Honduras

well, if you've been following the time intervals lately you probably know that unfortunately, updates happen weekly only and that today is THE day when one should happen...plus it is another gloomy depressing Sunday...so here we go :)

Not mailed from Honduras directly, but being a map-card, it is extremely worth in the blank condition as well :)
Before this card, if you had asked me to point Honduras on the map, I would have wandered around the continent honestly....but now I think ill manage from the first attempt :)
Did you actually know that the country's former name was "Spanish Honduras" in order to distinguish it from "British Honduras" which is today's Belize? I had no idea, so I should do some further reading about this.
What I like about the countries in this part of the world is that they are often associated with fresh fruit. Now, to make it clear, im not at all fond of fruits and vegetables, but somehow, countries like this make me think of sunshine, warmth, beautiful nature, million of lovely colours and happiness. Plus I have this idea that the fruit there is much tastier than ours, and that it is 100% natural and not the kind of artificial one we get to see in our supermarkets...I mean, big, red strawberries in March or April? Por favor....or bananas and oranges and tomatoes all throughout the year....and their shape and state always feels so impeccable....something must be wrong there....

Boston, USA

A lovely Boston view I got in the "Choose a Country RR" - a RR I got addicted to immediately.

The card shows the Faneuil Hall Marketplace at dusk....and the colours are just soooooo lovely!

"When evening falls, the lights come on at New England's most visited marketplace where food, flowers, fashion and fun surround you: Historic Faneuil Hall, built in 1742, is in the foreground and the Custom House tower is in the background". - from the back of the card.

a stamp you know all about by now...

Ooty, India

A FANTASTIC official card I received last year....plus it is my only official card from India so far.

IN-15325

The card shows a train running through Ooty, the "Queen of hill stations" and the capital of Nilgiris district. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in India. Nilgiris means "Blue Mountains". The mountain train journey on a ratchet and pinion track is just another of the tourist attractions. (If I ever go to India, I definitely must put this on the agenda).

This card reminds me of the "Slumdog Millionaire" movie....or maybe the movie reminded me of the card, I dont know....but anyways...in the movie, there are certain events which revolve around a train station (in Mumbai I think), and also a length of train journeys, where there was a train EXACTLY like this on the card...so ok, I guess it was the movie which reminded me I have this card after all.
If you hadnt seen it so far, I highly recommend it...a beautiful and very touching one, with amazing haunting music which I think has been perfectly associated with the movie's actions and events...

here is the official trailer for the movie...




and some train-related scenes of course :P Sorry, but I couldnt help it :)





the bottom line is, WATCH the movie...

The stamp on the right is from a set of 3 definitives issued in 2008, while the otter stamp is another definitive issued in 2000.  

Adelais

My mood lately has been exactly like this...I havent felt so low for such a long period of time in a long long while....

I dont know anymore if it is all due to this depressing weather outside and that maybe things will change once springy time comes, or it is coz of certain things in life, but either way, the picture on the card describes me perfectly. And it comes from the series of Misstigri cards (the title of this particular illustration is 'Adelais')....they have a lot of lovely images, depicting people and their emotions in a nice artistic way. Apart from the Misstigri images, there is another similar artist, Anne-Julie Aubry, whose illustrations are just as lovely...sometimes actually I cant make a distinction between those two and keep thinking they are the same person...well, if you happen to have such cards, you know whom to turn to :P

have a great and cheerful week everyone! 

Perfume Pagoda, Viet Nam

Hi everyone! Hope you didnt miss me much this past week :P  But I just really cant figure out how does time fly so fast and I just cant find the right time to post some cards here =/
Well, it is a chilly Sunday morning, so I better use the time while having some coffee, before I get stuck with some errands again....
And I have received such amazing cards lately, it is a real pity I am not able to post them all...but at least it is always nice to start somewhere....and today Ill start with this lovely card dear Jo sent me from Viet Nam

The card shows the Perfume Pagoda, which is actually a shrine on the limestone rocks of Huong Son Mountain and the only way to reach it is by these boats on this river (the Yen river). It is considered as a very important pilgrimage for the Vietnamese and they are  expected to do it at least once.

It is a really lovely card....the colours feels so calm, and give me the impression that this was taken on an early misty morning with that breeze in the air....the only thing you could hear is the sound of the boats 'cutting through' the water and the soft splashes of the paddles. So nice.....

And a very important part of this card are the stamps!

