Blue & Green Satin

CN-637227, Sender: Jack-Lee
Sent: 12 June 2012, Sent from Yäntai, China
Received: 13 July 2012, Traveled 2,538 km in 31 days

Jack said that this is the Qing Dynasty's royal clothing. It is a blue and black lined pale green satin cloth, with hydrangea and butterflies pattern. It was worn around the Guangxu reign, the period of 1875-1908.

Hoping everyone is having a great start for the week! Happy Monday for all of us!

~maria

Beneficial insects.

It was pure delight to receive this souvenir sheet. I thought I would only get the regular postcards agreed upon for a swap but I got a beautiful bonus! A Ukranian lady whom I met through direct swaps in the official postcrossing website sent this to me during her first weeks of moving into Canada.

It was released in 19 October 2010 as the second issue to the Beneficial Insects Definitives, first released in 2007. While the first series focused on insects often spotted in the sky, this second series is about plant and ground dwelling bugs, said Keith Martin, the designer of the series.

Featured on the sheet are: the paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus), the assassin bug (Zelus luridus), the large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), the margined leatherwing (Chauliognathus marginatus) and the dogbane beetle (Chrysochus auratus).

The Canada Post website described the bugs: Each of the insects featured is a wonder to watch at work in the garden. There’s the paper wasp, chomping away on caterpillars and other gardening pests. Another “exterminator,” the assassin bug, uses its beak to suck the bodily fluids from its soft-bodied victims. Wildflower gardeners and farmers may appreciate the large milkweed bug for feeding on the juice from milkweed seeds, as well as the larvae of dogbane beetle for feasting on the same plant’s roots. The margined leatherwing larvae should also be prized for consuming a range of harmful insects.



It should be a Sunday Stamps full of surprises today at Viridian's. The theme is 'anything you wish' so I'm really excited to see what my fellow stamps bloggers have posted on their page.

Happy Sunday Stamps everyone!

~maria

Horikiri Iris Garden

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Inga
Sent: 15 April 2013, Sent from Niederaichbach, Germany
Received: 19 April 2013, Traveled 10,106.9 km in 4 days

Here is another reproduction from the 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' series by the woodblock print artist Ando Hiroshige. This view is no. 56 in the series. The garden is in a little village north of Tokyo. It is one of Tokyo's oldest gardens.

This artwork dates back to the Edo Period, Ansei Era, Japan. The artwork shows iris blooms in the foreground and visitors, who are for sure caught in awe by the beautiful garden, in the background. The irises in the garden started with three specimens, and now has 200. Iris is a genus of 260-300 specimens, so the Horikiri Garden surely has a lot on it already. Iris means rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors across its specimens.

~maria

Paris vs. New York 1

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Terry
Sent: 20 July 2012, Sent from Sherwood, AR
Traveled ~12,288 km

I am taking Beth's lead and posting something edible for today's Postcard Friendship Friday.

This postcard is from the Paris versus New York Postcard Book by graphic artist Vahram Muratyan. The artist is French who later moved to New York. His Paris versus New York postcard set is a witty and genius visual comparison between the two great cities. It was based on his blog bearing the same title, with a welcome note that says: A friendly visual match between two cities told by a lover of Paris wandering through New York. Details, clichés, contradictions, this way please.

Here is the 'le pain' or bread comparison -- with the French's  baguette on the left and the New Yorker's bagel on the right. A similar graphic was posted on the artist's site on 22.10.10.

Baguette means stick or wand in French. It is a long thin loaf with crunchy crust made using lean dough. It basically contains flour, water, yeast, and salt. It actually came from Vienna, Austria but is very much considered a symbol of French culture. It can be eaten for breakfast with jam or chocolate/fruit preserve spread, usually torn or broken into pieces for serving. The 65 cm long le pain can also be cut in half and eaten as sandwich for any time of the day.

