Red cat by Inga Paltser

Postcard ID: RU-2932248
Country: Russia

Before receiving this card I known only about owls painted by Inga Paltser. But now I know that she also can draw wonderful cats with enigmatic eye ;)

This postcard is really beautiful and kind. I'd like to have more postcards from this series!

Life is better with friends

Postcard ID: NL-2619085
Country: Netherlands

Wow! I received the same postcard as 25 million registered postcard on postcrossing site! So great event :)

I love all cats, but especially I like black, red and tri-color cats. One of them is on this card :)

Life is better with friends, life is better with love! ;)

Here is a Dutch stamp:

Little My from Moomin Valley

Postcard ID: FI-2180519
Country: Finland

Little My is my absolutely favourite in Moomin valley! 

Little My is a character in the Moomin series of books by Tove Jansson. The character first appeared in the fourth book, The Exploits of Moominpappa (1950). She is a small, determined and fiercely independent Mymble. Little My is brash, aggressive, mischievous and disrespectful, but can also be a good friend when she wants to. She is the Mymble's daughter's younger sister. She was eventually adopted by the Moomin family.

The name Little My originated from the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet: μ (Mu) – transliterated as my and pronounced [my] in Swedish and Finnish. In the metric system, lowercase mu μ, meaning "one-millionth", represents the prefix "micro-", from the Greek μικρός (mikrós), meaning "small".

Here is a stamp with great Tove Jansson on the backside:

Old postcard with bears (20 years)

Postcard ID: NL-2618943
Country: Netherlands

The sender wrote that this card is a gift of her father. He presented it when she was 10 years old! So now this card is 20 years old. Wow!

I also have different bears in my childhood. Unfortunately, don't have postcard from that time :( I think that such cards are special as they keep specific atmosphere of a period of time.

Here is a stamp:

Place de la Concorde by Stephane Rey-Gorrez

Postcard ID: FR-420118
Country: France

The Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring 8.64 hectares (21.3 acres) in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.

To the west of the Place is the famous Champs-Élysées.

Stéphane Rey-Gorrez: Photographer - Graphist - Photo Retoucheur
Born in 1973 in Bourg Saint Maurice - France, Stéphane Rey-Gorrez has a passion for pictures and new digital technologies.He started his carrer as an independant graphist and a photo retoucher by working for a lot of advertising agencies. Concurrently, he follows his own route and gets interested in various possibilities resulting from a mixture between photography and illustration.

Approaching a picture as an illustration or a painting in a fantasy universe, his personal touch fed on imaginary and fantastic visions confers to his photos a surrealist atmosphere and a timelessness sensation.The mixture of colours, contrasts and textures gives to his works a special connotation with dream-like accents. Stéphane Rey-Gorrez makes us discover a surprising picture of towns. Monuments, streets and gardens are emptied of all human presence. Towns take a strange, unreal, sometimes dark appearance by showing themselves in all their loneliness.

Here is a French stamp:

Advertising of one of Germany's most popular radio station

Postcard ID: DE-2213762
Country: Germany

Radio ffn is a radio station in the German state of Lower Saxony. This station has the second largest place after the «NDR 1 Niedersachsen» (28,9%)  in Lower Saxony with a share of 16.5% in the radio market . Radio ffn distributes its program from a studio in Hannover via cable and via VHF throughout Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg (Cable in Hamburg 99.35 MHz). Since 2005 ffn can listen to Berlin.

Here is a German Europe stamp:

Snusmumriken from Moomins friends

Postcard ID: FI-1770705
Country: Finland

Here is a wonderful shaped postcard from Moomin world! I already wrote a post about Snusmumriken, so won't duplicate it here. But I'm absolutely in love with this card :)

All of my Moomin-postcards can be found by tag moomins.

Also this card has a stamp like mini copy of the card! Such great!

Wejherowo, Poland

Postcard ID: PL-935207
Country: Poland

To be honest I haven't heard about this sity before. In spite of the fact this town is located in neighbor country. This postcard sent to me by 5 years old gerl and she opens the world for me :)

Wejherowo is a town in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 47,435 inhabitants (2007). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999; previously, it was a town in Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998).

