Lisa Simpson

Something for the Simpson lovers.

the USPS issued these stamped postal cards (but since this was sent inside an envelope, not much of a point to show the stamp of a blank card, and either way, you know the Simpsons' stamps already)
I think that so far I miss Bart and Maggie from this series....
I love the Simpsons, and Ive always loved Lisa...coz of her down to earth character, yet extremely smart and gifted....of course, she has had her own moments, everyone does, no?

"Lisa Simpson is vegan, a lover of the blues and an all-around know-it-all. If you are looking for a pen-pal who writes back promptly and uses complete sentences, send this card to her"

Ok, i definitely dont fall into that category...If you had ever had the chance to write with me, you are more than aware that I dont write promptly, neither that I use complete sentences....my letters are a real chit-chat :)

And yeah, I used to wish that my real family would take me away....now....well, it doesnt really matter anymore...

Florida, USA

What a lovely card!!
Feels especially great now that winter is approaching, to look at images like this...though i cant complain much coz right now the weather is actually nice and sunny and warm.....I wonder what the hell im doing in front of the PC then...

The card is called "A Shell Collector's Paradise"....well, ive never been thinking about shells in this manner so its funny to get to know their respective names....ok, the starfish, and the sponge or the coral...thats obvious....but i never knew shells like 'Sand dollars', 'Paper fig', 'Cats Eye' etc existed....
well, i just love this card...its really cool :)

Cat

This is how my Kimi looks at me sometimes, when he wants to say, 'you are soooo annoying'! When i give it a better thought, he often looks at me like this...he is kinda very spoilt...but right now he is on my lap...he jumped by himself...i love it when he comes to me by himself and falls asleep...just that its a bit tough to type like this...but i just dont have the heart to ask him out...i think eventually he will himself get fed up of my arms over his head as I type :)

here is one of my favourite commercials ever...it has a kitty as Kimi...it meows as Kimi....and the whole concept is just really cool...esp. the kitty - tiger relation...of course, credits for the little girl as well :)
I just wonder, if I give some Nesquick to Kimi...if he's gonna end up as the tiger....hihihihihihihiii :D :D :D

Vukovar, Croatia

The second of the set of four Croatian postcards.


Vukovar is a city and municipality in eastern Croatia and the biggest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. The name Vukovar means "the town on the river Vuka" ('Vuko' from the river Vuka, and 'vár' from the Hungarian word for 'castle'). The name of the river Vuka itself originates from the Slavic word 'vuk', meaning 'wolf'. (In Macedonian, the word for 'wolf' is 'волк' (volk))

The first thing that rings a bell at mentioning Vukovar, is the war in Croatia.....during that, i kept hearing the name of Vukovar on daily basis, on the news or anywhere....so unfortunately, i cant say i have nice images about the place, since to me, it always is related to war.
Regarding the war in Croatia, Vukovar is notorious for the devastation it suffered, the worst in Europe since World War II. It is estimated that 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 22,000 were forced into exile.

Unfortunately, those notions have sank deep inside my mind, so its rather hard to relate Vukovar to some other stuff except, war, battles, massacres.....sad.

Bled, Slovenia

mmmmmmmmmmm.....views like this always feel breathtaking....I simply love this kind of nature portrayal....thanks to Stasha in Slovenia for making such a great choice and for swapping with me!


Bled is famous for the glacial lake Bled, situated in the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia where it adjoins the town of Bled. The lake is 2,120 m long and 1,380 m wide, with a maximum depth of 30.6 metres. The lake is situated in a picturesque environment, surrounded by mountains and forests. A medieval castle stands above the lake on the north shore. The lake surrounds Bled Island the only natural island in Slovenia. The island has several buildings, the main one being the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary. Visitors frequently ring its bell for good luck. The island has 99 steps. A local tradition at weddings is for the husband to carry his new bride up these steps, during which the bride must remain silent.
(now that requires strength....99 steps carrying someone....unless she is from a 'feather-category)

