Well, this really took long compared to former postcard exchanges. Usually, my cards to the US took no longer than 4 weeks.
ETA: oops, I just went back to check, and I sent my cards on June 5, so this delivery has been normal. I could have sworn it took longer…
@JoseB asked that that this info was passed along, so in his own words:
"Welp! Thanks for getting in touch!
I have had a few weeks/months that I would not wish on anybody.
Basically - I have spent all this time dealing with a flare up of leukemia. Fortunately it seems that the hematologists have managed to keep it under control.
But I have not been in any mood to do anything during this time.
I am going to send all of my postcards now. Better late than never, they say…!
My apologies for dropping off the face of the Earth… please tell the others. Thanks a lot!
José"
Ah shit, I’m hope you’re well, @JoseB. These news hurt, he’s one of the few Dopers I’ve met in person, and he’s a fine fellow. All the best!
Thanks for sharing, @Czarcasm.
And for @JoseB, please take care of yourself and hope you’re on the road to recovery!
Joining in that sentiment.
And in today’s mail I have an envelope decorated with a map of the world and further decorated with a line drawn on that map between Australia and here; and containing a card with a picture of a Kuhl’s Ghost Crab looking up at me, looking not particularly ghostly and actually rather cute, though I don’t think I’d want to put myself within reach of those claws.
Thanks, PT!
— at some point I think I need to check back in this thread because I think one of those charts appeared to have someone in my group who I didn’t think was in there. If somebody’s expecting a card from me and never got one, please speak up; I just bought more postcard stamps.
I got one too - so cool! As are the rainbow lorikeet cards and the postcard of Lindy Lee’s work from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Australia. Thanks, @penultima_thule!
I almost missed it — there’s another, smaller, card in mine. Very nice picture of a galah, a parrot I hadn’t previously known about. Apparently it likes Australian farming country.
While everyone makes jokes about the amount of venomous wildlife Australia has, they also have all these amazing colorful birds, and I for one am insanely jealous about this.
As was foreshadowed, today the postie delivered an elegant card featuring a woodcut print from the Driftless region of La Crosse from @JKellyMap. Might even have glanced your way from Granddad Bluff a while ago.
@thorny_locust Galahs are a very common parrot spread across Australia except for the tropics. There are more now than pre-settlement as they flourish in the grain belts. Have rather attractive plumage and a pleasant chirp but unlike their relatives like cockatoos and corellas, they are dumber than hammers.
Are a major physical nuisance on roads during the summer harvest as large flocks (100s) of them will feast on the grain spilt along the roadsides until they can’t or can barely fly and oncoming vehicles experience what aviators would call "bird strike’ and lose grills, radiators and windscreens.
During the Great Depression when food was scarce, galahs though ubiquitous were rarely considered as sustenance.
A family favourite recipie for Galah Pot Luck.
Take one medium sized cauldron. Set to the boil and add 4 galahs and 2 medium sized rocks. Season to taste. Boil vigorously until you can stick a fork into the rocks. Throw away the galahs, eat the rocks
Probably why you’ve got so many of them! Tasting bad is an excellent defense.
I remember it was the cover art for an album of Beethoven’s music not long ago. Seemed fitting.
I read a few days ago in this context that the painting has also been used for a later, significant (English) edition of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, with the wanderer representing Victor Frankenstein on his chase through the Alps after his creature. Seems also fitting, both the painting and the novel were created about the same time.
Glad to hear you’ve graced our humble abode.
Switzerland = The country where I live.
Zwitserland = The name of the country in Dutch.
Yes, that means I have a card from @JoseB !
Nope, that means I have TWO cards.
One is a gorgeous photo of it raining in the Japanese Garden in The Hague. And the other one is almost a complete contrast, with a picture of very modern buildings, also of The Hague. Both do have water in them, which is one of my favorite parts about the Netherlands - there’s always large amounts of water nearby.
I am mesmerized by the Japanese Garden photo - the colors are almost luminescent.
I’ll be in Amsterdam in just a few weeks - I’ll wave when we fly by.
Dank u wel!
Thank you!
Got a card from @kenobi_65 yesterday! Thanks! That fills my bingo card.
My apologies that it was apparently routed to you through the post office in Mos Eisely!
Received yesterday: a lovely card of a waterway in South Australia, courtesy of @penultima_thule ! Sent inside a great envelope with a map of the world on one side and a map of Australia/Eastern Asia on the other. Thanks so much! And thanks so much for organizing, PT!
I’m pretty sure that @penultima_thule is sending us all a map of how to get to his house, in case we all want to surprise him one day.
It’s the singular responsibility of we few furriners active on dis 'ere message board to remind the locals that there might just be some intelligent life existing outside the lower 48.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get too hasty.
