Fluffy Kitty II

Sender: Jurgita

Jurgita drew my address on Postcrossing's 6th birthday celebration (1 of the 6 extra addresses offered to all existing postcrossers). I managed to do the same too on that date, discovered the offer just by luck, as it ended at midnight! This kitty card is my second one, but I find it cute all the same. Further, the card may have the same picture on the front but the stamps, the country of origin and the written words at the back are not!  :)

Art Academy

Sender: Alienne

Alienne sent this golden view of part of the River Elbe, Dresden, showing the Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), a church said to be the greatest cupola building (with its most distinctive feature being the bell-shaped dome) and the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (on the right). The church collapsed in World War II air raids but was reconstructed in 1994 and completed in 2005.

There are cruises that visitors can take along the river in historic paddle steamers. That would be an idyllic and relaxing trip indeed. 

The Moulin-Rouge

Sender: Jetske

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French; 1864-1901): Poster for the dancer La Goulue 

at the Moulin-Rouge dance hall 1891.

The Moulin-Rouge ("Red Mill") is a prestigious Paris Cabaret built in 1889 offering musical dance entertainment with original music in fabulous settings, dancers wearing costumes of feathers, rhinestones and sequins, and doing the famous French can-can (legs in the air and heads in skirts!). La Goulue ("the Glutton") (13 July 1866 - 30 January 1929) was a famous French can-can dancer and performer there, the highest paid entertainer of her day. She became one of the favourite subjects for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his portraits and posters for the Moulin Rouge. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter/art nouveau illustrator. He was commissioned to produce a series of posters for the Moulin-Rouge.

Paris is a place I've never been to and is high on my wish-list. I'd also like to take a peep or two at the Moulin-Rouge, to experience what it would be like to be dazzled by the extravagant shows in there..

Colourful Children

Sender: Pinuccia

My first card showing traditional folk clothing from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Following Sicily and Sardinia, Cyprus is the third largest island in the eastern Mediterranean. The name "Cyprus" comes from the Greek word for copper ( "kypros"). People of both Greek and Turkish heritage live on Cyprus today.

I like these colourful traditional costumes. I have heard of Cyprus Lefkara lacework and embroidery on linen clothing and wonder whether this was used to edge the headscarves, collars and blouses worn by the children.

Waiting For Entry

Sender: Kaheli

It's my very first Inge Look card, many thanks to Kaheli! Have you read the "Stray Cat Rules" before? Somehow seeing the waiting cat at the door reminds me of them! I'm such a sucker when it comes to cats and kittens...

Stray Cat Rules

1. Stray cats will not be fed.
2. Stray cats will only be fed dry cat food.
3. Stray cats may have dry cat food moistened with a little milk but that's all.
4. Stray cats may have dry cat food moistened with warm milk, yummy treats and tuna.
5. Stray cats will absolutely not be played with.
6. Alright stray cats will be played with but will not be given a name.
7. Tigger will not be allowed in the house.
8. Okay,  Tigger is allowed in the house but only in the kitchen.
9. Tigger may sleep in the living room in a blanket-lined cardboard box.
10. Tigger will sleep in the special Kitty-Comfort bed with non-allergenic lamb's wool pillow.
11. Tigger will never be allowed to sleep on our bed.
12. Tigger may sleep on our bed but never under the covers.
13. Okay, Tigger may sleep under the covers and on the pillows.
14. The kittens will not be allowed in the house....

;-)

Lady Liberty

Sender: melaniaf

New York: Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan Skyline

The statue (affectionately called "Lady Liberty") was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States for the 100th birthday of America's Independence. It has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.

Lady Liberty's crown has seven spikes, symbolising the Seven Seas across which liberty should be spread. In her left hand she holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence and in her right hand a torch, symbolising Enlightenment. 

I wish to be brave enough to go to the staircase inside the statue and walk all the way up the 354 steps to the crown from where (as melaniaf informs), I can have a nice view over New York City...

Halfway Bay

Sender: pierrev

Halfway Bay at sunrise, Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario, Canada.

"The park is uniquely situated near the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. On the east coast of this narrow strip of land, the park is bounded by the Niagara Escarpment which drops off into Georgian Bay. The escapement is the key geological feature of the park and was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1990. On the peninsula's western coastline, you'll find wonderful beaches along the shores of Lake Huron. To the north, and surrounding the park land, is Fathom Five National Marine Park, which encompasses 21 islands and 22 shipwrecks; pure gold for scuba diving enthusiasts. The area around Tobermory is considered one of the worlds best diving sites."

Lovely art stamp and quirky landmark stamps.