The Bled Castle is built on top of a 130 meter cliff overlooking lake Bled. It was first mentioned in 1004 which makes it one of the oldest in Slovenia. The oldest part of the castle is the Romanesque tower. Today, Bled castle is arranged as an exhibition area. The display rooms present the ancient history of Bled from the first excavations and the castle in individual stages of its historical development.

mmmm, somewhat off-topic...but the name of Julian Alps, always invokes the thought of a delicious milky-creamy-chocolate. Like one of those Milka commercials which show the cow in some of those beautiful mountains and then a huge bowl with chocolate stirred inside it.....mmmmm....chocolate.....if only a Milka Caramel chocolate could manifest right now....or one of those with amaretto liquor....or with yoghurt...or anything creamy.....a Ritter Sport with Marzipan.....or a Snickers Bar....huhhhhh.....i definitely need chocolate

São José dos Ausentes, Brazil

My first Brazilian card!!!! Starting to conquer South America!! Yeeeeeyyyy!!! Btw, this is a swap.


The card here shows the Rodrigues waterfalls flowing from the Silveira river, which is about 33km from the São José dos Ausentes town, located in the northern area of the state Rio Grande do Sul, which is situated in the northern part of Brazil.


hmmm, unbelievable how impossible it was to find info on this one...unless its written in Portuguese which unfortunately, i dont understand....:(((
Well, at least you can enjoy the picture :)

(added 19th June)
here is a youtube link kindly provided by the sender of the card....its in Portuguese, so i know most of you wont be able to understand, but you can enjoy the sceneries :)
one thing that has been odd to me about Portuguese is the way it sounds...similar to Spanish, but the way they speak is so different, as if its totally not one bit close to it....Spanish feels soft, Portuguese completely otherwise :)

Trier, Germany

A private swap, and a new UNESCO card :)))))))


On the card you can see the Trier Cathedral (The Cathedral of St.Peter) which is a Roman Catholic church that dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment that presumably goes back to the robe that Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals. It represents the oldest cathedral in Germany and since 1986 it has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Bucharest, Romania

A swap with Violeta in Romania


I have a card from Bucharest but its one of those from the time before I was born, so i really needed something recent :)

Bucharest is the capital city, industrial, and commercial centre of Romania and also its Romania's largest city. It is located in the southeast of the country and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River (which you can actually see on the card). It was originally known as Dâmboviţa citadel.

Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur who was either a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman or a shepherd according to different legends. The name of Bucur (from "bucurie" meaning "joy") is of Thracian-Geto-Dacian origin. In Albanian, a language which has historical connections with the Thracian languages, "bukur' signifies 'beautiful'.

For centuries, Dâmboviţa River (on the picture) was the main source of drinking water for the city of Bucharest. Bucharest folkore mentions the waters of Dâmboviţa as "sweet", and even at the beginning of the 18th century Anton Maria del Chiaro considered it "light and clean". However, toward the end of the century, as the population of Bucharest increased, the river ceased to be as clean.
Early in its history, Bucharest had few bridges over the Dâmboviţa, as the right bank was only sparsely populated. Currently, there are about a dozen bridges over it.

Alishan, Taiwan

A new country added to the list! Taiwan!!


Whats interesting is that I get a card from Taiwan showing snow, where Taiwan is a country where snow is really rare....so its nice to have this :)

The card here shows Alishan, one of the mountains in Taiwan.

Alishan is one of Taiwan's top tourist resorts and well worth a visit. The area is famous among residents and visitors as one of Taiwan's best places to watch the sunrise. The views are impressive in practically every direction. Craggy mountain peaks jut out of a sea of fluffy white clouds, which gradually turn a fiery mass of purples, reds, and oranges in a magnificent light show created by the first rays of dawn as the sun rises above the peaks.

The area was first discovered during the early years of the Japanese occupation (1895-1945) for its abundant cypress forests. There are five things at Alishan that the tourist cannot miss: the railway, the beautiful cypress forests, the "sea of clouds," the sunrise, and the sunset.

