Postcards for the weekend 74: Serenity/Peace/Calm

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Yachiyo
Sent 16 Feb 2012, Traveled 3,022 km

I received this postcard from a Japanese acquaintance 6 years ago. The postcard didn't make any sense to me until I had the chance to travel to Kyoto, Japan and see an actual Zen garden back in November 2016.

This rock Zen garden is of The Temple of the Dragon at Peace (Ryoan-ji). This garden and the temple are listed as one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On this postcard, the garden is viewed at a seated position on the veranda of the abbott of the monastery/temple. There has been plenty of attempts to explain the careful placement of stones in the garden. According to a Garden historian, Gunter Nitschke, "The garden at Ryoan-ji does not symbolize anything, or more precisely, to avoid any misunderstanding, the garden at Ryoan-ji does not symbolize, nor does it have the value of reproducing a natural beauty that one can find in the real or mythical world. I consider it to be an abstract composition of natural objects in space, a composition whose function is to incite meditation."

Wishing you all a calm and peaceful weekend,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 63: Singapore Merlion & Supertrees

I have a colleague from our HQ in the US who will visit Singapore next week. He's coming for one big project I've been working on and hoping to finish before the year ends. Since he will be traveling literally from the other side of the world to help me and that it will be his first time in Singapore, I'm planning to make sure I can tour him even for a little bit while he's here.

The Merlion Park is always a good place to start a quick tour. Merlion is a half fish, half lion mythical creature used as the iconic symbol of Singapore.

From the Merlion Park, as it gets darker, we can walk towards the left and aim for the Helix Bridge. This bridge was intentionally build to take a left-handed DNA-like design.

There's a series of different colors illuminating the bridge. In this postcard, which was taken from a wider angle, the yellow has turned into blue lights. The lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum is also visible to the right of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

If the night is still young, I will bring him to see the Supertrees. It is at the back of Marina Bay Sands Hotel, where there's a free outdoor Music and Light Show called Garden Rhapsody. I've previously featured more postcards for the Supertrees at the Gardens by the Bay, here.

Walking in a counter-clockwise direction, if we're lucky, we might also catch the Spectra, another free outdoor Light and Water Show in front of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

I hope this sounds like a good sightseeing plan!

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Gardens or Forests

Left to right --

50th Anniversary of the Jardim Botanico Madeira

Issued in 2010 (Portugal)

Eero Järnefelt 150 Years Commemorative Stamp, Forest Landscape 

Issued in 2013 (Finland)

Nuuksio National Park

Issued in 2013 (Finland)

Singapore, my second home is a garden city. One of the most admirable features of this garden city is the lush greeneries lining the roadsides. Left to right --

Saga, Adenanthera pavonina

Issued in 2010 (Singapore)

Angsana, Pterocarpus indicus

Issued in 2010 (Singapore)

Rain tree, Samanea saman

Issued in 2010 (Singapore)

For Sunday Stamps: gardens or forests

~maria

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 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