Pretty PO Pictures

Sebastopol, CA Post Office

Not a lot of words in this post. I'm just going to show you some pretty postal pictures.

Postal Scale -- I really wanted it......

Pasadena, CA Post Office
Outgoing mail art -- curbside mailing....

San Luis Obismo PO
I loved the pink building with tourquise window trim -- so Southern California

Summer vacations -- Be sure to send lots of postcards! And visit some new post offices.
Pack your mail art kits.

Back from my road trip.
Came home to a lovely pile of mail. And now to catch up!
Answering mail, working on projects and a new post but here are some pretty pictures to tide you over.

Happy beginning of summer (even if it is raining here in SF).

More very soon.

And remember, as of July 1st, no more RRS Google reader so change your RRS feeds to another reader or sign up to get Cappuccino & Art by email.
Ciao.

Coffee and Mail

Hello from San Francisco -- drinking my morning coffee and reading my mail.
Back from my travels and happy to find a lovely stack of mail waiting for me.
Thanks to all who sent me something.

Incoming Mail
Beautiful, isn't it? Almost makes coming home after a vacation worth it.
Almost.

The Day Before
At the airport -- I travel a lot but I continue to be amazed at how quickly we can roam all over the world. Even if it does take hours in a cramped airplane seat.
Seriously, it is so lovely be in a completely different place so easily, relatively speaking.

I've got lots of share --- the fabulous postcard show at the Boston Museum of Fine Art.

The SNOW.
Perhaps the less said about that the better. It wasn't all bad though. I cancelled the plan for walking in the afternoon and spend hours at the museum enjoying the postcard show and lunch.

   

The Postal Museum in Washington, DC
Very interesting place to visit and lots of free ephemera to pick up and mail off.

Working on some outgoing postcards in the hotel room in Boston.....(the day before the snow storm)

.....and working on more postcards in the DC hotel room.....

Boston collaged card -- I'll show you some more in another post.

Various Post Offices were visited.

And yes, there was food....

and more food......
Fabulous regional food is a close second to mail art....

Just wanted to check-in now that I am back.

I will work on posts  about the postcard show, Postal museum and various postal and mail related stories but I just might be lazy tomorrow since it's my birthday.
I plan on having too much fun.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear from all of you.
What are you sending out in the mails?

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail

Istanbul: Large and Small

Haga Sophia
In Istanbul many buildings are on a very grand scale like this.

I just realized I never posted the third post about Istanbul post offices,
so here you go---

The Blue Mosque
And like this...

PTT
The Main Post Office is quite large too..

As is the PTT MUZESI
(Postal Museum)

I appreciated this sign being in both Turkish and English.

So, what happened here? This little post office is a tiny bit pitiful. I feel sorry for the guy cooped up inside there all day long.

MEKTUP -- LETTER
This is more like it!
Just after I took this shot a guard came running up saying "No Photos".
What is it about post offices and no photos?
Wouldn't you think they'd want people to enjoy seeing the beauty of these buildings?

These old wooden cubbies are great for filling out forms or writing postcards.
And speaking of postcards, the PO was giving away delightful free postcards of Istanbul rooftops and a cup of tea. I took a few. OK, more than a few.

INSIDE THE POSTAL MUSEUM
Another very sneaky shot. This time there was a sign saying "No Photos" and a guard who had my husband's passport.
But I couldn't resist. (Maybe it's the newspaper photographer in me). This is what we call a "grab shot". In other words, not real great. I wish you could see the collection of fabulous vintage Turkish
mailboxes they had there. I especially loved the one with the Arabic writing.
At least they could have sold postcards.
I'm just glad I didn't end up in a Turkish prison... and neither did my husband...

Don't buy your stamps at the postcard shop. Go directly to the source and check out  a post office. You'll be happy you did.
I found packs of vintage Turkish stamps at a market too...

Then you can go have some lunch. Turkish soups are wonderful...
in fact, all the Turkish food we had was wonderful.
I came home and go about ten Turkish cookbooks from the library.
Bring on the meze and raki.

I really, really miss Baklava

This wraps up the travel posts (for now, anyway). Now I am back to working on my mail art projects -- Lunar New Year cards, Valentines and joss paper posts and projects. What are you working on?

Have a great weekend, you all!

                             
                                 

Three Little Post Offices

Tomales, CA Post Office

A Saturday drive on an incredibly beautiful California winter day.
Blue skies, white clouds -- and post offices.

Doesn't this photo look a little like a painting?

My long suffering husband knows he needs to put on the brakes when I see anything postal.

Mail In Boxes

I'm jealous -- sometimes my mail isn't delivered till 5PM or even later.

Tomales, CA

Lucky for me, all three PO's were closed on Saturday so I could take photos to my hearts content without getting thrown out...

Valley Ford Post Office

This is the famous post office where I got to hand cancel stamps with Postmaster Dave Bordessa...
A happy afternoon indeed.
Dave is sadly gone now but the memories linger on.

Valley Ford PO

This PO even has it's very own painting.....

Valley Ford population is only 126 -- can you imagine? But they are still very friendly in a number of languages. 

Bodega Bay, CA Post Office

Hum....I wonder if Alfred Hitchcock mailed any letters here while he was filming The Birds?

My business IS postal business!

I would guess most of the things mailed are "Out of Town" since the town is so small.
And Netflix gets its very own mail slot?

And then there was lunch...of course...had to feed my devoted driver who stopped the car and waited for me to take postal photos to share with all of you.

Hope you enjoyed the Saturday drive in California.

Now, back to making mail-art and collages -- I'll show you next time.

Oh! And BTW -- this is my 200th post. Happy Birthday to the blog.

Send a Letter -- Get a Letter