You probably know that this year is the Year of the Rabbit and hence many post offices (will) issue stamps related to that....I highly doubt Macedonia will, coz for example last year, when everyone was issuing stamps with the Year of the Tiger, Macedonia stayed aside from it all...but anyways. As I said, this is the Year of the Rabbit...BUT...in Viet Nam, and ONLY in Viet Nam, it is the Year of the Cat!!! Viet Nam follows the Chinese zodiac for all signs except for the Rabbit (and if the source is to be trusted, in Viet Nam, the Ox is also replaced with a Buffalo). There are several legends of why Viet Nam has the cat and not the rabbit, but despite the fact I love legends, the explanation is most probably a linguistic one, according to which The Chinese word for rabbit is 'mao', which sounds like 'meo' in Vietnamese, where it means cat. As the sound of the word changed, so did its meaning.  
The year of the cat is supposed to be a free-of-stress one.
And these are the two cute cat stamps that this issue consists of.

Thank you so much again Jo! 

Battle Flags, USA

Dear Chrissy sent me this card back in 2009 and im pretty sure she has even forgotten she did coz almost two years had passed since then...but you know how lousy and behind I am with the posting of cards

Chrissy knows I love flags among else, so she surprised me with this card (among the others as well :))
The card shows the Battle flags of the Confederate States of America which were vital to the soldier; from them he recognized various units and regiments and knew whether to advance or retreat. But battle flags were much more, they stood for the southern cause and were an emotional symbol revering those men who had fallen advancing their colours.
The Confederate States are the southern states that fought in the Civil War.
It is funny how some of these remind me of some other world flags, for example, the one at the right bottom corner reminds me of Iceland...the one at the top reminds me of Somalia....and then there is the one that resembles the EU flag....interesting....

Thank you so much Chrissy! And sorry for not having posted it earlier (actually I still have some cards you had sent me that havent been posted...bad bad Ana)

Ireland

A very cool and funny card coming from Ireland :)

I like cards with a sense of humour, esp. when the country/nation concerned doesnt feel offended with it but actually can laugh about it as well, coz I dont see this making fun of something, but more like portraying certain characteristics/habits/events/traditions through the prism of fun.
There is also a Rush Hour in Texas card....but of course, instead of geese, there are cows on that card :)

And the landscape is so typically Irish and beautiful! Just lovely!

The stamp is from a set of 4 issued in 2010, under the subject "Birds of prey". This is a Peregrine Falcon.  

Taiwan

Well, another flag card for today, coming from Taiwan this time.

I know I am taking the risk of UNINTENTIONALLY saying something inappropriate regarding the Taiwan vs China issues, and I apologize in advance for that, but what I say is based on articles I come across and does not reflect my personal opinions and beliefs.

The red in the flag represents the land of China itself, with reference to the Han race which is the dominant race among the many races of China. The white sun symbolizes the spirit of progress as the twelve points represent the twelve hours of the day (a traditional Chinese hour = two conventional hours), and the sun on a blue field is the party flag of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) which ruled Taiwan until 2000. This flag was first used in 1928.

Mr. Hou-tung Lu designed the basics of the national flag of Taiwan (the blue sky, white sun). Later the red field was added by Dr. Sun Yat-sen to become the national flag.

The symbolism of the flag is cited as follows: The "three principles of the people" represented by the white-twelve-pointed star -Equality, brightness and Min Sheng (People's Livelihood), the blue canton - Liberty, justice and Min Chuan (Democracy) and red field - Fraternity, sacrifice and Min Tsu (Nationalism).

so here you have one Year of the Rabbit stamp, issued this year of course, coming from a set of two stamps. The bird stamp is from a set of 10 stamps issued in 1991 while the third one is from a set of four flower stamps issued in 1995.

Minsk, Belarus

My last card for today is a great official one coming from Belarus.

BY-77120

Now, you may ask, whats so special about this card? It is just another fancy building....yeah....it is...but do you know that this is actually the main building of the railway station in Minsk??! Oh yeah :)
I had no idea about it until I actually read the explanation on the back...to me it was like some shopping mall but I was highly mislead :)
It was built in 2000, so it is quite a new and modern one. I wish that our government actually decided to renovate our main train station, coz it looks awful and miserable, just as our trains. I dont say it has to look like the station above, but it should at least be decent and maybe have elevators instead people having to pull their heavy suitcases along the stairs, and the waiting rooms could be cleaner and nicer...but maybe, in some distant futue....

I think that the first three stamps are quite familiar to you....one is from the 8 garden flowers' stamps issued in 2008 (here you have the Petunia) and the other stamp was also issued in 2008 in a set of 5 wild animals' stamps and here you see the European Mink. The third stamp is the interesting one coz at least it is not one you see often on the Belarus cards. It was issued in 2005 in a set of two stamps representing Belarussian national clothes, and this stamp portrays the Mosty region.

