Dabai, Nigeria

it's weekend time! which means its update time! though if we are to be fair, 7 days ago was also a weekend time and i should have made an update already, but taken all the circumstances in account, id be happy if i manage this one...time is just not on my side...but thanks for still dropping by every now and then to check if there are some news...

and since i had to have a time gap here, i thought it would be nice to give this blog a treat with a new country...which is also not one of those countries i thought id have a chance to have a card from, written and stamped, any time soon...but i actually have two now ;) So here comes the first one...
It shows a Local Market in the Dabai Village in Nigeria, where Markets of this kind are very common in Nigeria, as well as Africa in general...if we are to assess the hygiene factor, im not sure i would give this place a high-rank...but i guess thats how these markets work..
My whole Nigeria-postcard thing didnt start off very nice, but fortunately, ended up well...and im happy to actually have two written and stamped Nigerian cards...since due to politics, i almost gave up on them, but here we were able to fix the misunderstanding and send each other cards.
Ok, i wont pretend that im full of knowledge about Nigeria....coz im not....i still dont know why i admit such stuff publicly though...
Nigeria is said to be the most populous country in Africa and as well the most popular 'black' country in the world with over 150 million people living there. But believe it or not, in Nigeria, the human rights are still at a very poor level and many abuses are done from the side of the government officials. As some of the most significant human rights' problems are considered to be: extrajudicial killings and use of excessive force by security forces; impunity for abuses by security forces; arbitrary arrests; prolonged pretrial detention; judicial corruption and executive influence on the judiciary; rape, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners, detainees and suspects; harsh and life‑threatening prison and detention center conditions; human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor; societal violence and vigilante killings; child labor, child abuse and child sexual exploitation; female genital mutilation (FGM); domestic violence; discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, region and religion; restrictions on freedom of assembly, movement, press, speech and religion; infringement of privacy rights; and the abridgement of the right of citizens to change the government.

unbelievable...

 

the stamp on the right was issued in 2004 and comes from a set of 4 under the subject of Children's Postage Stamp Designs - Education the Great Liberator (Umaru Jessica). The other one was issued in 2007 regarding the  the 24th UPU (Universal Postal Union) Congress in Nairobi 2008. It shows a man and a woman and the caption reads South-South Zone Costume.

Fannie Lou Hamer

This is the kind of cards (in general, all educational ones), about which i developed a huge affection.

It shows Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer, but the card itself speaks of Fammie only, who lived from 1917 till 1977, and is said to be a Mississippi sharecropper who fought back for black voting rights and spoke for many when she said "Im sick and tired of being sick and tired".....Im not sure how *I* would compose my state of mind right now, but it would somehow revolve around that line above...

This whole series of postcards was issued by the USPS and presents the Civil Rights Pioneers (which now that i think about it, is in a close relation with the postcard above, since i mentioned the human rights issue there as well...)
I will copy down the text fro, the front of the card, just in case it aint readable from this point of view...

Fannie was known for her electrifying speeches incorporating humour, biblical stories and songs and was a powerful voice of the Civil Rights Movement. She was the granddaughter of slaves and grew up in a Mississippi sharecropping family, the youngest of 20 brothers and sisters. Facing constant threats for working in voter registration drives, she was permanently disabled after being jailed and beaten in 1963 for violating a restaurant's "white's only" policy. She later said: "The only thing they could to me was to kill me and it seemed like they'd been trying to do that a little bit at a time ever since i could remember". Hamer confounded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which successfully challenged the white Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She travelled and worked tirelessly throughout the South, promoting the cause of Civil Rights because "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired" she famously said.

I recall having come across this quote at other places but i never knew it came from such a woman and in such circumstances...

Stara Planina, Serbia

Whenever i receive a card from this series from Ana, i always wonder why doesnt Macedonia issue such series of cards as well...i simply love them!

It shows several aspects of the Stara Planina Mountain, or if Translated, the Old Mountain. It  is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. On the top picture you can see Midžor, the highest peak of the mountain at 2169 m while on the bottom pictures you have the waterfalls near Kaina, then the city of Knjaževac  and the Denseflower Mullein (Verbascum Densiforum).

The landscapes are simply beautiful and ive had the chance to see some amazing Macedonian landscapes lately, which just even more frustrates me...we have such beautiful places and no one cares to actually promote them through some postcards.

 

the stamp is a very cute one, issued in 2008 in a set of two, depicting Children's Folk Costumes.

Melbourne, Australia

This postcard was sent to my aunt by her friend Savica...but i cant tell the year since i cant read it from the postmark...

She says that the city is big and clean and well arranged and that the people are kind. The title of the card is called "Spectacular skyline of Melbourne at dusk"....so no particular buildings or such that i can talk of....Im not sure just if this picture shows the CBD of Melbourne or just some other part with huge buildings and skyscrapers....

