644 and counting

UPDATES:   The title says 644 and counting.  That was what it was when I wrote the original post.  Updating it on May 29 had the count at  671 and they are still trickling in.  If you forgot to send yours, go ahead and send a late one.    To date 19 countries and almost all the states are represented.   For countries, Theron only counted ones with postage from the country.   Many folks sent cards purchased in foreign travels, but sent from home with US Postage.
June 7: the count is now 678.

Local paper did a nice, front page write-up.   See it by clicking on   
http://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue0606/Card-Bonanza-for-WWII-Vets-90th-Birthday.html


 
The postcards\card campaign for Chris' dad's 90th birthday was a huge success.  Cards are still trickling in 12 days after his birthday.  The local newspaper picked up on it.

    To date he has received 644 cards, representing 16 countries.   When I say representing countries, I am talking about the stamps alone.  There were a lot of postcards from other continents which arrived with US postage as the sender was back home.   Cards ranged from toddlers finger paintings, drawings  and scribbles to a greeting from the President and First Lady.  It included old friends and relatives. There were cards from friends of friends and total strangers  There was a proclamation from the City of Concord where he worked for 24 years, letters from his Alma Mater, the Dept of Veterans' Affairs, his elected state and federal representatives, servers in his favorite restaurants, his dentist, folks in his exercize group, and photo cards and paintings created by the senders.    An amazing number came with less than adequate postage or no postage at all, yet he received no "postage due" notices. Many were adorned with the photo stamps Chris had made for the occasion.

Theron looks at one of the 601 cards which had arrived by the day of his party.   Great grandson, Conrad, looks on.

There were funny cards, cards written in Finnish and Spanish.   With 644 cards you might expect a lot of duplication.  There was almost none.  As Theron said, "how can there be so much variety of birthday cards for 90-year-olds?"   There is.

The postcards, from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to Antarctica, from  Spain, to Cleveland,  from Bahrain to Hollywood, from the woods of Maine to the open spaces of Wyoming didn't duplicate except for the handful photo cards Chris made of  his dad, matching some of the stamps he had made, and the postcards of  RV TRAVELING TALES sent by the writers group at Jojoba Hills   The cards were published to advertise the great book of women's stories from the open road.   

Here are some of the personalized stamps as well as a couple of postcards Chris printed using the same photos.

This all started because Theron said, "no gifts."    After living in the same house for well over fifty years, he is trying to clear things out and wanted nothing new.   Not sure what he will do with all these cards, but it is still less of an issue than new clothes or objects.  Only one person gave him a gift and that, a bottle of wine, should not be an issue.  The contents will be consumed and the glass recycled.  



Many of my blog readers took part in this card avalanche\blitz\campaign.  I thought you would enjoy viewing the results.



We thought we were through photographing the array of cards until Conrad was plunked down in the middle by his great uncle.   We thought he would sit; instead he stretched out, carefully to avoid messing up the fanned array.   Here he is "reading" one of the cards.