Postcards for the weekend 83: Patterns & prints

I had a minor accident last Sunday evening that has limited my mobility. Since I changed my laptop the week before and the scanned copy of my postcards were temporarily moved to my portable hard drive, I don't have access both to the actual postcards and the scanned copies at the moment. I've been staying at my boyfriend's place since the accident and my portable hard drive is in the office and the actual postcards are at my place. Thankfully, I have some scans that are still yet to be cleaned up from my e-mail. It might be a bit of stretch for this weekend's theme but I hope these still works :)

Souvenir postcard from Seoul, Korea

This postcard is from a 21-pc set entitled Painting of Flowers, Birds, Insects, and Fish. The set was printed by the Cultural Foundation of National Museum of Korea. This is among a few postcards from the set that I kept for myself as a souvenir from the trip back in mid-March.

DE-5853679, Sent from Potsdam
Traveled 9,947 km in 6 days

The label at the back of the postcard was in German. Roughly translated in English: I found them in the spring shadow, where I tied them with rosebands. I'm quite not sure whether the postcard should be in portrait or landscape orientation. The painting looks like a rose garden of mixed colors for me.

Given that this weekend's theme seems to be open for interpretation, I'm specially more excited to see the contributions this weekend.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 72: Love/Lovely

I wish that I've bought more copies than I actually did of this postcard for this weekend's theme. Perhaps I'm too sappy -- I imagine this postcard can bring a nice smile to the recipient.

Have a lovely weekend!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 65: December holidays

FI-3122027, Sent from Lahti, Finland
Traveled 9,247 km in 12 days

This is the very first Christmas-themed postcard I received this year. I'm very pleased with the bright and glossy finish of this postcard. I reckon there's no heater inside Santa's workshop ... Santa and his helpers' cheeks are all extremely red!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Singapore
Traveled 2,391 km

A card that I've received 4 years ago from Singapore when I was still living in Manila. The sender of this postcard loves to draw. This postcard featured a festive illustration of the Singapore's icon, Merlion at the back:

If you noticed, the message was written for Krissa. I'm Krissa to family and friends. It wasn't until I entered university that I was called using my real name, Maria Kristina. In the Philippines, children are usually given official long names and shorter nicknames.

Speaking of family & friends, I won't be spending this upcoming holidays with loved ones. For those of you who are, I truly wish that you make memorable moments with your family & friends.

We will not have any linky for next weekend ... So please allow me to greet all of you a Merry Christmas in advance!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 57: Anything you wish

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from North Houston, Texas
Sent 2 Dec 2013, Traveled 13,241 km in 10 days

For our theme this weekend, anything you wish, I'm sharing an anecdote, facts, and trivia about the United States of America and the states that I'm visiting during this 3-week business trip.

CA-669234, Sent from Montreal, Quebec
Sent 11 Oct 2016, Traveled 14, 644 km in 15 days

According to a report published by Instituto Cervantes, the United States of America has more Spanish speakers as compared to Spain. My first conversation after getting out of my 13 hours flight from Tokyo to Washington, DC was with a gentleman, whom I asked for directions. My un poquito Español was put to the test. Good thing some Spanish words are incorporated in my native tongue, Filipino. Evidently, one needs more than English to efficiently get by in the USA.

RU-1711183, Sent from Yekaterinburg, Russia
Sent 29 Apr 2013, Traveled 6,872 km in 37 days

My flight from Tokyo (I flew in first from Singapore to Japan) landed at Washington Dulles International Airport. I wish I budgeted a couple of days for sightseeing. I could have seen the Lincoln Memorial in the capital. 

Direct Swap, Sent from Vienna, VA
Sent 22 Nov 2016, Traveled 15,685 km

From Washington DC, I flew here to Cleveland, Ohio. This is my first main destination for my 3-week business trip here in the USA. When I came to the office yesterday, I was given a goodie bag, containing several items and a paper with a Did You Know? header. As you can imagine, it's the inspiration for my choice of postcards for this post. I learned that Ohio is the Birthplace of Aviation, as the Wright brothers were born in Dayton, Ohio.

TW-1056264, Sent from Taiwan
Sent 25 Oct 2013, Traveled 1,171 km in 13 days

On Sunday, I will fly from Cleveland to Seattle, with a connection via Chicago. The Ferris wheel was invented in Chicago in 1893.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Seattle, WA
Sent 19 June 2015, Traveled 12,970 km

The state of Washington is my second and last main destination for this trip. Washington state produces more apples than any other states. I'm pretty curious if I'll have the chance to see apple orchards while I'm there. Moreover, I also hope to see one of our blogging friends, John.