I think ive already talked of Melbourne before so i wont get down to details now....just wanted to show the postcard...

 

as for the stamp...it was issued in 2005 and comes from a set of 4 stamps portraying the Bush Wildlife, where here in particular you can see the famous Australian symbol, the Koala....

Monza, Italy

Yup...finally after a longer while, F1 related card here...but unfortunately, with not much personal talk and points of view, since as with most of the races lately, i just dont have the itch to watch it...gets really tedious..

 

But i have to say im pleased how it ended....and it was like that only coz Hamilton who was third, crashed into the wall at the very very last lap...so of course, the driver who was fourth, came into the third position....and guess who was 4th?? But of course,...KIMIIIII!! So it was good to see him on the podium! I just regret not having watched the previous race in Spa...i even have a postcard for it, but since i was out of the country, i wasnt able to watch, and of course, even if i did, i wouldnt have been able to post it here...but after sooo many years, i missed a race, and thats when Raikkonen had to win, and i couldnt witness it! Now, you'd say, why such a fuss...well, if you know how Raikkonen has been doing lately, then you'd know that winning aint in his agenda....and once he wins after so long, and i missed it =|
As for the race today, as i already said, it wasnt much fun...Raikkonen started 3...ended up third...had Sutil breathe in his neck all the time...and that was a bit tensed...i thought he was gonna oveertake....but luckily he didnt. No special happenings during the race that are worth mentioning. Barichello won...Button was second...i dont know how the Brawns managed to be so competitive this year, but they are surprising me big time...so surprising, that it even makes me paranoid :))  I often think that in order to make the F1 circus more interesting, they had to somehow put behind the dominating teams, and bring forward some of the outsiders...but i dont know...this is getting boring as well...at the beginning of the season it was fun to see another team dominating and felt like a huge refreshment...but after it started repeating over and over again, it somehow lost its charm..
I do miss Massa though.....but at least he is alive.

 

Lambayeque, Peru

I love this postcard. It may sound insane and as if im getting eccentric about the stuff i like, but ive mentioned before that for some reason, cemeteries and memorial centres are appealing to me...tombs as well....they just hide soooooo much behind them...stories, history, lives....probably that *unknown* thing is what gives me the whole thrill...the unexplored...the possibility to play with your imagination about those things, people and places...

The Lord of Sipán is a mummy found in Sipán while the tomb is a Moche culture site in Peru. Some archaeologists hold it to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in this region of the world in the last 30 years, because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves. Four tombs have been found in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, a mausoleum built by the Moche culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru from around 1 AD to 700 AD.
Because of his high rank this ruler was buried along with eight people, apparently his wife and two other women (possibly concubines), a military commander, a watchman, a banner holder and a child. Among the animals a dog was found.
I dont know why there are not many sites that provide information about this...and those that do have an awful English (grammar, syntax etc.) Even the Wikipedia article :(

American Indian Tribes

Great great great map card!!!

However, this is such a vast and great subject, that getting into detials would be impossible, so ill just give you a few, regarding the names featured next to the pictures.

Blackfoot: The Blackfoot were a powerful buffalo-hunting society of the northern plains, with most of their settlements in Montana, Idaho, and Alberta. Blackfoot Indian language is one of the few indigenous languages in Canada and the United States which has a good chance for survival.

Costanoan: There were once several distinct Costanoan languages, including Mutsun, Rumsen, Karkin, and Cholon. These languages were as different from one another as the Romance languages of Europe (French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.) Language loss in California has been especially severe--the legacy of the Gold Rush days, in which massacres and Indian slavery, while technically illegal, were not actively discouraged--and none of the Costanoan languages has been spoken in more than fifty years. However, some Ohlone Indian people are working to revive their ancestral language again.

Cree: Cree history is very hard to synopsize because the Cree tribe spans such a broad territory, from the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Though their common culture and language bind them together as a people, the James Bay Cree and Woodland Cree tribes do not necessarily have any more shared history than the white people in Quebec and Alberta do. With that caveat, though, the Cree Indians as a whole have weathered European colonization better than perhaps any other group of Native Americans. Their sheer numbers and broad range helped keep them from being too decimated by European diseases to maintain stability, as happened to many smaller nations, and their particular cultural affinity for intertribal marriage (remarked upon in the oral histories of their Indian neighbors) meshed well with the intent of the French, the primary Europeans to have dealings with them. Where the English tended to try to move Indian groups further away from their civilization, the French tried to engulf them. The Cree, who had held a similar attitude towards colonization before the French ever got there, engulfed back. The result was the metis, a race of primarily French-Cree mixed-bloods, and distinct French and Cree populations who generally got along pretty well. Since Canadian nationhood, the Cree people have faced the same problems of self-determination and land control that every aboriginal group has, but they remain better-equipped to face them than most, and the Cree language is one of the few North American languages sure of surviving into the next century.

