Postcards for the weekend 16: December holidays

As a Christian, one of the most awaited holiday for me during the year is Christmas. It's when the weather is cooler and the environment is merry almost everywhere.

For these two weekends with the December holidays theme, I will split my postcards between real-life photos postcards and illustrated postcards. For the first set:

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Dr. Arnold
Sent: 5 June 2016 from Greenland, Traveled 11,538 km

This postcard makes me miss hearing children's choir during the mass. The youngest choir I had the pleasure to listen to recently are teenagers. There's just that mesmerizing sweetness and innocence in the voice of children that I long to hear live again.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Terry
Sent: 9 July 2015, Traveled 16,656 km

This postcard is from a set from Garvan Woodland Gardens at the University of Arkansas. Annually, around 1.7 million sparkling lights are arranged throughout the gardens for the holiday feature. By the look of the postcard, it must be enchanting when the lights shine bright against the dark.

US-4376395, Sender: Nancy
Sent: 1 Dec 2016, Traveled 15,145 km in 14 days

This card is among the most recent Christmas cards that I've received. It came this week. According to the postcard, each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the Country Club Plaza for the spectacular Christmas lights. The installations last from Thanksgiving night until the end of the holiday season. The fireworks on this postcard makes it look like even more radiant!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija
Sent: Dec 2013, Traveled 8,726 km

This last card for this weekend is half real life and half illustration postcard. The dog on this postcard is Vilma, pet and companion of my penfriend Tuija, Vilma is a litter reject Mittelspitz but my sweet friend took her and they've been with each other for many years now. I always love reading news about Vilma on each and every letter Tuija sends to me. 

Until next weekend for more Christmas postcards!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 15: Winter Scenes

Before I moved to Singapore back in January 2014, I scanned all the postcards I have. Both the front and the back were scanned. That was a rush project with all the other things that needed to be taken cared of prior to moving. When I resumed my blogging activities three months ago, I realized that some of the cards are missing the back side scan. The postcard above is one among those without the back side scan. It makes me disappointed as it always delight me whenever I review the back side scan, re-reading the message from the sender and looking up how long and how far the postcard traveled to get to my mailbox. 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija
Traveled 9,160 km

Moving on, I've never seen snow nor experienced winter. Or perhaps I did, early February this year in Korea but there was no snow ... I've never seen snow. Winter scenes with snow always look magical to me. December is the time of the year when I normally get winter scene postcards. Often, they come with holiday greetings like these two. Do you get winter scene postcards in other months of the year, too?

~maria

Stamps: Wild animals

I'm quite pleased to share these wild animal stamps where two are illustrated and the other two are actual photos.

The two stamps on top were part of the series Australian Bush Babies. The kangaroo was issued in 1 July 2011. I can't find the exact issue date for the dingo, though. The illustrations were designed by Elise Martinson. Other stamps from the series can be found on her page. I find these illustrations well-detailed and it seems like they're out from the pages of a nice children's book with a beautiful story about animals in the wild.

On the bottom left, the bear stamp was issued 21 February 2008 as part of Wildlife in Norway III series. The label Bjorn on the stamp is an old Norse term for bear. On the bottom right, we have a lynx with its young. It's issued in 2012 as part of Native Animals series from Germany.

For a collection of stamps featuring wild animals, please check See It On A Postcard.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 14: Lighthouses

Direct Swap, Sent: 21 Nov 2012
Sent from Black Forest region, Germany, Traveled 22 days

A maritime gem; this lighthouse is the first building to be erected on the sea floor. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1986. It's accessible though for day trips and for rent to those who fancy a night or two in an isolated hotel.

NL-2074177, Sent: 19 Sep 2013
Sent from Utrecht. NL, Traveled 10,084 km

As mentioned in the websites where I read about the Roter Sand or Red Sand Lighthouse / Hotel -- staying here is back to basics as there's no electricity nor heating system. 

Direct Swap: Sent: 29 July 2012
Sent from Cuxhaven. Germany, Traveled 10, 406 km in 14 days

This third card looks like a nice marketing poster for Roter Sand. I'm not sure I'm brave enough for that experience even though this image looks enticing. 

~maria

PS. I'm very sorry for accidentally deleting the linky for the previous week. I searched for a way to revert it on the linkytools website but to no avail. I am sending a message to the admin and we'll see from there :(

PFF: Christmas month!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija
Sent: 01 Dec 2014, Traveled 9,160 km 

It's Christmas month! Although in my home country, the jolly atmosphere of Christmas starts as early as September. Here in my host country Singapore, I think it's right after Deepavali. 

I received my first Christmas card for this year two days ago. It's also from Tuija, my Finnish pen friend who also sent me this red & white postcard 2 years ago. 

Are you excited for the holidays? For more pretty postcards, please visit my friend Beth's page for Postcard Friendship Friday. She always have very nice vintage postcards to share.

~maria