Dutch Sheep

One of my favorite Postcrossing postcards ever, from Cynthia in the Netherlands.  I love the picture and the message, both posted below for your reading pleasure....

 

The Last Cows Standing

Another cow postcard, this one from Leny, a fellow Postcrossing member.  From the back of the card, "I'm Leny...  I live in the south of the Netherlands, a few km from Germany and Belgium...."  How many beautiful corners of the world there are, and here's a postcard from one of them.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is always my favorite season.  It reminds me of poppies in bloom, asparagus, hard boiled eggs, my birthday, daylight savings time, and Palm Springs.  And daffodils. 

"Daffodils" (1804)

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

 

This painting of daffodils is by Nicoline Heemskerk, of the Netherlands.  More of her work can be found here.

Dutch Artists Marte Roling and Henk Jurriaans

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  One of my favorite things about Postcrossing is learning about new artists, unusual locations, innovative peformers, and popular local musicians I wouldn't necessarily have heard of any other way.  Here's another example.

The above is a painting by Marte Roling, a Dutch artist and actress, of another Dutch artist, Henk Jurriaans. The two artists, along with three other women, lived together for many years.  Marte Roling was known for smoking cigars, wearing heavy make-up and large paintings and sculptures.  She was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion in January 2010.

Henk Jurriaans was both a psychologist and an artist.  In his therapy practice, he had an unusual approach:  he advised his clients and followers to "do what you love and just stop doing what you find annoying". While this advice may have been perfectly suited to the zeitgeist of the 1970s, it may have been a bit problematic in practice for sufferers of any number of psychological conditions:  ablutophobia (fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning), phagophobia (fear of swallowing), somniphobia (fear of sleep), or my two personal favorite phobias - phobophobia (fear of having a phobia) and.anatidaephobia (fear of being watched by a duck).  Check out the complete list of phobias here. 

But I digress.   Another of his messages was "I'm okay. You're a dick", although that phrasaeology is from automatic translation software, so I'm not positive that's exactly what he said. In an interview after his death, Marte Roling said that this phrase was just a commentary on a very popular book at the time, "I'm Okay, You're Okay."

Jurriaans was well-known for offering up himself and the four women he lived with for an hour per day for 25 days in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam as "living art".  He may have been a conceptual artist only, as I was unable to find any other references to his art work.

P.S.  A shout out to Shira from the Netherlands for such a cool postcard.  Thanks, Shira!

Holland

This must be a popular postcard design in Holland.  I received these two postcards within two days of each other, from two separate Postcrossing participants.  While the cards feature completely different pictures and slightly different placement of colors around the border, the design is virtually the same.

I always get  confused about the use of the term "Holland" versus "The Netherlands".  It turns out it's no wonder.  Officially, "Holland" refers to a region in the western part of The Netherlands, comprising of North Holland and South Holland.  However, these are only two of the twelve provinces of The Netherlands.  Accepted use, albeit informally, allows "Holland" to be used to refer to the entire country.  Add to that the use of the word "Dutch" to refer to all things Netherland, and it becomes a big mishmash of confusion for me.

In any case, I love the postcards I get from Postcrossing, and never know from where or with which images a card will arrive

Post Crossings, II

This is the second batch of postcards I received through Post Crossing, where for every postcard you sign up to send to someone somewhere in the world, you also are signed up to receive one back. When a card you've sent arrives, it is registered by the receiver, and an email shows up with a "your card has arrived!" notice, including how many days it was in transit. The site provides a list of where you've both sent and received to and from, a map showing the "crossings" of your postcards, and a gallery of postcards flying around the world.

The first post crossing posting can be found here. I've sent 14, received 4 and have several in transit.

It is interesting to see what people send, and to get a brief glimpse of their stories. The tulip postcard is from a group of office workers in Hilversum (close to Amsterdam), The Netherlands who participate to "cheer up their office". The dog postcard is from Brussels, Belgium from a new mom. The restaurant scene postcard is from the southernmost town in Taiwan, Kenting, whose name means "no winter" or "forever spring". This picture is one of the locations in a famous Taiwanese film, "Cape No. 7", which in 2008 became the country's 2nd top grossing film in cinematic history, behind only Titanic.