Yaqui: it is a Uto-Aztecan language of the Sonoran desert. About 350 Yaqui speakers remain in Arizona and more than 15,000 in neighboring Mexico

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Something different from most of my Brazilian cards

This is the Flags Monument in the Ibirapuera Park. The “Bandeira Monument” as it is also called, is located in front of Ibirapuera Park, and was created by Victor Brecheret, a famous architect, to remember the members of the expedition called Bandeira (Flag). This monument is considered one of the most famous symbols in São Paulo standing 40 feet (12 meters) high and 165 feet (50 meters) across.

you'll pardon me if the information/talks today seem scarce or a bit off track....but im just feeling really tired...and sleepy...yet there are still things i need to get done..yet, i wanted to post some cards before another long tough week starts

But thanks for reading...and ill see you next weekend...

Pingvellir, Iceland

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............

 

I think you could guess why my *mmmmmmmmmmmmm* reaction :)
And i finally have a WRITTEN and STAMPED card sent from Iceland directly!!! And all that thanks to Sonja who was kind enough to help me with it...Sonja, thanks a real lot again! I really really love this card and it makes me so happy to have it in my collection. And above all, its not just a card, but its a UNESCO whs as well!
Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland, situated in the southwestern part of the country.
Þingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament site and was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Þingvellir National Park was the first national park in Iceland and was decreed "a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged.
The Parliament was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1789.
Geographically it is also a very special place because it is located in both continental places of Europe and North-America.
Mmmmm...its such a lovely lovely place! I really MUST...and i underline the MUST....I MUST visit Iceland one day....

 

The stamps arent any less beautiful...and simply fit into the theme of the card.
The stamp on the left was issued in 2005 in a set of two, showing birds...and on this stamp the Graylag is shown, while the other stamp comes from a set of 5 issued in 2005, showing Glaciers....and on this stamp "Eystri Hagafellsjökull" is shown


just amazing!

Turkey

A card which came as a total surprise from dear Leslie....ok, i knew she was gonna send me something, but had absolutely no idea what...and when i saw this card, all i could say was that its just perfect....a flag and map in one! Could i ask for something more? :)

 

Hmmm....i must admit that im using a PC i shouldnt be...but since im home alone, i sneaked in the family pc into my room, since its MUUUUCH faster than mine...and i just cant find the words to explain the difference while just working on the blog...its inexplicable how much time i get wasted while working on mine and waiting for all those applications to start and work with them and how often it gets stuck and unresponsive...I planned to go for a lap-top hunt this weekend, but then i realized i dont have all the necessary info at hand and i dont want to just rush into decisions and make a wrong one...and then realizing i should have bought some oder model/version...but i think that i wont be able to cope with my pc for much longer...
btw...i was wondering where the Turkish logo (if i can call it so) originates from...I see it on all cards and on all Turkey-related commercials...so it must have come out from somewhere...
hm, yeah well...me and my digressions :)

 

the stamp comes from the set of 16 stamps issued in 2005 showing Turkish provinces...and here is Aydin...i actually think i have shown this stamp before...or no...well, nevermind :)

Leslie...thanks a lot again...not just for the lovely card but for the thoughtfulness as well :)

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

A card i bought and sent to myself this summer.

ok, for those of you who dont know...when i went to Montenegro, i also had my whereabouts here and there, and one of my destinations was a one day trip to Mostar...actually Trebinje and Mostar...it was an extremely tiring trip, but more than worth it...and im more than proud with myself for deciding to go instead of spending that day on the beach...i had to wake up at 5:30 in order to be at the station at 6:30....and i had just like 3 or 4 hours of sleep...and was back 'home' at 9 or so in the evening...and i know i crashed into bed immediately...but i was happy...and thats what counted.
There are many things to be talked about regarding that day...and many pictures i took to be shown...but ill leave it for some other time, since i dont have much time right now to get that prepared too..yet, ive been wanting to show this card for so long and always sort of neglected it...so i said that it was about time...with or without photos :)
And yes...this is a UNESCO as well...the bridge itself was destroyed during the war in Bosnia in the 90's...but it had been rebuilt again...so what you see here is the rebuilt version....i also bought a card which shows how the bridge was BEFORE...when i was looking at the cards, the lady who worked there told me herself that i might be interested in the card...so i got that one too...and...well, ill tell you more details with my next Mostar cards...i might make it like a story in chapters actually...and give you a little bit of it with each card...i'll see :)

 

and im thankful to the lady at the post office who had put the nice stamps :)
its from a set of two issued in 2008 regarding the Olympic Games in Beijing

Malacca, Malaysia

And one more UNESCO for today

 

I didnt really intentionally pick up such a high percentage of UNESCO cards for today...unless doing something thematically, i always pick up my cards spontaneously (from the countries allowed)....and for some reason i often make unconscious correlations among them, or with some events happening....odd.
Malacca is the third smallest Malaysian state. t is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula on the Straits of Malacca. The state's capital is Malacca Town. This historical city centre has been listed as a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 7 July 2008.
Although Malacca was once one of the oldest Malay sultanates, the state has no Sultan today.
The Fortress you can actually see on the card is called "A Famosa" and was built in 1511 by the Portuguese. The site had suffered damages during the Dutch invasion, leaving only its gateway as the hallmark of Malacca today.

