1421 North Painted Hills Road

I drove past this abstract blue and white mailbox when I was on one of the fall 2016 Artists’ Open Studios tours. It wasn't at one of the artists’ homes, but the box is artistic, eh?

This year, there were tours spread over four weekend toursr. I took these photos on October 22nd.

Australia's Ten Quirkiest Letterboxes

David Aber reeled this one in: He found a photo of a piranha mailbox in Australia. David wrote to suggest that I post it. After all, he pointed out, when I'm traveling I sometimes show you mailboxes from outside Tucson. Okay, out of the water!, everyone!!

(Dave wrote: “Must be a brave mailman that sticks his hand in this one!”)

I found the author and her ten photos. She (who goes by Jax) gave me permission to show the piranha — and any other photos from her Postie Notes blog — as long as I mention the blog. (If you love quirky mailboxes, don't miss it!) She said the piranha used to be her favourite quirky letterbox in Australia. (As David pointed out, Australians call them letterboxes instead of mailboxes.) (By the way, England calls them postboxes, and “the mail” is “the post”. I don't know what English people call the post under the postbox.)

Valentines to you, Jax, from mailbox lovers here in Tucson! (It may already be February 15th across the Date Line in Australia, but…)

Here's the October 23, 2014 Top Ten article from Jax (occasionally known as Jacqui Kennedy) on her Postie Notes blog:

www.postienotes.com.au/2014/10/australian-traveller-magazine.html

After you laugh at the letterboxes, scroll up to the blog header and click on “Mailboxes” for more hilarious, er, letterboxes. And try to find her new favourite (after 53,000 kilometres on her Postie Bike, and mentioning something about an electron microscope), look for (apologies) the dead cat.

As Jax says, she likes to “push the envelope.”

904 North Perry Avenue

I normally wouldn't walk onto someone's front porch to take a photo of their mailbox! But this home was on the Dunbar/Spring house tour October 16th.

A fabulous old-style box, isn't it?

901 North Perry Avenue

Here's a plain vanilla (actually, blue-violet :) mailbox. I don't photograph a box because of its color; there are lots of boxes painted different solid colors. But I thought the way the house number was painted made this one interesting enough to show you:

It's the second of three boxes I found along these two blocks of Perry Avenue on October 16th.

912 North Perry Avenue

The Dunbar/Spring neighborhood (just north of downtown) is full of art. This is the first of three boxes in two blocks of Perry Avenue:

The house number painted on the curb is in the same style:

I was there on October 16th.

2937 East Eastland Street

This blue and white mailbox has what looks to me like a scene of mountains and clouds with (on the photo below) saguaro in front. Don't miss the little blue and white saguaro on the post.

Nice! I found it on December 22nd.

3372 East 26th Street

South of Reid Park on December 16th, I rolled by a home with a sense of humor. The yard has a rusted or brown (I couldn't tell which) saguaro. In front of the yard is a rusted/brown fence. And along the street is this tilted brown-painted mailbox with a flower in front.

Amazing.

3150 East 26th Street

This pair of spotted mailboxes is at 3142 & 3150 East 26th, just south of Reid Park.

I spotted ;-) them on December 16th.

55 East Calle BelleZZZa

I usually don't post mailboxes on a Sunday. But I'm making an exception for New Year's Day, a great time for a snooze.

(Probably) no holiday mailboxes this week

Last week, I posted one holiday mailbox every day; I'd found a lot of them! I was sure I'd find more, but I haven't yet. I'll keep looking around and post any I find before New Year's Day. Otherwise, we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled mailboxes on January 3rd.

Happy 2017!

Holiday mailbox #7: 3186 East 25th Street

Why not cover a mailbox with lights?

The street was (like a lot of Tucson streets) pitch-black. So the lights really stand out.

Holiday mailbox #6: 2937? East 19th Street

This mailbox looks a bit worn. So do the boughs and ribbon.

For some reason, I didn't get the exact address. The camera data says it's at 2937? East 19th.

Holiday mailbox #5: 2807 East 20th Street

The tinsel matches that on the home:

There are some flowers on the side, but there's also a sort of disk on top that reminded me of some kind of antenna. When I got close, though, I could see that it used the be the face of a cat! It had faint black marks under fresh white paint. I used the Burn tool on my favorite free editor GIMP to darken just those areas:

I don't photograph every holiday mailbox I see, but I backed up right away and parked when I rolled by this one on December 22nd.

Holiday mailbox #4: 6025 East 5th Street

It's been a long time since I watched Sesame Street, but could that be Kermit the Frog dressed up in a sort of Santa outfit?

I hopped by on December 18th.

Holiday mailbox #3: 3174 East 26th Street

I'm not sure if any of this is for our December holidays — maybe it's more for Halloween? Anyway, I thought it was unique.

This first photo is an overview:

The second photo is a closeup of some of the jack-o'-lanterns, birds, etc.

I found it south of Reid Park on December 16th.

Holiday mailbox #2: 3118 East 25th Street

This slightly worn-out building mailbox is worth showing even when its post isn't wrapped with tinsel. This is the west side.

(Note for photographers: I used the free Photoshop-like editor GIMP Intelligent Scissors tool to brighten the mailbox and darken the background.)

