Interview with the U.S. Postal Service about Postcrossing

Wow, it's been a shockingly long time since I last shared a post with you! I'll update you on some of the exciting news in my life in a forthcoming post (SPOILER: I've got a solo album of original songs coming out soon, from my other life as a musician!), but I wanted to check in and let you know of a very special conversation I just had.

I was just interviewed for an article about Postcrossing in the U.S. Postal Service employee newsletter! Be proud of me, U.S. Postcrossers: I put in a big plug for an official Postcrossing stamp here in the USA! I don't know if it will happen or not, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to make the pitch to an official representative of the US Postal service.

The gentleman with whom I spoke was also very interested in my personal history with the Postal Service, about my grandpa, a career postal worker, and how much he influenced my life and my love of snail mail.

The article is still a work in progress, but once it's online, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Because of the demands of work and career, I completely missed out on participating in InCoWriMo during the month of February, but things are a little less crazy for me now and I'm picking my snail-mail habits back up.

Hmmm, all this talk of Postcrossing makes me want to shuffle off and send a postcard...

Thinking of my grandfather on Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Today I am thinking a lot of my grandfather, of blessed memory. That's him in the photo above (read the great "Dialing for stamps" story): he was a career postal worker, and a casual philatelist and stamp collector. I think a great deal of my love for stamps and postal service trivia must have come from him. Certainly a lot of my vintage stamps did come from him: he gave me his stamp collection a little before he died. He didn't mind that I use some of the stamps for postage, he just wanted the collection to go to someone who would appreciate it.

He passed away 6 years ago. I am so thankful for all the time we had together, and that I wrote him a lot of letters, particularly in his later years. My mother and I cleaned out his house after his death (he had lived in that house for 50 years!), and along with a great deal of postal memorabilia, I had the joy of finding a lot of my letters to him stored in the drawers right next to his favorite chair, where he spent the vast majority of his time... he clearly took them out and re-read them frequently. I was so touched that they meant so much to him. (I've lived halfway across the country from him, and the rest of my family, for all of my adult life.)

You can read more posts about my wonderful postal-worker, stamp-collecting grandpa, but in the meantime, I hope all the fathers out there - both mail-loving and otherwise - have a great day. I am very thankful that my own father is in good health and happiness, and I'm going to call him shortly.

Mail art thank-you

My amazing little package full of mailbox postcards from Carolee of PodPost begged a mail-art-licious thank-you response, so I had fun putting this puppy together, with all the meta-postal goodness I could muster. Only the Shakespeare stamp doesn't really fit the theme, but he's the bard and I love him, so he gets to join the party.



The envelope is vintage 1971, from my grandfather's days in the post office, commemorating the official change of name from "post office" to "U.S. Postal Service," complete with new logo. I love that this envelope shows both the old and the new logos.

I am feeling rather clever for putting my return address in the wavy lines of the "please hand cancel" rubber stamp image.



As is typical, I don't think the glimmer mist spray glitter is really showing up very well in this photo, but I tried to showcase it here.



On the back is a vintage air mail label (I found it on eBay, for anyone who's wondering), whose glue tastes so awful I have to prepare myself to lick it. But that's part of the fun, saying pTOOey and swishing around a tasty beverage as I affix the label... which is cool enough to merit the distaste, in my book.

I feel rather some pressure to make something quite amazing, these times I have sent mail/mail art to the fine authors of the fabulous Good Mail Day book, but it's a fun challenge.

Shakespeare buck condolence card

This beautiful card came in from a dear pen pal, condolences on my grandfather's death this summer. I link the post about his death here because the photo I used in it helped inspire this kind soul to choose this card, which is beyond perfect. You couldn't have chosen a more perfect card if you had known him.

The quotation by William Shakespeare reads:

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world: "This was a man!"

It made me cry, but in a sweet, remembering sort of way.

The mystery of an old photo postcard...

When cleaning out my grandfather's house after his death, I found an awful lot of very old antique postcards, many of them unused. A great bunch of them looked to come from the early 1900s (1906-1918 were the postmarks on similar postcards, which would make them older than my grandfather). The majority were "photo postcards." I suppose I need to research this trend (or possibly just pick the brain of the very knowledgeable Chris at Wild Postcards), but it seems that individuals had their printed photos made right into postcards... kind of like we do now. Anyway, my mom and I were left wondering, who are these people? Are we related to them? Most likely we will never know, though one wonders why Grandpa held on to them if he didn't know them somehow.

This mysterious woman with her Mona Lisa face was my favorite in the bunch. I sent it to my mom later, of course, so we could keep it in the family. I like her hat, I like her dress, I like her pose, but most of all I like the quiet, inscrutable look on her face.

