A Postcard a day - 31 July 2015 turtle not smiling

Good morning peeps,

The postcard I'm showing you today made me smile so I'm linking up with the Friday's smile people. (Hello you smiley people!). 

On my Postcrossing profile I've mentioned that I love turtles, so quite often I receive a card with a turtle or tortoise. This particular turtle does not seem amused! But I was! 

This card was sent to me recently from Germany by Dajana. She writes this:

And this was the stamp:

(I have written something about this stamp in my blog of July the 11th if you are interested.)

I'll finish with a quote: " Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out" - James Conant.

That's it from me today. I hope you are all enjoying summer (well, those in the Northern hemisphere..) and the sunshine. 

Have a good day and see you tomorrow,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 30 July 2015 Envelope exchange and a native American

Hi everybody! 
Here I am again with 'a postcard a day'.

Yesterday I wrote that I am participating in an envelope exchange. I have been given five addresses to send a 'prettied up' envelope to. You saw the ones that I doodled/zentangled and they have been posted yesterday morning. I have now received my first envelope in the exchange:

It was sent by Marti from the USA. Inside the envelope was a short letter and a beautiful black and white postcard of a native American. What a beauty!

I assume it's a man. He looks quite fearsome. I love the woven panels on his top.
Marti also put some nice stamps on the envelope:

The bird is a rose-breasted grosbeak, a typical American bird. I've just looked that up in Wikipedia:

The rose-breasted grosbeak is a large insect-eating songbird in the cardinal family. It is primarily a foliage gleaner. It breeds in cool-temperate North America, migrating to tropical America in winter. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Pheucticus ludovicianus

I knew that Mark Twain (on the other stamp) was an author. To my shame I must admit that i have never read any of his books.

Here is some info about him:

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called "The Great American Novel". Wikipedia

Born: November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, United States

Died: April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut, United States

Full name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Spouse: Olivia Langdon Clemens (m. 1870–1904)

That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow and I will hopefully put a smile on your face as I'm going to link with Friday Smile.

See you tomorrow,

Blessings, 

Lisca

WOYWW 321 beach, envelopes and creepy crawly

Hi deskers,

It's good to be back. We've been on holiday for a few days last week to the coast. (we must be mad! There's a heatwave here!) My hubby fancied a dip in the sea (turned out to be bath water temperature!)
We know a little beach where we can park right at the beach.

As you can see, it's not very busy.

But you're here to see my desk:

I've finally started scrapbooking again! I have a deadline to do a scrapbook for my grandson's 10th birthday in October.
I'm also participating in a envelope exchange so I've been decorating envelopes. In fact I made my own out of 12 x 12 paper and then doodled/zentangled the shapes.

Here is a close up of the envelopes ready to send:

Now to finish off another creepy crawly (look away if you're squeamish)

I found this dead chappie outside on the terrace lying on its back. What a beauty! Again, I have no idea what it is, but it's impressive.

That's it from me today. I'll try to visit as many people as I can. If you're reading this and don't know what I'm on about, go to Julia's blog where it is all explained: http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/

Have a great week everyone,

Lisca

A Postcard a day - 28 July 2015 - Samovar

Good morning,

If you're anything like me, the first thing you do after you get up is sleepily put the kettle on for tea or coffee. In 19th century Russia, this would be a samovar. A samovar is a metal urn, used especially by Russians for heating water for making tea. 

I got this card earlier this year from Liuba, who comes from a place called Tula (I looked it up on the map and found it south of Moscow). She writes that Tula is renowned for its samovars. The Russian equivalent of "coals to Newcastle" is "You don't take a samovar to Tula"

Isn't this a beautiful samovar! It's brass and dates from the late 19th/early 20th century

Liuba needed three stamps to send this card:

The stamps are from a series of images of kremlins. A kremlin is a fortified complex in a Russian city. Most historic cities have a fortress. This particular stamp shows the famous Moscow Kremlin.

I'll leave it at that as my kettle is boiling! I'm gasping for a cup of tea....

CU tomorrow with Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Lisca

A Postcard a day 27 July 2015 Women of fashion 1908

Good morning girls and boys!

In my postcrossing profile I mention that I love black and white post cards and one of my favorites is this one from Russia:

It is called St Petersburg women of fashion 1908-09. I believe it is a print of an old photo. But look at the lady doing up her boot laces.... Is she wearing trousers? Did ladies wear trousers around 1900? Hmmm... I must research that.

The card was sent to me by Maria, who was born and bred in St Petersburg. She likes cooking and reading but her speciality is forest engineering (!).

One stamp was so huge there was no room for the other two smaller stamps. They just got stuck on one on top of the other!

The medal on the large stamp is the decoration of the order of Aleksander Nevsky.