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 40: Country map(s)

My interest with Ireland started when I saw a very entertaining animated film with a leprechaun when I was a little girl. I always thought Ireland is Ireland ...

IE-33070, sent from Dublin, Ireland
Sent 13 March 2012, Traveled 10,959 km in 13 days

... But when I traveled to Scotland back in 2012, I learned that Ireland has two parts: one being the Republic of Ireland, and another being North Ireland, part of United Kingdom.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Oxfordshire, UK
Sent: 13 Nov 2013, Traveled 10,777 km

That was my very first out of Asian continent trip. I visited a relative in Edinburgh after attending a conference in Glasgow and he asked me whether I plan to see Ireland as well. I was very surprised as I thought, "How can I go there when I only have UK visa and no Schengen visa." Then, I was educated on the two Irelands ... Ah, the things I couldn't have learned if not for actually making a trip to somewhere!

What are some of the memorable unexpected learnings from your travel(s) abroad?

Happy weekend,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 32: Whimsical and/or magical

I've been up to my neck with work and I almost forgot it's Friday!

For this weekend's theme I've picked three postcards to share:

Friendship Gift Postcard, from Finland
Sent 7 June 2014, traveled 9,171 km

I'm very happy to come across this postcard from my collection again and read the message at the back from my Finnish pen friend, Tuija. She translated the text, "Sometimes it's good to catch one's breath and enjoy the day enjoying one's self, leaving everyday worries behind, take it easy and be happy about the good things in life."

RU-537449, from Russia,
Sent 21 Aug 2011, traveled 8,260 km in 25 days

It looks so magical with the planets and stars in the background. I can't figure out the pink wall that the cats are leaning on though, is it supposed to be a wall?

DE-6024930, from the north of Germany
Sent 1 March 2017, traveled 10,102 km in 13 days

This is one of my most recently received postcards. Because of the black hood and veil of this woman, I always think of Bellatrix Lestrange (from the famous Harry Potter series) every time I look at the postcard.

Have a relaxing weekend folks!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 23: Happiness

For more than 20 weeks, we have seen creative twists with the theme interpretations. I would love to mention each and every notable ones I've seen. I'm afraid this post won't fit on this page at all though if I do so! In line with that observation, I decided to be more inclusive for the themes this month of February. I realized it might be quite challenging, but let's see what are the postcards the four chosen emotions will bring us. To start with -- HAPPINESS.

The Red Clover Fairy, Private Swap
Sent from Russia, Traveled for 20 days

Aside from being in the company of love ones and friends, I noticed that I'm very happy whenever I'm surrounded by nature. My job needs me to talk and listen with many different people most of the time. Nature does not ask that of me; listening to its sounds is voluntarily ... for the talking part, I guess I kind of do self-talk whenever I see something queer or fascinating. Overall, it's a rush of happiness whenever I see colorful birds, butterflies, dragonflies, beautiful blooms, huge and ancient trees whenever I go for nature walks. At some places, the foliage is the same as my last visit. Regardless, the great experience remains the same!

NL-1307269, Sent from The Netherlands
Traveled 10,333 in 60 days

For this theme of happiness, I'm sharing these three reproductions of Mary Cicely Barker postcards. It's impressive how happiness is reflected on the faces of each fairy on the postcards. And oh, that youthfulness! My partner told me that he often notices that I'm the happiest whenever we do something outdoors in nature. Well, it always give me the sense of adventure and freedom -- best cure for anxiety!

The Black Bryony Fairy, NL-2110239
Sent from The Netherlands, Traveled 10,348 km in 10 days

I hope these postcards are able to make you happy, too!

Cheers,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 17: December holidays

As mentioned last weekend, I'm going to share illustrated December holidays postcards for this weekend. I have three cards for this second set. I love this first card with the Santa Claus and the heart-shaped cookie. I think more than Valentine's Day, Christmas is a season of expressing love to people dear to us. It's always the best time of the year to gather and celebrate with family and friends. Time is such a hot commodity nowadays and for someone to put an effort to give time; it could only mean one thing -- love! I might be putting more perspective into it than necessary but living on a separate country away from my immediate family and on a long distance relationship with my partner, it means so much to me to travel or conversely, for them to travel so we can be together.