Thank you for all the condolences

It's taken me a while to work up to being able to make this post, but I think it's time now.

After I posted the sad news of my grandfather's death last month, the blog reader condolence cards poured in. I was truly overwhelmed. After I returned home from a week away to be with my family and attend his funeral, there were a ton of sincere sympathy wishes awaiting me, and they continued to pour in over the next weeks.

I have to thank everyone who sent their heartfelt wishes. They were touching and supportive in ways I can't even explain. A lot of people wrote that they didn't really know what to say but they wanted to say something - that's GREAT! I can now say, from the perspective of the bereaved, that those sympathy cards are a comfort and a blessing. If you're wondering whether or not you should write one to someone you know who has just suffered a loss - DO IT! The recipient will appreciate it so much. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here when I say that handwritten cards are so much more meaningful than emails.

The envelope above has a quote from Shakespeare that reads:
"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."

The card itself reads:
"There is a theory that when the people with whom we are closest leave this world and go to their final reward, they become part of the little voice that helps to guide us in the choices we make and the paths we take. With these little voices, we create a link to the past and keep the memories of those we cherish alive in our hearts."

Thanks for hearing me out and helping to give me an outlet for my grief, dear readers.

Dialing for stamps

I am so excited to share this find with you.

If you've been following my blog for at least a month, you have probably heard that my beloved grandfather passed away recently. He was a casual collector of stamps, and his collection was fueled by his 40 years working for the Post Office (as it was called then: "U.S. Postal Service" came later).

In going through his effects after his death, my mother found this wonderful newspaper photo of him demonstrating the newfangled stamp-dialing machine. (Does anyone else think "That is so 1955?" I do.) I can't believe how awesome this is. I would love the idea of postal history involving a stamp-dailing machine anyway, and probably share that with you for the coolness factor, but the fact that the photo shows my dear grandfather (with hair! I never saw him with hair!) just makes my day. It was such a joyous thing, to come across this in our grieving. My mom mailed the clipping to me (along with a letter, of course!), and I scanned it. This appeared in the Kansas City Star on July 3, 1955.



My favorite quote from the article:
"The customers seem to like it," one of the postal clerks said, "but they're sure surprised at seeing anything efficient at a post office."
HA! My grandfather so could have been the one who said that. I can just hear his laugh after making a crack like that.

For anyone who has trouble viewing this small size, I am experimenting with a new way to download documents. I don't know if this will work for you or not, but here is a link to view the PDF of the scan.

A sad and unexpected hiatus

I will be on a hiatus from posting for a while. I have wrestled all day with whether this grief should be private, but since I have blogged about his amazing stamp collection many times, I have decided to share with a heavy heart that I lost my wonderful grandfather this morning. (I posted about his stamps, and spoke of him in the present tense, only yesterday.) I will be joining family to attend the funeral, and I don't know how long I'll be away from blog posting. I may have internet access but at the moment I just don't have the heart to post pretty letter photos, or even to write any letters.

My apologies to everyone who is awaiting a letter from me... the delay is going to continue for a while longer. Thank you for your patience.

This photo of him is from 2002, when he was in better health. It showcases his fiesty, lively personality to a tee. He always liked to put funny things on his head, or funny hats on, and so I brought these horns to a Thanksgiving dinner in 2002. He modeled the horns with more flair than anyone else in the family.

Where DO you get all those awesome old stamps?

I am getting this question so regularly that I must do another post on a source. I posted on him a while back, but I didn't use any pretty pictures.



First, I should say that a great majority of my stamps come from my dear beloved Grandfather, who is 90 years old now. He worked for the post office for most of his adult life, and he collected stamps casually over many, many years. Now my mom and I share his stamp collection, and we both use them.



Second, I do troll eBay for a few favorite stamp designs. I generally won't pay more than face value for them, which means I don't find the deal I want very often. But I've picked up some Muppets stamps, bat stamps, and a few of the peachy letter-writing type stamps that way.



My BEST recommendation, though, I will repeat from this post I made back in May. (For those of you that have already read this and given Errol your business, sorry for the repetition.)