 

the stamp is just GREAT! I totally love it...and khm, sort of can relate to it...not in an identical situation, but just from a teacher's point of view :)
Its from a set of 6 issued in 2008 regarding Malaysian Cartoon series.

ok...i need to go and take care of some stuff regarding Haris now...for those that know what im talking about ;)

Mexico

Holá!
Yup, here i am! After a looong, tiring, but also very nice week i have to say.  I wont go into details about it, since there would be too many, and it would be too much time and space consuming and thats not my primary purpose to be here. Just want to say thanks to all those who were concerned with how i was and whats going on..sorry if i sounded too dramatic last time, but i really felt that way...im still not at ease with myself...but well, at least i managed to live through this past week, and for now thats what counts...as for the future...we'll see...but still....dont be surprised if you see drastic mood changes and how i view things around me :)

US-459079

And oh yeah, you are not imagining things...this IS indeed a Mexican card....and believe it or not, its an official....BUT, there is this BIG but...it was sent from the US...since as the sender told me, she lives on the border and since the Mexican postal service aint that reliable, she sends her cards from the US...so that was a sort of a cold shower...i would have really loved to receive a card with a Mexican ID...but maybe some other time. However, the moment i registered this card, i also asked the girl if she would be so kind and swap cards with me, but to send it from Mexico itself, so Mexican stamp, Mexican postmark etc, doesnt matter how long the card would take to get to me...and she agreed...so now im just waiting for it to pop up in my mailbox...and until it does, here is this other official card.
Another big plus/bonus for the card is that its a map card!!! To be honest, when i found this one in my mailbox, i got pretty confused, since first i looked at the stamp...and it was a US one...then i looked at the ID...again US one...i didnt at first notice that the map shows Mexico, but i thought that its a US map which has caught a glimpse of Mexico...and then i actually read the text and then i actually noticed that the map shows Mexico, and that the so-called glimpse was from the US...so thats when the excitement began :D And i have to say im really happy to have this card....sort of brings me certain warmth around the heart...awkward, no?

the stamp...i think you know it already...i had it posted just not so long ago...and yeah, a small repetition to avoid any confusion...the card was sent from the US, not Mexico, hence the US stamp...

Riga, Latvia

this lovely surprise comes from my dear Katy :)

And not only its a lovely card, but its great to have it since i actually cant brag with an ownership of many Latvian cards....and it has a number of small images and here is what they are showing...starting from left to right..
- The Convent Yard; - Skarnu Street; - The Blackheads House; - The Latvian Academy of Art; - Swedish Gate; - Torna Street; - The Fountain in Opera Park; - The Parliament House; - The Latvian National Opera; - The Panorama of Riga.

I think that the Baltic countries are on my must-to-visit list. Partly coz of what ive seen on pictures and read about them, and partly coz of what ive heard from people who have been there (not natives). I really think these countries should be experienced personally. And i think that if i go, I will have some good *hosts*...at least in Estonia for example ;-))))   :D :P
Or no???!!!!

the stamps used come from a set of two, issued in 2005 under the National Symbols theme, with the subject of Coats and Arms of Regions and Towns, this one showing Jurmala.

Katy, Aitäh!!

Brussels, Belgium

this nice card comes thanks to Thomas.

at first glance, i thought that huge rectangle thing was stained glass...and i was wondering, how is it possible not to break it when its placed in the middle of a square where frequency is so high...turns out my imagination goes in a different direction and that this has nothing to do with stained glass  but that, the rectangle thing is actually a flower carpet on the Market Place.
Officially, the first Floral Carpet as its present-day form was created in 1971 on the Grand-Place by the landscape architect E. Stautemans, but, in fact, it was the culmination of a whole series created in various towns in Flanders. he had been experimenting since the early 50's making simple small carpets, more like rugs, mainly consisting of begonias. He very quickly realised that floral carpets would be an excellent vehicle for the promotion of his beloved begonias which he had always worked with, both technically, economically and aesthetically.

