Hi Jane, I love everything about this. I have been a letter writer and postcard sender all my life. I collected postcards as a child, I still have my collection. When I traveled overseas in 1990, I sent my family postcards from everywhere. I still send postcards when I am on holidays. and I have friends who send me postcards when they are on holiday too.
My Nana always typed me letters.
I am still in contact with my high school penfriend. I used aerogrammes to write to her.
I send a monthly postcard to one of my oldest friends, and she sends them to me.
I used to send one of my sister's the ugliest postcards I could find. I send my nieces and nephews little letters and postcards. It's a beautiful way of staying in touch, you have to be concise on a postcard. You really know that the person who has written to you has stopped, thought about you and taken the time to choose that card and write to you. I love it!
I used to go to coffee shops and write letters, pretend that I was having a chat with the person I was writing to.
These days I do Postcrossing, check it out on line. Sending and receiving postcards from all over the world.
The postage has become so expensive these days. I have to limit how much I send.
Fiona, what a wonderful story. Imagine a collection of all YOUR postcards coming back to you! That's a story I'd want to listen to. Thank-you so much for sharing! x
It is wonderful to send postcards. It is expensive but what a lovely gift you are giving people. Postcards also help tell your story. Thank you for the link to Postcrossing.
Jane :) we are so on the same page I love sending little works of thought - filled articles by snail mail ..If the person is particularly special to me, I gift the receiver with old stamps from my hoard of unused stamps You know the look 2cents 5 cents even 35cents etc. I hope the workers get some pleasure too ???? oh yes please a vid would be wonderful and as to Aerogrammes / Post Restante .... delicious memories
Jane, you brought back some memories of my parents writing aerogrammes back to their friends and families back in Macedonia before they could afford a telephone!
I have even printed out and kept the emails my son sent me almost every day when he went to Britain in 2005. No handwriting there but lovely memories. I also have kept any card given to me by my children in the last forty years.
Oh my... consider this a beg for a little detail on this Pigeon Post. What a wonderful concept. The international air letter was a concept very close to my heart. My now husband and I pretty much fell in love over the exchange of letters between January and September 1980. Many were sent to Washington state via International letter from Hong Kong and Singapore to Manila that summer. 🥹Like fountain pens, wax seals, and typewriters, impractical tools become treasured artifacts of times past.
I don't know about you, but text messages can be the most personal of all. Tech companies <cough-Apple> have kept access to text message streams very tightly controlled for competitive reasons, yet I think they're the most wonderful vein of storytelling content.
With effort, you can print an iPhone Message stream but it's a struggle and it doesn't include the photos and attachments (amazing, in this day and age!) It's a competitive challenge, not a technical one. Assume that's solved, can you imagine the future stories to be mined from there?
Oh yes, I think text exchanges within a family are incredible artifacts to be preserved right there with letters. There are apps that will extract texts into expensive little books but honestly (Apple, if you're listening?) this should be integrated into Apple's own apps. Can you image it as part of the Journal app they're so proud of? Maybe that's in the pipeline. 🤔 Ya heard it here first.
Thanks for reawakening the memories of receiving real physical mail coming from the efforts of someone showing that they care. The difference in care messages between a letter and an email is like that between getting a hug and a tap on the shoulder.
(I also don't like gift cards as a present... It says to me "I don't know what sort of things you like and don't really care about it either." I'd rather just get an honest message in card. Maybe I'm a grump.)
I wrote letters home on aerograms from 1991-1994 while I was overseas and they have stood up surprisingly well. This article makes me want to write more letters.
I would like to see the Pigeon Post stationery. I also thrilled in receiving hand-written letters. Beginning over a year ago, my mother-in-law is writing down some of her memories and childhood stories on stationery or notebook paper and mailing it. I type her stories into a manuscript but also place each of the handwritten sheets in an album.
Great article. I loved the blue aerogrammes. In the 1990s I bought a bunch, wrote my USA address on it, and left them for my grandmother to use. It was a thrill to receive the flimsy letter and to carefully cut around the edges to get to the news. The idea that my grandmother touched the aerogramme, that it came across the Atlantic and now I touched it, forged a special connection. There is still magic in handwritten letters - and a unique gift nowadays.
I thought you might enjoy this https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0437jy8p1go
Good grief!
Neil, I love it when people write their own messages in a gift card. That's caring! Different degrees of thoughtful.
Hi Jane I’ve admired you any your work for many, many years. Please add me to your origami post list please. Thanks, Jen
Me too please (I forgot in my comment).
Hi Jane, I love everything about this. I have been a letter writer and postcard sender all my life. I collected postcards as a child, I still have my collection. When I traveled overseas in 1990, I sent my family postcards from everywhere. I still send postcards when I am on holidays. and I have friends who send me postcards when they are on holiday too.
My Nana always typed me letters.
I am still in contact with my high school penfriend. I used aerogrammes to write to her.
I send a monthly postcard to one of my oldest friends, and she sends them to me.
I used to send one of my sister's the ugliest postcards I could find. I send my nieces and nephews little letters and postcards. It's a beautiful way of staying in touch, you have to be concise on a postcard. You really know that the person who has written to you has stopped, thought about you and taken the time to choose that card and write to you. I love it!
