manders2280

Updated August 31, 2018
I love the woods and mountains and the ocean. I live in Minnesota (I'm not from here) and winter is too long. My spouse is a professor and busy with research so I'm often finding adventure on my own. I don't have children 😢 and dote on my nieces and nephews.

My kitchen is my craft room. Someone said I'm fearless in the kitchen and that's true: I enjoy trying new recipes of all sorts. I love baking and I'm still learning the science of baking bread 🍞. My spouse's most recent favorite is this excellent white chocolate brownie cake.

I love to travel. I am fortunate to have had opportunities to travel to many parts of the world. I lived in France 🇫🇷 and worked and lived in India 🇮🇳 and Israel 🇮🇱. When I'm away from home, I try new foods, explore markets, and meet local people as well as seeing museums and cultural and natural UNESCO sites. With Airbnb accommodations I go on and beyond the usual tourist haunts.

• 2018: National parks. I've seen more of the world than the US. 🏕️⛺ In May I visited Chaco, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Bryce, Arches. In July I visited Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota, shared with Canada. Ask me about my little rooftop tent! Chicago in August, to visit my brother.
• 2017: Chicago, and Madison and Stevens Point, WI to help my in-laws. Boston, New York and Morristown, NJ to meet Pattie in person.
• 2016: Dallas and Houston; Boston and New York City; Chicago
• 2015: a road trip to Texas and back with a stop to see sights in KC, MO
• 2014: Prague, Czech Republic; Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Munich and Berlin, Germany
• 2013: New York, Toronto, Chicago, Thanksgiving in Texas
• and Canada; China; France; Germany; Japan; Korea; London (with a side trip to Bath and Stonehenge); Madrid and Salamanca, Spain; Switzerland, ...
• Where I want to go: Somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere and Yellowstone

I read (mostly fiction by women) and work outside in our well-shaded garden. Alas, shade means lovely spring flowers and no vegetables. I watch films and TV programs on Netflix and Amazon.

My postcrossing profile

On Postcrossing, I'm 26th on most postcards sent from the US and 31st on longest distance. Every once in a while I move one notch higher. It's a measure of my persistence.

Art and architecture, ethnic, famous people, local characters, markets, mountains, oceans, and vintage postcards are among my favorites. I love receiving vintage cards found in flea markets as much as I loved finding great ones (now all sent) at First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX. Sorry, Zazzle and Christian legend postcards won't get hearts from me. Most others will.

More kinds of postcards on my wish list:

• Airplanes, robots, rockets and lighter-than-air aircraft. I took flying lessons so I could fly airships. I never took the Practical Knowledge Test. And I wasn't sure how I'd raise enough money to buy an airship. Because you can't rent one. Unless someone gave me a job flying one. Except I need to log many hours flying an airship to get a job.
• Arts & Crafts design
• Elephants, giraffes, puffins and penguins
• Gnomes, fairies, elves and hedgehogs
• Joseph Cornell boxes
• Maps
• Modern art like abstract expressionism & Andy Warhol
• Totoro, gotochi, and anime cards from Japan

I am an appreciator of kawaii more than a collector. I use sheets from kawaii letter sets and memo pads for lists and notes around the house as well as the letters I send. I use lots of washi tape too.

I collect sticker sheets, especially ones that tell a story. They are a little collection I tuck away.

I enjoy most characters, especially San-X. Two exceptions: poo and dogs' rear ends. If pressed to name one favorite character, I'd be torn between Sentimental Circus and Sumikko Gurashi.

I'm looking for kawaii books with faces. And puffins. How could all the kawaii artists have never thought to draw puffins?

The loose sticker flakes I receive go into a bowl on my desk. I decorate outgoing envelopes with these stickers: the sticker flakes you send me may head back to you. I use bone or teflon folders to rub sticker flakes flat on (empty) envelopes and postcards so they travel safely in the mail.

• A personal note or letter
• Blank notecards and envelopes
• Blank postcards, new or vintage, to send
• Handmade envelopes, large enough for postcards, please
• Magnetic bookmarks
• National parks: your suggestions of what to see and what to skip, for a visit to any one of the 59
• Quick bread recipes, like banana bread
• Sheet masks of all flavors, for my face
• Tea of all sorts, wrapped (I like trying new teas)

Message me for more suggestions.

See Please do not send below.

• Cell phone charms: There's no place to hang them on an iPhone.
• Christian items and comments: I'm Jewish
• Christmas and Easter stuff: I'm Jewish
• Coffee
• Coloring postcards and sheets
• Confetti and glitter (unless the swap says to)
• Disney
• Dollar store/dollar bin items
• Don't offload ugly kawaii
• Hello Kitty that's not Hello Kitty Original
• Kawaii pictures of poo and dogs' rear ends
• Magnets (our refrigerator is stainless steel)
• Rubber stamps (I have plenty)
• Stickers that are not kawaii
• Tatty or tacky (exception for over-the-top tacky)
• Ugly. If you think it's ugly, I probably will too.
• Washi or deco tape samples (I have lots)
• X-rated items
• zazzle postcards (no hearts, sorry)