By the way, Bilarusian town Postawy is a sister city ;)

Here are a new Polish stamps (usually I receive kozerojek from this country):

Novy Hradek, Czech Republic

Postcard ID: CZ-294210
Country: Czech Republic

This postcard shows Czech city Nový Hrádek. As per Wikipedia it's a market town and municipality in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic.

As for objects from the card, here we see:

• Catholic Church of St. Petr and Pavel
• Square - Marian Column
• Sibenik - wind power
• Castle street - timbered house
• Frymburk - ruins of the castly

Here is a Czech stamp:

Coffee and hot chocolate by Yuliya Khegay

Postcard ID: RU-1755317
Country: Russia

Here is a wonderful card that can be an example of coffee card that I really-really like! Happiness is in details. I see on this card and can imagine aroma of coffee. I look at the cup and is inspired to make hot chocolate. I see a zebra on the cup and it makes me smile. So good emotions from one card :)

Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Postcard ID: RU-2868251
Country: Russia

Here is absolutely amazing card with qorgeous building on it! It's one from the most beautiful and interesting cards came to me this August! Oh, now I so want to see this with my own eyes!

Bibi-Khanym Mosque is a famous historical Friday mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, whose name comes from the wife of 14th-century ruler, Amir Timur.

After his Indian campaign in 1399 Timur decided to undertake the construction of a gigantic mosque in his new capital, Samarkand. The mosque was built using precious stones captured during his conquest of India. According to Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, 90 captured elephants were employed merely to carry precious stones, so as to erect a mosque at Samarkand — Bibi-Khanym Mosque. Construction was completed between 1399 and 1404. However, the mosque slowly fell into disuse, and crumbled to ruins over the centuries. Its demise was hastened due to the fact it pushed the construction techniques of the time to the very limit, and the fact that it was built too quickly. It eventually partially collapsed in 1897 when an earthquake occurred.

However, in 1974 the government of the then-Uzbek SSR began to reconstruct the mosque, although the current mosque (which is still not completed) is effectively a brand-new building, as no original work remains. 

The outer walls are 167 metres in length and 109 metres in width. The cupola of the main chamber reaches a height of 40 metres, and the entranceway is 35 metres high. There is a large marble Qur'an stand in the centre of the courtyard.

Flowers of tree

Postcard ID: LT-389979
Country: Lithuania

I'm not good in botany, so cannot identify by flowers what is the tree. Maybe, cherry or apple?

However I really love the time when trees are in bloom. Even in the big city this flavor stands out among all the other.

Here is also an interesting stamp with retro machine:

Struve Park, Latvia

Postcard ID: LV-157571
Country: Latvia

Here is a beautiful summer green card. I like to walk in parks like this one.

Called the Crown Garden during the first independence, Struve park was a popular recreation and entertainment location with wealthier residents. The park has become famous with its station of the geodetic ark measured by the professor of Tartu University, astronomer and geodesist Wilhelm von Struve. The Struve Geodetic Arc is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Here is a stamp:

Central Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Postcard ID: US-2250265
Country: USA

Description from the backside of the card:

This aerial of the city shows the new development which includes the moving of the junction of Woonasquatucket and Providence Rivers to create the new Memorial Boulevard (route 6) and the new Waterplace . Park and Riverwalk.

Providence is the capital and most populous city in Rhode Island. Founded in 1636, it is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is located in Providence County, and is the third-largest city in the New England region after Boston and Worcester.

Providence was founded by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence", which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers to settle. After being one of the first cities in the country to industrialize, Providence became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today, the city of Providence is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, which has shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains significant manufacturing activity.

Once nicknamed the "Beehive of Industry," Providence began rebranding itself as the "Creative Capital" in 2009 to emphasize its educational resources and arts community.

Papaver

Postcard ID: NL-1884277
Country: Netherlands

Papaver is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annuals, biennials, and perennials native to temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the type genus of the poppy family, Papaveraceae.

The flowers have two sepals that fall off as the bud opens, and four (or up to six) petals in red, pink, orange, yellow, or lilac.

