Yuri Gagarin, Russia

well, apart from the Italian maxi card, some Russian cards of course...well a bunch of them actually....though I still have this feeling that I must have overlooked some :)

if you are not such a Gagarin fan, maybe you love Russian stamps....and this post has plenty of beautiful ones to show...
But before I get down to that, just wanted to show a picture of Yuri's night here in Skopje (it is an event organized throughout the world), and this time it was organized by the Russian Embassy here which I thought would be something spectacular, but was utterly boring but at least I got to meet some of my astronomy buddies and other friends....and at least pose for the picture with Gagarin....thanks to Iskra for the picture :)

and after the introduction lets get down to the cards....where for some I have NO idea how I have obtained them....yeah, blank cards....and the very first one is of such kind....

Found it in the 2010 pile, and it says it was issued by the State Institution of culture of Moscow, "The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics".....other than that, it says "Yuri Gagarin - the first cosmonaut of the planet fulfilled the age-old dream of the Mankind about flight to space. On April 12th, 1961 spacecraft 'Vostok' with Yuri Gagarin on the board, made one Earth orbit and successfully landed. The era of manned space flight has begun.

well, as I said, it is blank, so no stamps nor any idea who sent it to me....


Now, when it comes to the next one, I have two copies of it, one received for the WOTM in 2012 from Alexandra, and the other one as part of a swap from Ekaterina in...unfortunately I cannot read the cancellation...

but both are written and stamped, so a few words about the stamps now...

on the first one we have one of the Russian Kremlins' stamps from 2009 (the Moscow Kremlin) and the other one is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2011, for the Olympic Games in Sochi, showing Krasnaya Polyana, the only ski-resort at the Black Coast.

on the other card we have another of the Russian Kremlins' stamps  (the Rostov one) and three more - there are two stamps from the set of 5 issued in 2005, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of A.I.Mikoyan...and the one on the right, issued in 2008 in a set of 4 stamps showing the Decorative-Aplied Arts of Dagestan.



next we have another blank card from 2010...with a smiling Yuri! ♥

now this one is not a maxi-card, even though at first glance it may seem so...

the sender, Natalia, had designed it herself, and she says this was her first designer's experience with a retro photo....well done Natalia!! And thank you for sending it to me! :

and she used nice stamps too....two more of the Russian Kremlins (haha, maybe by the end of the post I will have them all :P) - here you can see the Zarask Kremlin and the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, and also a fantastic stamp issued in 2010, showing the Curonian spit...and if you actually touch it, you can feel the rough sandy-surface!


Next is probably one of the most iconic Gagarin pictures, where he is holding a dove...but in general there is a trend of famous people being photographed with doves, promoting peace and all...

blank card unfortunately...



another one with this super-charming Gagarin smile :D

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received this one as an official from Elena in 2014 (I also have a blank copy, so if anyone is interested, let me know).

and among the three stamps here, we also have a matching one with Gagarin!!! Issued in 2009, for the 75th anniversary since his birth...we also have one of the 2008 definitives, and one from one of my favourite Russian cartoons with Karlson - it comes from a set of 4 cartoons' stamps issued in 2012.


Ok, i think we are like half-way through, and next comes a card dear Maria sent me in 2010

It was indeed issued to commemorate April 12th, and the world's first spaceman!



Next is probably one of my favourite Gagarin cards where you can see him in the company of Gina Lollobrigida at the Second Moscow International Movie Festival in 1961

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Received it from Polina in 2011, when Russia still had 6-digit IDs :)

On the stamp you can see another one of the Kremlins - the Ryazan Kremlin.


A card I received in 2012 from Anna for the wishlist-tag...

The English translation on the back of the card says "Long Live the Son of the Communist Party"!
I don't know how come the translation has the word 'communist' in it...or maybe it is understandable it refers to the communist party...but I do somewhat disagree with such wilful addition/omission of words..

anyways, the card comes with a nice stamp issued in 2011, showing the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve.


this next card is from the same series as the one above...an official received last year, sent by Larisa and Anastasia...sisters I guess :)

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the English translation says, "We are creative and friendly and clever, we're making space to be peaceful forever"! 

which word means 'clever' in Russian here? 

one more Kremlin stamp :D it shows the Astrakhan Kremlin. There is also one from the 2008 defintivies and one Sochi stamp from the set of 15 issued in 2014, showing all the different disciplines.


The next-to-last....

