Two Postcard Makeup

My 4th and 5th postcard from Tuesday, October 14th, came in this beautiful envelope. Note the rose background. The whole envelope was made of this background. Balbina from a small town near Cologne, Germany, sent me this envelope. The stamps are beautiful and unusual as well.

The lighthouse stamp is from Amrum, a Frisian Island in the North Sea off the coast of Germany. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The man in the stamp above the lighthouse is Johann Hinrich Wichern. He was a theologian in Germany during the 19th Century. He advocated feeding the hungry of the inner cities and educating the children as a way of improving their lifestyle and future.

The postcard above, Balbina said, is of a cathedral in an area called Bergischen Land after the Dukes of Berg who lived there during the 13th century. This place is near her hometown. Of course, the postcard below, is of the famous gothic cathedral of Cologne. Balbina said that Cologne or Koeln is famous for its long history, beautiful gothic cathedral and for its celebration of "Karneval."

Balbina said that she hopes to be able to visit my great country some day. I think that Balbina has a great country as well. Another bit of surprise in the envelope from Balbina were these two autumn leaves. I noted that they were not real, but beautiful nevertheless. Balbina ended her letter wishing me a "wonderful autumn!" I hope you have a wonderful autumn too, Balbina.

Puppies, Pansies and Joeys

I hit a second Jackpot yesterday receiving 5, yes, that is right, 5 postcards yesterday. That is the most I have received in one day since beginning postcrossing 4 months ago. Jenny from Dortmund, Germany sent me this cute little puppy postcard. She read that I like dogs and she said she likes dogs too. Her "fave" is the pug! However, she has a cat. She said she has a cat because they do not require as much time and attention as a dog (you don't say!).

More German critters as these little bunny rabbits were on the stamp that brought my puppy postcard to me. Thanks Jenny, for the little critters!

A pocket full of posies, I mean, pansies were sent to me by Ida in Finland. Aren't they pretty? She said that the cold, wet, winter weather has not come yet so it is still warm there in Finland. So, Ida, what do you consider "warm"?? Of course, here in Texas, pansies are very common here in the wintertime. They like the cold.

P.S. I was just informed by my mom by way of "comment"that pansies mean "friendship" which makes it a perfect subject for a postcrossing card. 10/16/08, 11:16 a.m.

Below is the stamp that brought me my pocketful of pansies from Finland. He looks like a carpenter of some kind. Thanks Ida, for sending me the beautiful card and stamp.This mama kangeroo and her little joey (baby kangeroo) were sent to me by Scott and friends who live in Melbourne, Australia (Down Under). I learned from my mom that a baby kangeroo is called a joey and then I looked on the back of the card, and sure enough, it says "kangeroo with joey". Isn't the joey just precious? Scott said "his friends" are his two cats. Thanks Scott, for sending me another "critter" card. I enjoy the critter cards.

I have cards of the following critters: hedgehog, ladybug, grizzley bear, moose, puppy, tropical fish, bunnies, a snail and now a kangeroo.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

I received my latest postcard on Saturday, October 11, 2008. It comes to me from Fiona in Great Britain. As you can see, it is from Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire, England and as, Fiona states, it is from the town where Shakespeare was born.

Fiona says that Autumn has arrived in the UK and they are having wet and windy weather. She says that it is okay because it blows all the cobwebs away! Thanks, Fiona, for adding yet another cathedral to my collection.

Lucky Ladybug

This lucky ladybug card was made for me by Aista in Lithuania. She said that she somtimes likes to paint small pictures like this. She is 23 years old and is studying in the capital city of Lithuania, which is Vilnius. She said she loves the city. It is cozy and beautiful. Aista began her card by saying "Labas Brenda!" which means Hello Brenda in Lithuanian. She also said that her parents have 3 dogs, 2 huskies and a fox terrier. She ended her note by saying "Best wishes for you and Charlie!".

Aista's card was in a yellow envelope with this beautiful stamp. Note the Beijing Olympic symbol on the stamp. Thanks, Aista for sharing a part of your creative talents with me.

Happy Hedgehogs

These happy little hedgehogs came to me from Megan who lives in London, England. She is originally from Canada but teaches elementary school in London. She is doing this so she can more easily travel to Europe on her school holidays. How clever, Megan. These happy little hedgehogs were painted by artist, Sarah Battle. Thanks Megan for the cute card.

Germany, Finland, Sweden or Florida

I received three postcards in the mail yesterday. One from Florida, one from Germany and one from Finland. You can read on and see why I put Sweden in the title of this blog entry.

Leena from Pietarsaari Jakobstad in Finland sent me this first card. Isn't it a beautiful place? Leena said this is the town that she is studying in. She is studying International Business. The town, Leena said, is located on the west coast of Finland, just across the sound from Sweden. She said the town is pretty much bilingual. That is why the town has two names. Pietarsaari is Finnish and Jakobstad is Swedish. She said it feels funny to be the minority in her own country - over 50% of the town's population speaks Swedish as their native tongue. Thanks, Leena for sharing a piece of your world with me.
This is the cool stamp that brought Leena's card to me. Get it?? It's a stamp for "snail mail." What could be more appropriate? I think it is adorable!

My second card from yesterday comes from Jasmina who lives in Wiedenbruech which is just to the northeast of Dusseldorf. Jasmina says she likes to play with her cat, swim, play other sports and laugh alot. I like to laugh too, Jasmina. Thanks for sharing. Wiedenbruech does look romantic, almost like out of a fairy tale (maybe a Brothers Grimm fairy tale?).

And this is the lovely stamp that brought Jasmina's card to me. Appropriate, don't you think that there is a bleeding heart flower on a stamp about a romantic place!

And now, for the last postcard of the day, we travel back to the United States to see a beautiful sunset from the Florida Gulf Coast. Stephanie from Freeport sent me this postcard. Nice, peaceful way to end the day. Stephanie said that she did not have much to write about because she was so tired. I think a peaceful sunset would make me tired too.

Thanks, Stephanie for a glimpse of another part of the Gulf Coast.

Jackpot!

Finally, I hit the jackpot on postcards. I got 4 yesterday. Three were official postcrossing cards and one postcard was from a private swap. However, I did not get to post my postcard from Wednesday on my blog so that will be included for a total of 5 postcards. Wow!

Claudia sent me this BEAUTIFUL postcard of the Rome Forum. Although I am not the biggest fan of cats, I do like they way they are displayed in this picture. My dog, Charlie could have a field day chasing them around the ruins!

The stamp above brought me the postcard. Note the UNICEF symbol in the upper left hand corner. Thanks again, Claudia for the card and the stamp.

My first postcard yesterday comes from Portland Oregon. He signed his name with his postcrosser username, Zakureth (well, lets hope that is his user name and not his REAL name!).
Anyway, I laugh out loud when seeing this card. Zakureth said, "What can I say, this picute just amuses the heck out of me. I hope you enjoy it too." Yes, Zakureth, I am enjoying this card. I also like it since it is my first "ad" card. Thanks.

I have been truly blessed with a number of fall postcards. I am thankful, especially since I was not able to travel up north this year to see the fall foliage personally. This BEAUTIFUL card comes from Terri B in West Virginia. This is from a private swap. Terri contacted me through postcrossing saying that she and her boys were trying to collect a postcard from all 50 states and was wanting to know if I would send her a Texas card. I was happy to do so and this is what I got in return. Thanks, Terri and blessings to you and your boys.

The last two postcards I received are both from Canada. The above postcard is from Caroline. She said that I was the first postcrosser she ever had to request anything MOOSE. She was happy to oblige. She continued to say that no, she doesn't have one in her backyard and yes, she does have running water up there in Canada. I noted that it is yet, another autumn card as well. Thanks Caroline, for your card and sharing your sense of humor.

This beautiful daffodil stamp brought me both of the Canadian postcards. I noticed the two stamps were alike immediately. Even before reading the postcards, I gathered they were both from the same place since they had the same stamp. And yes, I was correct.

Sage, a 10 year old young lady sent me this postcard. She said she loves animals, nature, reading, writing, art and playing the piano. She has three pets, a guinea pig named Rodney, a cat named Whiskers and a lovebird named Noel. She says that she hoped I liked the postcard. Yes, I do like the postcard Sage and I love your creativity as well. The postcard shows off your personality well. Keep up the good work!