1. (Saint Alexander Nevsky, Russian Aleksandr Nevsky, original name Aleksandr Yaroslavich   (born c. 1220, —died Nov. 14, 1263; canonized in Russian Church 1547;  prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and of Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63), who halted the eastward drive of the Germans and Swedes but collaborated with the Mongols in imposing their rule on Russia. By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva (1240), he won the name Nevsky, “of the Neva.”)

On 21 May 1725, the empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky as one of the highestdecorations in the land
. .
The smaller one is of an animal series and this is a fox.

That's the end of our little trip to Russia.

Have a good day and I'll be here again tomorrow,

Lisca

A postcard a day - 26 July 2015 Sunday - church day

Good morning, 
It's Sunday today and in a little while we will be going to church. We attend an evangelical church which holds its meetings in a former car show room. Other places in the world have different church buildings. 

This card is an example. Its the Holy Spirit Church in Potelych in the Ukraine.

 I think it's beautiful. Nina from Kiev sent me this one. She also put some gorgeous stamps on the card:

The top right hand stamp is about the 125th Anniversary of Chernivtsi General Post Office.
I've not been able to find much info about the bottom stamps with the leaves, but the stamp with the bagel is from a sheet of four:

I love the embroidered back grounds and it makes me hungry just looking at those lovely breads! Yummm!

Have a blessed Sunday,

see y'all tomorrow,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 25 July 2015 The Stars light up

Hi peeps,

This is a very nice card I received from Novgorod in Russia a little while ago. It is oil on canvas by Anna Silvonchik, called 'The stars light up' (2012). I really like it. It's subject matter is traditional but the artwork is quite modern.

It was sent to me by Anastasia, who says she loves Spain. She had been here on holiday twice and likes it very much. At the same time she invites me and my family to come to Russia! That is very kind.

The stamps are very unusual. There is a triangular stamp! Have a look at this:

The one on the left I found on a philately website and it was described as 'My first step for the Einem biscuit'. A vintage poster advertising biscuits. Here is the original poster from 1900 by an unknown artist in czarist Russia:

The triangular one is my favorite and was once part of four stamps together showing shawls (Arts and crafts of Russia series 2013). This is what I found on the website:

Beautiful isn't it!

That's all folks,

More tomorrow,

God bless!

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 24 July 2015 The Beauty and the Eagle

Hello everyone,

Great to see you are visiting again. I have an interesting card to show you today. I like it very  much. It came all the way from Hongkong.

There is no explanation as to what/who it is and who the artist is. It looks like a mythical figure.             

The card is from www.mo-card.com . I went to that site but it is no longer in use....

The girl that sent it to me is Shela, who is a university student majoring in Chinese. She loves reading and was reading Paulo Coelho's Alchemist when she wrote the card.

The stamp is an air mail postage stamp.

I'm not a philatelist, so I have no idea what the picture is about. I see a man picking hearts from (or putting hearts in) a tree. (Ooh, that is food for psychologists... what do you see: picking or putting?)

Finally a stamp I bought today at the post office:

Only the middle bit is the actual stamp but they are sold with the surround. The whole thing is quite big and takes up half the envelope!

The building is that of the Spanish Constitutional Tribunal. No, I'd never heard of it either... but I looked it up! I'll print the wikipedia result below.

That's it for today. Tomorrow is another day.
CU then,
Lisca

The Constitutional Court of Spain (Spanish: Tribunal Constitucional de España)

 is the highest body with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes of the Spanish Government. It is defined in Part IX (i.e. sections 159 through 165) of the Constitution of Spain, and further governed by Organic Laws 2/1979 (aka Law of the Constitutional Court of October 3, 1979), 8/1984, 4/1985, 6/1988, 7/1999 and 1/2000. The court is the "supreme interpreter" of the Constitution, but since the court is not a part of the Spanish Judiciary, the Supreme Court is the highest court for all judicial matters.

Notable decisions

In 2005, the court ruled that the Spanish judicial system could handle cases concerning crimes against humanity, such as genocide, regardless of whether Spanish citizens were involved or directly affected. In this instance, it reversed the decision made by the Supreme Court in the same case, which held that such cases could be brought before Spanish courts only if a Spanish victim was involved

A Postcard a day -23 July 2015 A bit of ice during this hot summer

Hi folks, 
I'm back from my mini hols. Just three days at the beach to relax and do absolutely nothing but read or drink or do a puzzle. Go for a swim or go out for dinner... It was lovely but sooo hot!

So the card I decided to show you to day has ice in it! 

It comes from Russia and was sent by Natalya in Moscow. I have no information about the ship... is it an icebreaker? I'd love to know. It looks like it has an office block planted on it...

Natalya mentions that she is a reading addict and especially likes Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

The stamps are lovely as you can see. And again I can't read Russian so I don't know which church and church bells these are. The other one is a character called Zaya the doe hare, a mascot of the Sochi winter Olympic games.

Well, this has suitably cooled me down...

