Vintage box and gifts from Jon Foster for my 7 OH birthday!

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

What a great birthday surprise was in my mail box from Jon Foster.

Who remembers those recording tapes and "portable" tape machines? ( I do :-0 )

It is a really  old, "vintage" tape box, and it is full of wonderful mail art omens and treasures,

(no trash here :-) 

'Love the mini easel and canvass...waiting to make a painting. And "Greetings from Hanau"!!!!

Set of small postcards for making altered mail art cards!

...one postcard might definitely be of a GREEK fish market:

Then there is this handsome guy, US postal service finest, sending me greetings:

And the ciggie Lark and L&M cardboard? Well, they are from "Winston-Salem", North Carolina, after all!

Sweet!

The super treasure, however, is this small agenda/calendar/account book...from 1900!!!

Not written in at all...113 years old!

What an amazing , full-of-fun-surprises gift box! Thank you so much, Jon!

Now I am inspired to "recycle" some into mail art! Whahoo! 

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

The Senator needs you to visit his shop in Hamburg, Germany, Jon!

Not a bad addiction...better than other dangerous-to-our-health addictions!

You can always "rid" your thrift store clutter by sending it asmail art to us :-)

Really appreciate it xxx

[jon foster]

When I saw those cards in a pile of things some years ago, I had to buy them, all of them. They were unique and strange and just a bit too sexy for any associations I have with the post office. Most post offices I go into are dark and dank and filled with mutant like people, but this guys isn't one of those people. I think I ended up getting four or five of these cards and have sent them out only to the most deserving of people.

 

Thom, I'm a bit of a thrift store maniac. I go to so many and often, very often. So far this week, which is just Monday and Tuesday, I have been into five or six stores in a few different towns looking for things. I have an addiction that I need to curb just a bit, but not just yet since I'm planning on hitting a few up later on today. As soon as I get through my classes I'm going directly to a few and have a whole day planned of it on Friday in Charlotte.

 

Now I'm rambling, sorry about that.

[vizma bruns]

Ha ha ha!! A quicker method, Thom, would be to have him working in the middle of the Post Office, sweating profusely from lifting heavy boxes,etc, and then customers could approach (or chase!) him and wipe their envelopes and stamps on his body to moisten them. No more waiting in lines...just pounce!!

[Thom Courcelle]

Wow, Jon!  You are a super duper discoverer of vintage STUFF!  What amazing finds and what a sweet gift! 

A mailman like that would be worth the recent postage rate increase--but alas, my mailman doesn't look anything like that either.  If they replaced all the postage stamp vending machines at the post office with that guy, I think I would be making mail art ALL the time just for the opportunity to buy stamps.  I would probably be a nuisance of a customer though, and likely hold up the line forever:  "Excuse me, sir... I seem to be awfully parched at the moment; would you mind licking this envelope for me?"

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Thank you, Jon! Keep picking up tid-bits like these...Dean Marks calls them "mail art omens" and

I just loooove receiving lots of good omens :-)

I will be taking very special care of that little lederhosen change purse! It is a treasure!!!

[jon foster]

I'm glad that you ended up getting it, Katerina. I always worry that when I put together something like this that it will be lost. I had a lot of fun finding all of the little things from thrift shops. Basically I put all of the little items into a pile and when I had enough, I mailed it out.

 

Yes Angie, that mailman is quite hot, a lot hotter than the guy that drops things off at my house.

[vizma bruns]

woweeee! Not Greek, but American lovers for you here, Kat!! I was hoping for this kind of mail from you, not pizzas!! Ha ha!! Look at that, "A Present from the World's Dispensary Medical Association"- What is jotted down here will be useful in after years. How wonderful!

[Carina]

A wonderful birthday package from Jon! The fishmarket postcard is just great, and the calender, oh, very nice.