The forests of Alishan, with their magnificent old cedar trees and pines, present a sharp contrast to the tropical palms and banana plants of the plains around Chiayi. The area attracts large numbers of tourists, in particular Japanese visitors, during the spring, when the cherry trees are in bloom. During the afternoon, the forests take on an eerie beauty, when they become enveloped in fog. Probably the most famous tree in the Alishan Forest Recreation Area is the "sacred tree", which is said to be over 3,000 years old.

Alishan is known throughout Taiwan for its beautiful morning views of jagged peaks jutting out of a sea of fluffy clouds. At this time of day, it is easy to imagine what inspired traditional Chinese ink painters in their realistic portrayals of mountains shrouded in mists. The best time for seeing the clouds is probably autumn, when swathes of cloud wrap the mountain peaks. Visitors are advised that the best location to view Alishan's famous sea of clouds is Erwanping which is the train stop before Alishan. The clouds appear to move in huge billowing waves, which sometimes swallow the island-like mountain peaks. The views from Erwanping are magnificent.

While not as well known as Alishan's sunrise, sunset at this popular resort is also pretty amazing. The thin air at this elevation makes the sun's rays particularly strong. This means that as the sun sets the sky appears considerably more blue than normal. The best places for watching the sun set are the Alishan Guesthouse and Tsu-yun Temple.

As if you really needed all those details :)))

Osijek, Croatia

This is one of the four Croatian cards i got through one swap, so i will be posting them one at a time, so you get a bit of Croatia every now and then, instead get the whole dosage all at once...aint good to get overdosed :)


Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia and the city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia. It located on the right bank of the river Drava. The name was given to the city due to its position on elevated ground which prevented the city being flooded by the local swamp waters. Its name Osijek comes from the Croatian word "oseka" which means 'ebb tide'.
(hmmm, i have never known of this etymology until now...interesting thing is, the word "oseka" in Macedonian means the same (written: осека) but i had never thought of the analogy before....interesting.

This card here shows the numerous parks Osijek has and for which it is known.
The Bridge you can see behind the trees on the first picture (top left corner) is actually a pedestrian bridge over the river Drava.
The biggest picture in the middle, just above the town's name, shows the baroque facade of the former Jesuit church of St Michael in old part of the town, Tvrdja. Tvrdja, combines military buildings with baroque family houses.

mmmmm, nice town....i like 'green towns' and not ones which constantly are in search for some unused piece of land where they can put a bunch of stones in form of a house/building, just as its happening in mine...awful!!! :(

Tartu, Estonia

I had to take a break with all that test marking....its one of the most boring things to do, and i have like 50 of them, each with 4-6 pages....im not neither half through them :((

so let me upload some cards...all received the past week or so

the first one for today comes as a swap from Estonia....


Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. It is the centre of southern Estonia. The card shows Tartu's Town Hall Square, where the Town Hall was built in 1789.

Unfortunately, I couldnt find more information about this (unless you are maybe interested that at the Town Hall Square there is a wireless internet, in case you happen to need it ;-))

Saltstraumen, Norway

My first Norwegian card!!!


Saltstraumen is a sound*** with a strong tidal current, located in Nordland. It is the strongest tidal current in the world. Up to 400 million m³ of seawater forces its way through a 3 km long and 150 m wide strait every six hours with water speeds reaching about 37km/h. Vortices up to 10 m in diameter and 5 m in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest; this feature is commonly known as a whirlpool. Saltstraumen has only existed for some two to three thousand years. Before that the area was different due to the pressure from the glaciers that had covered Norway for tens of thousands of years. The current is created when the tide tries to fill in the Skjerstad fjord. The height difference between the sea level and the fjord inside can be up to 1m. Saltstraumen is popular with anglers due to its abundance of fish such as cod, saithe, wolffish, rosefish and halibut. Coalfish is the specialty for this area. In fact, the world's largest, registered coalfish of 22.7 kg. was caught in Saltstraumen on a fishing rod. (that probably is the one posing on the card :))

Saltstraumen Bridge is a cantilever bridge that crosses Saltstraumen. It is 768 metres long, the longest span is 160 metres, and the maximum clearance to the sea is 41 metres. The bridge has 10 spans. Saltstraumen Bridge was opened in 1978.


