So turns out I have found my people.

Over on Reddit.

On the Postcrossing sub Reddit.

I now know I am not alone in my fascination and delight over the simple act of sending postcards hither, thither, and yon around the globe.

I haven't had enough non-giddy moments to analyze why I, and now I see, WE are so taken by such a simple action.

This is an official US Postal Service Postcrossing Postcard:

It's on its way right now to Switzerland to a family who has two twin boys. I thought they would like this card.

This one is from a swap to a person I found on Reddit, who lives in Kentucky:

I made this one with an image from an old Mary Englebreit magazine cover.

Today I tested this ink from my dwindling sample vials....

I didn't know that there were any inks that were waterproof that could be used in fountain pens. The permanent ink I used to use for calligraphy, would have clogged up the feed in a fountain pen nib in about two minutes.

Now all this time I have been writing postcards, I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't use my fountain pens.

Turns out I already had what I needed right in my desk drawer and didn't know it!!!

So the cards I sent today were both written with this ink and my Pilot Metropolitan pen with a fine nib. Woo hoo!

Now my joy is complete. ALL my obsessions are neatly packed onto these modest rectangles of cardstock and art of some kind.

And a new obsession has joined them.

Stamps.

I didn't even know what philatelist WAS... but now I have become one!

Here are the stamps I cobbled together on the card going to Kentucky from the ones that my friend C. sent me:

I love this. And so will the recipient, because she is a philatelist too!

Anyway.... this is how I am amusing myself in the heat of summer where I sometimes end up spending more time indoors than any of the other seasons.

My next quest is to find some kind of picture of a mailbox to make a watercolor of so I can put it on postcards! So far, 90% of the images that show up on a search are all AI generated slop. This is becoming a problem on the internet when you do an image search. Even Pinterest is getting infected.

But that's a story for another day.