Thank you for following and hope you have a great week ahead...and of course, I hope to see you soon :)

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Sorry guys and gals for the awful lack of updates lately...but things were really busy these past few weeks...and on top of that I got an annoying cold which affected my overall state of mind to a great degree and made it hard to focus on anything...the cold is still lingering...at times it feels better, at times worse...but as for now I think I can post a few cards...I know that probably some may expect I post a bunch in order to make up for the times I didnt post any...but I dont want to do that just for the kicks, so I will leave it to 4 cards, the ones I initially chose like over a week ago, but wasnt able to post them.

The first chosen card comes from Uzbekistan...one I received back in 2009, by mistake I may say...the sender wasnt sure if he had already sent me a card so he posted another one...sweet :)
The first card he sent me showed Samarkand, while this one shows a part of Bukhara, one of the most ancient cities in the country and here you can see the famous Kalayan minaret, the Kalân Mosque and the Mir-i Arab Madrassah. These three actually form the Po-i-Kalan complex.

And this historic centre of Bukhara as been listed on the UNESCO whs list as well...so this means I can add another place to my UNESCO collection....yippie!

the stamp is from a set of 8 issued in 2008, regarding classical architecture in Uzbekistan, and here you see the State Academic Big Theatre by Alisher Navoi.

South Dakota, USA

A fantastic train card that arrived from South Dakota! Which has also made me aware my SD collection of cards is really scarce...

This is the Black Hills Central Railroad's Baldwin 2-6-2 locomotive #7 (built in 1919) and its train at the Keystone depot.
It is considered as a heritage railway, which currently operates the 1880 Train on the former Keystone Branch of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) between Hill City, South Dakota and Keystone, South Dakota. Apart from the above mentioned 2-6-2 locomotive, the BHCR also operates the:

#103, Baldwin 2-6-2, built 1922
#104, Baldwin 2-6-2T tank locomotive, built 1926
#110, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1928, the last operating model of its type

Here is a nice video regarding the locomotive #7....you know that a picture (or a video) describes things better than words....if it doesnt, than something is terribly wrong with either the picture or the video.

and some nice US stamps...at least I dont see them often...or almost never...the clock stamp is well known, but it is the other two I was referring to...they come from a set of 4 self-adhesive stamps issued in 2009 under the subject " Supreme Court Justices" and these two here portray Felix Frankfurter (on the left) and William Brennan (on the right stamp)

San Giulio, Italy

A very nice official card I received from Italy

IT-104259

Ok, I cant say im longing for snow and cold weather...ive honestly had it for this winter...but I do long for a tranquil scene like this, somewhere outside the urban jungle, where you can go and just relax, totally disconnected from everyday life. This feels like nutrition food for the senses and a recharger for the mind.
In case you were wondering and maybe want to pack your bags and head right here, this is the San Giulio island within Lake Orta in Piedmont, northwestern Italy. To avoid confusions, the island is the thing which you can see in the distance, through the fog, and the place from where this pic was taken is the village of Orta San Giulio.

there is a legend connected to this place, which says that the Island of St. Giulio was dominated by a big serpent that destroyed everything. But when St. Giulio, that had the power to command over the waves, the storms, the wild animals and the human beings, arrived near the lake , waving his hand he chased away the dangerous menacing animal. He reached the Island journeying over the water on his cloack guided by his staff. The big reptile disappeared and St. Giulio, tired and near to his death, thought that the island was the right place to build his hundredth and last church dedicated to the Holy Apostles.

the stamp on the right is from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2009, regarding the Italian Masters of the 20th Century and here a piece of art by Giacomo Manzu is shown. The other stamp is a definitive issued in 2010 in a set of 3 stamps.  

Tāngata Whenua, New Zealand

My last card for today is this very cool and great card from New Zealand.

The term "Tāngata Whenua" translates to "People of the land" and is used to describe the Māori inhabitants that settled in New Zealand many centuries ago, but generally reckoned to be 1200-1300 AD.
Tāngata means 'people' and Whenua means 'land'.

The notion of tāngata whenua is sometimes contrasted with that of tāngata tiriti - literally, "the people of the Treaty". Tāngata tiriti refers to non-indigenous New Zealanders, who are in the country by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi

and three nice stamps....the first one is from an issue of 7 scenic definitives issued in 2007 and this one shows Central Otago. The middle stamp is a Christmas one from a set of 7, issued in 2010, while the third stamp comes from a FANTASTIC sheet called A Slice of Heaven, of a total of 25 stamps, representing tourism in NZ. If you are interested, you can see the whole sheet here.

Thanks for following and for still dropping by...hope you have a nice sunny Sunday...at least here we have some sun..