Dear Future Me

I admit I have a problem. I can’t get enough postcards. Although, I do have some great donors to the Collection, their contributions aren’t enough so I have resorted to mailing myself postcards. Kinda pathetic, I know. But blank postcards don’t cut it for me. I need the message, stamp, and postmark as well.

So to augment my collection from Alberta, Canada I mailed myself this fine specimen below. Earlier this year, I relocated to Edmonton, Alberta for my new job as Assistant Professor at Athabasca University (you can read about me here). I was setting into life in Edmonton, but then the pandemic swept in and I decided to temporarily return to my hometown of Toronto.

But before I left I mailed myself this postcard below:

You can almost see my apartment in this postcard. It was this wintery the entire time I was there!

Postcard message:
“Hi Future Glen:
I’ll soon be temporarily leaving my new home of Edmonton for the past 3 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite some arctic weather (-40 degrees Celsius with wind chill) and drunken neighbours [finally arrested], I had some good times. I saw Ice Castles, a huge mall (WEM), historic sites and galleries, and cool buildings. And I ate some amazing local dishes – green onion cakes, perogies, pickle soup, and cinnamon buns galore. Will return soon.
Ciao Present Glen”

Postcard caption:
“Edmonton has a northern continental [arctic] climate with extreme seasonal temperatures. It has mild summers and chilly [icy] winters, with the average daily temperatures ranging from minus 31.7 degrees Celsius in January to 17.5 in July. Annually temperatures exceed 30 degrees on an average of three days and fall below minus 20 on an average of twenty eight days.”

I’m Back from Outer Space

I can’t believe it’s been four years since I last blogged here! A lot has happened since that time. Most notably, I finished my PhD and started working as a professor at Athabasca University.

I figured I no longer have a good excuse to be neglecting this blog any longer and if I needed further motivation I received it today in abundance. First, I received in the mail a batch of pandemic appropriate postcards that I ordered from a B.C. artists that I’ll post later.

Also, as today was a surprisingly beautiful day here, I had to venture out for a walk. En route, I noticed a rather new graphic design store Secret Planet in my neighbourhood.

I met the amazing artist working there and she had a great selection of local postcards and ones with a space theme.

Of course I bought some (and will certainly be back for more) and she even threw in a bonus one for me!

Buone Feste

Here’s a Christmas postcard from Italy:

It’s of an image from an Italian Christmas even called La Strada dei Presepi.

Postcard message:
“Glen, I went to Padova today. I couldn’t decide which card to pick for you as most of them were quite unispiring. The answer was handed to me on my way out of a restaurant. Buone feste Glen. Hope you and your family had an amazing Chirstmas.”

From One Dog to Another

Happy birthday to my wife today. Here’s a postcard I sent her awhile ago, representing her Chinese zodiac symbol.

Here’s the backside:

Postcard message:
“From one dog to another, I miss my lady! (I know what you thought I was going to say!) Miss you so much.”

Happy Labour Day

Ih honour of Labour Day, here’s some superhero solidarity from a postcard I got from a Toronto comic book store:

When I was on the picket line, I just wish I had Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman with me!

Graphic Novel Postcards

Back in May, I went to Toronto Comic Arts Festival. It was a great (and free) event. There were lots of famous and awesome local and international cartoonists there. My daughter and I are huge fans of graphic literature, so it was cool to meet some of our famous cartoonists.

They even had a couple free postcards. This one below is from the graphic book series Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi. My daughter and I have been reading this for years so we were excited to see this postcard:

I also got this postcard for Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea.

It has the best back design of any postcard – a MAZE:

 

 

Peterborough Postcard

Earlier this summer, I was in Peterborough, Ontario. It’s one of my favourite places in Ontario and that’s not just because they have the Canoe Museum and the world’s best jingle for a car dealership.

My in-laws live there and I’ve been several times and rarely encountered anywhere that sells postcards. But thanks to Walmart I found this postcard highlighting Peterborough’s claim-to-fame, their famous lift-locks!

Fortress of Louisbourg

This postcard arrived last week from a family member visiting Canada’s east coast. It’s from Fortress of Louisbourg, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  The fort is a national historic site and is from the 18th century originally made by the French. It was once the third busiest port in North America.

Here’s the back of the postcard. I love the Canada Post stamp of  Captain Kirk (William Shatner was born in Montreal).

Postcard message:
“Hi. Arrived in N.S. [Nova Scotia] on Thursday, July 15th. We certainly enjoyed our visit to the Louisbourg Fortress. An amazing place and well worth the visit. Went to Sidney for dinner this evening. Heading to the Cabot Trail tomorrow morning. We’ll be sure to take lots of pictures!”

Amazing Mayzie in Palm Beach

Earlier this year, my daughter was in a school production of Seussical playing Mayzie La Bird. She was a great Mayzie! An extra treat for me is that the play features Mayzie sending a postcard. Mayzie asked Horton to watch her egg so she could have a rest – in Palm Beach

My daughter asked if I had a postcard of Palm Beach that they could use and I did (well, West Palm Beach). And it was even blank. So she wrote the postcard as Mayzie to Horton.

Here’s the front side:

So this is a first for the Collection – the first time one of the postcards was used as a prop in a play.

Mail a Moose

Last month, my family and I visited Algonquin Provincial Park for a few days. It’s the largest park in Ontario and the oldest provincial park in Canada. It’s an amazingly beautiful place and normally a great place to see wildlife.

We didn’t see any moose this trip (although everyone else we were with did). So instead we found this stationery alternative:

We loved it, so of course we mailed it to our cat right away from the park.

Algonquin had lots of great postcards, including more along this lines. I’ll feature over the next few weeks. But this one was our favourite, naturally!