...received from Irina for the (no-more-existing) Favourites RR.
I wonder what's going through Gagarin's pensive head here....

A gorgeous stamp with Orcinus Orca from the set of two whales' stamps issued in 2012....and another 2008 definitive.


And this last card for this post, and today came as a surprise from dear Katya in 2013

another pensive Gagarin-look....probably before take-off :)

Here you can again see the Moscow Kremlin and another beautiful stamp issued in 2013 in a set of 3 Contemporary Russian Art stamps.


Sorry Yuri for the delay in this post....but I hope it still counts :)

and wishing you all a nice weekend....yeah sorry, that would be all for today, but I just wanted to make one update dedicated to Gagarin...I will try to come back soon with a new regular kind of update...promise! :)

Victoria Kirdiy, Russia

Ok, here comes a rather longish post...due to the number of cards...and I consider including this one in the Postcard Friendship Friday cos it kinda feels convenient...

Now, Im sure at least some of you have heard or have come across these postcards designed by the Russian artist Victoria Kirdiy. They are really nice, but I really don't know why I kinda started liking them...added some in my favourites, and before I knew, that's what i ended up getting in the favourites tag on the forum :) I do not collect these (like for example I collect those by Mucha or Escher)...I really cannot explain my actual feelings towards these...probably it is the warmth of the images that attracted me most...and then I realized these cards come with quotes on the back (in Russian, but the sometimes the senders provided translation for me).
There are some like regular characters appearing on the cards...and often the quotes coincide with the image on the card.

So with time, I have acquired a number of these...and I know you may not be a fan of Kirdiy (I do not call myself a fan either), but I believe it is worth to take a look at this post cos of the bunch of Russian stamps...and Russian stamps are among my favourites out there!!


I think this is the first Kirdiy card I received back in 2013

well, the quote on the first one here came without translation....

and here we have a bunch of lovely stamps!! Six in total! Starting from the left, first we have a great colourful bumblebee stamp issued in 2005 in a set of 5. Next to it are two small defintiives from 2008, from a set of 15. Next is a lovely rose stamp, issued in 2007 in a set of four flower stamps. Below the rose is a pear, issued in 2003 in a set of five stamps under the name "Gifts of Nature". And at the very right, another splendid stamp with a breathtaking image, issued in 2007 for the International Polar Year (I seem to come across this term frequently lately :P). the issue consists of a sheet of three stamps that together form like one image...on this one here you can see the glacial covers.
Thanks a lot to Ksenia for the fantastic choice of stamps!!

Dear Katya sent me this one as a lovely surprise!!

and she used three awesome stamps! (there is also a special cancellation lurking for the Winter Olympic Games).
On the left we have a fantastic train stamp! It was issued in 2007 in a set of 6 stamps representing Russian Regions (this one represents Irkutsk). The one in the middle was issued in 2007 as well, commemorating the year of the Russian Language. The one on the right was issued in 2006, a joint issue btw Russia and Armenia, commemorating the Year of Armenia in the Russian Federation.

a card I received from Olga...I love the fox represented as a pet here, instead just another women fashion detail.

two awesome horse stamps! (that at the very top is not a stamp, just part of the sheet :))
Issued in 2007 in a set of four stamps with Domestic Horses...I am not a horse specialist, so all I can say is that here we have the breeds of Orlovskaya and Donskaya.
At the left there is also a small stamp issued in 2009 in a set of two, representing symbols of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

oh yeah, a translated quote at last! :)
"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same" - Carlos Castaneda

This one arrived thanks to Masha!

she used two of the 2008 definitives.

Another one from Masha, with a quote by Pam Brown.
"One small dog changes coming home to an empty house, to coming home"
Boy, this is just so true (I wouldnt underestimate cats here too...)

here we also have two of the 2008 defintiives. And also, in the middle we have a stamp issued in 2004 - it is a set of four stamps showcasing Russian Silverware, with this one showing a vase from 1880s - 1890s. At the right we have a stamp issued in 2006 in a set of two stamps, commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of M. A. Vrubel - a Russian painter. This stamp represents one of his works under the title - Tsarevna - Swan.

"I wish you happiness! Fragrant as a ripe cherry, and hot as a morning coffee"!

From Masha again :)

Four definitives from 2008.

This one has a quote by Robert Anson Heinlein - "Women and cats will do as they please. And men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea".