*** to avoid any kind of ambiguity, the word 'sound' in geographical terms is a large sea or ocean inlet, larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel, between two bodies of land.

Kyrgyzstan

This is the second Kyrgyzstan card.

Here, on the larger picture you can see the "Cholok-Korgon fortress" from the 19th century, situated in the Naryn Region.
The smaller picture shows Mausoleums from the Kochcor region.

If anyone could provide me some more information about these two Kyrgyzstan cards, id be thankful.

Archipelago, Finland

My FIRST card from Finland comes as a private swap (along with the one above). Yeeeyyy!! I know it may be weird how come i dont have a Finnish card by now...but. well, i just dont...thus i have like 20 cards from Budapest or Vienna or Montenegro or so...but im slowly making things balanced :)



Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothinia and the Gulf of Finland, within Finnish territorial waters. It is the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, although the islands tend to be very small and clustered in a small area. The sea area is shallow, with a mean depth of 23 m. Most of the channels are not navigable for large ships. The Archipelago Sea has a very large number of islands. The exact number of islands depends on the definition of the term "island", as the sizes of the pieces of dry land vary from small rocks peeking out of the water to large islands with several villages or even a small town. The area is roughly divided into inner and outer archipelagos, with the outer archipelago consisting mainly of smaller, uninhabited islands. The archipelago covers a roughly triangular area with the cities of Mariehamn, Uusikaupunki and Hanko at the corners. The islands began emerging from the sea shortly after the last Ice Age.

I LOVE nature!! And for some reason while looking at this card, i feel some chilli atmosphere...which comes as a great contrary to the hot weather we have here right now.

Lapland, Finland

The second card from the private swap with Maffe.


And this time she decided to send me a card completely opposite from the other one, that is, to show me Finland in winter, and she chose to send me Lapland!! She couldnt have made a better choice :) Heyyy!! Its Lapland!! Santa Clause's home!!!
I love cards which awake the child in me. Many will probably see this as another Finnish card full of snow but to me its also a card which shows Santa's home! (lets not go into the issue about Santa's existence, please! :)))

The Province of Lapland is the home of about 3.6% of the Finnish population, and is by far the least densely populated area in the country. The biggest towns in the Finnish Lapland are Rovaniemi (the province capital), Kemi and Tornio.

I have to say that I also love snowy postcards, since i absolutely LOVE snow. Too bad we havent had a decent snow here in a long time, well at least not in my town, and i havent had much of a chance in the last years to go to one of the mountains here where there was snow during winter.
But just look at that endless snowy view on the card....ahh, i love it!!


Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.....

Lake Zürich, Switzerland

A private swap with Jutta from Switzerland. Chose the card myself coz i really liked it....I like maps :)


This map here shows the Lake of Zürich and its surroundings.

Lake of Zürich (Ger. Zürichsee), narrow, elongated lake, 34 sq mi (88 sq km), 25 mi (40 km) long, N Switzerland. It has a maximum depth of c.470 ft (140 m). The lake is connected to the Lake of Wallenstadt (Walensee) by the Linth Canal and also receives water from the Linth River. It is drained by the Limmat River. The gently sloping shores of the lake are covered with vineyards, orchards, and woods; houses and villas dot the slopes. A causeway crosses the lake between Rapperswil and Hurden. The city of Zürich is located at the northern end of the lake.
Both shores are well cultivated and fertile. There are many villas, particularly near Zurich, and elsewhere numerous factories in the various flourishing villages. Zurich, is the principal place on it. On the west shore (which gradually becomes the south shore) are Thalwil, Horgen, Wadenswil, Richterswil, Pfaffikon, and Lachen. On the opposite shore are Meilen (near which the first lake dwellings were discovered in 1853-54), Stafa and the quaint town of Rapperswil, the castle of which shelters a Polish museum, wherein is the heart of Kosciuszko. Schmerikon is close to the east end of the lake, and a little beyond is the more important town of Uznach.

Riga, Latvia

Yaayyy, my first one from Latvia!!!! A new country added to my collection!!!!
A private swap with Zane who sent me this beautiful multiview of Riga.


Riga, the capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava and is the largest city in the Baltic States. The Historic Centre of Riga has been declared a UNESCO *whs* and the city is particularly notable for its extensive Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture which UNESCO considers to be unparalleled anywhere in the world.

Some of the sites you can see on the card:

- The House of Blackheads dating from 1344, was used to house traveling, single members of the merchants guild (the large picture)

- The "Three Brothers" is a collection of medieval buildings which depict different stages in the architectural development of Riga (medieval to Baroque). (top left corner)

- The Dome Cathedral is the largest place of worship in the Baltics and don't miss its organ which is one of the biggest in Europe (6768 pipes!). the Cathedral was founded in 1211 and its present interior dating from the 17th century (the picture at the bottom, next to the large one)

Lake Louise, Canada

uhhhhh, this is so breath taking!!! Got it as a private swap and I wish we here had cards like this...besides not having them, one thing i came to a conclusion is that we barely have regular size cards, but lets leave that for another post.


Lake Louise is a glacial lake in Alberta, Canada, located in the Banff National Park. It is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.
The unique emerald colour of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake.

It is called Canada's "Diamond in the Wilderness," and the "Hiking Capital of Canada". This area offers a tremendous diversity of recreational and sightseeing opportunities. Lake Louise is home to one of North America's finest downhill ski areas, and has numerous hiking and walking trails. The region abounds with spectacular scenery, from glaciers to waterfalls.

(the back of the card says: Lake Louise is one of the most beautiful, peaceful spots on Earth)
By looking at the picture only, i cant help but agree :)

Emmen, The Netherlands

This private swap came sort of unexpectedly, I hope Wendy wont mind I tell the story behind it, in a few words.
I accidentally came across her profile, and it said she had two cats, one of them named Kimi, and there was a picture of them. Both cats look somewhat similar, but one of them resembled mine A LOT....which wouldnt have really caught my attention if i also dont have a cat named Kimi :)
To add things on top of that, the story behind why we have cats named Kimi turned out to be exactly the same! :))) So it started with that, the swap came eventually. I leave it up to you to guess the etymology of why we have cats named Kimi :))))


Emmen is a town in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. It arose from several small farming and peat-harvesting communities which have dotted the province of Drenthe since the Middle-Ages. There are few historic landmarks left within the town, but those few include the church on the market square, where a church has been standing since the Middle-Ages, the court of law building, dating from the beginning of the twentieth century and the post office from the same time.

Poznań, Poland

A private swap here :)


Poznań is a city in west-central Poland. Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest Polish cities, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education.
The name Poznań probably comes from a personal name Poznan (from the Polish participle poznan(y)) and would mean "Poznan's town." It is also possible the name comes directly from the verb poznać which means "to get to know" or "to recognize".

Now, I need to make a reference to Macedonian language here :)
In Macedonian, the word "познава" (poznava) means, to know someone....the word "запознава" (zapoznava) means, to get to know someone or to meet someone for the first time...while the word "препознава" (prepoznava) means to recognize someone....the adjective "познат" (poznat) means that someone is known.....its a bit interesting when you can relate your own language with the etymology of foreign places....lest not forget, that both Polish and Macedonian are Slavic languages, so hence the similarities :))))

Apart from the St. Paul's and Peter's cathedral which is the oldest in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers (top right picture) the most precious building in Poznan is the 16th century renaissance Town Hall in the Old Square (big picture in the middle). It is surrounded by old merchant houses which were carefully restored after World War II.