After years of attempts and calculations, this architect, who was inventive and imaginative, and knew how to make the most of the numerous resources of begonias, became an expert in the creation of superb floral carpets with sophisticated colors and complicated designs.
His fame spread and he was asked to make carpets not only in Belgium but worldwide. Some of these carpets were bigger than the ones created in Brussels (77 x 24 m), like the 1973 masterpiece at Sint-Pietersplein, Ghent that reached a gigantic 164 x 42 m.

However, as E. Stautemas himself says, "Nowhere is the carpet more beautiful and distinguished than in the unique, ancient surroundings of the Grand-Place in Brussels".

Well, i havent seen the others, but this one is definitely stunning.



the stamp was issued in April this year and comes from a set of 5 showing the World Heritage of Belgium - Major town houses of the Architect Victor Horta in Brussels.

thanks a lot to Thomas for choosing such an interesting card :)

Padang Pajang, Indonesia

the last card for today comes from Indonesia and showing, if i can say so, my favourite means of transport.

Ever since i had put the trains and railways on my wishlist, i noticed how people have started actually sending me such cards about which im extremely glad! Otherwise, i would have never had all those train-related cards i had received lately :)
this card here shows a railroad in Padang Panjang in Indonesia. Did you know that although Indonesia has over 18000 islands, only TWO have railroads??? thats a shame...
now that i think about it, i havent travelled by train for almost a year....im either on the bus or in the car...and im not sure i will have an opportunity in the near future to travel by train....but i do miss that tk tk..tk tk...tk tk sound the trains make...and there is nothing better than travelling at night, in a sleeping cabin and being there just by yourself...mmmmmmmmmmmmm

as for the stamps, from what i could gather..there are four in the set (here you see two of them) and they were issued in May this year, regarding the World Ocean Conference, where Indonesia was the host between 11 - 15 May, and in commemorating this event, the stamp series were issued.
The stamp design beautifully captures the under water life consists of Coral Reef, Blueringed Anglefish, Anemone Shrimp, Goldback Anthias and Green Sea Turtle.   

Small Notice

Before i get down to the update, need to make a small notice....

Starting from tomorrow, im not sure how often i will be able to update here...until another notice. Also, i may not be able to have internet access or have a very limited one and therefore, in case you message me, i may not be able to reply. You can still mail me/message me, but it may take a while for me to read it. In case its something urgent, you can always text me (if you have my number...you can ask for it as well if we are friends...even virtual ones :)).
I dont want to say WHEN i will be able to update here and how frequently...i dont want to make promises and fail to fulfill them and also, i dont want to say i cant make updates and they i appear out of nowhere. So we'll just have to see how it goes.
Cant talk of any details regarding stuff, mainly coz i dont want to talk of anything ahead...so i need to see first how things develop and then give you the details. I was craving for a change? Yeah, well....this can be one. And its literally eating me on the inside.......

To those whom i had to mail stuff...here is a list of people to whom i have mailed things these past few days, so you neednt worry :)

Ana - Serbia
Janek - Estonia (tag & swap)
Sissel - Norway
Nataly - Russia
Grzegorz - Poland
Dengbin - China
Aga - Poland
Shevanti - India
Jude - NMI
Nasia - Cyprus

So you should all be getting your mail any time soon....if your name is not on the list, then it means i havent managed to mail your stuff, so it will have to be postponed...sorry :(

regarding letters....a huge apology to all my penpals out there but due to overall things, havent managed to write a single letter lately...ill try and organize it somehow and at least move slowly with it...i hate it to be late with replying to your letters, but you know me...=| I just hope you are not mad at me and would still look forward to hear from me in your mailbox :)

Well, with that said...we can move to the postcards.

Roben Island, South Africa

Its been a while since i posted a South African card...and actually this is the first view card from there...the others were maps and a flag.

And apart from being a viewcard its also a UNESCO :)
From the back of the card: Roben Island lies 9/678 km from Tabie Bay Harbour and 7.03 km from Bloubergstrand. It was here that Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years with many of his comrades . Today the island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
When you look at the island (the small picture at the bottom left corner) you would think its one of those Paradise called islands and not something that used to be such a torment. However, i dont know who took the pictures, but they seem soooo beautiful and have such a lovely tone, that you cant at a single moment grasp the idea that this is a prison, even when you take a look at the high fence and that small poor "room".

and here come two nice stamps. the one on the left is from a set of definitives issued in 2000 from the "colourful species" series, showing birds, fish and butterflies...and the other one...arrgh, i hate it when i end up being unable to find info about a certain stamp...i really need to gather a number of useful philately links....whats more surprising, the stamp was issued in 2009...so its not like coming from prehistoric times...yet, i just couldnt "locate" it

Germany

I definitely need a new PC/laptop ASAP! laptop preferably, due to its convenience....but my PC is really eating my nerves....it gets stuck and unresponsive way too often and just makes my updates a real hell to go through =|

