Saturday 20 May 2017

Traditional Festivals

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend.  If you would like to see other folk’s posts on this subject please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

 110 – This card came from Monica in Sweden and shows the raising of the Midsummer pole.  It could just as easily be an English card in which case it would be raised on 1st May. 


A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.  In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.

Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown, although it has been speculated that it originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although it became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European communities in North America.


In Britain the maypole was found primarily in England and in areas of Scotland and Wales which were under English influence. However, the earliest recorded evidence comes from a Welsh poem written by Gryffydd ap Adda ap Dafydd in the mid-14th century, in which he described how people used a tall birch pole at Llanidloes, central Wales. Literary evidence for maypole use across much of Britain increases in later decades, and "by the period 1350-1400 the custom was well established across southern Britain, in town and country and in both Welsh-speaking and English-speaking areas."

Friday 28 April 2017

Water Forms

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is 'Water forms’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

1522 - From Tatia in China.  


Around Christmas time, Tatia moved house (having come to university at Newcastle in the UK) and I don't have her new address. So I'm receiving cards from her but the ones I send get returned from her Newcastle address.   If you are reading this by any chance, please let me know your new address!

1543 - From Li in China.  This is a UNESCO WHS, at Chengde.


1689 - Another one from my friend Li who has sent me lots of UNESCO sites.



1686 - A beautiful part of the New Zealand coast from Postcrosser Michelle.


1720 - From Irina who sends me lovely cards of the scenery in Bulgaria.  They have totally changed my view of that country.


1712 - And an artistic river scene from friend Monica in Sweden.


Saturday 22 April 2017

Landforms

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is 'Landforms’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

4404 - Sigiriya Rock and frescoes - a UNESCO World Heritage Site sent to me by my cousin Mark in Australia.



4461 - Mammoth Cave in Western Australia, sent by GB.



4469 - Also from GB, Rotorua in New Zealand.



Friday 7 April 2017

Whimsical Cats

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is 'Whimsical / Magical’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

4396 - From my Ukranian friends Marina and Katya.


Click on this one for an enlarged version -


4398 - Also from Katya and Marina.



Friday 31 March 2017

Odd, Fun, Humorous

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is 'Odd, Fun, Humorous’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

1571 - From our friend Carol in Seattle - needless to say when I prepared this blog posting I checked the weather app on my phone and it was raining in Seattle!



1755 - From Liza and friends, postcrossers in Russia -



4434 - From Sini in Finland.  I have wanted this particular Inge Look card for ages and Sini has been looking for it especially for me. Whooppee!



4440x - From my wonderful friend Heleena  in The Netherlands.  My motif was, for a long time, a blobfish and not only did Heleena send me a blobfish card but also a personalised blobfish stamp which she made via the Netherlands postal site. 



.

They don't come much more odd, fun and humorous than this one!  Thanks Heleen.

Sunday 5 March 2017

From the UK

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Serenity’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

I rarely get cards from the UK and I was in a rush to find one for this week's link up so I ended up with a card that my friend Danielle actually sent from the USA!  It is typically British.

455 - From Danielle




I shall  try to do a better post next week...

Saturday 25 February 2017

Serenity

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Serenity’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

2836 - from Monica in Sweden.  What could be more serene than sitting under a tree, reading.


4166 - or sitting by water, reading - from Susanne in Germany.



4027 - from Anastasia in Belarus - note the little bird and squirrel


2900 - But, fof me, this one from Hanka in the Czech Republic is the ultimate view of serene (klid a ticho means 'peace and silence').


Saturday 18 February 2017

Gratitude

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Gratitude’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

Since I am grateful for all the cards I receive I could have picked any card from my collection.  However, I settled for these -

0001 From Kseniya in Belarus - I'm grateful for all snail-mail.



0012 From Monica in Sweden -I am always grateful for flowers that peep through snow -


2179 - From Anastasia in Belarus.  I am, of course, exceedingly grateful for my new grandchildren.


2188 From Monica in Sweden - I am always grateful for the collection of family photos on the dresser and the happy days they represent.

2328 - From Sini whose travels from Finland take her all over the world.  A classic example of my gratitude for friends who think of me while on their travels.



3012 From EJ in The Netherlands - And we are all grateful to the postmen who deliver our mail.


Friday 10 February 2017

Love

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Love’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

2608 - From Gabriella, a postcrosser.



This is one I haven't received - it's one I sent.


0041 - A mother's love from a Finnish postcrosser.



0045 - A pet's love, from Danielle in Nebraska, USA.



4000 - And from Susanne in Germany - the love of life!



Sunday 5 February 2017

Happiness

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Happiness’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post this  week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

I've chosen some Rena Zeniuk blue cats (from Katya and her mum, Marina, in Ukraine)  to show this theme.

4357 -


4358 -



4359 -


4360 -





Saturday 28 January 2017

A miscellany

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend which this week is ‘Anything you wish’.   If you would like to see what other folk have chosen to post on this ‘free’ week please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.

Here are just a few of the wonderful cards I have received in the past couple of months.

4266 From Susanne in Germany – one of the super Findus and Pettson cards by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist.



4269 From Monica in Sweden – Barn Elves by Eva Wilsson


4307 Malaga in Spain from Eva in Morocco.



4308 From Danielle in the USA – The Knitting Girl (1869) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.


 4313 From Heleen in the Netherlands – the Rijksmuseum library.



4327 And another elf – this time one of Lennart Helje’s – the King of the Forest – from Monica.


 4328 Finally, from Susanne again – one of my favourite reading woman cards – 



Saturday 7 January 2017

Trains and trams

This post is linked to Maria’s Postcards for the Weekend.  If you would like to see other folk’s posts on this subject please visit Maria’s blog and follow the links.  They are always well worth viewing.



Trains and trams are not a subject I particularly collect so I more often send them than receive them.  This is one I sent to Yoshio in my early days of Postcrossing.


This is one I sent to JarieLyn, an acquaintance in the USA who collects train postcards.  You may recognise it - it's the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter.  It runs up part of the West coast of Scotland and Partner-who-loves-tea and I saw it a couple of years ago.


1564 - From JarieLyn in the USA.


1526 From Natallia in Belarus - a super card which the trains merely create the background for.