On the Stamps post at Letters and Journals, I read about Errol Murphy (emurphy at cot.net emurphy3101 at gmail.com see end of post for updated info). He sells mixed lots of older stamps in great condition for mailing, and sells them in $20 increments. You pay face value plus shipping, and the shipping for the order I just placed was a whopping 42 cents for letter rate postage. (Sorry, folks, you'll have to pay 44 cents now, since the rates went up in May.) But here's the best part: you can request a theme!! Olympics, nature, animals, politicians - I gather he's got quite a collection. I wasn't sure about buying from someone without a website, just out of the blue, but Jackie at Letters & Journals seems like a reliable gal, and she said she'd been buying from Errol for 2 years. So I contacted Errol on a Monday about a stamp order, he took me at my word that my check to him was in the mail (it was), and must have sent the batch immediately, because I got them on a Thursday. I am just as pleased as punch with the batch of stamps he sent. NOW, when folks ask me where I get all my groovy old stamps, I will point them right to Errol. To quote what he said when I asked if I could promote his services on my blog: "I'm so glad you like the stamps. I do this as a hobby and enjoy it when I can provide stamps at a reasonable price to appreciative collectors and stamp users."

So, if you're looking for a batch of old/vintage stamps for fun postage, Errol is my top recommendation.

As a side note: even the stamps that he used on his envelope to add up to the 42-cents postage were very cool!

[UPDATE: as of May 19, 2014, Errol Murphy's most recent contact info can be found on his website, murphs-stamps.com.]

Vintage postcard: Tourism Year of the Americas '72

This is a great vintage postcard I picked up on eBay, way way cheap. I got it for, and sent it to, my grandfather, who likes postal memorabilia as he worked for the post office for many years. He's been to all these state parks, too.



I love the back, with the pre-stamped 6-sent postage showing the sailing ship. I added my own vintage stamps to make the current postcard rate.

A top-notch source for old stamps

A lot of folks ask me where I get my old stamps that I use on letters occasionally, and where they can get them. My greatest source is my grandfather's old stamp collection, which he has passed along to me and my mother. However, I'd also said to check out eBay for old stamp lots that could occasionally be found for less than face value or right at face value. Those are hard to come by, though, and you never quite know what you're going to get. Most of the full-sheet stamps on eBay are sold for the collector's market, so you're not likely to get those at face value. But now I've found a FANTASTIC new source that I must share with you all. (Said fantastic source has given his permission for me to share this info.)

On the Stamps post at Letters and Journals, I read about Errol Murphy (emurphy at cot.net emurphy3101 at gmail.com). He sells mixed lots of older stamps in great condition for mailing, and sells them in $20 increments. You pay face value plus shipping, and the shipping for the order I just placed was a whopping 42 cents for letter rate postage. (Sorry, folks, you'll have to pay 44 cents now, since the rates go up on Monday.) But here's the best part: you can request a theme!! Olympics, nature, animals, politicians - I gather he's got quite a collection. I wasn't sure about buying from someone without a website, just out of the blue, but Jackie at Letters & Journals seems like a reliable gal, and she said she'd been buying from Errol for 2 years. So I contacted Errol on Monday about a stamp order, he took me at my word that my check to him was in the mail (it was), and must have sent the batch immediately, because I got them on Thursday. I haven't photographed them yet, but wanted to blog about it right away because I am just as pleased as punch with the batch of stamps he sent. NOW, when folks ask me where I get all my groovy old stamps, I will point them right to Errol. To quote what he said when I asked if I could promote his services on my blog: "I'm so glad you like the stamps. I do this as a hobby and enjoy it when I can provide stamps at a reasonable price to appreciative collectors and stamp users."

As a side note: even the stamps that he used on his envelope to add up to the 42-cents postage were very cool!

[UPDATE: as of May 19, 2014, you can find Errol's most current contact info on his website at murphs-stamps.com.]

Owls + California

My grandfather, who worked for the post office for most of his adult life, has bequeathed his stamp collection to my mother and me, on the condition that we'd actually appreciate it and use it. We're saving some, I think, but he has masses and masses of them. My mother has the stamps, and she's taken to sending me a few sheets in each letter, so I get her letters PLUS the gift of cool vintage stamps!

They are such a treasure. More wonderful old stamp photos are sure to come.

(On this letter, I was proud of myself for using the California stamp, since this letter went to California.)

One nota bene for vintage stamp enthusiasts: old glue does not hold well. They tend to fall off envelopes, as my mom and I report to each other on our letters which ones make it and which don't... (and some of my faithful correspondents have clued me in to this as well). The letters still seem to come through okay, but my little tip is to dab just a tiny bit of glue on the envelope where the stamp goes, to ensure a safe passage.

Vintage postal goodness for the LWA

Vintage 1971 envelope from my grandfather, who used to work for the postal service. I found a stash in his house and he said take 'em.

With vintage stamps, LWA button and Sheaffer Agio F (filled with Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green). I broke out the special stamps for Donovan, one of the Letter Writers Alliance founders.