I've been away for a few weeks and came back to find my mailbox filled with card love. Thank you to all you awesome people! 💌

• u/reindeerfrog: thanks for your card your field trip 50min from your home, and for telling me all about the town! I have moved, I sent you a chat message with my new address.
• u/MariMnishek: Thanks for your card from your Portugal vacation! I've been on a trip myself recently. I have moved and will send you a chat message with my new address, but also plan to send you a card since I'm not sure if you still receive chats.
• u/M0NK3YKLNG: Thanks for your pretty card showing boats and high-rise building from your hometown! I already have an idea of what to write in response, so I'll do that on a future card instead of on this post. Thanks again!
• u/Lestrangelatte: You guessed right that I only got your card when I returned from my long trip! It was great, as expected. Sorry, I haven't written to you in ages because I have a TO-DO about sending you a card from my previous trip like I promised, but I haven't been able to find the pile of postcards that I should still have lying around somewhere from that trip! Perhaps I'll send you one from the recent trip instead. Oh no re. contracting Covid! :-( Looks like my Covid-themed card that I sent in February might have arrived around the right time for this unfortunate turn of events. But I'm glad you got to take some time off work at least, there's always an upside!
• u/comingtogetyoubabs: Awww, thank you so much for your very sweet card on the occasion of me moving to my new rental flat! Sadly you overestimated me - it's been two months and I've still got more furniture to get and boxes to unpack. But it's livable and I'm making slow-but-steady progress (expecting an IKEA delivery tomorrow)! I'll write back soon. Thanks also for the cool stickers! - I'll make good use of them on future mail.
• u/Intrepid-Researcher: Thank you so much for your cool reindeer card! On my recent road trip I kept coming across road signs warning of moose but we never saw any - my girlfriend and I were joking about complaining that none of the 'promised' moose ever turned up. I'm happy that you get to experience much sun in your short but intense summer. I always thought it would be cool to live at a high northern latitude in, say, April - September, and then do the same on the southern hemisphere October - March. I imagine though that having to find short-term rentals, moving all one's stuff, and probably also the work and taxation aspects would make it very difficult.
• u/travel4me22 x3: Thanks for your three cards!
  • Aww, that bunny is the cutest! Shame that it's only on the card as opposed to in either your or my real life :'-( I had plans to visit Joshua Tree National Park in April 2020 but then, you guessed it, the pandemic happened. Hopefully one day! It sounds like you had a good anniversary.
  • Thanks for the card from your local observatory! I always think that looking at the Moon (and maybe Saturn) is much cooler than looking at stars / galaxies, because they are basically still dots of lights and don't look all that different from the sky overall with the naked eye (seeing more dots from a smaller area magnified isn't all that different from seeing fewer dots over a larger area). Whereas looking at the Moon is totally different - it's so 3D! Actually I wonder how humans ever thought that Earth was flat when it's pretty obvious (no?) that the Moon is round, so why didn't they see the analogy? I've bought some decent binoculars (a few hundred $) for Moon gazing, might be something worth trying although the observatory will of course always be better.
  • Thanks for the card from Sequoia National Park! That's another place I need to visit; I have vague plans to combine it with a visit to Yosemite and to the Burro Schmidt Tunnel, had you heard of that one? That tunnel to me is the ultimate example of what man can achieve when they dedicate their whole life to one completely pointless pursuit. It kind of boggles the mind.
• u/libertyprogrammer: Thanks for your card from the art museum and the two cool sheets of pixel art stickers! I actually still have the same job (I work from home and can work from anywhere) so it's kind of unusual for someone like me to choose to specifically live in such an expensive city. But there were basically no social opportunities at my old place and even small things like mail and grocery shopping were difficult because there was no post office and I had to drive 15 min to a supermarket. Now I can just stroll to a huge supermarket, a post box and a post office in 5min whenever I feel like! I haven't made any new friends here yet but I did meet up with two Redditors in a beer garden first and plan to join a hiking club. Thanks for reminding me of Atlas Obscura! I believe I had known this website some 20 years ago but had completely forgotten about it - I'll definitely consult it for my next trip, I love exploring very random things!
• u/AppleCritter723 x2: Thanks for your cards!
  • Thanks for your note from 3 May - sadly my couch and book cases have not yet arrived but IKEA should be delivering them tomorrow! Knowing myself, it will then probably take me several more weeks to actually assemble them. I don't normally use red ink (I prefer colours ranging between navy blue and emerald - I have a purple ink that's not too different from your Lamy Azurithe but it's not my favourite) but the Diamine Sailor's Warning looks pretty cool! Often which red inks I find they lack contrast and clarity, but this one is excellent on that aspect. Fun fact: Because of your excitement about those inks, I initially assumed that the card was from the other RAoCer who lives with you 😂
  • Thanks for your heart/typewriter greeting card, dated 6 June. Wow, I'm very impressed with your calligraphy for the address! You know, I took a calligraphy class once but I never managed to get my characters to look anywhere near as consistent and neat as yours. Well done! I had to laugh about your story of "surviving" the smokies trip - I hope you did enjoy it in spite of the crowds of tourists and associated infectious illnesses. I personally don't watch TV Series but I'll pass your recommendation of 'Shiny Happy People' on to my girlfriend. Oh, I'm most of the way through the SciFi book recommendation that you sent me a while ago (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet) - I'll have to write about that on my next card!
• u/introvert_hangover x4: thanks for your stack at cards, writing at length about the very interesting topics of the problems that humanity faces and what we can do about them, including altruistically! I always find that the main investment with a book is the time spend reading it (as opposed to the money to buy it or even the time spent selecting one), so I appreciate you taking the time to actually read the one that I suggested. Thank you very much, this is very kind of you. Yes I have read 'Factfulness', it's pretty good although (like most books) a bit longer-winded than it needs to be :) I also recall watching some TED talks by Hans Rosling. I'll respond more to your thoughts on a future card!