine to look up "Evans."

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.

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)!