Hi all.
Please note, the address for sending letters has changed, and is now:
Hagome 15, Kiryat Tivon 36090, Israel
It is also written next to the header of the blog.
It will actually be a bit over a month before I will be in the new address, but anything that will arrive before me, will wait for me there.
D.
As my first choice of cup was declined at the post store for being breakable, I set off to find a plastic cup that will fit the demands of our local post store manager. This turned out to be not an easy task. It seams that most plastic cups where either too small for all the postage stickers, or came in a set of four. Eventually I chose one of the cups we used at home, hoping no one will miss it.
Here is the before:
And the after:
And here it is at the post counter, all ready to go, and no, not the local post store where I was still not up to their harsh standards, but at the main branch, where they are big and confident enough to accommodate strange request, although not professional enough not to whisper and giggle about it:
Not only that I was able to send it, but I already got the news that it made its way unharmed to its destination. I never told it to the people at the post store, but each time I go there I have this superior feeling.
And as I promised in this post header, not just one cup but two. The second cup is the one that was sent to me, and was waiting for me in the mailbox one day.
It was very clever choosing a cup that you can put all the information under the plastic, knowing it will be protected from the elements. And it was decorated all over with postage stamps.
I asked Aline, who sent me the cup if she had any problems, her answer was:
it was pretty easy, the postman just asked me if i wanted to send it like that and when i said yes, he said ‘thats unique’ and happily sent it!
D.
2 ladies from the US, Betsy and Aline, answered my call to exchange cups in the mail. As you remember, we will each attempt to send an unwrapped cup in the mail. All postage and address details will be written or glued to the cup itself.
Here are the requirements of the swap as published on Swap-bot:
“Pick a cup and decorate it. Put a stamp, and don’t forget to leave a place for the address. You do not, I repeat, DO NOT wrap it. You stick what ever postage needed straight on the cup (or maybe in it), and write the address on it. Document the final project and the process of sending the cup. The documentation is for in case the cup will not arrive, as this is a risky swap. If you do not get your cup, contact your partner and they will send you the documentation. We will not give rating of 1 on this swap, as too much hang on the post people. Be ready to the option that you will not get a cup, and might end with just the pictures sent be Email.
You may wrap your cup only in the event that the post office clerk will not agree to accept it, and I would suggest you try sending it from another branch first. Try to document this as well.”
I started by going to the post office to find out what size of stickers will be used, to make sure I leave enough space for the stickers, and how much space do I have left empty for the address and any decorating I want to make.
Then I decided a tall cup will be the best choice. Here it is with all the stickers that I got from the post office:
After writing the address and putting the stickers on, there was a very small space left. I draw on it this small mailman bringing a cup:
Fabian, the nice guy at my local post shop charged me $13.5 to send the cup, and while I was taking a picture his supervisor went by to tell me I cannot send it like this, as it might brake and hurt someone, or damage other mail items. My payment was refunded, and I took the cup and tried my luck in a second post shop, just to get the same answer.
And as I was taking a picture of the post shop entrance for the documentation, a security guard approached me and asked me not to take any photos within the mall. However, she had a look at the one I took and said it is fine, and that I do not need to delete it.
After that I bought a yummy cake, and decided that instead of giving up and wrapping my cup, I will start again, but this time with a plastic cup.
I’ll be sure to keep you posted (no pun intended) on my progress.
D.
In his blog Pen Paper Pause – Sketched Thought, which I found thanks to Lisa from Lucky Dip, Richard Watkins writes about his physical blog in which he put up his sketches in real places and update them once a week.
What are the differences between blogging and letter writing? Beside the obvious speed and distribution, I think in blogging we are losing some of the intimacy of letter writing.
Not only we are losing the hand writing, but the personal and private notion that this is a text meant to be shared by two specific people.
Although blogging still represent the thoughts and experience of its writer, it is written with the knowledge that it will be read by many people, and is not directed to a specific person, as we will not write the same letter to two different people and will not use the same subjects and language.
The blog is more like a letter in a bottle, we cannot be sure who will find it and what they will do with it. Good thing we are not on a deserted island, although, sitting in front of the computer might fill like that sometimes.
After saying all this, I cannot ignore the benefits of blogging, hey, I’m blogging right now.
So I started thinking of Richard’s way of bringing blogging and real communication closer. Although he dose not know who reads his post, he knows at least where they are read. And the reader can check his newly hand drawn illustration, or at least “hand copied” and personally hanged.
