Lovely Turkish Adventures

Istanbul, Turkey
Seems like I gathered quite a lot of attention while on my mail art travels in Turkey.
For example, this little cat seemed quite intrigued with me while I photographed
this adorable yellow mail box.
The entire cafe right next door also seemed interested but we won't go into all that.

This (very nice) guy had quite a laughing fit watching me shoot this Mail Box from all
angles. Did he wear that yellow shirt to coordinate with the yellow post box? We'll never know, will we? He finally decided to go ahead and post his letters and he wished me a great day.
In English. How did he know?

PTT Mail Truck -- ooh noo -- a mail truck. Whip out the camera......and start running...

There it goes...you'd think they could slow down a bit instead of making a nutty American chase after the truck.

Istanbul Airport -- it may be too small for you to read -- but that sign on the top left says
PTT POST OFFICE -- I'm on the job.

A Mail Box with a little local color. I wonder why they changed from yellow to red?
I really do like that envelope on the mail box though....
Stamps Are Required For Mailing
Do people really drop in letters without stamps?

This guy actually came over to me and looked onto the screen on my camera -- I don't know if he was checking if I was photographing him or the mail box -- but he walked away laughing.
I did get laughed at a lot on this trip but it was all in good fun.
I think.

This little cutie is leaning right....or left...depending on which side you are looking at it from.
The Blue Mosque was right behind it. Most people would photograph the famous
Blue Mosque but I was intent on photographing the cute little mail box.

Charming, don't you think?

OK, turn-about is fair play. This is me with a delightful Turkish mail box and it is just a total
coincidence I am wearing the same colors as the Turkish Postal Service.
Really.

Istanbul is a beautiful and fascinating city, filled with ancient mosques and adorable mail boxes.
Very nice people and absolutely terrific food.
Lots of carpets and cats. Highly suggest a visit if you ever get the chance.
I still have the PTT Main PO and some stationery shops to share with you.

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail

Bella Italia (Part Three)

Venice
Because Venice has absolutely no cars.....

....everything has to be delivered by carts....

I got a kick out of seeing this dry-cleaning delivery cart.
And, as usual, people got a kick out of seeing me photographing the dry-cleaning
delivery cart(I got laughed at and looked at a lot in Istanbul too, which you
will see next post).

Restaurants get their food and wine delivered by carts...

And, of course, all this is leading up to the fact that the MAIL is also delivered by cart.
Very cool.
No sign of the delivery person. Someone could steal one of those packages
just sitting there like that...(I wouldn't think of it).

I wish one of those packages was for me -- I am part Italian, after all.

Another very cool things about Venice is, many of the mail boxes have faces on them.

Here's a shiny new mailbox (ever so out of place in crumbling Venice but I do like that envelope on there).

And here's one a bit more my style...

Posta -- Mail
Say it any way you like!

PREGO NO PUBBLICITA
My feelings exactly - a mail box is supposed to be for mail not for junk!

Venice is really a magically beautiful place just to walk around in...next time I'd like to spend a week or ten days and just walk all over, take pictures and eat and drink coffee and wine...

It is been brought to my attention by several people (hello Mary Ann...) that they haven't been able to comment
on the blog. Since I see there are hundreds of page views and so few comments I wonder if others have the same problem. I have removed the word verification this time around to see
if that helps -- so give me a shout-out and say hello. Let me know if you have been having trouble commenting and if that helps. As long as I don't get a bunch of spam I will leave it off and so we'll see what happens.

I am working on catching up with all my mail -- so if you have sent me mail, you will hear from me soon.
Send Good Mail to Get Good Mail.

Ciao tutti!

Bella Italia (Part Two)

Here we've got some "Mail Box Portraits".
I'm quite captivated by these lovely red POSTE boxes.

Often there are two together -- I think one is for mail to be dropped into
and the other must be for the letter carrier to pick up to deliver?

Another pair...

A single -- are we noticing anything here?

A surprising amount of graffiti around Venice -- and I don't appreciate it  all
over those beautiful red mail boxes.

Here's a lovely box without -- the red contrasts nicely with the grey, don't you think?

And here's a box with graffiti -- still, it has a certain charm.

A pilgrimage to the mail post office in Venice didn't work out too well...

Sadly, it is closed and all boarded up. I imagine the Italian post offices are having similar
problems as the USPO's are. Sad. And with all those stationery shops we saw you'd think people were sending mail.

