Some new favorites!

I've received these official postcards over the last few days and wanted to share them with everyone.


DK-12928 Received on Nov. 19th, 2010 - Christmas postcard! Yay!


US-910568 Received on Nov. 19th, 2010 - Rubber duckies!


FI-950067 Received on Nov. 22nd, 2010 - Beautiful snow scene!


TW-220886 Received on Nov. 22, 2010 - Sweets!

It took me awhile to decide to do this, but a few weeks ago I put a request on my postcrossing profile that says:

"I am also looking for some pen friends in either the U.S., UK or Europe. People who I can just exchange postcards with randomly, but who will also randomly send me postcards back. Please message me if you have the same or similar interests as me. Thanks!"

I figured that with how many postcards I send and receive, I'd get a message from someone, right? Nope. Nothing. I wonder if my wording or something offended people. I'm not against pen friends from other countries; I just seem to have better luck sending and receiving to those countries.

There are a couple of nice women I randomly exchange postcards with. One of them is more into swapping where I get some of those wonderful old west postcards and I send her postcards that she likes off of my sent list. It works well. I just know that they're busy and I need more people that I can randomly exchange postcards with. Sending mail makes me really happy and I really haven't wanted to get really involved with the postcrossing forum again since I want pen friends, not random postcards from people.

Tonight I decided to put a post on the forum asking for postcard pen friends. I replied to a few different people who are also looking for pen friends. A few live in the US too and I heard back from one user in the Netherlands who plans on writing me ASAP. I'm excited! I hope I hear back from more people soon. Sending mail seems to make me feel better and happier lately so I'll probably have to go buy more stamps and postcards, but that's fine.

New postcards for my private collection.

I've gotten some really wonderful postcards for my private collection over the last week or so. Three of these came to me in private swaps by the same user. She is so super nice for sending these to me and of course she gets postcards back in return.


This is an official postcard: US-871379
Stagecoaches built by the Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire were used by Wells Fargo to transport gold, mail and passengers throughout the west. This stagecoach, #187, is on display at the Wells Fargo History Museum in Sacramento, CA.


Pioneer Log Home - This fifteen-foot by twenty-foot log home, constructed of douglas fir and lodgepole pine, was built by Latter-day Saint pioneers upon their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. It has been restored with furnishings that reflect the lifestyle of the Osmyn Deuel family, its original inhabitants.


Pioneer Handcart - This handcart was pulled from Nebraska to the Utah Territory in the late 1860s by members of the William Stiff family, immigrants from England. Traveling in a Church-sponsored wagon train, the Stiffs purchased the handcart to carry additional possessions to their new home.


Western Stagecoach - Before the railroad era, a Concord Coach was the best form of transportation in the West. Until the early 1900's, stages carried mail, passengers, and baggage to small towns, settlements, and remote mining districts. At an exasperating 5 miles per hour, travelers tolerated soaring heat, freezing cold, mud, and dust, sometimes all in the same day. (Photo: 1894, Arizona Historical Society.)

Where are my postcards?

While I do prefer sending postcards to receiving them, I still do like to receive postcards. For whatever reason, I do not seem to be getting a lot of postcards and the difference between my sent and received postcards is growing. I now have 398 sent postcards and only 372 received postcards. I know it's normal to have a few more sent than received, but a difference of 26 postcards is a lot. I have no idea what is going on. I hope people's postcards aren't getting lost on their way to me.

I also seem to be running into the problem of expired postcards. Right now I have six expired postcards. I had seven expired postcards earlier this week, but my replacement card made it to the user and was registered after 86 days of traveling. Two of the users seem to have stopped using postcrossing altogether, I have a replacement postcard sent out to another user and the three are all in China so I'm waiting until it's been at least 80 days before I sent replacement postcards. It's frustrating. It seems like I keep getting users who sign up and then only participate for a little bit before quitting and don't delete their profile or anything. I understand that postcrossing isn't for everyone or that other things may come up preventing a user from participating, but please don't ruin it for everyone else, you know?

On a happier note, I ordered another batch of postcards from Zazzle.com and I was much happier with the result. I ordered nine different designs and only didn't like one of them. I just wish that when I requested a new address, it would be for a user who wants a Christmas postcard! Waiting until December to send these pretty postcards out is driving me crazy. I just hope they make people smile.

New postcards for my private collection.

Here they are!



Both of these postcards show Bodie, CA. It's a ghost town now, but it used be a gold mining town in the 1860s. The user that sent me these took the photos himself. More info on Bodie can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodie,_California


Golden Spike National Historic Site: Located west of Brigham City, at Promontory Utah, the Golden Spike was driven on May 10, 1869 to celebrate the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.



Sarah Winnemucca (1844 - 1891), Native American rights activist. She gained fame as a translator and negotiator for the U.S. Army. She travel extensively and lectured on behalf of her people and later established a school for Native American children in Nevada.