I'd like to do cross stitch with red poppies :)

Swallow Nest, Crimea, Ukraine

Postcard ID: UA-623230
Country: Ukraine

I was in Crimea in 2003. I lived in 2 km from Swallow's nest, so walked to it from time to time :)

The Swallow's Nest is a decorative castle located at Gaspra, a small spa town between Yalta and Alupka, on the Crimean Peninsula. It was built between 1911 and 1912, on top of the 40-metre high Aurora Cliff, in a Neo-Gothic design by the Russian architect Leonid Sherwood for the Baltic German oil millionaire Baron von Steingel.

The castle overlooks the Cape of Ai-Todor on the Black Sea coast and is located near the remains of the Roman castrum of Charax. The Swallow's Nest is one of the most popular visitor attractions in Crimea, having become the symbol of Crimea's southern coastline.

Traditional clothes of Chinese

Postcard ID: HK-139793
Country: Hong Kong

Here is a nice girl, right? :) so hot look.
Actually, a sender wrote that here is traditional Chinese clothes. However I think that this is more about pattern :)

Also this card contains nice drawing and stamp:

Les cannelés de Bordeaux

Here is one more sweet card from Joao! He sent it to me from France on his way to Czech Republic. Hope he has great time there mow.

It's a perfect breakfast for me. With a cup of my green tea :)

The backside contains a recipe, but only in French, sorry. Google translate can help with this :)

Pour 12 cannelés: 1/2 lait, 1 pincée de sel, 2 oeufs entiers + 2 jaunes, 1/2 gousse de vanille, 1 cs de rhum, 100 g de farine, 250 g de sucre, 50 g de beurre.

Faire bouillir le lait avec la vanille et le beurre. Mélangez la farine, le sucre et les oeufs. Versez ensuite doucement le lait chaud. Mélangez bien pour obtenir une pâte fluide, puis ajoutez le rhum. Couvrez et placez au frais pendant toute une nuit. Sortez la pâte du réfrigérateur 1 h avant de les cuire.
Préchauffez le four à 275°C. Beurrez ou huilez les moules et versez la pâte en laissant 1 cm. Baissez le four à 190°C et faites cuire environ 75/80 mn. Les cannelés doivent avoir une croûte brune et un intérieur moelleux. Les démouler encore chaud sur une grille.

Coffee Candles by Dina Ali

Postcard ID: RU-2880269
Country: Russia

I like any aromatic candles, they make atmosphere in my room really special. Now I have coffee, vanilla and orange candles.

This postcard is a photo that made by Dina Ali from Baku. If you like this card, you can have a look in her Blog (in Russian only).

Auseklis (The Morning Star), Latvia

Postcard ID: LV-156631
Country: Latvia

As per sender the morning star is the symbol of star in Latvian culture.

Auseklis is the Morning Star (Venus). Her rays protect sleeping souls from the forces of evil. The eight-pointed symbol of the star is used in magical rites, and you must draw this symbol without lifting your hand (in one go) if your spell is to have the desired results!

I receive postcards from neighbor so rarely, so this is the first Latvian stamp in this blog:

Comic Con in San-Diego

Postcard ID: US-2915580
Country: USA

I'm a not a comic fan, but my husband is. To be honest I didn't know anything before receiving this postcard. Thanks wikipedia and google for providing information to me :D

San Diego Comic-Con International is a multigenre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. It was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in 1970 by a group of San Diegans, which included Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger and Mike Towry; later, it was called the "San Diego Comic Book Convention". The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is commonly known simply as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con or "SDCC". It is a four-day event (Thursday-Sunday) held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in southern California. On the Wednesday evening prior to the official opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors, and select guests pre-registered for all four days.

Originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fantasy related film, television, and similar popular arts, the convention now includes a larger range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres, including horror, animation, anime, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. 

This card has absolutely amazing stamps. As usual a specially love butterfly:

A man-brush

Postcard ID: TW-1319452
Country: Taiwan

This cute postcard was sent to me by Sandra from Taiwan. When I see on this man I'm ready to write a fairy tale about this single man with wondering eyes.