Love the two choices! I guess my postcards will have to go into into the
PER TUTTE LE ALTRE DESTICAZIONI

Are you all getting tired of post boxes yet?
Then maybe we'll  buy a few more postcards.....

And we can sit with a nice cappuccino at breakfast time and write them out and then drop them into one of those red Italian beauties.

Bella Italia (Part One)

Venice Postcards for sale -- and Boots for the Tidal Flooding

I'm back from my trip and have lots of photos to share with all of you. I did buy postcards
and I did have to buy some rubber boots for the flooding
but we were lucky enough to leave the very day before the major flooding.
I was so sorry to read about it and hope all the wonderful little shops, cafes
and restaurants I visited survived without too much damage.

Paper Shop
Just look at this wonderful little paper shop -- filled with marbleized papers and all
kinds of beautiful things made with it.  

You can just bet I was drooling at this window....and planning what I'd like to buy.

Onside --- rack after rack of marbleized papers....I know some of you are getting
jealous by now.

Don't get too jealous --  the shop was
CHIUSO
That's right - closed. Sometimes life is just not fair. And trust me, I wasn't about to take the
vaporetto  and then a bus to another town no matter how tempting that paper was.

This kind of emergency calls for a drink -- maybe a small glass of Limoncello?

Even with that disappointment it was pretty easy to find other paper, pen and stationery shops
all around...I happen to have the most fabulous tour guide in the world
(mio marito)

Often just looking at everything is enough for me...but I did pick up some pretty labels
here.

Fountain pens?

Little kits with pens, ink, sealing wax and seals?

Maybe some cards?

More pen nibs and seals -- I am becoming tempted...and they are small enough to
easily fit inside a suitcase. A suitcase you must tug along behind you on the boats and the streets
and the raised boardwalks over the flooding because there are absolutely no cars
in Venice. Just saying.

So then I got this really great idea --- when I saw the laundry hanging out over the canals
looking so pretty I thought -- "What about a  Cristo-like mail art installation with mail hanging on all those clothes lines instead of laundry?"  A good idea, si?
I'm sure it is -- not I just have to figure out how to apply for a grant to do it.
And hope none of the mail art falls into the canal.

Jet lag is really starting to set in around here at my house. I could sure use a shot of
cappuccino - or espresso - or hot chocolate. I'd like one of those machines but what I'd really like is to go to bed.....

We can blame any mistakes here on the 14-plus hours plane ride home from Istanbul
yesterday.

I have mail boxes and post boxes and all sorts of other things to report on. And then there is Istanbul.
So, stayed tuned.

Ciao.

Per ricevere i messaggi buono -, è necessario inviare una mail buono!

Life's Little Adventures

OUTGOING
Creepy Halloween-inspired handmade envelopes.....
are there tricks inside?
Or treats?

Stack of Outgoing Mail
I have really been busy sending out lots of mail...keep the post office in business and
keep me out of trouble...
plus, as we all know, you've got to send good mail to get good mail.

Outgoing
Collaged postcards

OUTGOING
Handmade envelopes with little treats tucked inside...and apples from my apple tree.
(Yes, there was pie)

OUTGOING
More outgoing (I told you I've been busy) -- collaged postcards and another creepy envelope.
Creepy in a good way.

INCOMING
Not to complain, but last week wasn't a real great mail week -- except -- all this arrived on Friday
and that was a good mail day.
One day my mail was delivered at 7:40PM! Can you believe it? I have to say, I think that really
is way too late.
And after waiting all day long for it to come, I didn't get anything good.

INCOMING
Three collaged postcards, loaded with stamps, have arrived from New Delhi, India.
I have a friend living there for several months and she is making mail art
and taking cooking lessons -- so I am hoping for an Indian dinner when she gets back (are you listening DD?)

Correspondence Co-Op Meeting
on Wednesday night. Always fun. Getting my passport stamped with artistamps
is just part of the fun....

Seeing Catwrangler's fabulous postal bag was another highlight....

Show and Tell is always fun too - CW made a stamp-carving zine and brought in some
Eraser Stamps that can be used for carving rubber stamps...
I'm going to have to try making some..

Happy Halloween
So all you ghouls and goblins...in case I don't see you...have a
Happy Halloween.

Washi decorated luggage tag with air mail ribbon on suitcase..
I just can't leave well enough alone, can I?
I think the tag and suitcase look much better with postal trim.

Now everybody -- mail me something back!

249 "followers"?
Who will be lucky number 250?

POSTCARDS FROM THE ROAD NEXT!