# The 2026 edition of the SDMB Postcard exchange - new management, old rules **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779 "2026-05-04T10:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/361 "2026-06-29T14:45:42Z")
Hmm… Hey @needscoffee - have you not received my card ? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/362 "2026-06-29T15:53:40Z")
Here’s hoping it won’t be another 4 years until the next one. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/363 "2026-06-30T02:06:40Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Hey @needscoffee - have you not received my card ? I think it got lost in the Strait of Hormuz. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/364 "2026-06-30T02:10:01Z")
It could have slipped inside something larger like a magazine or sale flyer and gotten overlooked, but I’ve been paying pretty close attention. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/365 "2026-06-30T07:52:49Z")
Damn. It was 3 cards in an envelope. It’s over 4 weeks now and all other recipients have received theirs… I guess it’s lost. I’ll send another one (might be next week). ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/366 "2026-06-30T09:14:02Z")
Given that a couple of PCE participants are still waiting on their stipulated quota it’s with a curious meld of gratification and embarrassment I advise the local postie has delivered a further 5 postcards in todays mail. They must think there is some sort of nefarious racket going on. Anyhoo: @melodyharmonius sent a card featuring the Mile High Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain (which is almost 3 times the elevation of Australia’s highest mountain) in NC of which I am totally unfamiliar; @SuntanLotion was trying to be apologetic about sending a US postcard featuring a red maple leaf stamp. No further action necessary. Done very good. Love the irony; @RollOutTheBarrel with a Californian daisy-like flower motif, the species was not specified but a very elegant card; @Mollie_Magill where a name change caused a tad of confusion but also provided a salient lesson on the Bill of Rights using smilies which works well and @Kimstu with a card from the Washington County Fiber Tour. 'Twas almost 2/3rd of a lifetime ago I graduated with an Honours degree in Wool Science. And though now being city based, that is still my family’s core farming interest. Continuing generosity way beyond all reasonable expectations. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/367 "2026-07-01T00:36:14Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > I’ll send another one (might be next week). Oh there’s no need. I’ve already received numerous postcards, and it’s really the thought that counts, in my book! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/368 "2026-07-01T02:58:20Z")
You know what, on second thought, let’s give it more time. International mail can be spotty. It may still turn up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/369 "2026-07-01T07:19:53Z")
I just received a card from New South Wales! It was inside an envelope. A picture of Kata Tjuta, Central Australia. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/370 "2026-07-02T15:42:08Z")
I just got a surprise postcard from @penultima_thule, thanking me for my contribution to this year’s SDMB Postcard Exchange. Also included was a nice bookmark. That’s very nice of you, but wouldn’t have been necessary, since I first participated about 10 years ago, this has always been much fun for me and one of the highlights of the summer. Thanks anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/371 "2026-07-02T18:42:14Z")
Ooh, me too, a lovely view of Sydney Harbor inside an envelope with multiple lovely postcard views! (The postcard is inside the envelope, I mean. They didn’t take Sydney Harbor and stuff it into, oh never mind…) And I’m sure I’ve received some more I haven’t documented, they got tucked inside my correspondence box and I need to get them out! ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/372 "2026-07-03T20:12:29Z")
Got home from a trip and there was a card from @EinsteinsHund in my mailbox! A painting by a German artist named Caspar David Friedrich (unfamiliar to me, but Herr Hund suggests Friedrich is not well known outside of Germany). A traveler staring down from a rocky outcrop into a sea made of fog. Very evocative and refrigerator-friendly. Many thanks! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/373 "2026-07-03T20:32:17Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > A traveler staring down from a rocky outcrop into a sea made of fog. Very evocative and refrigerator-friendly. This is “Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer”, “Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog”, one of the most iconic paintings in German art history. Probably because it’s the epitome of a Romantic painting, a genre so influenced and favored by Germans. > **[Wanderer above the Sea of Fog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog)** > > Wanderer above the Sea of Fog\[a\] is a painting by German Romanticist artist Caspar David Friedrich in 1818. It depicts a man standing upon a rocky precipice with his back to the viewer; he is gazing out on a landscape covered in a thick sea of fog through which other ridges, trees, and mountains pierce, which stretches out into the distance indefinitely. > It is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Romantic movement and one of its most representative works. The painting has been interpr... ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/374 "2026-07-03T20:37:31Z")
Oh, definitely quite Romantic! I’m a bit surprised I never heard of the painter or had any familiarity with the painting, but then when I thought about it my education was not big on German Romanticism in the visual arts, whereas I learned quite a lot about German Romanticism in literature and in music. Or maybe it was just me–I’ve always been more of a music and literature guy than a visual arts fan… Anyway, thanks! Side note: the stamp was uncanceled because the Briefzentrum stamped the card at the lower left rather than the upper right. If anybody wants an uncanceled German stamp…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/375 "2026-07-03T20:44:08Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Oh, definitely quite Romantic! I’m a bit surprised I never heard of the painter or had any familiarity with the painting, but then when I thought about it my education was not big on German Romanticism in the visual arts, whereas I learned quite a lot about German Romanticism in literature and in music. Or maybe it was just me–I’ve always been more of a music and literature guy than a visual arts fan… Well, the SDMB PE is always an opportunity and a kind of mission for me to present aspects of German culture that might be quite unknown to the rest of the world, but deserve consideration. That’s why I chose to send cards with Caspar David Friedrich paintings this year, because I knew he’s not well known outside of Germany. And, you know, because his art is so very, very German. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/376 "2026-07-03T20:50:40Z")
Yeah, it’s great! Now I can add “Der Wanderer uber dem Nebelmeer” to my knowledge of German “Wanderer” cultural touchstones: “Winterreise,” “Wanderers Nachtlied,” and so on. And more broadly, to my understanding of Romantic traditions in Germany beyond just literature and music. Very grateful for the card, and for the new knowledge! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/377 "2026-07-04T03:06:12Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Now I can add “Der Wanderer uber dem Nebelmeer” to my knowledge of German “Wanderer” cultural touchstones: “Winterreise,” “Wanderers Nachtlied,” and so on. Read Ian Bostridge’s _Schubert’s Winter Journey_ for a discussion of how the “Winterreise” relates to the “Wanderer uber dem Nebelmeer”! ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/378 "2026-07-04T03:16:48Z")
Cool! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/379 "2026-07-08T17:02:10Z")
Yesterday I received another postcard (sunset at Blue Mountains) with a bookmark which first made me think of a plague doctor, but it’s actually a khaki-wearing penguin. Thank you @penultima_thule ! And for those who are tracking travel time, the envelope was stamped 10 June and arrived in Switzerland on 7 July. Not too bad for a flightless bird. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779/380 "2026-07-08T17:08:10Z")
And yesterday I received picture of a couple on a sailboat off the coast of a large city (judging by the size of the cathedral in the background) by Caspar David Friedrich from @EinsteinsHund , which helped to salve the loss to Belgium from the day before. Thanks **E\_H**! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2026-edition-of-the-sdmb-postcard-exchange-new-management-old-rules/1029779.md?page=20)