Hhahahahhahahaa! Oh well :D

another of the bumblebee stamps here. And also one from the four New Year stamps issued in 2013, also bearing symbols from the Olympic games in Sochi.
Thanks to Anna for this one!

a very cute winterish scene!!

a nice special cancellation for the Sochi Olympics from the town of Voronezh. And another stamp from the New Year one mentioned above. As well as one from the 2009 definitives representing the Russian Kremlins. (here is the Rostov Kremlin)

one more from Masha! :) And a quote by Anne Lamott.
"Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining."

And to complement that quote, Masha used two awesome lighthouse stamps! The middle one is from the set of 3 issued in 2005 (this stamp shows the Mudyugsky lighthouse. The other lighthouse stamp is from the set of 3 issued in 2006 (this one shows the Lighthouse on peninsula Rybachiy, 1966).
and also there is one definitive from the 2008 set.

And just one more of these Kirdiy cards...I received this one like last week or so...but there is no quote on the back...and in fact, the whole backside of the card differs from the ones previously shown....my guess, it is printed somewhere else..
The thank you goes to Olga for this one!

Olga used one of the Kremlin definitives - the one in Ryazan. She also used a definitive from the set of 11 issued in 1998 - this one shows a radio mast. And we have a New Year stamp from 2005. That bear is actually a sticker, not a stamp :)


Hope you are not sick and tired of Kirdiy now :)

Vladivostok, Russia

ok, one more card for today...no, sorry...that would be, one more POST for today but three cards....


all three show the Tokarevskaya Koshka lighthouse in Vladivostok,. All three received last year...

this spectacular card was sent by Maria...I don't know if the colours are real, or it has been a bit photoshopped, but it is not like I really care, cos this final product is just pure perfection!

It is named for Capt. M.J. Tokarev, whose ship surveyed the area in 1862-63. In recent years the tower has been dwarfed by a huge modern tower that carries power lines across the Vladivostok harbor entrance. Located at the end of a mole at the entrance to Vladivostok harbor and at the extreme southwestern tip of the Egersheld Peninsula. Accessible in good weather by a hike of about 3 km (2 mi) from the end of the city's bus line. However, the access to the lighthouse is underwater at high tide.

and wouldn't you be squealing with excitement when you see that your lighthouse card comes with a matching lighthouse stamp??? I know I do  *blush*
It was issued in 2010, to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the City of Vladivostok. Well they really picked the perfect subject for the commemoration.
The other two are the set of 2008 definitives

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this one is an official....the lighthouse at wintertime...in the background you can see the bridge to the Russkiy island.

and again a fantastic match, since Elena, the sender, also used the Vladivostok stamp..plus besides another definitive, she also used another lovely lighthouse stamp, from a set of 3 issued in 2005 - this one represents the Mudyugsky lighthouse

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another version of the lighthouse that arrived as an official...the lighthouse in its winter glory....yeah, there is some special mysterious charming feeling about lighthouses in winter, in the midst of frozens seas....

there is a 2008 definitive at the bottom...at the top, on the left side is a stamp issued in 2012, commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the Reunification of the Russian State, while the other one is from 2009, from a set of 4 stamps representing the Solovetskie Islands, and this stamp here shows the St.-Troitky church.

No objection, Russia has one of the most beautiful stamp issues!

Thanks for reading...hope you liked the posts today...sorry for the excessive rambling though :)

Yoshkar-Ola, Russia

well, lets close this blog with a Russian card...since I mentioned Moscow in the previous post...and I realized it's been a while since I've posted something Russian here...

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And this is an official card I received this year...showing the Obolenskiy-Nogotkov square in the evening, in the Russian town of Yoshkar-Ola, the capital city of the Mari Republic in Russia

Pretty cool name for a town that is...Yoshkar-Ola means red city in Mari. The current name is the third to have been given to the city. It was known as Tsaryovokokshaysk before 1919 and as Krasnokokshaysk between 1919 and 1927. These names were derived from the name of the Malaya Kokshaga River, which runs through the city. The city's old Mari name was Charla. Btw..the Mari language is spoken by nearly 500,000 people, primarily in the Mari Republic. It belongs to the Uralic language family.

what I absolutely love about this stamp is how its grey colour blends into the greyness of the back of the card, that they are almost like one! Awesome!!  It was issued this year in a set of 3 stamps for the Olympic Winter Games that are going to be held in Sochi next year, from Feb 7-23. Don't miss it =)