See y'all tomorrow!

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 20 July Vacation!

Hi peeps,

This arty-poster like card is to tell you that we are going away on holiday for a few days in our campervan. (RV for those in America). We live an hour and a half from the coast so I'm going to pack my bikini too. Neither of us is keen on beaches (too hot and a bit boring) but I might be tempted to dive into the sea as the weather is very hot at the moment.

This is the card:

I love this card. It looks like an old poster. It conjures up memories of (for me anyway) Beach Boys, sun, summers without responsibilities and lots of fun.
It was sent to me by a lady, resident in the Arroyo Grande Care Centre. She writes that she likes coloring and jewelry. I went to the website of the care centre (www.arroyograndecare.com) and it looks like an amazing place with lots of activities and a farm. One of the activities is Postcrossing. Isn't that great!

There is no stamp to show you as the card had been machine stamped. 

But this card made me happy, especially now I have seen where it came from.

So if you are on holiday or going on holiday. I wish you rest and peace and fun. I'll be back on Thursday with anther card.

Have a good week,
God bless,
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 19 July 2015 An uki-yo-e from Japan

Hello, good morning! 
What is an uki-yo-e you might well ask... well, the card I received from Japan not long ago shows one. Here it is:

It is a print or a painting. This one was sent to me by a girl called Taeko, and the scene depicts travellers looking at the view of Mount Fuji. It dates from 1830-1834. It is by an artist called Hokusai Katsushika.

I think it's beautiful. Thank you Taeko.

The stamps are impressive. 

I haven't been able to find any more info on the stamps unfortunately. The large one looks like a mythical bird of paradise. But still, they are both beautiful.

I looked up uki-yo-e and this is what I found in Wikipedia:

Ukiyo-e, or ukiyo-ye (浮世絵, Japanese: [u.ki.jo.e], "pictures of the floating world"), is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. It was aimed at the prosperous merchant class in the urbanizing Edo period (1603–1867). Amongst the popular themes were depictions of beautiful women; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.

That's it for today,

Have a blessed Sunday,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 18 July 2015 - Taiwan

Hi peeps, how are you all this morning?

I have another postcard to share with you this morning. I got it this week from Taiwan (formerly Formosa). Anna sent it to me and I like it very much. It looks like a water colour painting but I'm not sure if it really is a painting or a 'photoshopped' photo. Whichever is the case, it is very beautiful. Anna writes that this is the Museum of Taiwan Literature.

The stamps are also very beautiful:

The flowers on the left are Rhodomyrtus tomontosa 

1. (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa also known as Downy Rose Myrtle is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to southern and southeastern Asia, from India, east to southern China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines, and south to Malaysia and Sulawesi. Wikipedia)

 and on the right Lantana camara. (Lantana camara, also known as big sage, wild sage, red sage, white sage and tickberry, is a species of flowering plant within the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the American tropics. Wikipedia)

So thank you Anna for a lovely card this week.

Tomorrow I will show you another card. Until then,

Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard a day - 17 July 2015 - Books....

Hi folks,

Books, books, books, books..... I love books! And I have mentioned that in my profile for Postcrossing so that people sending me a card know that I would appreciate any card about books.

Here are two cards that I like very much:

This one is from Canada and was sent by Shelley, a primary school teacher. She decorated the card with washi tape and put a typical Canadian stamp on it: a moose.

The second one I want to show you is similar, and was sent to me from the Netherlands. As I come from the Netherlands myself, the sender Marijn, who works as a journalist in Utrecht, could write in Dutch.

The stamps are stunning! 

The one on the right is about mushrooms. The two middle ones are 'children's stamps'. People pay an added value which goes to charity. These stamps are from 2004 but obviously still valid, as this card was only sent to me months ago. I don't know anything about the stamp on the left, but it looks like the normal 30 euro cent stamp.

I hope you enjoyed these dusty old books!

I'll show you another card tomorrow,

CU then,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 16 July my fav card from China

Hi peeps,

A couple of days ago I received the best card ever! It is a map card (which I love) and it came all the way from China. It looks like this:

Inside the map are the names of major Chinese cities, and around the map are the words 'hello' in different languages. 

The card was sent by Miko (an 18 yr old girl), who lives in a city called Dalian (formerly know as Port Arthur). 

Doesn't she have beautiful handwriting. (and that for a person not used to western script)

She put a little star on the map on the back to indicate where Dalian is (just as well as I didn't know where it was...)

According to the stamp that reads: 'SURFACE', I assume this card came by surface mail. It took a month to get to me. Not bad!

Apart from decorating the card with washi tape and stickers, Miko has also written my name in Chinese characters.

That is so cool!

The stamps are amazing:

A beautiful falcon and another ship. (I got a ship stamp from someone not long ago).

I love this card!

Tomorrow I will show you another one.

CU then,

Lisca