From this wonderful 1950′s-era postcard: “A feature of the Mural Lounge aboard TWA’s Jetstream aircraft is a distinctive painting by Maric Zamparelli, representing a major city or nation along TWA’s world-wide routes. Each plane in the Jetstream fleet has a different mural subject. This card shows Zamparelli’s interpretation of Paris.”

This is an image of the Starlight Lounge from one of these aircraft, from the collection of Jon Proctor, and used in the book From Props to Jets: Commercial Aviation’s Transition to the Jet Age 1952-1962by Proctor, Mike Machat, and Craig Kodera. These aircraft were prop-driven Lockheed L-1649a (Starliner) Constellations, or “Connies”, and carried around 60 passengers in comfort and style. According to Proctor et al., “With pull-out footrests and deep seatback recline, the chairs were nearly as comfortable as the sleeper berths that were also available, and provided a competitive edge, both on transatlantic and transcontinental segments.” Nowadays, of course, airlines treat you like a sardine, and charge you for the privilege of bringing a suitcase along.

A letter from Emilie arrived inside this handmade envelope, featuring a member of the Red Hat Society, a cadre of women who resolve, in their old age, to wear purple and create general disarray. I wonder how many of them wear purple when not in group outings? I suspect that their strength is in numbers. Still, it never hurts to live a little, once in a while. Included in the letter was a transcription of the poem that inspired the group. All in all, a good mail day.

Surely, you must wonder, why would the sender of this card place the stamp and the address (on a sticker which I removed from the lower right corner) on the front, instead of on the back? Well, it turns out that the back was full:

This is my first “chain” postcard! Unlike a chain letter, a postcard is sent to someone, who sends that very postcard to someone else, who sends it to someone else, until it ultimately makes its way back to the original sender. Each sender covers up their own address with stamps and stickers, and forwards it along.

In exchange for this forwarding, I forwarded along cards from other members of the chain so that each card makes the same trip around the world.  This card had quite the journey, starting from beautiful downtown Gainesville, Georgia, USA on 11 May 2011:

Many, many thanks to the other members of the chain who sent my card along. My second chain postcard is sitting in a mailbox in Hawaii, waiting for Lauren to get back from vacation and return to her serious responsibilities of forwarding my mail.

Yesterday’s mail brought a letter and this wonderful card from my dear friend Ana; it shows the work of Tomo Vladimirski (1904-1971) who, according to Wikipedia, is considered to be one of the founders of Macedonian painting. It’s easy to see why; the colors and textures replace light and shadow in a remarkable way. Despite Vladimirski’s status as painter emeritus, however, it’s not easy to find out much more about him. Even Macedonian cultural websites do not mention more than his existence, and the occasional showings of his work. Truly a pity; I would love to see more of it. If it’s not to be posted online, perhaps I can see his work personally some day.

Today’s mail brought with it this terrific piece of mailart from Emilie. I’ve tried my hand at mailart myself, and my attempts tend to disintegrate under the pressure of the envelope eating machines mail sorting equipment. The back of this envelope was sealed with a sticker featuring Gaughin’s “Woman With a Fan”.

Inside was this wonderful card (real card, greeting card, not postcard) inside of which was inscribed a letter. And to think all I had done for Emilie was adopt one of her postcards.

There are a number of Maxfield Parrish reproductions hanging in my home, so naturally I was thrilled when this card arrived from Postmuse, just a little over a year ago. This particular work is a magazine cover from 1897 for Scribner’s; the term “fiction number” seems to be a generic term that was in use at the time. There seems to have been a certain class of magazine that was referred to as a “number”; there were “fiction numbers” and “fashion numbers” and “holiday numbers”, among others.

The stamp she used is equally wonderful, one featuring Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), poet, satirist, and member of the Algonquin Round Table. Much of her poetry was dismissed by critics as “flapper poetry,” and some of it is admittedly light humor, clever but without deep insight — as if all poetry must hold a mirror to one’s soul. For example, Ms. Parker had certain ideas about Men, all of which I might use to describe women:

They hail you as their morning star
Because you are the way you are.
If you return the sentiment,
They’ll try to make you different;
And once they have you, safe and sound,
They want to change you all around.
Your moods and ways they put a curse on;
They’d make of you another person.
They cannot let you go your gait;
They influence and educate.
They’d alter all that they admired.
They make me sick, they make me tired.

Occasionally, though, she allowed a glimpse into her oft-broken heart, as in Midnight:

The stars are soft as flowers, and as near;
The hills are webs of shadow, slowly spun;
No separate leaf or single blade is here-
All blend to one.

No moonbeam cuts the air; a sapphire light
Rolls lazily. and slips again to rest.
There is no edged thing in all this night,
Save in my breast.

For more stamps and poetry this Sunday, visit today’s issue of Sunday Stamps.

When I heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I assumed that the Postcrossing postcard I sent to Naoko a few days earlier would probably never arrive. But it actually arrived in a fairly timely manner, and Naoko was able to go online and acknowledge having received the card.

Even more surprising is this thank you card that arrived from Naoko in today’s mail. I am gratified that, in times of great adversity, some people will still take the time to make kind gestures to others.

This card isn’t even as rigid as construction paper, yet it arrived in absolutely pristine, just-off-the-shelf condition.

In addition to her Orphaned Postcard Project, PostMuse is working on 365 days of mail art, sending a mailpiece to 365 different people, with each piece involving food or beverages. How fortunate that she chose to include this señorita linda as well.

This sturdy card was found on my front lawn, perhaps twenty feet from my mailbox. I’m not sure how long it spent outdoors, but the card had completely rolled into a cylinder. After a week or so under a stack of heavy books, it’s once again (nearly) flat.

This exquisite image comes from Christi on Okinawa; it was postmarked at the US Marine Corps Fleet Post Office. Regrettably, neither Christi nor the card mention the name of this artist, but she does say that “all of his paintings pair beautiful women with a specific tropical flower.” That description doesn’t seem to be enough for Google. If you are aware of this artist’s work, I’d love to get more information and see more of his or her work. Please leave a comment.

This is a handmade card I received from Elizaveta in Ekaterinburg, Russia. It features a photo from a magazine of Tatyana Loshagina, a model who resides there with her husband, Dmitry Loshagin — who incidentally took the photo. Nice work if you can get it.

I love the card. Elizaveta wanted to show “how we like everything bright, beautiful and shining.” Success!