Still no cats... but a few other animals

2903 - From Hanka in the Czeck Republic I got this card - a real favourite.

3082 - From Tina in Canada - a cross between Easter Bunnies and Easter Hares?

3087 - From Susanne in Germany, an Inge Look Hedgehog.

and an appropriate stamp -

3098 - And a whole host of creatures in this picturesque scene by Stiftelsen Birkagarden, from Monica in Sweden.

4001 - A maxi card from Hanka.

Around the world in eight postcards

Here are a few of the places my post-sending friends have visited recently.

2653 - These rock formations are near Urumqi in the Gobi Desert - the home town of Yu Yeng Ma.  It is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the city furthest away from any ocean or sea.

3080 - Rabat, the capital of Morocco, from Eva.

3085 - From my brother, GB, when he was in New Zealand, earlier this year.

3092 - Horsehoe Canyon in Alberta, Canada, from Tina and family.

3095 - The main Post Office in Minsk, Belarus, from Anastasia.  So this counts as a postal services card for my 2016 theme as a well as an 'around the world' one.

4004 - The Chateau de Malmaison, Paris, from Eva.

4005 - Another card from Eva - this time of a splendid Mosque in Casablanca.  Casablanca is the largest city of Morocco.   The mosque has the world's tallest minaret at 689 feet.

4007 - And, harking back to last year's theme of clocks, is one from Susanne in Germany.

No cats...

You might think this a strange title for a post but I fully intend to do a post of cat cards soon.  I just need a week or two to scan them in.  In the meantime here are some miscellaneous cards from the last couple of months.  (As always I regret I just don't have time to scan all my cards in - I hope everyone knows I appreciate each and every card I receive; not only for the pictures but equally for the news and content on the other side.)

3023 - A brilliant card from Monica in Sweden - sent the day Sweden's Prince Oscar was born (he hadn't even been given a name then!)

4030 - From Renate in Austria - the Diocesan Library of St Gallen in Switzerland which she visited on holiday recently.  The renowned library  of the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains books from the 9th century.  A library and a UNESCO WHS on one card - whoopee.

4031 - An anonymous library from Danielle in the USA.

4027 - From Anastasia in Belarus.  The card is entitled Ena but I can't read the photographer's name - the print is too small until my eyes are fully sorted.

4026 - From Li, my Chinese friend, an addition to this year's theme of postal services.

4023 - Sent home, to await my return, by Partner-who-loves-tea, having been bought at a Flea Market.  I love the style of painting which I would guess is from the 1930s but I could be way out.

4014 - From Susanne in Germany.  Another for my reading women collection.

4013 - Another card from Susanne - to add to my Inge Look collection.  An appropriate card for May!

Some odds and ends

I am hoping to start blogging again a few of the postcards I receive.  Here are one or two random ones from earlier this year.

2967 - from Susanne in Germany

3058 - From Anastasia in Belarus

with typically beautiful Belarusian stamps

3079 - Heleen in The Netherlands sent me this wonderful Carl Spitzweg painting 'The Eternal Bridegroom' from 1855-60.

and more delightful stamps

3071 - Albert Anker's 'Little Girl Writing' from Susanne -

Hopefully I shall be doing posts themed about cats, post, and places in the near future.  In the meanwhile, books remain a perennially well-received theme.

4011 - From Danielle in the USA

Some Useless Facts

As the originating country for postage stamps, Britain has kept the distinction of never putting the country’s name.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

The first non-royal person displayed on a British stamp was Will Shakespeare in 1964.

Most of the friends with whom I correspond by snail mail like pretty stamps.  Often by the time I have squashed on the address and the message the total postage amount has to be made up by a small, standard stamp.  I have been known to o ly leave enough space for this to go on sideways.  But you should be careful not to stick one on upside-down – technically doing that is treason!

In the early 1970s Bhutan issued a series of stamps that doubled as phonograph records.

On 3^rd October 1995 the city council in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev established a commission to to ease confusion among postmen and delivery workers caused by there being 38 streets in the city that were called ‘Vostochnaya’ (the Russian word for East).

Plain postcards were introduced in the UK in 1870, and some illustrated and advertising cards were used with pre-printed stamps but Great Britain was slower than its continental neighbours to latch on to the possibilities of picture postcards.  It was 1894 before the Post Office gave the green light to their use through the mail with an adhesive stamp.

In 1968 alone, eight tons of paper were wasted by the United States Postal Service on perforations for postage stamps. (thanks to Ken’s Blog)

In February 2002 Thailand issued the World’s first rose-scented stamps for Valentine’s Day.

In the UK you can have a letter postmarked anywhere in the country by placing the correct postage on it and sending it in a larger envelope to the postmaster of the city of choice.

Postal Services

Here are some more postal services cards and stamps that people have sent me for my 2016 theme.

3019 - A card of postal themed stamps from Monica.

3030 - From Lilli in Canada.

3037 - From Susanne in Germany.

And yes, this is a German stamp!

3040 - EJ in the Netherlands sent me this one,

and, as always, EJ used some unusual and appropriate stamps.

3043 - From Danielle in Nebraska.

3050 - Another from Susanne - a Valentine. 

3041 - From Phillip in Ohio.

This theme is coming on really well.  My challenge will be to keep showing you the cards.

A Spanish New Year

3009 - Eating Twelve Grapes to the chimes of the clock at midnight on New Years Eve has been a Spanish tradition since 1909. In December that year, some vine growers from the Alicante area came up with "The 12 Grapes" as an idea to sell huge amounts of grapes from an excellent harvest.  Since that time Spanish people have kept up the tradition as a way to celebrate New Year's Eve. On the last day of the year, the 31st of December, they wait until twelve p.m. Everybody has to have twelve grapes ready to eat when the clock starts to chime. It is traditional to listen to the clock from Puerta del Sol in Madrid and in other town squares around the country. The tradition consists of eating a grape with each bell strike and Heleen, who was in Spain at the New Year, sent me this mail art made from two packets of seedless, peeled grapes sold especially for the occasion.