NL-2157975, Sent from southern Netherlands
on 31 Oct 2013, Traveled 10,398 km in 52 days

My partner was here in Singapore last weekend. This weekend, my whole family flew in from the Philippines. It makes my heart melt with joy, knowing that their journey by bus - ship - bus - taxi - airplane - train has finally brought them to me. If you dare ask, the whole trip took them two days!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Kuopio, Finland
Received 1 Dec 2016, Traveled 8,726 km

I think this Susan Wheeler illustrated postcard well represents the joy we have, gathering as a family for Christmas time. We don't have an infant on a pram and snowfall, though. My parents, born and raised Catholic -- asked me over the phone two weeks ago while discussing the trip, "Can we attend a church service there on Christmas day?"

"Well, of course mother!", I replied.

FI-1923136, Sent from Kuopio, Finland
on 11 Nov 2013, Traveled 8, 749 km

I'm happy to find another illustrated postcard to share this family tradition of attending a church service on Christmas. If you notice on the Susan Wheeler card, she had her initials on the lower right portion of the artwork. On this one, Stina Broome, the artist has her name neatly penned on the similar spot (only lower).

I hope we're all having a splendid experience with people we love at this time of the year! Merry Christmas everyone!

~maria

PS. Thanks so much in advance to my blogging friends who will find time to link up this weekend. I'm keeping the linky open for 3 days instead of 2 this weekend to give chance for more of us to link up. For some of you who cannot, please don't feel bad nor apologetic about it. As mentioned before, our linky party is a fun activity; we shouldn't feel tied down by it. ;-)

PFF: Happy Thanksgiving!

Sent: 17 July 2012, Traveled 13,633 km 

Back in 2012, I sent a get well soon postcard to a stranger who needed a liver transplant. I received a thank you card in return! With that short story, I wish to greet those who celebrate a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm linking up with my friend Beth for the Postcard Friendship Friday linky, a collection of beautiful postcard shared on the last day of the week.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 9: Gardens by the Bay

I thought it would be easier not to work on a theme but I was wrong! When having a theme requires me to dig through my collection, not having one puts me in a big conflict. There’s a lot of beautiful and special cards that I wish to share!

But finally … here are cards from Singapore Gardens by the Bay – a place where I love going for a jog or a walk during the weekends. Though the scenery doesn’t change, there’s always new energy depending on the crowd of people who are there at the time of my visit.

To start with, here are two artistic renditions of the place. Are you able to count how many birds are there in the yellow postcard? How about the butterfly, dragonfly, and frog on the white one?

Outgoing, Traveling to Finland

SG-221079, Sent to Arizona, USA
Traveled 14,646 km in 21 days

For these next two cards, they’re almost identical but taken at different angles. It’s nice to notice that the bright white dot-like lights on the supertrees are more luminous on the last card.

The Gardens by the Bay is self-sufficient. There are solar panels on top of the supertree structures that power the place.

SG-224826, Sent to Gwynedd, UK
Traveled 11,074 km in 13 days

SG-221631, Sent to Bochum, Germany
Traveled 10,353 km in 9 days

I hope you enjoyed these cards. Have fun visiting each other’s page for their chosen features for the theme anything you wish!

~maria

PFF: Happy Halloween

SG-221629, Sent to Saint Petersburg, Russia

Traveled 8,974 km in 10 days

For Postcard Friendship Friday this week, I'm sharing this card that received the comment: fantastic, unusual amazing postcard. I'm glad that the puzzle pieces arrived all intact.

Upon seeing social media posts of Halloween dress up costumes, I was reminded of this puzzle postcard. I think, these are two men in elephant costume for the circus.

Enjoy the Halloween festivities, everyone! 

Head over to Beth's page to see what others have shared for PFF.

~maria

PFF: Hurray for Beth!

SG-221621, Outgoing to China
Sent 22 Aug 2016, Traveled 4,556 km in 24 days

Beth, the host of Postcard Friendship Friday has been in my thoughts. As some of you may know, she underwent surgery. I wrote to her last week and I'm happy that she's feeling better and a lot more mobile. Sending warm & cheerful thoughts your way Beth! I hope you will be back into good health again real soon.

The Best Hearts Are Crunchy, Beth's page is one of my favorites -- lots of beautiful vintage cards there. Most of these cards I can only admire online and never will be in my collection. Thanks Beth for sharing joy with your collection through your blog.