I have never drawn well enough, but last time I want to start doing it more and more. Maybe it's a sign to do it, who knows? :)

The backside is also cute!

Brno, Czech Republic

Postcard ID: CZ-490263
Country: Czech Republic

I was only once in Czech Republic, but would like to visit it again. I think that I should also visit Brno. It seems, that this city can show me many interesting things :)

Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic by population and area, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative center of the South Moravian Region in which it forms a separate district (Brno-City District).

Brno Exhibition Centre ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe (23rd in the world). The complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, a tradition established in 1930 in which the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races. Another cultural tradition is an international fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis, that usually attracts tens of thousands of daily visitors.

The most visited sights of the city include the Špilberk castle and fortress and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Petrov hill, two medieval buildings that dominate the cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by the Brno Dam Lake. This castle is the site of a number of legends, as are many other places in Brno. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat which has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. One of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst.

In conclusion, would like to show a stamp:

Nature in Germany

Postcard ID: DE-3379681
Country: Germany

The sender didn't provide any info about this postcard. I think that it can be photo made my the sender. On the backside I see German stamps, but nature looks like here in Belarus or other our neighbor countries :)

In any case I like fields full of flowers.

By the way, here is a German stamp:

Krasnoyarsk Stolby, Russia

Postcard ID: RU-2897144
Country: Russia

Krasnoyarsk Stolby is located on the north-western spur of the Eastern Sayan. Its natural borders are right tributaries of the Yenisey River; in the north-east the Bazaikha, in the south and south-west - the rivers Mana and Bolshaya Slimeva. In the north-east the territory borders on the suburb of Krasnoyarsk.

According to geomorphological division the territory where "Stolby" is located lies in the zone of contact of Altai-Sayan mountain country with Mid-Siberian plateau and Western Siberian plain. The rocks are mostly of sedimentary and volcanic origin, aged from the Cambrian (more than 600 million years old) to the Carbon period. Stolby's massive, comprising all the known rocks ("stolby"), is a part of Shumikhinskiy intrusive complex formed of pinkish-red quartz syenite. It has a linear shape and stretches in the north-eastern direction, where the ancient remains - "stolby" - are located in the form of a chain.

150 years ago at "Stolby" a unique mass sport movement, called "stolbism" appeared. Its essence is freestyle mountaineering. "Stolbism" in its ethno-social sense should be preserved as people's non-material heritage.

Tennessee, USA

Postcard ID: US-2897000
Country: USA

I'm continue to open new information about US states :)

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th most extensive and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 624,496. Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 655,155.

Tea and sweets

Postcard ID: US-2902430
Country: USA

Most of all I love a teapot and cup on this card!. Seriously, I would like to have them at my home.

The backside contains a quote. Here it is:

Apart from the many varieties of cake and the plates

of white, brown, and currant bread and butter,

there were plates of sandwiches, and

their cuttings was quite a performance.

- Joan Parry Duton, The Good Fare

and Cheer of Old England, 1900.

Coffee and chocolate

Postcard ID: DE-3369369
Country: Germany

This card shows a favorite breakfast of the sender. If I change coffee on tea it'll be applicable like breakfast for me :)

Here is also wonderful flower stamp (it's great to have flowers on morning table):

Omaha Beach, France

Postcard ID: FR-400578
Country: France

This card is about really important operation in World War II.

Omaha Beach, commonly known as Omaha, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II. Omaha is located on the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, and is 5 miles (8 km) long, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Landings here were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east at Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Bay of the Seine. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport and naval artillery support provided by the U.S. Navy and elements of the British Royal Navy.

Please, read more here.

Through the Middle Ages

Postcard ID: CZ-487423
Country: Czech Republic

It's so interesting to have cards with different sizes from different countries. For example, this is the 3rd or 4th card from Czech Republic with this size. Taiwan or China usually sends postcard a bit more than standard 10x15.

As for image, I like to receive different maps. The old maps have their own atmosphere. I like to find out name of known places for me :)

By the way I often see in shops puzzles with map image.But think that is really difficult to collect such puzzle.

A little stamp from this card is: