Japan

JP-520694

Such a cute card of a little cat.  I wonder what s/he is thinking!

Ukraine

The Fortress of Kamyanets-Podilskyy, Ukraine

Direct swap from Oksana

Poland

A pretty painting of Warsaw "East-West Route, thanks to my friend Karolina.

Netherlands

NL-241288

Breda, Netherlands

United Kingdom

Tower Bridge, London

From my friend Karolina.

Lost Postcards: To Lithuania

Lost Postcard: US-2803222

Card Mailed on or about: 22 May, 2014

Days Since Sent: 127 days

Sent to: Vilnius, Lithuania

Postcrossing User Sent to: NastyaSivec

This is another in a series of Indiana wildlife, nature, and sights that I get from the famous West Lafayette, Indiana book/record/bead store Von's.  This card shows a pink/purplish blooming tree with a small red cardinal (the Indiana state bird) hiding in the bottom right of the card on one of the tree branches.  

This card got sent to the capital of Lithuania in May and still has yet to reach its destination.  The user hasn't logged into the website for a few months, so it is possible that the card arrived but was just never registered since NastyaSivec decided to give up on the website.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Russia

RU-2440897

Tsar Nicholas II, and Tsarevich, Alexei.  

I love this card.  I'm a huge fan of history and had studied Russia history in college.  The "Last Tsar" was one of my most favorite topics.  

Moldova

A direct swap card from Moldova.  The individuals in the card are dressed in the country's national costume.  

Postcrossing user Nata-guzik also mentioned on the card that the natinoal dance is the hora and suggested listening to the song Hora din Moldova by Nelly Ciobanu, which was entered into the 2009 Eurovision competition, which can be viewed below.

Poland

A direct swap from Patrycja in Poland.  this is of the beach and forest of the village of Stegna, Poland.  Stegna is located in the north of the country, very close to the city of Gdansk.

USA - Winsconsin

Vince Lombardi, former coach of the Green Bay Packers.

I got this card at the Green Bay Packer museum, located in the team's stadium.  It really is a great place to visit, even if you aren't a Green Bay Packer fan.

Czech Republic

A postcard of Prague from my friend Catherine.  Pictured is the famous Charles Bridge.

Lost Postcards: To Ukraine

Lost Postcard: US-2720042

Card Mailed on or about: 31 March, 2014

Days Since Sent: 173 days

Sent to: Lviv, Ukraine

Postcrossing User Sent to: ValentinaTinossi

This card of the National Lake Shore along the Indiana coast of Lake Michigan was mailed to Lviv, Ukraine.  Lviv, located in the western part of the country is near the Polish/Ukrainian border and was a Polish city prior to the Soviet Union taking that area over after the end of World War II.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Belarus

Lost Postcard: US-2826553

Card Mailed on or about: 6 June, 2014

Days Since Sent: 105 days

Sent to: Minsk, Belarus

Postcrossing User Sent to: Uliasha

Sent to a 9-year-old girl living in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, this card seems to have disappeared in the transfer.  The card is of a peaceful scene of two horses in an Indiana pasture.  The user, at last check, was still active, so it could be that this card got lost in the mail.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Australia

Lost Postcard: US-2788595

Card Mailed on or about: 13 May, 2014

Days Since Sent: 128 days

Sent to:  Southbank, Victoria, Australia

Postcrossing User Sent to: ininamira

My guess is that this card may have had a bad address.  Doing a quick Wikipedia search for this post, it seems that Southbank, Victoria is actually a region of the city of Melbourne and the postcrosser didn't put that on address for her cards.

This postcard is from the Pomegranet company and is of a drawing of a "Theater" from A Modern City by the French designer and architect Robert Mallet Stevens (1886-1945).

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To China

Lost Postcard: US-2574882

Card Mailed on or about: 2 January, 2014

Days Since Sent: 258 days

Sent to: Shanghai, China

Postcrossing User Sent to: axiu

I collect art cards and this was my last copy of the famous Seurat painting, Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte – 1884 or, in English, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884.  The rather large painting is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago and I had decided to mail this card off since I was sure (being one of the most famous paintings in the collection) I could easily replace it on my next trip to the Art Institute.

Sadly, when I did return, they had run out of this card (but assured me that they will get more in when they order more postcards.)  

The postcrossing user sees to have stopped logging in and the card possible was delivered but never registered on the website.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Russia

Lost Postcard: US-2624874

Card Mailed on or about: 2 February, 2014

Days Since Sent: 226 days

Sent to: Moscow, Russia

Postcrossing User Sent to: yoziki

This postcard of snow-covered deer was purchased on a trip to visit relatives in Wisconsin.  The card was mailed from my home a few states away in early February and became my third postcard to go missing after 60 days.  

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Special Posts: Lost Postcards - Taiwan

Lost Postcard: US-2540576

Card Mailed on or about: 5 December, 2013

Days Since Sent: 284 days

Sent to: Tainan City, Taiwan

Postcrossing User Sent to: QingHuaCi

"Four Hoosiers"

This card jokingly calls these four donkeys as "Four Hoosiers"

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

       Today I begin to cover the sad topic of lost or missing postcards.  In the world of Postcrossings, these are cards which a person sends out but never get registered.  After 60 travel days on any card, Postcrossing will permit you to get a new address so you are not stuck with a series of cards are taking a very long time to get to their destination.

       This week we will have only lost postcards.  Hopefully one day they will be found.

       Lost cards can happen for any number of reasons:

• the various international mail systems "ate"/lost the card
• the user decided to stop participating in Postcrossing and therefore never registered the card
• the sender wrote an incorrect address on the postcard
• it was mismailed to the wrong country (such as being sent from the UK to the US, but getting sent to Sri Lanka!)
• the postal system in the country has been suspended due to natural disasters, war, or political strife
• etc.  

       Even in at least one known case, a postcrossing card sent from the Netherlands was noticed among the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight number 17 which was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014.  (In that case, Postcrossing alerted the sender so they could send the card again.)

       I have so far encountered a number of these lost cards.  Hope remains that maybe these cards will turn up at their destination.   Hopefully, one day, I will have a post where I can return to one of these lost cards and announce that they finally have been received and registered.

USA - Ohio

Fokker D VII

Dating from the late World War I period.  The aircraft in the card is a reproduction and is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force.  According to the card, the infamous Red Baron flew the prototype for this plane in 1918.

Poland

Warsaw, Poland

From Right to Left (and top three followed by bottom three)

Swietokrzyski Bridge and the Monument of the Mermaid

Palace in Lazienki

Sejm/Parliament of the Republic of Poland

Namiestnikowski Palace

 Palace in Wilanow

Frédéric Chopin Monument

Italy

IT-265815

This cute postcard comes from the Italian city of Turin, host of the 2006 Winter Olympic games!

To Germany....via Sri Lanka?

US-2691062

This postcard had a bit of an adventure.  I sent it to Postcrossing member siobahn in Germany located around the city of Leverkusen, Germany.  This was on or about March 14, 2014.  

For those who may follow this blog but do not belong to Postcrossing, a card from the US to Germany tends to be one of the quicker routes.  I've had cards arrive in Germany as quick if not quicker than some cards mailed within the continental US.  The average, I've noticed, tends to be around two weeks for the card to get registered.  

This card took 34 days to get there.  That's 34 days to travel only 6,827 km (4,242 miles).  That's only just more than 5 miles per hour.  I honestly feared it may have gone lost in the mail when it hit a month of traveling.

What I found out when the card was registered is that somehow the card was wrongly mailed to Sri Lanka (south of India) where some nice person in their post office realized that Germany and Sri Lanka are on the opposite sides of the planet and about 12,114 km away via land.  

That's a long trip for a little postcard.  Glad it made its way to its destination.

Bulgaria

12 Nature Views from Bulgaria, from my friend Mariya.

United Kingdom

Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England

This card from the small spa town sent to me from my friend Catherine.

USA - Maryland

US-2545330

Washington, DC

Netherlands

NL-2312889

Party Time!

USA - Wisconsin

During the late 1970s a campaign promise to bring the Statue of Liberty to Madison, Wisconsin in the Wisconsin Student Association at the University of Wisconsin was fulfilled by posting a statue on lake Mendota in February 1979.   After the first statue was burned down, a new and improved one was erected the following year.

Russia

Direct swap from Russia

She includes an unattributed quote with the card:

"It takes a lot of work from the face to let out a smile, but just think what good smiling can bring to the most important muscle of the body...the heart."

USA - Indiana

Yet another very old card of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.  This card was mailed today, September 3, 1908.  That would be 106 years ago today!

The image shows the fountain on Memorial Mall, both of which are still around.  The grave-marker for the University's namesake, John Purdue, is nearby.

There is nothing written on the back of the card apart from the address.  The front of the card states:

We are both having a fine time.  Mrs. P[?illegable name]

The card was originally addressed to Miss Clara Uhl of 430 North Capital in Indianapolis Indiana.  A googlemap search seems to show that whatever was at that address in 1908 is long gone.

USA - New York

From my friend Beth, sent on September 2, 1997, 17 years ago today.  She would end up moving to New York City for college.  I often travel with this card in my bag for good luck.

Netherlands

NL-2398133

Achterhoek, Netherlands