Given my passion for the post office, it’s no surprise that I love mail boxes as well. I especially love pictures of mail boxes and friends.

The one that started it all, a photo of artist Theo Tilton next to a giant mail box in Louisiana. Roland Sweet notes, “In the fall of 1986, Theo and I were exploring back roads in Louisiana. We were driving along U.S. 65 between Ferriday, home of Jerry Lee Lewis, and Tallulah, when we spotted Ben Burnside’s big mailbox in Tensas Parish. I started to snap the picture, then realized I needed some reference to show how big it is. Theo obliged.”

Laurie Winship at the Windsor Castle mailbox, September 26, 2000. Photo by Lee Baker.

My future niece-in-law, Ritsuko Hatano, at a classic pre-war mailbox in the countryside of Japan. Shot with a Casio cellphone camera by Sean Winship, May 2004

Annie Riker at a Postes Canada mailbox, Montreal, May 30, 2004

”Waitin’ for the Man” — Roanoke Island, shot with a pinhole camera by Gregg Kemp, April 2004

Zoe Zenowich next to a Hrvatska Posta mailbox on the island of Hvar, Croatia, August 2004

Robert Blades and the oh-so-debonair Willie in front of Westminster Abbey, London, summer of 2004.

Lorraine Woerner, October 11, 2004, in Casalbordino in Abruzzo, the town where her Grandma Leone was born and lived until she was 21.

Abbie Winship in Quito, Ecuador — “Ciudad, Interior, Exterior: In the City, within the country and out of the country” — December, 2004.

Lee Baker at The Lizard, the southernmost tip of England, May 2005.

Chris Welsh stands within 15 feet of the mailbox at the Williamsville, VT, Post Office.

Dr. Melissa Conway e la cassetta delle lettere, Assisi, Italy, March 2005.

Kihm Winship at the Montisi post office, Tuscany, March 2006.

Rita Norbury in Zagreb, circa 2006.

Nick Baker, looking like an affable KGB contact at the “Posta” box, Prague, November 2006.

Sean Winship steadies a Thai post box in Bangkok, November 2007.

In January 2008, Tim Byrnes takes a break from the World University Debate Championships at Assumption University in Bangkok. Photo by Tyrell Haberkorn.

The fearlessly ecumenical Rev. John Backe in Tehran, Iran, April 2008.

InHye Cho, in Seoul, Korea, May 2008; photo by Tae Hern Kim (Ken Kim).

Ritsuko Hatano in Australia, September 2008.

Paul Cormack and Peter Rafalow after an evening of fine dining, in Toronto, November 2008.

Susan Hollar in Korea, November 2008.

Clarice Wilkinson at the post office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 2008. Photo by Abbie Spire.

Sarah Bang in Greece, March 2009.

…and in Vatican City, April 2009.

Matt Benic in Japan, with a postbox made from a sake barrel (!), November 2009.

Lauren Dickinson of Corpus Christi College by a pillar box in Oxford, 2009.

Ritsuko Hatano, Korea, 2009

Rita Norbury at the Manatee Viewing Area, TECO Power Plant, Sarasota, April 2011.

Karen Nickle mails in Madrid…

… and in Valencia, August 2011

The dashing Holland Gregg in Paris, early 2012. Photo by Patience Brewster.

Holland in Holland! Holly Gregg pauses by a mailbox in Amsterdam, May 2012; photo by Patience Brewster.

Postal all-star Sarah Bang in São Paulo, Brazil, November 2012

Mariya and Bella Rose by a pillar box at EPCOT, Florida.

Hattie Watson, Philadelphia, November 2014

Holland Gregg posting from Lake Garda, Italy, June 2016

Melissa Conway in Italy, June 2016

Becki & Steve Harris in Harris, Michigan

Rob & Karen Hoover at Yosemite Lodge

Kelly Harris graces the post office in Kigali, Rwanda.

My grandniece, Ellie, at a Japanese post box, shared March 2017.

The one, the only Angela Poccia and her proud father at the Vatican, July 2017.

Ellsworth V. Bahrman at the Newport, RI, post office, 2018.

Robert Blades, April in Paris, 2018

Ingrid Parsons in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, UK, June 2018.

Katie Bang in Spain, 2019

Tyler & Parker Watson at Bunratty Castle, Ireland, 2019

Melissa Conway in Greece, July 2019

Ingrid Olson & Brad Olson in Australia, July 2019

Katie Bang by a vintage Cutler Letter Box in the haunted Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco

Rob Hoover at the Porttree post office, Isle of Skye, Scotland, 2019.

My grandniece Ellie, at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City