I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

Thank you to these lovely folk who have sent me a precious etegami this holiday season.
Thank you Debbie, a treasure as always.

Thank you Fumiko my Lady Murasaki!

Thank you to Yoshiko whom I call "The Rose Lady" Two lovely cards.

And finally thank you to the Master of the cat band Masami for your lovely cards and good wishes.

A Springtime crop of lovelies!

It is Spring here, buds are popping audibly and the usual Spring lassitude is upon me, possibly why I have not been at my computer in a long while but I must acknowledge the cards that I have received, again belatedly.
Amy from Minnesota has sent me a lovely chick to wish me well, thank you Amy, I am back to my old self again.

Alison from DC (she who makes cocktails) has sent me her recipe , suitably illustrated, for coq au vin rather than "coq-tails", I shall try it soon Alison. Thanks.

Carol (without an e) from California where they are sweltering under a late heat wave sends cherries and a pithy observation, didn't everyone's mother wear lipstick, even in the house? Done with real cherry juice the colour is interesting, now I just wish she had told me how to get the cherry stains out of my clothes! Thanks Carol.

It has taken almost a month for Kasia' card from Poland to arrive, what's up with the Polish mail system?
Her lovely Phlox whose sweet smell reminds her of her Grandma have brightened my day, better late than never eh Kasia?, thank you.

A lot of thank you posts, all belated!

My only excuse for not posting theses cards earlier is that first I was sick and then I was lazy! BUT, a big thank you to all of the following...

Thank you Mayumi Miyagawa

Thank you Carol Bonomo.

Thank you Kristina Kmetyko.

Thank you Liz Rattican.

Thank you Caryn Friedlander, my newest correspondent!

Thank you Shungo Asada.

Polished Polish!

Kazia from Poland who is enjoying her holidays at her summer cottage has sent two cards. One of the cards, radishes reminds me that like her friend I love radishes too although it is not the season for them here, as I have remarked before, it is always summer in the supermarket!

This sweet card expresses a sentiment we all share that creation (however it happened) is a wonderful thing.

Thanks Kasia.

Thank you Fumiko.

Very late in posting but nevertheless just as welcome, one of Fumiko's wonderful cut paper cards. I marvel at the inventiveness she shows with simple paper and a knife!

Thank you Fumiko for the beautiful hydrangeas.

No need to apologise!

Masami apologises for being late in sending these three delightful cards. Some things are worth waiting for!

A catband Harmonica player!

Some yummy tuna sushi...Oishiii!, and a coffee filter flower painting.

Thank you Masami san.

Flowers for memories.

A lovely wild poppy card from Valerie. These poppies hold a special place in the hearts of Australians. We wear them in remembrance of the soldiers killed in all of the wars. The custom dates from the armistice of World War 1 because many of our soldiers perished in Flanders where these poppies grow wild in the field.
A beautiful card and very special.

Thanak you Valerie.

Thank you Shungo my friend.

A beautiful card of cherry blossoms from Shungo. Shungo was among the earliest friends I exchanged cards with back in about 2011 and he never disappoints.

Thank you Shungo.

A dream vacation.

I confided to Debbie that it had been my dream this year to visit Japan but circumstances  ruled otherwise. She sweet creature has given me a 'virtual' trip via her delightful map of Hokkaido. Not as good as the real thing especially with a chance to visit with her, but an exercise in imaginary flight...thank you for the kind thought Debbie.

Don't you love the seal?

Literature And coffee!

Two etegami from the lovely Shay in Hawaii. Wise words indeed from a lady who is a talented artist and it seems, a thoroughly nice human being.

The idea of using these havve filtered through the etegami community!

Thank you Shay.

See that "S" car GO!

A very bad pun to introduce the charming snail etegami from my friend Valerie in France. (escargot=snail in French).
Lovely words also on the back of the card done on a coffee filter. I should try these filters, they give a similar bleeding effect (Nijimi) as the traditional etegami cards.

Merci Valerie.

There is nothing like a Dame.

No, not that dreadful American slang word for a sheila, my friend Carolyn from Victoria is a genuine self anointed Dame, a title she gifted herself tongue in cheek as a comment on our conservative government's recent re-instituting of the honours system!
Political satire aside, it is a time of plenty in Carolyn's garden and her fruit bowl runnneth over with rosy red apples just waiting to be transformed into the yummy things she bakes, boils, preserves and possibly dries! Her recent etegami have celebrated this bounty and I am lucky enough to have one of them.

Along with the card Carolyn sent a bounty of another kind, a cute Japanese envelope, a do it yourself bee (my flowers will love that) and an amazing plywood postcard for me to use.

Thank you Carolyn.

OUR lady of the flowers.

Yes, Yoshiko, she of the delicate touch who can paint roses, that most difficult of flowers, with an amazing deftness such that you can almost smell the fragrance.

Thank you Yoshiko.

Serendipity.

Three wonderful cards from Tohru, a man with many interests including collecting pens, making zip guns, macro photography and the gentle art of etegami! Serendipity was the word that came to mind when I saw a photo Tohru posted of a Fairy Wren, a bird that I had carved a stamp of for a postcard so I immediately sent him my version of that cute little bird and was rewarded with a copy of MY card! Wonderful, and we don't speak more than a few words of each others language.
Included in the cards was aversion of Tohru's famous series on the bitter gourd which serves as a basis for exploration of colour and texture, a kind of Tohru version of Monet's haystacks!
Tohru's Wren.