And the east side:

I spotted it as I drove round and round a neighborhood south of Reid Park on December 16th.

Holiday mailbox #1: 3172 East 25th Street

I've been super-busy for more than a month, so (except for the previous post), I haven't been able to take the time to find and post mailboxes. To make up for that ;-), I'm aiming to post one holiday-decorated mailbox between now and (I hope) New Year's Day.

Here's a start: a boring black box and post covered with tinsel from bottom to top… and a red bow on the door. I wonder how the letter carrier gets past the bow?

I was there December 16th.

Tiny holiday mailboxes

I couldn't resist posting a photo of little mailboxes on a shelf in the Christmas section of a dollar store:

Happy holidays (or the greeting you prefer for this part of the year…)!

4225 East Oxford Drive

Here's another great find by David Aber, emailed to me on November 1st. The box is in the middle of the photo, but the surroundings (including the box behind the center of interest) are so colorful that I'll start with his overall shot:

Next, the same photo cropped to show just the bug:

Thanks, as always, David! (You're keeping this bug blog “in flight” (sorry) until I can catch up with the rest of my life!

539 East Linden Street

David Aber rolled by this mostly-complete mailbox along the Bronx Wash:

It's more complete than the front-end bike-box shown on August 5th.

He writes that the logo on the luggage rack indicates that it this bike is an old BMW.

9087 East 7th Street

David Aber emailed this photo on October 6th. The mailbox has a couple (at least) of coats of paint; one is wearing off. Though I'm not sure the homeowner meant the box to look as weathered, I like the effect!

8441 East Appomattox Street

David Aber finds lots of mailboxes in parts of town that I don't reach on my bicycle. Here's one he calls “The Little Engine That Could.” He wrote that it's “made of steel … The homeowner is a retired metalworker from TEP. Obviously skilled.”

He emailed the photo on October 6th.

Update (November 23, 2020): There's another locomotive mailbox at 7046 Flamenco Place.

2027 East Helen Street

I flew by this welded, rusted bug on September 30th.

4337 East Glenn Street

Here's the third of three mailboxes along this stretch of Glenn. Let's start with a view from the top:

That's the east side. Next, from the west:

My trip along Glenn was on September 19th.

All in a row in Santa Fe

Once in a while, while I'm on the road, I'll show a mailbox somewhere outside of Tucson. Here are nine of them from Santa Fe on October 8th. The row is between galleries on artistic Canyon Road:

The exact location is behind Gallery 901, along Gypsy Alley. I was there on October 8th.

3307 East Ventana Canyon Drive

This is the fourth and last box in the series by custom mailbox maker Emily Mann of Solaz Designs. I asked if she had any new mailboxes to show all of you while I'm out of town (and low on mailboxes).

This is her “Wizard of Oz tree” mailbox. It's about 7 feet tall and as wide!

Here's a closer view from the same side.

Thanks once more, Emily, for helping me (and us) over these four weeks.

4349 East Glenn Street

Ever seen a ladybug mailbox?

I think that's what this is: red with black spots and two springy antennae.

Here's the west side:

I buzzed by on September 19th.

5450 North Calle la Cima

Let's look at the third box in this series by Emily Mann of Solaz Designs. She sent these photos of her “tree of life” mailbox.

First, a view from the front.

Next, the right corner… with the bird in front and another on the side. I cropped her original photo to just the top, so this photo is a bit small and fuzzy:

There's another bird on the left side. Underneath, sideways near the top of the pole, is Emily Mann solaz.biz.

Whattabox! Great work, Emily.

4661 East Glenn Street

I finally made my mailbox-hunting trip along the east end of Glenn — in central Tucson, not the part near Houghton Road — west to Country Club. (Actually, I started at Sahuara & Grant, then looped north to join Glenn and headed west from there. It's a nice detour off of busy Grant Road.) I'd spotted three fun mailboxes and wanted to come back. Here's one of the three:

That's the west side. Here's the east:

I slithered by on September 19th.

600 East Calle Concordia

Here's another photo of a box by Emily Mann of Solaz Designs. Emily makes custom mailboxes.

She calls this one a “tailored box.”

Thanks for sharing, Emily!

5630 East Beverly Street

We've already seen one covered-wagon mailbox. Here's another, from David Aber:

He rolled by it on September 10th.

11910 North Koi Drive

I'm almost out of both mailboxes and time… I also won't be back home and settled until the end of October. A year or two ago, I met Emily Mann of Solaz Designs. She makes custom mailboxes; a few of hers are already on the blog. I asked her if she had any new mailboxes that I could show here. Right away, she sent enough photos that — along with the photos I've taken recently — I have plenty. I'll show one of her boxes every Thursday for the next few weeks. (Blogger lets you add entries to be published later. That's what I'm doing here.)

As you might guess, she calls this one “quailbox.”

Just as muralists create murals (which you can see on the Tucson Murals Project blog, mailbox artists create boxes. If you know of other Tucson mailbox makers — those that create “one-of-a-kind” boxes — please let me know with a comment below.

By the way, Blogger/Google couldn't find this address (today, at least… that problem sesms to be random. Here's a Mapquest link instead.