I used to go to coffee shops and write letters, pretend that I was having a chat with the person I was writing to.
These days I do Postcrossing, check it out on line. Sending and receiving postcards from all over the world.
The postage has become so expensive these days. I have to limit how much I send.
You should write and show us some of your collection Fiona!
Fiona, what a wonderful story. Imagine a collection of all YOUR postcards coming back to you! That's a story I'd want to listen to. Thank-you so much for sharing! x
My Mum still has all those postcards and letters I wrote while I was traveling in 1990/1991. I guess they will find their way back to me.
It is wonderful to send postcards. It is expensive but what a lovely gift you are giving people. Postcards also help tell your story. Thank you for the link to Postcrossing.
Pleasure. It brings good feelings even to talk about them!
Jane :) we are so on the same page I love sending little works of thought - filled articles by snail mail ..If the person is particularly special to me, I gift the receiver with old stamps from my hoard of unused stamps You know the look 2cents 5 cents even 35cents etc. I hope the workers get some pleasure too ???? oh yes please a vid would be wonderful and as to Aerogrammes / Post Restante .... delicious memories
Jane, you brought back some memories of my parents writing aerogrammes back to their friends and families back in Macedonia before they could afford a telephone!
Keep these essays coming.
Regards,
Alec Valcanis
Yes Alec! Precious times. Even when I was getting letters from my family, a phone call was rare because of the expense. Just look at us now!
Fun fact our phones have more computing power today than the Voyager space craft that were launched in 1975 and are now in interstellar space!
I love phone calls and video calls, but you don't have the physical object to keep and treasure, like a letter.
Letters are an art form just like the printed book. Both will endure the technological wave of new ways to communicate.
At a recent badminton educational event, one of the coaches designed a foldable template for a cube that could be a suitable alternative to a shuttle.
I love to both write and receive hand written letters especially to my two eighty year old friends.
Do you have lovely handwriting Ann? I wish I did.
I have even printed out and kept the emails my son sent me almost every day when he went to Britain in 2005. No handwriting there but lovely memories. I also have kept any card given to me by my children in the last forty years.
Not particularly, it’s a bit better than a chicken scratch or doctors note.
Oh my... consider this a beg for a little detail on this Pigeon Post. What a wonderful concept. The international air letter was a concept very close to my heart. My now husband and I pretty much fell in love over the exchange of letters between January and September 1980. Many were sent to Washington state via International letter from Hong Kong and Singapore to Manila that summer. 🥹Like fountain pens, wax seals, and typewriters, impractical tools become treasured artifacts of times past.
Aaaaaah, so lovely and special Barbara! Yes, impractical tools they are. And yet we don't keep emails in the same way we keep letters...
I don't know about you, but text messages can be the most personal of all. Tech companies <cough-Apple> have kept access to text message streams very tightly controlled for competitive reasons, yet I think they're the most wonderful vein of storytelling content.
With effort, you can print an iPhone Message stream but it's a struggle and it doesn't include the photos and attachments (amazing, in this day and age!) It's a competitive challenge, not a technical one. Assume that's solved, can you imagine the future stories to be mined from there?
Yes you are right. I hadn’t thought of this although I often take photos of funny text exchanges with my daughter!
Oh yes, I think text exchanges within a family are incredible artifacts to be preserved right there with letters. There are apps that will extract texts into expensive little books but honestly (Apple, if you're listening?) this should be integrated into Apple's own apps. Can you image it as part of the Journal app they're so proud of? Maybe that's in the pipeline. 🤔 Ya heard it here first.
They become works of art in their own right, with the handwriting, stamps and marks of passage from one person to another.
Thanks for reawakening the memories of receiving real physical mail coming from the efforts of someone showing that they care. The difference in care messages between a letter and an email is like that between getting a hug and a tap on the shoulder.
(I also don't like gift cards as a present... It says to me "I don't know what sort of things you like and don't really care about it either." I'd rather just get an honest message in card. Maybe I'm a grump.)
I wrote letters home on aerograms from 1991-1994 while I was overseas and they have stood up surprisingly well. This article makes me want to write more letters.
Thanks Denyse, I’m thinking of joining post crossing as mentioned by Fiona Turner: https://www.postcrossing.com/
Oh that looks fun! I live in Amish Country so I have access to interesting postcards.
I would like to see the Pigeon Post stationery. I also thrilled in receiving hand-written letters. Beginning over a year ago, my mother-in-law is writing down some of her memories and childhood stories on stationery or notebook paper and mailing it. I type her stories into a manuscript but also place each of the handwritten sheets in an album.
I am preparing the video now!!
Great article. I loved the blue aerogrammes. In the 1990s I bought a bunch, wrote my USA address on it, and left them for my grandmother to use. It was a thrill to receive the flimsy letter and to carefully cut around the edges to get to the news. The idea that my grandmother touched the aerogramme, that it came across the Atlantic and now I touched it, forged a special connection. There is still magic in handwritten letters - and a unique gift nowadays.
Sadly the UK has stopped selling aerograms.
Oh I love the idea that we can feel someone’s touch through holding the same object, sent across the world!