Keeping up-to-date

1832 – Postcrosser Ari in Kilpisjärvi sent me this card - one of a number of caricatures by Terho Peltoniemi.  Kilpisjärvi is a village in Lapland, Finland. It is located in Finland's northern "arm" near the very northwestern-most point of Finland.

KILPISJÄRVI IN A NUTSHELL

- Europe's cleanest air

- 40 over 1000 meter high peaks

- Only 50 kilometres to the shore of Arctic Ocean

- Sun is above horizon from May to August

- Rare plants and birds

- Three Border Points

- Paradise for a photographer

- Favourite activities: skiing, hiking, snowmobiling, photography, fishing, husky rides, plane rides, paragliding, heli-skiing, trips to Norway and Sweden

- The longest winter and thickest snow in Finland

- The longest ski-season: from September 'till Midsummer Day

- More Northern Lights than anywhere else in Finland

- Average temperature: in January -13,6°C, in July +10,9°C

- Average temperature all year round -2,3°C

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1833 – From postcrosser Liza from Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine where my friend Katya lives. 

  

1834 – Another postcrossing card – this time from Vilija in Lithuania.  It shows the old town of Vilnius, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1835 – A Molly Brett picture from Heleen in the Netherlands.  Molly Brett (1902–1990) was an English illustrator and children's author, best known for her anthropomorphic artwork like these two rabbits with letters in their hands.  When she saw this card Heleen immediately thought of me.  I’m not sure what that says about me? :-)

The stamps on this card – 

1836 – A 1923 GWR Castle Class engine from Monica in Sweden.

Appropriate stamps!

1838 – From Anastasia in Belarus.  

1839 – A slutsk sash design from Anastasia.

1840 -  Ira, a Ukrainian postcrosser sent me this card of her hometown, Chernivtsi.

What super stamps.

1841 – Fidel, a Bulgarian ppstcrosser, generously sent me three cards.  This is a UNESCO WHS.

1842 – Another UNESCO WHS.

 1843  -  Fidel’s third card.

1846 - From Katya in Ukraine, a map of her country.

And a fridge magnet map for me.  How kind.

One of the stamps on the envelope shows the gold Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in Tolstaya Mogila, Ordzhonikidze, Ukraine, dated to the second half of the 4th century BC.

1847 – Another card from Katya, showing Eruslan, a beautiful young boy in Russian fairy tales who slays the dragon.

1845 – A postcard by Inga Poltser from Katya.  Is this cute or what?