Postcards for the weekend 7: Children from JP, USA, & PH

Sent from Yokohama, Japan by myself
Sent on 30 May 2015, Traveled 5,291 km

Since Feb 2015 when I started traveling mostly around Asia for work, I've been sending myself postcards from my trips. This one is from my first trip to Japan. There's a poem/song about Akai Kutsu that tells the story of an adopted girl, best remembered for her red shoes. According to our Japanese business partner, the little girl with red shoes is a metaphor for little girls being adopted by Americans back then, leaving Japan through the port of Yokohama. I found an article here that elaborates more about a little girl with red shoes on.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Terry
Sent from Arkansas on 3 May 2013, Traveled 13,544 km

This second card is among my favorites! Terry said that these two friends -- the blonde girl is her and the other one with black hair is me. Terry and I met through a postcards exchange group in Facebook. We became close friends through the years since meeting each other back in June 2012. Terry pointed out to me that by the leg of the stool, there's the ME initials. ME is for Mary Engelbreit, illustrator of children's books.

~maria

Blue forget-me-not blooms

I got this postcard while shopping for souvenirs during my recent trip to Gothenburg, Sweden. The postcard is quite pricey and I am looking to have it swapped for a USA state map postcard for my collection.

The designer is French Marie Cardouat. I really like her designs and this is just 1 of the 4 cards I bought. I wish her cards are available in bookstores here in Singapore. I have to check! For the meantime, I'll delight myself to the different pics posted for Blue Monday @ SmilingSally's.

~maria

A Surprise Card!

Surprise Postcard, Sender: Terry Lovell
Sent: 13 Aug 2012 from Sherwood, AR
Received: 31 Aug 2012, Traveled 13,552 km in 19 days

In moments of doubt, I turn into kind words. One example is the message at the back of this surprise card from Terry:

You are a special person -- I know that to be true about you!

Thank you very much Terry! You make me smile every time with the postcards you send me and the lovely messages. Reading kind words from friendships I've made with people I haven't even met yet is very refreshing. For me, it reflects purity of human spirit. Despite what we see and what we believe to be an enormous damage in the human morale fiber, there is still the great potential for genuine kindness and good will even among strangers.

Reading Terry's message and looking at this card once again has cheered me up!

I'm off to bed tonight with a smile, renewed spirit, and excitement for the weekend!

But before that, I'm heading over at Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday to check for more nice postcards that will surely make me smile even more.

Sleep well everyone and have a great weekend ahead!

~maria

Spirit of the owl

NL-2196658, Sender: Anne
Sent: 20 Nov 2013 from Breda, Netherlands
Received: 22 Dec 2013, Traveled 10,449 km in 32 days

I'm being more pensive than usual again ... I needed to restrain myself from posting an entry here. I was lost in reverie and I didn't want to publish unguarded thoughts. 'Gotta be careful, right? ;-)

But still, I don't want to lose another chance to share a pretty postcard for
Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday and Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday.

To steer my thoughts to the right direction and to guide me make sensible reflections, here's one  of my favorite postcards. May my thoughts reflect wisdom, like the spirit of the owl. May my perception reflect clarity like being  able to identify that one obvious heart in the card. And may my judgment encompass benevolence,  like the clearly obvious and concealed layers of hearts on this card. 
How many can you count? I admit it's hard counting all of them! 

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Share the happiness!

DE-235834, Sender: Jardinantoine
Sent: 14 Oct 2013 from Brussels, Belgium
Received: 20 Nov 2013, Traveled 10,517 km in 37 days

Hurray! One of the happiest seasons of the year is almost here -- Christmas!! I'm thrilled to post my first December entry for my blog this year. I'm not a fan of carbonated drinks, I don't drink soda as much as possible but that doesn't prevent me from loving Coca-cola's tagline, "Share the happiness", which is also very appropriate for this holiday season.

In line with this postcard, I'm happy to share, too (forthose who haven't seen this on the news) that Coca-cola Philippines, true to the Coca-cola tagline, have made a very charitable and generous act. Since 18 November, they have suspended advertisement campaigns to route the funds for these instead to helping those affected by the Super Typhoon Haiyan. Here's a link for Coca-cola's press release about this.

This Coca-cola postcard is among the first Christmas-themed postcards I got this year. Together with the cheerful front design, I got an equally delightful treat from the back of the card!

It's a lick-taste-smell Belgian chocolate stamp! When the taste is a bit disappointing, it does smell like chocolate! Wonderful enough... Kudos to whoever thought of this idea (I'm too lazy to run a research right now :p ) I think this is a winning way to get people back into the art of sending letter, postcards, and other stuff in the mail!

Sharing this heart-shaped chocolate with Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday. How I wish I can also share my actual experience of "lick-taste-smell" with this stamp, how I wish I took a video! It was my very first time to actually "taste" a stamp! Goodness... perhaps next time ;-)

~maria

PS. And I just realized, 6 December, tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day in Europe. St. Nicholas is identical to the American's Santa Claus. So let me also take this opportunity to greet my readers from Europe, Happy St. Nicholas Day!!!

Geek it up!

Facebook Swap, Sender: LaraLuis
Sent: 25 Dec 2012 from Sao Mamede de Infesta, Portugal Received: 16 Jan 2013, Traveled ~12,178 km in 23 days

The vacation with my beau is over by the end of today. As mentioned in my previous blog posts, my dreaded exam is tomorrow. Time to geek it up! I did my best to revise while on vacation. But I think my body took more on the 'relaxation' mode. I ain't too guilty. I believe it's also necessary to pay attention to other 'human' needs and not just always focusing on intellectual endeavors.

I know. I know. I'm doing my best to justify it to myself, this feeling of unpreparedness. But I guess in the end, it's not just professional accomplishments that matter but also a strong personal relationship with someone you hold so close to your heart.

As such, I'm delighted to share that for a change, my vacation was spent doing physical activities. Very different from the usual me -- wearing my glasses and deep in the pages of my books. Here, let me share snap shots of our activities that I'm really proud I did with him. Imagine, for the first time, I was shouting at the top of my lungs for going so fast downhill on a mountain bike and not because I completed a solution for a Physics problem? That was really cool!

I feel relaxed and just prepared with whatever the result of the exam will be. Deep in my heart, I'm wishing I will pass. But I guess we'll see... I am doing my best to block the pressure of "Will I pass or not?" and I'm just focusing on giving my best once the examination questions are laid out in front of me.

Cheers for optimism! Pressure will always be there but let's not allow it to always make us blue. Blue is a relaxing color. Blue is the favorite color of my beau, and is starting to be my favorite, too.

Happy Blue Monday everyone! I wish us all a great week.

For more nice blue, check out the Blue Monday linky party.

~maria

Belle & Her Book

Facebook Swap, Sender: TerrySent: 20 Oct 2012 from Sherwood, AR
 Traveled 13,552 km in 19 days

This post is inspired by Nancy and Heather's recent entry for Postcard Friendship Friday. She posted a postcard of Mrs. Potts and Chip. Probably Belle got to engrossed with her reading, forgot her grocery list, and Mrs. Potts' smirk at Chip (at Heather's blog) was because he forgot to remind Belle of her list.

Well, I'm wishing I'm like Belle who can focus with my reading. But I just can't. Leafing just a few pages of my books, sleep already gets the best of me. I'm just really extremely tired lately. *sigh* Exam was moved one week later but I still don't think that's enough time to prepare. I've got several important engagements scheduled in between tomorrow and that date. I'll still do my best though to read whenever and whatever I can. I'm feeling a bit blue thinking I'll fail the exam. At the same time though, I think I should cut myself some slack since I'm already completing my residency this year apart from taking that certification. I don't know... For now I'm resolved to take the test, which is good for 4 hours, with 100 multiple-choice questions and 5 essay questions. And then, I guess we'll find out if it's for me to be certified this year or not, two weeks from now.

On a more personal note, I'm rejoicing 'cause it's just 2 days before I'll be with the beau again after not seeing him for 2 months and a half. Yipee!! With that, Happy Blue Monday 'ye all!

~maria

Beacon of Hope

PL-688784, Sender: Ania
Sent: 18 July 2012 from Warsaw, Poland
Received: 24 September 2012, Traveled 9,394 km in 68 days

The Rose-bay Willow-herb Fairy is a beacon of hope. This fairy brightens up forlorn places and neglected spaces with a blanket of bright pink blossoms. Her charity extends to other fairies and humans, as well. She flies to rescue any struggling Flower Fairy and takes pity on troubled humans, sometimes even granting their wishes.

How I wish this fairy will notice me. I know it's a selfish wish as for sure many would want to be noticed by the Rose-bay Willow-herb Fairy, too... But I guess the good fairy will notice us one human at a time ;-) Ania the sender said the fairy gives optimism. True to its description; I strongly agree! I know the fairy will look my way and Big Dad will make my wishes come true if it's according to His great plan for me. So I tell myself to 'relax and just keep on persevering', good things come to those who toil tirelessly while waiting.

I'm enlisting this fairy with Beverly's Pink Sunday roll. Happy weekend ye all!

~maria

Source of fairy description: http://www.flowerfairies.com/US_version/finder/start.htm