RISD or Rizz-Dee

Sender: Tumblecat
Rhode Island School of Design 

Tumblecat was in Providence, Rhode Island and visited Rhodes Island School of Design (RISD or Rizz-Dee) Museum. RISD is a fine arts and design college, founded in 1877. Its museum houses a collection of fine and decorative art objects and its library is one of the oldest independent art college libraries in the country. Tumblecat writes that the museum is a bit confusing as it comprises seven interconnected buildings with varying styles from classical Japanese to edgy RISD modernism.

I like quirky buildings, and wouldn't mind walking around them and then through them, wearing out my shoes in the process. I love art!

Port Lligat and Dali

Sender: Gaquero

Port Lligat is a small village next to the town of Cadaqués, at the Girona province of Spain, Costa Brava. It has been a haven and inspiration for artists over the years including Picasso, Chagall, and, most famously, Salvador Dali who lived and painted in Port Lligat for much of his life.

"I have spent a delightful summer, as always, in the perfect and dreamy town of Cadaqués. There, alongside the Latin sea, I have been quenched by light and colour". - Salvador Dali

Las Vegas Strip

Sender: Gandareyn
The Las Vegas Strip - A Shining "Desert Oasis"

Las Vegas is known as the entertainment and gaming capital of the world, and this is my first card of the "Sin City"! Heard about it, seen it on TV, in countless movies, dramas, documentaries but have never been there. What a concentration of casino resort hotels, gambling, nightlife and associated entertainment and..dramatic architecture. I'd like to wander around, to see what's all the hype about, for myself  :)

Rialto Beach

Sender: hootnoodle

Text on card: Rialto Beach - The wilderness beach from La Push, Washington to Cape Flattery is controlled by rules of the Pacific Ocean. There are no sheltered lagoons. One must climb headlands, cross numerous streams, enter cocoons of fog and watch for storm waves that could trap you against sheer cliffs. This beach can be an experience of solitude never seen before.   

Olympic National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a protected forest area in northwest Washington State renowned for its diverse ecosystems. It comprises the Pacific coastline, the Olympic Mountains, and the temperate rainforest. Rialto Beach is one of the most accessible of the West End beaches.

Tang Yin @ Tang Bohu

Sender: dhyliu

Dhyliu sent this art card, a painting by a Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming Dynasty known as Tang Yin @ Tang Bohu. One of the most notable painters in the history of Chinese art, he is also regarded as one of the four painting elites - “the Four Masters of Ming”. His landscape, figures, flower-and-bird paintings and calligraphy and thoughtful poems are still admired by many today.

A Wintry New York

Sender: Bleuey
Text on card:The beauty of new fallen snow enhances this typical New York winter setting. 

Bleuey loves summer after a cold winter but will miss the latter if she did not see the four seasons each year. I love new fallen snow. To me that's when winter is at its best. Not as cold, and pretty pretty white, just like a Christmas card scene. What I can't take well is melted snow all slushy and grey or strong winds combined with hail or rain blowing me about. That's when I really feel the cold weather, which goes straight to my bones, freezing my toes and the tip of my nose! Brrrr. All my winter pictures have me looking like a roly-poly toy. Too many layers of winter clothing!! Well, I don't have the four seasons in my own motherland. Thus snow and winter is always a novelty, but not for too long...looking like a roly-poly toy does not become me at all! :D

It's Another World Down There

Sender: Tamaratiu
Tubbataha, Palawan

The words "tubba" and "taha" combined means "a long reef exposed at low tide". Tubbataha is the Phillipines' first National Marine Park and also a World Heritage Site. I read that the diving terrain there is varied: continuous reef platforms, sandy lagoons, spectacularly steep and perpendicular walls, some of which seem to have no bottom. Currents are unpredictable and divers must expect strong currents that might change directions. This makes most dives, drift dives. Tamaratiu dreams of diving there one day. 

One of my close friends is an avid diver and Tubbataha would be her perfect dream diving vacation (not that far too). I have followed her on her diving trips to some of our local scenic diving spots. She will put on all her diving gear, sink underwater with her diving team and disappear god knows where, whereas I will do my free swimming minus snorkelling gear with some other chicken a.k.a. unbrave girls in the open sea around the moored boat until she surfaces. I love free swimming like that, going down one minute and then up again, there's so much beauty underwater with the colourful corals and sea creatures. Beats seeing them in the huge aquariums everytime. This chicken a.k.a. unbrave girl will learn to dive..one day! Err..do you happen to know where they sell courage-in-a-bottle? :)

Garden of Yellow

Sender: Alienne

It's the season for letter 'Y' in the Alphabet RR and Alienne sent this card showing a garden of free grown yellow flowers. Some people love landscaped gardens or meticulously arranged flower beds. Whereas some others prefer haphazard gardens with different varieties of plants/flowers strewn here and there. Which do you prefer?

The text on the card states "Rustic Garden". I think my own garden (does a small patch even merit the term?) is more likely to be named "Rusty Gardener's Garden"! Because I came. I sowed. And I forgot! :P

The Kitten News

Sender: Moscow Boy

"Kitten News! Kitten News! Read all about it!", if you are selling such newspapers that is! 

The kittens are cute but I wonder how much trouble the photographer went through trying to make them pose together like that, and poking their heads through the torn bits. Kittens are naturally wriggly and skittish..are they not? :)

Lake Igapo, Londrina

Sender: Felipe


Lake Igapo, Londrina, Brazil

Londrina is a city in the northern state of Parana and Lake Igapo is one of its beautiful recreational areas.

Blue Mountains, Australia

Sender: Don

Text on card: The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, were carved from sandstone by rivers rushing to the ocean. There, spectacular scenery and wild places can be found, such as Hanging Rock jutting out of the golden sandstone walls of the Grose Valley.

Don writes that the Blue Mountains is a national park and a World Heritage Site. I wish I can go there. But I will not dare to go on the tip of the Hanging Rock! I read that it is really hanging because it is separated from the cliff by a gap that narrows to a crack way down below...and there are no guard rails! 

Zeeland Multi-view

Sender: Marjan

Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south-western region. The capital of Zeeland is Middelburg. Zeeland is famous for mussels and oysters, the dikes, dunes and the Delta Plan to prevent flooding (Zeeland lies below sea-level) and also the traditional costumes. In one of the pictures, a woman is wearing the traditional Zeeland clothing, which is nowadays rarely seen anymore.

Nikolai Vesselinov-Jenkins

Sender: Fidel 

Nikolai Vesselinov-Jenkins (1957-1985) Author of the book "Saints Cyril and Methodious - The Bulgarian Mission", London 1991. 

Saints Cyril and Methodious were two Byzantine Greek brothers in the 9th Century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavik peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannoia.

We Are Sleepyheads

Sender: Pirkko

Awwww...so cute...I love cats and kittens. As someone put it, "Kittens are angels with whiskers." Well, there are sleepy angels with whiskers in the picture!

Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.
Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.
Open drawer, empty shoe, anybody’s lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.
Anywhere! They don’t care! Cats sleep anywhere.

Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)

Fenster Zum Südgarten

Sender: Florian
Text on card: Fenster zum Sudgarten


I think it means "Window to the South Garden". I think this house would be perfect for garden lovers!

Cisingtan

Sender: Ishyz

Text on card: The beauty of Hualien & Taitung. Nature Layers. The gradient blue is the most beautiful layers in nature. 

The pictured beach is marked on a map at the back of the card, "Cisingtan, Xincheng township, Hualien county". I read that the beach is only a ten-minute ride outside the city and is a great place to enjoy expansive views of both the turquoise sea and the mountains. But the beach is covered with black stones and not sand.

I love the colour turquoise and a turquoise sea is divine..

Navarra-Nafarroa

Sender: Sonia

Castillo de Tierra - El Rallon (Bardenas)

Vedado de Eguaras (Bardenas)

Navarra is an autonomous community in Northern Spain. The Navarre Bardenas are a natural semi-desert of some 42,000 ha that covers southeast of Navarra. These natural formations like hillocks in the shape of a table are very typical of its landscape.  They are actually mounds composed of clay and which upper part is protected by a stratum of sandstone and limestone; only their lower part is eroded.

"Bloomrain"

Sender: Tarja

A card designed by Masha D'yans, artist/designer/illustrator.

From masha.com: "In 2002 Masha launched a greeting card company based on her own watercolors. Her playful, sensitive, and colorful painting style draws on inspirations from nature, fashion design, calligraphy, Japanese art and, of course, her native fairy tales. Whimsical and sophisticated, her themes are evocative of a child's imagination: euphoric abandon, everyday mystery, and the beauty of imperfection."

This card is so so pretty, I absolutely adore it! It gives me joy everytime I look at it. Imagine, some of the details on the cards even shine like they were lacquered! Many thanks to Tarja for introducing me to Masha D'yan's works... 

Do surf to see Masha D'yan's line of greeting cards, I'm completely a fan now! 

Trust Each Other

Sender: Kelchkoenigin


♥♥ "Das Edelste an der Liebe ist das Vertrauen zueinander" ♥♥ (German) 
=> "The noblest of love is trust each other" (English). A saying normally used for weddings...