Postcrossing Blog

Did you know that the oldest (unofficial) post box in South Africa is not an actual box… but a tree?

It’s true! In 1500, Pêro de Ataíde, captain of a Portuguese ship returning from the East, left a letter under a tree in Mossel Bay. The letter detailed the loss of some of the ships on their fleet and warned of troubles in the eastern seas. It was customary for passing ships to stop on the bay to take on food and fresh water, and so some years later, the letter was discovered and delivered to Portugal by another sea captain.

This was the start of the South African postal service, as seamen often left correspondence there, in the hopes of it being delivered by passing ships.

The impressive milkwood tree is said to be over 600 years old, and still stands there overlooking the bay. It has been declared a national monument, and a postbox was set up under it with its own special cancellation mark and everything! The postbox sits on what is now the Bartolomeu Dias Museum complex.

A big thank you to Cathy, the South African member who pointed out this tree for us and took the nice photos above. That is her auntie Chris on the left, mailing a postcard home!

Have you ever thanked your mail carrier for bringing you all those postcards to your doorstep, day after day, rain or shine? Now is your opportunity: February 4th is Thank a Mailman Day! :)

Leave your mail carrier a note, a treat, or just open the door and say thank you if you’re around… I’m sure they’ll appreciate the gesture!

And if you’re planning to do something special, do share — we’d love to hear about it!

February is just around the corner… which means it’s time for another Month of Letters challenge! Are you in? :)

On September 2011, Mary Robinette Kowal decided it was time for a break. She spent the entire month offline, and asked her friends to communicate with her through letters. The results of this personal challenge were a revelation:

When I write back, I find that I slow down and write differently than I do with an email. Email is all about the now. Letters are different, because whatever I write needs to be something that will be relevant a week later to the person to whom I am writing. In some ways it forces me to think about time more because postal mail is slower. “By the time you get this…” It is relaxing. It is intimate. It is both lasting and ephemeral.

How so? I find that I will often read the letters that I receive twice. Once when I get them and again as I write back. So, that makes it more lasting. It is more ephemeral because I don’t have copies of the letters that I write and I am the only one who has copies of the letters that my correspondents write. So, more ephemeral.

I know a lot of postcrossers share these feelings – this is part of the reason why Postcrossing exists!

Mary’s decided to turn February into a Month of Letters, in which she challenges herself and everyone who decides do join to write and send at least a piece of postal mail every day. Here are the rules:

• Mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
• Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

We can’t help but feeling postcrossers have their work cut out for them in this challenge… :) Nevertheless, we wanted to dare you all to do it! Write postcards, letters or aerogrammes or surprise a friend with an unexpected package. Maybe even pick a Facebook/Twitter friend and send them with an offline “hello!”.

Are you up to Mary’s challenge? Grab your stationery and stamps and start writing!

It’s out! We’re happy to confirm that the Russian Postcrossing-themed stamp is now a reality!

Launching ceremonies were held in different cities throughout Russia, and groups of postcrossers came together to send their postcards with the special first day cancellation mark. Olga (aka Kelpie) attended a couple of these, and sent us some photos from the ceremony in Tomsk, where local postcrosser Anna (aka december_anne) did the honors and stamped the first postcard!

Despite the freezing –20°C, there were so many people in attendance that the post office ran out of stamps in one hour! :) Can’t blame the postcrossers though — it’s a really cute stamp, and we can’t wait to see one in real life!

Keep an eye on your mailbox… your next postcard from Russia might feature this special stamp!

Annett (aka knetty) from Germany joined Postcrossing about a year ago. A fan of crafts, she had the idea to invite members to send her pieces of fabric with their postcards, so that one day she could make a quilt with all the fabrics. Slowly, she started receiving colorful pieces of cloth from other sewing enthusiasts all over the world and putting them together on a single quilt.

Fifteen fabrics from 11 countries (and a lot of work) later and she is done… oh, it is a beauty!

The patchwork resembles postcards laid out on a blanket — and on the border, Annett stitched the names and countries of the postcrossers who contributed to her project!

When the quilt was finished, she went out to photograph it in the sun and met her postman, who agreed to let her photograph it on the bike used to bring the pieces to her!

We’re in awe of Annett’s skills and this lovely idea, which she carefully documented on her blog. And she’s already planning a second one… :)

Do you know of any other crafty projects using postcards or Postcrossing? Do share!