Comments on: In praise of snail mail

By: Rosemary Potatoes: Little spuds, big taste — Blue Kitchen

Rosemary Potatoes: Little spuds, big taste — Blue Kitchen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:28:42 +0000

[...] In praise of snail mail. Vintage postcards, a smart ad campaign and our second president remind me of the simple pleasures of letter writing, at WTF? Random food for thought. [...]

By: Terry B

Terry B — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:42:22 +0000

az---I used to be a major embellisher of envelopes. And I still do like to add the occasional goofy comment or glue stick some random thing to it. Daughter Claire is a great letter writer and often lavishly decorates her envelopes. And I just looked up Griffin & Sabine. The books sound quirky and lovely---will have to check them out. Also puts me in mind of a wonderful book, 84, Charing Cross Road. The slim volume is a true story told in exchanged letters over a period of 20 years between a brash, impoverished New York writer and a reserved antiquarian bookseller in London. This is one of the most charming books I've ever read---I will have to give it its own post one of these days.

By: az

az — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:49:36 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree. When I send out letters, which is truthfully not often enough, I actually like to embellish the envelope and sometimes scent the paper. It’s not that I’m a geek, but there’s something about knowing someone out there is thinking about you and has spent time in thought, word and ink letting you know. Postcards are great albeit not so private. Since you are a fan of the postcard, you should check out the “Griffin and Sabine” books. They are quite marvelous.

By: Terry B

Terry B — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:25:19 +0000

Helmut—Given how we so quickly plop down three bucks or more for a cup of coffee, letters and cards are still a bargain, I think.

Toni—You should take a page from your sister-in-law’s notebook. Postcards make it relatively painless. Some other favorites of mine are black & white photos of famous people—from James Dean to Georgia O’Keeffe to Albert Einstein—you can often find in book stores.

By: Toni

Toni — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:04:42 +0000

The only time I write postcards is when I’m traveling somewhere. My sister-in-law is so incredibly good at writing Thank You notes, it puts me to shame. And yes, it’s always such a thrill to get something hand written in between the stacks of bills and junk mail.

Thanks for the update on the free postcard campaign!

By: Helmut

Helmut — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:40:05 +0000

A great comment. Sadly even a simple air mail 1 sheet letter from Europe costs 1.70 Euro. With the total collapse of the dollar that is well over USD2.00. Yes, I loved vintage cards! Some were real works of art. And always so inexpensive. My favorite American, Thomas Jefferson, was also an obsessive letter writer.

By: Terry B

Terry B — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:34:03 +0000

Carolyn—A great story! Looking at my old postcards for this post, I thought of framing one or two of them in oversized frames with a nice matte.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:19:33 +0000

I love postcards, too.

Once, while touring a train museum, I spied three large black-and-white photos of the Eads Bridge, the ornate old downtown train depot, and other St. Louis train-related memorabilia. The old postcards of these scenes were only 25-cents a piece and probably had sat for decades and decades on the top shelf that dadoed the giftshop. I took the postcards home, matted them in red, and framed them in bamboo and hung them over an old cherrywood primitive chest. Best 75-cents I ever spent!