Bagel, the New York counterpart, is called cement doughnut. It is made from a pretzel-like dough recipe. Though it also comes as a ring-shaped roll like the doughnut, this bread is dense in the inside with a shiny and crispy crust. The texture is different because bagel is boiled first before it is baked. It is the only bread that is boiled before it is baked. It has similar ingredients with the French baguette but sometimes, eggs, milk, or butter is/are added to make the inside lighter. It is great served with cream cheese for breakfast (my favorite version of it, actually) and can also be made into a sandwich for snack.

Ok, that's it for now. I'm hungry and will proceed into preparing dinner after posting this. Happy Postcard Friendship Friday everyone!

~maria

Missing sweet hearts.

NL-1798791, Sender: Mary
Sent: 4 April 2013, Sent from The Hague, Netherlands
Received: 19 April 2013, Traveled 10,429 km in 15 days

Mary asked if we have these sweets (snoepjes) here in the Philippines. Apparently, we don't and I would love to try them! I wonder if they're hard or marshmallow-ey soft...but I think they're more rock hard, but the melt-in-your-mouth type -- like dry meringue?

Hmm, I wonder too, who took two pieces of my heart-shaped sweets out of my postcard? Mary said that the sweets have a little bit of different tastes/flavors. So now I'm really curious what flavor/s are those two sweet hearts that had gone missing.

~maria

Thai novice monks

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Ming
Sent: 18 October 2012, Sent from Bangkok, Thailand
Received: 29 October 2012, Traveled 2,206 km in 12 days

Ming wrote: I'm sending you the card showing a monk receiving alms offering. In Thailand you can see this very often in the morning since most people here are Buddhists so they practice it quite regularly.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Marie Laurent
Sent: 19 April 2013, Sent from Chiang Mai, Thailand
Received: 22 April 2013, Traveled 2,386.15 km in 4 days

On this other postcard, the young Buddhist novice monks are shown paying respect to Buddha image's head in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ayutthaya is from the Indian word, Ayodhya, which is the birthplace of Rama in Ramayana.

~maria

The missing blue door handle.

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Marichie Postcrossing
Sent: 16 October 2012, Sent from Las Palmas, Spain
Received 31 October 2012, Traveled 13,348.5 km in 15 days

This door is missing a handle. I have two pieces of evidence to think that it used to have a handle: (1) the blue paint on the door, and (2) the pink flowering plant in front of the door.

Check out the postcard in Aritha's blog to know what I mean. ;-)

Now, head over to Smiling Sally's page for pretty blues on a Monday.

Have a productive week, 'ya all! 

~maria

Global Forever

Earth Day is almost always synonymous with global warming for me.

USA's Global Forever
Issued 28 January 2013
Artist: Leonello Calvatti

I know, that sounds like a bit narrow-minded thinking.

But I am always bugged by the idea of the thinning ice in the polar regions.

Glaciers in Iceland
Issued 24 May 2007
Artist: Tryggvi T. Tryggvason / Anna Þóra Árnadóttir

My thoughts are with the struggles of the animals 

in the polar regions and their survival.

                                  

Fauna of Sakha Republic (Yakutia) - Russia
Issued 29 August 2006

Wildlife in Norway - Arctic Fox
Issued 29 March 2006

Iceland - Seals I
Issued 28 January 2010
Artists: Jóhann Jónsson, Vestmannaeyjar

Iran Russia Joint Stamp Issue - Caspian Seal
Issued 9 September 2003

I hope we can all be vigilant in showing love to our Mother Earth

so that these polar fauna never lose their habitat and end up extinct.

The Netherlands - World Priority
Issued 1 July 2010

~maria

Hope

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Skopry
Sent: 21 November 2012, Sent from Geisengen, Germany
Received: 20 December 2012, Traveled 10,386 km in 29 days 

Hope --

It is not easy to see the beautiful things of life in the time of sorrow,

but you should never ever stop to believe in the good.

Happy weekend,

~maria

Look alikes!

It is Look Alike Day theme at Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday.

This got me excited! I have this crazy wish that once I'm ready to have kids,

I would love to have twins. Though I'm really curious how much of a challenge

it would be to raise two kids (who for sure will be as stubborn as me)

at the same time...oh well, that's far from now...