And then I started seeing it around me in other forms and formats.
Here is a “Real Life Blog” I saw when visiting on a farm house in Karamea, NZ:
“Posts” were scattered around the house:
Here is another real life blog:
This notebook is located at the beginning of Mt. Somers track (South Island, NZ). Trackers write down when they left and there route so there will be some way of finding out if someone is missing. “Double click” on the cover will uncover posts with dates and names of travelers, impressions and recommendations, and also a post about a lost camera.
And last, but not least, the old and familiar family blog:
The fridge door.
D.
Wikipedia describe Mail Art like this: “Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term mail art can refer to an individual message, the medium through which it is sent, or an artistic genre.”
I separate Mail Art into two categories: Art sent by mail, and the art of sending mail.
The first one is pretty self explanatory, so I would like to concentrate on the second one.
What exactly dose it mean “the art of sending mail”? Well, it could be art related, like sending a letter in a decorated hand made envelope, creating fake postage, sending a hand made postcard, maybe an altered CD made into a postcard, but it can also be about pushing the boundaries of what you can send by mail.
Kate Clawson of Organic Odysseys has chosen my blog for the Sunshine Award.
I’m embarrassed to say I did not know what it means. But I do now. I’m sure you do too, but just in case you don’t, it is award that is been given by other bloggers for their favorite blogs. To accept the award, the rules say that I need to pass it along to 12 other blogs.
So thank you Kate for this honor. It is nice to be noticed (I feel like a little girl showing her painting to her proud mother).
Here is the full list of rules for accepting the Sunshine Award:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
Please pass this award along….
1. Art Creations Friday – A place for a group of crafty people to share their creations around a shared subject. Every Friday they post a new challenge, a picture or a background. You must use that picture or background and make an atc or card, or something els you like. Then all share and comment on each other creations.
2. The Trading Post – This is a very new blog by Teresa Carns, a baby blog if you will, offering a platform for crafty people to trade with each other. This one is still searching its way, and it is very exciting to see what will become of it.
3. Polymery OnLine – A blog by the Israeli artist Iris Mishly, about hers and others work with polymer clay. The blog is in Hebrew but there are a lot of gorgeous pictures and links to other sites and artists from all over the world.
4. The Graphics Fairy – Karen is working hard to find “new” vintage graphics and to share them with us. This is the place to find some great images and get creative ideas on “Brag Monday”.
5. Teresa - Mixed media and digital art, along side with tips and ideas by the amazing artist Teresa Martin. Be aware, after one peep into her blog you will fill compel to go back and check all of her old posts, so you better clear a few hours before clicking on the link!
6. Lucky Dip – Art and photography by Lisa Sarsfiel. Lisa and I are members of the same art exchange New Zealand’s group, and I had the pleasure and the honor to trade with her in the past, meaning I own a Lisa Sarsfiel’s Original. Go check her blog and envy me.
7. The Letter Project – Yes, I’m not the only one missing writing and receiving letters, Theresa Williams do too. She is doing much better than I do, she is actually receiving letters, and she also writes a lot. I should consider committing to writing letters more, it’s just my English that pulls me back (excuses, excuses). Theresa also thought of this name first, but to my defense I will say I did not know of her blog when I started mine.
8. Where the hell is Matt? – Join Matt on as he badly dance his way all over the world, and think to yourself “what a lucky bastard” and “why him and not me, I can dance badly too”. And yes, we all dance badly, lets face it, we do, and he is so very lucky, but he also has a great sense of humor, and it is great fun to follow his dancing foot steps and amazing story, even if only on the screen.
9. World Sweet World – This blog used to accompany the magazine World Sweet World by Hannah & Thomas Schickedanz, but the magazine has printed its last issue, and now the blog is here to present cool makery stuff with emphasis on sustainable living.
10. Christchurch Daily Photo – Michelle loves the city she lives in and share it with us through her photography. As it happens to be, I too live in Christchurch and like it very much. Going over her photographs, i find there are many places that we both like. I keep looking to see if I’m in one of them.
11. iHanna’s Blog – Create & Live Happy – Hanna fined happiness in creativity and writing, and I can relate to that. She has a very bold way of handling colors that I can only envy, and she likes to mixed her materials and try new things. She work in the way that I would like to too, but she is not afraid to get dirty. Her blog is a great place for me to get some inspiration and to add color to my day.
