Postcard: Pup hula

I'm not always sure where the little boys' ideas come from.  Of the two of them, Jesse is the more artistically inclined, though both like to draw and can do so with some detail.

But sometimes they just come up with something weird.  Like Pup Hula.

This one came back in early July from The Dalles, which we visited on the way home from our vacation last summer.  So it took nearly a year to return to us.  Jonno's probably embarrassed by the artwork now, big 9-year-old that he is.  But I think it's hilarious.  Though it's clear this pup could use some ears...

Thanks, Vivian, for returning it to us!

Postcard: Cat

Have we mentioned how much we love it when someone takes a minute to write a creative note?

I mean, we love it any time someone takes the trouble to send our cards back to us...but we have a soft spot for the extra lovely people who put a little bit of themselves on the back.

This one made us extra happy. It returned last week from Seattle. The artwork is mine. 

Here's what the finder said:

What a surprise!  Here I thought I was just reading How Lamar's Bad Prank Won A Bubba Sized Trophy--and voila!  A postcard appears--cool!  Today was sort of rainy but I saw a cool view of Mt. Rainier before the clouds came in.  I still would like to climb that mountain someday...

I'm writing with a pretty fountain pen that my Mom got for me.  Still getting used to it.  Maybe I'm more of a ball point pen person.  Umm...what else?  I just sent a funny drawing to my sister.  She likes carrots, so I drew a bunch of carrots saying silly things.  Like a comi-strip.  

Hey, it's almost summer solstice!  Cool!

ALLY O.

Ally, we have decided you are a delightful human being and we sort of wish you were our sister.   Also, I'm familiar with fountain pens and have this bit of advice:  Keep using it for a while, and don't lend it.  They are always awkward at first, but over time a good fountain pen will conform itself to your writing hand.  The nib will wear down a little where you stroke it across the page, smoothing and adapting to the way your hand holds and moves it.  Of course, there's a reason the ballpoint was invented, and fountain pens take a bit of getting used to an a willingness to deal with a slightly more temperamental (but so much more expressive!) instrument.  Also...good paper makes a difference with a good pen. Tomoe River, Midori, and Rhodia are worth looking at.

Thank you so much for the return, and for the letter!  

Postcard: Spaghetti man

This postcard came back from Portland, Oregon (Multnomah Co. Library).  The artist didn't date it and the finder's had it for a while.  When I saw it, I immediately thought it was Anna's work, but she doesn't recognize it and doesn't think it's likely that she drew it (something about her skills not being up to those nice, even noodles the last time she saw Portland).  She thought it might be her brother Braden's work...but honestly, the lettering is 100% her, and I don't think any cards made by Braden ended up in Portland.  (Has Braden even ever made cards with us? I don't remember...)

The finder writes:
i can't remember what book i found you in.  You were discovered in Multnomah County's Central Library.  i've been working there forever.  i found you years ago and forgot to mail you away until now.  please forgive me!
Safe travels,
Shantelle

Not sure I got that name right, as the PO ran its coding over it.  But thanks so much for sending the card back so we could puzzle over which of us created such a quirky mess of spaghetti!

Postcard; Green band

This one took less than a month to find its way back.  It's one we left in Sacramento in March.  The little boys and I spent a couple of mornings making cards while we were there.  I'd picked up a couple of Pilot parallel pens (something I've wanted to try forever) and it made calligraphy-on-the-go a much more feasible option.

The green band on this card started out as lettering with some Celtic illumination for St Patrick's Day.  But I had limited coloring tools and I didn't love the effect using just what I had, so I added a long curve and made a band out of it.

This was returned without a note.  Thanks to the finder, though!

Postcard: Poppy and serendipity

We (the Dad, the boyos, and I) spent last week in Sacramento.  The Dad had meetings and work, while the boys and I explored the wet city from underneath brand-new umbrellas.  We put tokens into the Art-o-Mat at the Crocker, ate really good ramen, explored Old Sac, saw Sutter's Fort and the Indian Museum, and of course visited the library! The Dad even got to join us for an evening hike at the Effie Yeaw nature preserve, which is breathtakingly beautiful in spring.  We saw wood ducks, mallards, and both great egrets and snowy egrets. The great egrets stood like stately statues, while the snowies would stand still for about ten seconds and then suddenly scramble and pounce through the shallows and stab their long beaks into the water.  When they popped back up, they looked confused and stunned.  Probably they were actually catching something small like snails, but to us they looked like awkward children trying and repeatedly failing to snatch some small, swift creature from the river.

While we were in Sacramento, this arrived at home--a postcard from another visit to the same city.

I think I've mentioned how terrible I am with watercolors.  I haven't a clue how to use them but I'm drawn to them anyway, especially on ephemeral projects like the postcards.  I figure I'd be excited to find a postcard in a library book no matter what the art looked like, and if it's poorly done then there's less temptation to keep it rather than dropping it in the mail. 

Keeping, of course, is always a possibility, but we're grateful for every finder who sends the cards back to us!  This one wrote simply:

GREETINGS FROM SACRAMENTO PUBLIC LIBRARY
828 I STREET
SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 

Thanks, finder, for returning it home!

Postcard: Bear, and a mystery half-solved! Maybe...

This beauty came back to us today after nearly two years!

It was placed in Portland in 2016.  When it arrived in the mail, it looked familiar--but I knew none of us had drawn it.  I remember a discussion about the bear, and I'm pretty sure other people had drawn bears in that same creative session--I vaguely remember someone not liking their bear.  It may even have been me.  But for the life of me I couldn't figure out whose art this was.  Even the signature didn't help.

And then it hit me!  We had a couple of LDS missionaries to dinner (as we often do), and invited them to draw postcards for an upcoming trip.  One of those young men turned out to be really artistic, and I'm pretty sure this is his work.  Just a quick little drawing, but so fun!  I wish my memory wasn't so spotty so I could give him a shoutout by name, but it's been a long time and I forget things easily.

Of course, it's possible that I'm mixing up two people, or that I'm otherwise mis-remembering.  The flower in particular gives me pause...such an unexpected detail for a young man to add...but I love how the bear seems to be gazing down at it.  (Especially since the artist managed to give that impression with two tiny dot-eyes.)

The finder writes:

Hi,
I found this postcard in the downtown Portland library, probably less than 6 months after you left it.  I just re-found it when I cleaned up some papers form a vacation--oops!  It was a fun thing to find and re-find, and I hope you enjoy getting it back!
Tracy Thomas
Portland OR
Thanks, Tracy, for playing along! 

Postcard: Lines

 It's been a while since we got a postcard, and this one sat on the table for a week before I realized it wasn't just a random colored-pencil test scrap or something of the boys'!

Jesse made this one.  Abstract lines of color.  I love how he teamed apple green with aqua blue, and red with purple.  It's probably one that he made at the end of an afternoon of postcard creation, when he was out of ideas but still didn't have the number of cards he had started out wanting to make.  

This was simply stamped "The Dalles-Wasco Co. Public Library" with a hand-drawn smiley face.

Thank you, finder, for returning it to us!