My stamped version.

 

 

The gourd

Thank you Tohru san.

Thank you Slava.

Slava, whose full moniker (moniker, Australian slang for name) is Svyatoslav, a splendidly Slavic name and he hails from Belarus which is a relatively new nation since 1990 having been put together over the years out of various Principalities, Duchies and latterly Soviet rule. In this politically charged part of the world it is nice to see that he coming of Spring is a simple constant that people can look forward to.

Thank you Slava.
P.S. Please notice my change of address on the Facebook page!

That's no bull!

Three wonderful etegami from Tohru san, the first, one of his drawings of a bull, inspired by prehistoric cave paintings but made totally his own . His shorthand like style captures the essence of the beast, I had been hoping for one of these for a long time and It finally came along with some delightful skeletal fishes and two grumpy looking Daruma (s).

Thank you Tohru san!

One cool cat clanging cymbals.

Thank you Masami for the two etegami, the first celebrating Girl's Day (Hinamatsuri) which fell on March 3 this year. Charming little altars are  set up in the homes where there are girls and the dolls representing the Emperor and Empress take pride of place over the other figures around them.
This card is so colourful and done in a true etegami style.

The second card is very cute, a cat playing in a band. Masami is famous for his cat band cards, at one time he called for submissions for the band from fellow etegamists. It was fun to contribute.
This fellow looks so determined that you can almost feel yourself bracing for the clash!

Dostoyevski and more.

Thank you Alison, she who is waiting impatiently for spring after a long cold winter in the USA!
 I am sure she can identify with the author of these words who must surely have seen his fill of long cold winters!

Doggone!

I love it when an etegami one has made prompts someone to respond in a fun way so I was delighted to receive this priceless card from our sensei Debbie in response to one I had made! a shared sense of humour is such a gift, life would be pretty bland without someone to tickle in the ribs!
Debbie"s card

 Which was prompted by my card...

Thanks Debbie.
PS Debbie has written and illustrated a fantastic book introducing English speakers to the Japanese art of etegami, a must buy  either in paperback or e-book format for anyone who enjoys sending or receiving mail art. See the link for all of her books on Blurb. http://www.blurb.com/user/dosankodebbi

Food for thought...

A new pal Lisa from California has sent me a whole swag of food oriented etegami, from the warming teacup to the cookies done on a coffee machine filter to the cherimoya complete with pithy comment! I guess the cherimoya is pithy too, I think it is the same fruit we call here in Oz the Custard Apple and they are indeed delightful as Lisa says, despite their somewhat reptilian appearance! I also liked the stamps on the envelope, the Marsden Hartley is a real gem it is always good to see artists featured on stamps.
Thanks Lisa, now I need to get back to work making etegami to send to you!

Carol-no-"E"

My doppelganger in California (give or take a few years and IQ points, mine that is)  is getting mighty excited about the teeny tiny baby figs growing on her tree, hence the card.
I must confess that I was nonplussed for a moment as I saw the card at an angle and it had the distinct look of an alien creature, but then I reasoned given that approximately 99% of folk from the USA claim to have seen aliens (never mind the PROBES!!!) Carol (no-e) too had had a visitation.
Relax folks, it all came right when the card was oriented correctly. Carol (no-e) is fortunate to have a partner named Felix who manages all things culinary in her house  (overseen by a mighty inquisitive bird) who will turn those little suckers into jam when the time is ripe. He's one cool cat that Felix, does he do house calls?
Carol (no-e) has heard via the  internet-vine that I like reading the Samurai detective stories, yes Carol(no-e) I am a fan, it is not a mischief spread by that other bibliophile Rachel!
I love this Fig creature! The figs on my small potted specimen are a little farther along than these but just as wanted, sadly not enough for jam

He did suffer a little damage in the post but I suppose we should be thankful that there IS still a postal service, rumours of the demise of the letter delivery are circulating.
Thank you Carol!

Thank you Tatuaki.

A delightful card from Tatuaki, again, celebrating Hina Matsuri I love the placement of the image and writing on the card, also I appreciate that he has written in English!

The second card celebrates the coming of spring with a picture of what I think is Butterburr, one of the wild herbs traditionally gathered to eat after the winter without fresh vegetables. Pretty and useful! The message according to Tatuaki, written on the back is "From the heart".. none better!

Thank you Tatuaki san.

Thank you Fumiko.

I received  few welcome cards while I was in hospital these last two weeks and now I am home again,  home again jiggedy, jig... I can acknowledge them!
The first is from my faithful correspondent Fumiko who hails from the island of Kyushu. It is a commercial card and I think it is of the volcanic island off the tip of Kyushu near Kagoshima? I love the kind of naive style of it and the technique.

The second is a print of one of her cards celebrating girls day.

And, best of all an original card by Fumiko of her and her darling Tororo braving the winter weather for a walk, though Tororo seems keen to head back home!

Thank you Fumiko, these cards cheered me up while I was in hospital!