Hmmm...flag card...jack pot!
The official name of the German flag is Bundesflagge (federal flag). However, this name is mainly used by authorities or in very official announcements. Today the black-red-yellow tricolour is used as the national flag and the merchant ensign. Im just a bit confused about the last colour....somewhere it is stated as *gold* and at other places as *yellow*...to me it has certainly seemed *yellow* ever since ive known about it, but now ive been overshadowed by doubts.
here is what it is said about the history of this flag:
The black-red-yellow tricolour flag has been used at least three times in the history of Germany. It was adopted in 1848 and abolished in 1852; readopted as the flag of the Weimar Republic on 11 August 1919, and abolished and replaced by the Third Reich flag 12 March 1933. It was finally readopted as the modern German flag on 8 May 1949. It was used by the German Democratic Republic until 1959 but had added to it a coat of arms from 1959-1989 when the Germanies were reunited.

Teide, Spain

Another lovely UNESCO card!

Declared a national park in 1954, the Parque Nacional de las Cañadas del Teide includes an enormous volcanic crater 48 km in circumference, out of which rises Mount Teide (pronounced the same as Lady) at a staggering 3.718 metres, making it the highest mountain in the whole of Spain.

The park itself lies at around 2000 metres above sea level and in winter snow falls, gale winds blow and the roads are sometimes closed off. During the summer months this arid landscape which gives the impression of having walked into a cowboy movie, can reach temperatures above 40C.

Access to the now extinct volcano is either by foot or by cable car that will carry you almost to the very summit. From the peak, on a clear day, you are in heaven and have breathtaking views of Gran canaria, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. This is the Canary Islands most visited tourist attraction and must not be missed.

The stamp used is self-adhesive and comes from a set of two issued in April this year showing Flowers...with the Gladiouls portrayed here

Canada

A card which captured me and i fell in love with on the very first sight!

And its so huge that i couldnt even get a normal scan...oh yeah, this card caused me loads of trouble till it got to see the light of the day, but it was worth it. I dont know why such a fascination with it, whether coz of the blue predominant colour, or just the image, or all of it together...
ive been fascinated with the igloos when i was little...i read about them, and it was just amazing to see that people live in ice-houses, and how can they not be cold inside there...this igloo here even seems to have more sq. metres than my own house :)

I hope you are able to read the text...if not, this is what it says: Igloo is the Inuktitut word for house, The snowhouse version is a dome shaped shelter built of snow blocks. As snow is an insulator, outside temperatures may reach -45 C (-49 F) while those inside may range from -7 C (19F) to 16 C (61 F) due to warming from body heat, Lining it with skins can raise the temperature to as much as 20 C (68 F). Large igloos are built as semi-permanent homes. Normally there will be one igloo to be used for special occasions and another that is used for living. An igloo may have up to five rooms connected by tunnels with a common outside access to reduce wind and heat loss. Up to 20 people may be housed in such a structure. When the heat from the kulliq (stone lamp) melts the interior slightly it later refreezes and contributes to the strength of this already structurally sound design.

the sender of the card said that every year she tries to make an igloo with her son but something always happens to it! wow! to try and make an igloo by myself...that would be a thrill! though it wont be possible to build it here, but would love to try it wherever conditions would allow! Anyone wanna make me company, and have fun?? :D

there are also loads of great stamps! the one with the bird comes from a set of two issued in 2009 under the Preserving the Poles subject. The Primary theme is Fauna (Birds - General)
Environment & Conservation (Global Warming). If you recall that large Canadian envelope i once showed you, both of the stamps can be seen there.
The small lady bug (or lady beetle) stamp comes from a set of 5 issued in October 2007 under the subject of Beneficial Insects.
The Huge stamp in between them is from a set of 4 issued in July this year, under the name of Roadside Attractions....and the last stamp (on the very left) is also from July this year (set of 4 stamps), showing Canadian Recording Artists, where here you can see Robert Charlebois.

Togo

Uhmmmm...i should be doing some reading....but i think i will juggle between here and there...and see what i manage to do....

This great card comes from who else but Glenn of course...ive been mentioning Glenn so often at this blog, i hope he doesnt often get hiccups coz of that ;) Actually, now that i mentioned it, im not sure that this is a worldwide accepted belief..but here in Macedonia for example, if you start having hiccups all of a sudden, we say that someone is talking about you...whether good or bad, its not known :)
Anyway, as for Togo, its of course a new country in my collection...and it falls under the category of countries of which i know little or nothing...
I actually like it a lot how the girl is dressed....i like the colours of her sweater/vest....im not sure how youd call this...and i LOVE all the bracelets around her wrists...in case you didnt know, i love certain pieces of jewelery, esp. rings, earrings and bracelets...and i prefer some odd/interesting ones...im not into silver/gold/classy stuff......and i may not be that much of a fan of necklaces, but all those stuff around this girl's neck seem übercool :)
Oh yeah...this was about Togo...when you look at it on the map. it has an odd straight shape..and seems to be very small. It is located in West Africa and has Ghana on the west, Benin on the east, Burkina Faso on the north.....and some Guinea Gulf water on the south :)
Its capital is Lome....of which im hearing for the first time just now.
When i think about it, i think that out of all the continents, my knowledge about Africa and its countries and capitals is by far the worst. And unfortunately, one of the inevitable relations when i think of Africa, are Bono Vox and Bob Geldof and their 'so much talked about missions about fighting the poverty in Africa and that World Aid or how ever it was called, and that Do they know its Christmas time tune, which i end up hearing EVERY SINGLE Christmas/New Year on the radio for like 10 times a day....and just for the record...U2 have great songs...but i dont like Bono...mainly coz of his 'oh i so much fight about hunger/poverty in Africa' bragging...i havent really seen some effect out of it... i dont know...the way he does it is just annoying to me...if he really wants to help, he could donate bunch of his money, instead of organizing such world-wide commercialized events....

Corfu, Greece

Something from my nearest neighbourhood.

I got this card from a friend who went there this summer...actually, when he said he was going to Corfu, i of course asked him to send me a postcard...and as with the majority of my friends here, he said he was gonna bring me one and give it to me...i didnt complain of course, coz its the thought that counts after all...but then he saw this blog...and he was fascinated...and he said he was gonna definitely send me a card since now he knew why i so much love postcards and why i would love them sent, instead of being given to me :D
And in case he ever reads this, i just wanna say a huuuuuuuugeeee Thank You again!
Coz you know....i have a whole bunch of Greek cards, but 98%  of them are blank (either i have bought them or my mum bought them, or are from my late grandmother...). So written and stamped Greek cards are a rarity in my collection, so thats why this card is something i really treasure!
And another thing very worth mentioning...you know this issue we are having with Greece and their FYROM persistence and all..when addressing the card, my friend wrote R. Macedonia instead of FYROM...and to my awe, the card arrived without ANY single reactions by the Greeks....in general, they would cross out Macedonia and write FYROM...it has happened to me before...and ones some of the nationalistic postal workers even added on a postcard "Macedonia is Greek"....so when it comes to them, i would expect just anything...but this time i got a card, sent from Greece, which said Macedonia....its really really unbelievable!
It would be really nice if they actually stopped all the fuss they are making in general and just back off and mind their own business....
Oh yeah...and those dolphins are just too cute :P
Im still curious though to get an official card from Greece :)

The stamp comes from a set of 6 issued in May this year under the subject of Greek monuments of World cultural Heritage .

Pennsylvania, USA

 I should make a list of all the US state map cards i have and see which ones im missing...but as usual, im totally disorganized about such stuff...

there isnt much info on the back...

- Nickname: Keystone State
- 1970 Population (???): 11,793,909.....i really wonder when does this card date from if they are using the stats from 1970!!!
- Area in Sq. Miles: 45,126
- Entered the Union: Dec. 12, 1787

the things which come to my mind when it comes to Pennsylvania are the Amish and those covered bridges...and my dear Katie who lives in Pittsburgh :D

some info from the front:
- State Bird: Ruffed Grouse
- State Flower: Mountain Laurel

the flower is definitely beautiful!

and i think its needless to talk of the stamp...the overused 94c one before the prices went up....have to say im glad they did so i dont get to see this stamp so often anymore :)
yeah, there are a few stamps out there im pretty tired of...this one, the German one with the flower, the Dutch one  which i dont know how to explain but i posted it on my last post about the Netherlands and with all due respect, the British one with the queen....ever since ive started getting mail, i end up seeing it on my cards/letters way too often :)

Aurora Borealis, Finland

Im starting to feel guilty...since i didnt do ANY of the reading i was supposed to do and which i said i would simultaneously do while writing here...

Actually, i started clearing up my PC and then my keyboard ceased working and then i had to do all the restart and then got carried away with my cats...uhmm, i guess ill just share this last card for today and get down to some work
As you already know, i LOVE the Northern Lights even though i still cant comprehend in a simple human language how they actually work. But i love it that they come in such different colours....this is like someone from above is landing down on Earth....in some movies i had watched, when aliens or just anyone had to come down from the space, such lights would appear to lighten up the way and announce the coming and all.
Btw....i have this card twice....just a few posts before i was talking about this double card issue...when i got it for the second time, of course, a small shadow of disappointment ran over me...but then i saw the stamp (the second one here) and i was WOW...finally i got it :) And i got both of the cards in tags, which still means a lot, knowing that people DO care to fulfill my wishlist :)

this stamp was issued in 2007 and comes from a set of 2 depicting Fine Arts, Classical Architecture, with Antiques as subject

and this other AWESOME stamp which i know many of you know by know, is that famous 3D stamp with the guy on skis who moves down the mountain if you move the stamp back and forth. It was issued in 2008 and comes from a set of 4 depicting Winter Sports, with this one in particular showing Alpine Skiing. It is also self-adhesive (of course)

hmmm, ok...i need to check on the washing machine and do at least a bit of the reading i have to do....thanks for reading!

till next time...

Buenos Aires, Argentina

To some it may seem unbelievable, but this is my first Argentinian card ever! :) So yeah, its a new country to the collection :) And if all goes well, i should get a second one sooner or later :)

And it comes from Buenos Aires direct, sent by Andres, showing Plaza de Mayo and the Buenos Aires Townhall.
I think that my first ever memory related to Argentina dates back from 1990, when there was this World Cup in Football...and when Diego Maradona was like one of the main figures and stars there...though if i recall correctly, Germany won the finals...its funny, but i watched almost every single match then, together with my grandfather, and i was truly interested in it...of course, i tried to watch it 4 years later again, but for some reason, it didnt feel the same and the cheering didnt feel the same, and i just lost interest...but i guess i learned a rather lot by watching just this one World Cup :)
As for the card....Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires and since it was the scene of the 25 May 1810 resolution that led to independence, it has also been a focal point of political life in Buenos Aires and, arguably, Argentina.
It is of course indispensable tourist attraction too.
Several of the city's major landmarks are located around the Plaza, the Townhall included.

This card came inside an envelope, which was decorated with 5 simply amazing stamps! I dont know if its coz they are huge or so colourful, but to me they are just lovely!
They have all been issued this year.
The stamp on the very left shows the Crowned Eagle...it is from a set of two stamps from the Wild Fauna under extinction  series. The other stamp from this series is the one with the turtle - the Earth Turtle.
The other 3 stamps come from a series of 5, under the theme of Children's subjects - Amusement Park Games.
Just lovely lovely lovely stamps!
Andres, MUCHAS GRACIAS por la tarjeta y por los sellos....and excuse me for my simple poor Spanish :)

St. Agnes, France

This lovely card comes from Sheila

It is said that St. Agnes is the highest coastal village in Europe.

Sainte-Agnès village has narrow stone-paved streets and many arched passages, and everything is pretty well restored. Many of the village houses are 15th to 18th century.
A feature of Sainte-Agnès is the incredible view -- of the coast, the sea, the mountains and Italy.

This is a definitely lovely, but touristy, little village perched on the flank of a mountain, high above the Mediterranean. The one thing that saves Sainte Agnes from being overrun is that it's not easy to get to; only 4 km from the coast as the eagle flies, it's about 12 km of narrow and twisty mountain roads by car, above Menton at the eastern end of the French Riviera.

According to legend, the chateau-fort was built by a Saracen Prince Haroun, who had fallen in love with a young Provençal girl. The chateau was restored in 1502, but today is in ruins. Enough of the ancient walls remain, complete with arrow slits, to give a good feeling of what it was like in medieval times. Archaeological digs at the chateau site have unearthed at least 23 skeletons along with other artifacts, indicating habitation to the Bronze Age or even to the Neolithic era.
The bonus of this card is the map it has on it :)

And another extra characteristic of this card is the amazing stamp, which is really huge indeed!
It was issued in February this year under the subject of Religions and beliefs, showing a part of the St. Cecilia Cathedral.
Sheila, thanks a lot again for this great piece :)

Bela Lugosi

Here is a rather unusual card, but i totally totally love it! From the moment i saw it offered, i wanted to have it in my collection.

For some reason, i like cards with cemeteries and memorial centres...give me some odd turbulences on the inside...as for Bela Lugosi, this is whats written on the back:
- No more tooth trouble for "Dracula", actor Bela Lugosi's most famous role, as Lugosi rests in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California - we hope.....

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian actor, born under the name of Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos, outside the western border of Transylvania. He later based his last name on his hometown.
I dont think i have watched him in his movies...im not much of a movie person, and often when i watch some, im not really savvy in naming actors and actresses and stuff....so now, you may wonder, why the hell you so much wanted a card with Bela Lugosi's grave...
Well...its coz of a song...thats how i learned of Bela in the first place...and the song is a great one...called Bela Lugosi's dead.....the original version is performed by Bauhuas (Peter Murphy) but there is another great one, performed by Peter Murphy and Trent Reznor together...having in mind that i really love and respect both of them, and having in mind the itch music arises in me, now wonder i got so thrilled with this card...i immediately had the story to share on my blog :)
So yeah...not much talking about Bela and his career....but here is the song....

Trent Reznor & Peter Murphy version:




Bauhaus version....i just love this 'vinyl' thing in the video :)

the lovely stamp is a definitive issued in June 2009, from the issue series Scenic American Landscapes, where here you can see the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.