Let's see first what postcards I've got for this theme ;-)

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Indah
Sent: 30 May 2012, Sent from Jakarta,Indonesia
Received: 18 June 2012, Traveled 2,786.16 km in 19 days 

If the caption on the card is too small to read, it says:

Balinese dancers, richly attired after the manner of ancient Hindu princesses.

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Hanna
Sent: 5 October 2012, Sent from Reykjavik, Iceland
Received: 28 October 2012, Traveled 10,728 km in 23 days

This card, according to Hanna, shows the national costume
of women from Greenland. Hanna got the card from Nuuk, the capital.

She taught me some Greenlandic words:

Aluu = Hello

Baj = Bye

Qujanaq = Thank you

Asavakkit = I ♥ you.

I hope you like the postcards I shared today for the 

Postcard Friendship Friday blog hop.

I wish all of you a relaxing Friday evening!

~maria

Gereon Brands' Sweetheart

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Sascha
Sent: 29 September 2012, Sent from Duisburg, Germany
Received: 25 October 2012, Traveled 10,329 km in 27 days

This postcard is a reproduction of 'Sweetheart' painting of Gereon Brands.

Now, I found another information on the web about Sweetheart and Gereon Brands:

Sweetheart is a traditional shop that sells Christmas and carnival stuffs and also local souvenirs. The shop is owned by Gereon Brands and can be found near the city's cathedral of Cologne, Germany.

I can't find more sources whether the two information are talking about the same Gereon Brands. It would be nice if someone can advice me on this. Thank you in advance.

Linking up with Clytie for Guest Heart Thursday ;-)

~maria

Eluan Pi Light

TW-358105, Sender: Hsinying
Sent: 24 August 2011, Sent from Taipei, Taiwan
Received: 1 September 2011, Traveled 1,152 km in 8 days

After posting one of the lighthouses from the northernmost  tip of Taiwan, 

here's from the southernmost: the Eluan Pi Light.

The sender wrote that this lighthouse is within the Kenting National Park.

The lighthouse was completed in 1883.

During its construction, Chinese troops were sent to protect it

from the attacks of local tribesmen.

It was surrounded by a fort with cannon and ditches.

The lighthouse is 21.4 metres high.

It is 56.4 metres above the tidal waters.

It flashes a white light every 10 seconds.

The light's range is 27.2 nautical miles.

I'm sharing this post with Smiling Sally for:

Thank you again wikipedia.net and the Lighthouse Digest for the info.

~maria

Sunday Lighthouses Stamps

The two lighthouses of Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen, Germany.

The taller lighthouse is the operational, called Isle of Rügen Light.

It started operation on 1 April 1905.

It is 35 metres high, with a focal height of 75 m above NN.

It emits three white flashes every 17 seconds.

The shorter one is 19.3 metres high, with a focal height of 60 m above sea level.

It was built in 1828 and is no longer operational.

The Klaipėda Light, guiding ships in the southern coast of Lithuania.

The present tower was built in 1950

The lighthouse has an active focal plane of 44 metres.

It emits three white flashes every 6 seconds.

Its light is visible for 18 nautical miles.

The Fukwei Chiao or Cape Fukwei lighthouse located in

Taiwan's northernmost point, the New Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.

The present tower was built in the late 1940s.

It has a focal plane height of 31.3 metres.

It emits two white flashes every 15 seconds. 

Its light has a range of 27 nautical miles.

Sharing this with Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

Thank you wikipedia.net and the Lighthouse Digest for the information.

~maria

White tulips

UA-511259, Sender: smymmr
Sent: 26 February 2013, Sent from Kramatorsk, Ukraine
Received: 4 April 2013, Traveled 8,319 km in 41 days

White tulips : symbol of purity, forgiveness, and remembrance.

Hope all of us are having a relaxing weekend!

Linking up with Tina and Mona for the weekend floral love affair project.

~maria

Okita from the Kansei Era, Japan

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Leo Baluyot
Sent on 01 April 2013, Sent from Narita Airport T1, Japan
Received on 10 April 2013, Traveled 13,183 km in 9 days

Leo wrote: Here's some tea to relieve your stress from all the DRMP (residency) stuff. Konichiwa from Tokyo!