12. Inspiring Yarns – This blog is a bit of a mystery to me. An intimate and quirky fantasy world, created with dolls, yarns, illustrations, objects and plans. I don’t know nothing about the blogs author except that they are talented, imaginative and has a very specific aesthetic, which is to my liking.
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And now to the apology. I’m sorry for being away for such a long time. A bit more than a month ago a nasty stomachache turned up to be appendicitis. It was less than a week after the operation that I was back in action, but it seems that it takes 2 weeks to cover a week of lose.
And then I went to work on this list. It was not easy. I do like surfing and learning from other people blogs, but I don’t follow many on a regular base.
So thank you for waiting for me this long. I hope you enjoy the blogs I listed, and if you find your self in the list and wonder why you haven’t got a mail from me. I’m on it, it will come.
D.
Do you promise not to tell?
Try to summarize your most kept secret into one sentence, write it on a postcard, and send it away, knowing it is about to become a public knowledge.
Feeling week in the knees? Maybe it is time to let go, to cleanse yourself and move on?
Will it help if I told you no one will know it is you that wrote it?
Not ready to jump yet? Well, maybe reading some of the secrets of other people will help you realize your feelings are universals, and that there are much worst secrets out there then yours.
PostSecret has become a huge phenomenon, with 4 books already printed, composed solely of secret postcards post by people like you and me. Some of the secrets will make you want to laugh and some will tear your heart to shreds.
I’ll make it short, as I know you would like to go to PostSecret right now and find out what I’m talking about. Just make sure you have enough time, because once you started reading the postcards you will not be able to stop reading.
D.
Thank you all for visiting my blog, thank you to those who left me a comment and to those who took the time to read a little bit.
I’m sorry I could not answer each and every one of you personally, I was overwhelmed by the number of comments and nice words you wrote me. And to be honest, I was too busy visiting the other blogs participating, sometimes finding myself reading in them and losing track of time.
I’m sure you did the same.
Since here in New Zealand, the 15th starts almost half a day earlier then the rest of most of the world, I waited up until 10:30pm to draw the winner number, allowing one last comment to squeeze through in the last moment, making it 352 comments altogether (thanks again all).
So here it is, comment number 340, Helena from UNE PAGE SANS TITRE. Go check her lovely blog, and if you can read French (I think), you might learn something new.
I hope to meet with you all next year on OWOH, and maybe even sooner in mine or yours blogs.
And don’t forget, you are all invited to write me a letter.
D.
Here is a quote from Clarissas comment on my WOWH post: “Letters have been a passion of mine for years; I even married one of my penpals nearly 21 years ago!”
Thank you Clarissa. I completely forgot about penpals. I used to have a few when I was a young adult, and with some I was corresponding for a few years. Eventually, probably as my studies demanded more time and attention, the letters stopped.
For years I kept those letters although I didn’t go back to read in them quite often. I guess they seemed too childish to the more grownup me.
I don’t know when exactly I lost or tossed them, but they are all gone now, and to tell you the truth, I’m not that interested in what was in them anymore. What I would really love to read is actually the letters I wrote and send to my penpals. I think they will tell me a lot about my old self. Maybe I would find out things about me I did not remember or even didn’t knew at the time.
I guess it will be a good idea for the future to keep a photocopy or a scan of the letters we work so hard on. We might not find any interest in them after they went out, but I can imagine my children wanting to read them after I’m gone.
After all, our letters are much about us as they are about the ones we write to, maybe even more so.
It has been not long a go that I finished reading Jonathan Safran book “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close” (and I recommend it to all of you) , and it took me a few days to realize what big part writing was playing in the story.
So many of the characters were in one time or another using some sort of writing to fill a gap in their lives.
There is the grandmother how as a child asked people to write her letter, the grandfather how use writing instead of talking, an old reporter who made a catalog of people, each categorieses in one word, and the grandson how documents his life in a journal and embarks on a journey after finding an envelope with one work on it.
Besides these there are other more or less common ways of communicating described in the book. A walkie-talkie , a flashlight, stones thrown on a window, a note on the window and more.
In the book, the writing may be replacing something that is missing in the characters life, it is sometime a way of communicating with the world, and sometime a way to understand it.
I was thinking why letters are so important to me. Of course there is the message and the time and effort people are putting in to them, but you can get that from an Email as well.
The answer, I have to say, is that letters are one of a kind. There is the hand writing that is unique to that person, and also the fact that they cannot be duplicated. They will not be sent in syndication to a mailing list, and no one except me has the same letter.
That is what truly makes them a work of art.