3234 East 23rd Street

This clever box seems to be mounted on two round metal posts that come out from the bottom. But, if you look more closely, the posts are actually attached to the top of the prickly pear cactus…

Just underneath the mailbox

And, the amazingly lifelike cactus is actually made of metal (or maybe wood?). Look closely at the “pads” above and you'll see that they have square sides and edges.

Closeup of quail near bottom of
prickly pear “post”

I spotted this masterpiece (“masterpost?” sorry.) on July 20, 2018.

Mexican mailbox heaven: Palacio Postal

The last few months of 2018 were challenging for me. I haven't been able to take mailbox photos or post them. But things should be back to normal soon! I've pre-posted mailboxes for the rest of January, and I'm hoping that I'll be back to posting photos weekly.

After my life settled down last month, I spent two weeks in Mexico City — which, by the way, the city government now calls CDMX (it's short for CiuDad de MéXico). Though I'd been there before (the photos below are from February, 2016), I stopped in again during a tour of the city center — where our guide told us the building was constructed in the early 20th Century by president Portfio Diaz. He, she said, built grand things to celebrate his power. I believe she also said that it was the first public building in Mexico City with electricity. (With all of its ornate lights and the elevators, it must have needed a lot of power!)

View from outside

Here are a few postal-type photos of things I spotted in 2016 — when I had time to look closely. (By the way, until now I've been putting captions before photos with a colon at the end of the caption. From now on, I'm going to start putting the captions underneath the photos — assuming I remember to, that is. :)

(The wording says, literally: 1580 1st major mail;
I think it means something like 1580: first national mail)

Behind the scenes, through the bars:
a woman sorting mail

A place for third-class machine-franked mail
(Franking is mail that's sent for free)

By the way, today's entry on the Tucson Murals Project blog is of a beautiful building address in the Roma Norte neighborhood of CDMX.

If you click on the Location below, you'll see Palacio Postal on a map. Happy 2019!

4234 E Kilmer Street

This mailbox has more color than any other I've seen in a long while!

David Aber emailed them on June 26th.

P.S. I'm sorry for the month-long break in mailbox posts. It was a perfect storm of problems. I'm aiming to get back to one post every two weeks for the next month or so, then go back to weekly.

8212 East Victoria Drive

In our July 11 entry, you got a look at a butterfly-covered box in front of 8201 E. Victoria. Across the street on the same day, May 10th, David Aber caught a photo of this:

As always, thanks, David.

5718 East 30th Street

What makes this mailbox unique is that the “post” isn't plain: It looks like two legs — with shorts and socks, no less. The man's two arms hold a mailbox and a tube labeled “FedEx.”

The home is for sale — or it was near May 10th, which is when David Aber mailed me the photo. Who cares about the house… this amazing piece of art should close the deal! :)

8201 East Victoria Drive

David Aber calls this “Butterfly Box” — for obvious reasons:

He flew by (and stopped) (apologies, Dave :) on May 10th.

4834 East Glenn Street

Wow! This mailbox has a bit of everything!

David Aber sent the photos on May 7th.

2510 East Richards Place

David Aber saw this beauty out of the corner of his eye as he was traveling along Tucson Blvd. between Ft. Lowell & Prince. (It's on the east side of Tucson Blvd.)

The camera's EXIF data says the photo was taken March 28th. (Blogger removes EXIF data.)

Thanks, David!

2821 North Orlando Avenue

I found this gem, after a long hunt, on May 17th. (I'd seen it on the True Tucson blog.)

3226 East 24th Street

As I was driving to a friend's home on April 26th, I spotted a woman painting a mailbox. I stopped immediately, of course. :) She was a homeowner brightening her (boring) black box with scenes of mermaids and fish:

She hadn't finished. Here are two photos at that point:

I rolled by again on May 13th to find (what I think is) the finished mailbox:

9611 East 42nd Street

There are some kinds of mailboxes we don't show. Commercially-made mass-produced plastic covers is one thing that disqualifies a mailbox — usually. David Aber noticed this a couple of weeks ago, warned me that it's just a cover, and said he likes it anyway. I do too!

There are always exceptions to a rule…

7123 East Lakeside Drive

David Aber's March 7th email message was titled “Robbie the Robot.” It started with three photos:

Next, he wrote: that the sculpture in the background looks like two dragons:

And “The homeowner has hand-built several items for his yard and roof. This spider with
golf clubs for legs caught my attention. It may even light up at night.”

Another amazing mailbox — and more. Thanks, thanks, David!

1536 South Sahuara Avenue

Nice, isn't it? David Aber found this mailbox on or before February 21st, when he emailed me the photos.

6982 East 45th Street

Another great mailbox from David Aber: a covered wagon on a pedestal made of horseshoes.

He took the photo on or before February 21st.

5741 East 34th Street

Last week's entry showed a mailbox on a tree trunk. Here's another house — this one on a much different pedestal

7272 East Freestone Drive

The homeowner made this obviously-handcrafted mailbox.

That's an enlarged view of the house.

David Aber took the photo on or before February 21st.

6050 East 33rd Street

This mailbox has a gorgeous mosaic pedestal covered with dragonflies.

Above is an enlarged view of the top side in the first photo.

Now for the other side…

Thanks to David Aber for these photos. He took them on or before the day he emailed me: February 21st.

9621 East Myra Drive

David Aber says that the bird on the box is “probably a Northern Cardinal that has faded over time.
It still has the black mask that distinguishes it from the Pyrrhuloxia.” (If you're curious, try an Image search on Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Google.)

He flew by on February 26th… actually, he wrote, “I was taking photos of an 8 ft. tall armored knight and almost walked into this mailbox.”

Thanks, as always, Dave.

2437 East Beverly Drive

This is the third of three mailboxes in this corner of Beverly near Tucson Boulevard. Last week's entry, the second of three, showed the same style as this box: two posts with cut-out designs in between.

I passed through this part of the block on February 23rd.

2431 East Beverly Drive

Here's the second of three mailboxes in this corner of a block near Tucson Boulevard. Last week's entry showed a mailbox across the street with the same kind of design: cutouts between two posts.

I found this bunch of boxes on February 23rd.

2432(?) East Beverly Drive

Neither the house nor the mailbox seemed to have the house number. It's the house across the street from 2431. Google Maps says the number is 2432.

There are a lot of mailboxes around town with cut-out metal figures between two posts. But each one has seemed to have different figures. (If you know why this is, please leave a comment below. You can remain anonymous.) This is the first of three in this part of the block.

I was there on February 23rd.

2638 East 21st Street

A handsome but mostly standard-looking mailbox, right? Well, here's the other side:

The flag covers the “8” in the house number. So they've added a second “8” on top of the flag. In all my years of finding mailboxes, I've never seen that obvious trick.

I rolled by (I'm finally back on my dusty bicycle!) February 23rd.

2227 East Kleindale Road

On February 13th, David Aber sent this (almost standard-looking!) mailbox. What makes it unique is a chimney of what looks like real pebbles.

4520 East Glenn Street

Here's a weathered mailbox with red chiles hanging between its two posts. (I grew up in New Mexico, so: Yum!)

I found it on February 10th.

3333 North Silverbell Road

Just by chance, the previous mailbox — which I found on October 22nd (2017) — had rabbits on top and bottom. This one is topped with bighorn sheep (on top of bighorn sheep…) and has a saguaro along the post:

At the left-hand edge of the photo above is the house number in what looks a plate of steel cut with a welding torch:

I found this surprise two hours after the first one.