Reading on the internet about the artwork on this postcard was very interesting. I learned that Okita was a waitress, depicted on this artwork serving a cup of tea. She's a waitress at the Naniwaya Teahouse, near the Niomon Gate in the grounds of the Asakusa Kannon Temple She was reputed to be one of the Three Beauties of the Kansei era (1789-1801). *

The postcard is a reproduction of the original ukiyo-e artwork by Utamaro Kitagawa, one of the famed woodblock painters in the Japanese rich artistic and cultural history. Ukiyo-e means "pictures of the floating life (or everyday life)". This artistic style was most prominent during the 17th up to mid 19th century Japan, also known as the Edo period.

Submitting this card for Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday.

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Source: http://www.adachi-hanga.com/en_ukiyo-e/item/utamaro060.htm

Hortensiekrans

FI-1704552, Sender: dotdotPC
Sent on 16 March 2013, Sent from Helsinki, Finland
Received on 1 April 2013, Traveled 8,938 km in 16 days

Here's a hydrangea wreath to celebrate the melting of snow, the peeking sun...it's spring time! We don't have spring here in the Philippines but I share this silky and beautiful wreath to everyone celebrating the spring season. 

Hydrangea wreath is hortensiekrans in Swedish. I had my Finnish friend / pen pal Tuija translate it for me. (I learned from her too that Swedish is one of the first languages of Finland.) Earlier today, I received a letter from her in the mail. Her letter spoke of winter draining her energy. Since the wreath symbolizes life and strength, I wish you all of my co-bloggers and readers a flow of renewed energy, life, and strength with the spring season!

I believe this wreath comes with an extra special love cause it's not the usual circular but it is heart-shaped instead ;-)

Linking up with Clytie for Guest Heart Thursday.

~maria 

Plum Garden at Kameido

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Leo Baluyot
Sent on 1 April 2013, Sent from Narita Airport T1, Japan
Received on 10 April 2013, Traveled 13,183 km in 9 days

A close-up wood print of an unusual variety of plum tree by the ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige Utagawa. This postcard reproduction from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" is by The Adachi Institute of Wooden Prints. 

Linking up for the very first time with Sakura Haruka's Wordless Wed. I am happy that my first image for her linky party is very appropriate for Sakura, which as we all know, means 'cherry blossoms'. The postcard was sent by Leo from his visit to the most recent Japanese Cherry Blossoms Festival.

~maria

Tulips from Axel, NL

NL-1214999, Sender: Monique
Sent on 12 May 2012, Sent from TA Axel, Netherlands
Received on 4 June 2012, Traveled 10,518 km in 23 days

My first 3D flower postcard!

Here are some tulip facts:

The name tulip came from the word turbin, an Ottoman Turkish word. 

Despite being famously cultivated in Netherlands, tulips are originally from Central Asia and Turkey.

Tulips can be eaten, (or at least some parts of it). They taste like lettuce or beans.

The most sought after tulip is the Queen of the Night, a tulip which is very deep purple in color.

Dank u Monique for sending me this card!

Sharing this with Tina and Mona for the weekend blooms:

~maria

Bagan Temples, Myanmar

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: My twin, Wan
Sent from Myanmar, Sent on August 2012
Received on September 2012, Traveled ~2664 km

I have two inspirations for sharing this postcard. First, I was with my twin, Wan, last week for the Holy Week vacation. We were talking about his trip to Myanmar and I was really hoping I was with him...I could have seen these majestic ancient temples...

Second, I was browsing the Instagram profile of a former officemate who loves to travel. I'm an avid follower of her travel adventures via her insta posts. Yesterday, I had some downtime and I ventured into her blogger page: http://itraveltolive.blogspot.com. I was greeted with a post about Myanmar. And the cover photo on her page, the Bagan temples! And so I excitedly dug up this postcard from my albums. :-)

The Bagan temples are found in the middle of Myanmar, the Mandalay Region. They're formerly known as Pagan. The fewer temples and pagodas surviving today are the remains of about 10,000 from the 11th and 13th centuries. 

Sharing this with Beth for the Postcard Friendship Friday.

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria