Letters To & From Finland

Tonight I was writing a letter to my Finnish pen friend, Tuija.

I noticed the design on the letter set I'm writing on -- lots of hearts!

There are hearts on the blue flower pot.

OUT: 21 November 2013 to Finland

The flowers of different colors and design are heart-shaped, too!

IN: 5 November 2013 from Finland
Sent: 24 October 2013, Traveled 9,160 km in 11 days

It was a lovely coincidence that this most recent letter of Tuija,

to which I'm writing a response for, is written on a stationery which is

adorned with hearts too with the most appropriate message on it:

"You will always have a special place in my heart."

All in all, perfect for Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday!

I realized, there should be more random hearts in past letters Tuija

sent to me and in remaining leaves of letter sets I used to send messages

for her. I'm happy to discover tonight that now I've got these letters to look for hearts

in addition to my postcards and stamps collection. I wish you'll keep on

visiting Clytie's and my page for more hearts on Thursdays! =)

~maria

...et l'amour

Private Swap, Sender: David Russell
Sent: 27 May 2013, Sent from Lyon, France
Received: 4 June 2013, Traveled 10,765.82 km in 8 days

I am truly grateful that postcard swap friends give it an effort to fulfill postcard preference requests. At the back of this card, David wrote: 

I looked around and finally found a postcard with hearts. It wasn't easy to pick just the right card. I hope you will enjoy it. :) 

-- and of course, I enjoy this card a lot! My favorite heart from this set is the one on the top row, to the right of the letter 'O'. 

There's a phrase in French at the bottom of the card. I asked Mr. Google to translate it for me, and he said it means, "...and love goes around your hearts." I wanted a more comprehensible translation, and from the beau, I got: "...and love is filling up your hearts". It's really complicated for me learning the French language but I hope I can at least comprehend the basics by trying to understand words and phrases.

I would also like to share, that this postcard is double heart-y treat for me. David sent it with a heart-shaped stamp. This is Hermès contribution to the annual 'Heart' collection of the French Postal Service (La Poste). The design is from the brand's iconic scarves, illustrated by Zoé Pauwels. The stamp was released 28 January 2013. I cropped the stamp to show the overlapping postmarks from the Lyon and Manila postal offices. I think they look nice.

For more Francophile posts, Paulita is running 'Dreaming of France' at her page, An Accidental Blog, click the icon below to proceed to her blog.

~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

Every morning is a gate to a new world.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija Thil
Sent from Kuopio, Finland, Sent on 28 January 2013
Received on 6 February 2013, Traveled ~9,160 km in 10 days

"Every morning is a gate to a new world."

As mentioned in my post from yesterday, here is the postcard that came with the fairy stamp.

I've very much wanted to share this postcard when I received it, right exactly on my birth day. But, as you can see in my blog archive, there's no single entry for the month of February.

And nope, it wasn't because I'm swamped with work and clinical residency again. Well, I kinda am with the latter but ... February was my month. Pardon me for being a bit selfish with it. I turned 26 and having spent 25 years of my life (WHOAH! That's a quarter century all gone now!) ... I decided I need time for more serious introspection.

It was a struggle to get a 'me time'. I'm not sad nor sorry about it, don't get me wrong. The month started awesome. I was on a nature paradise with my boyfriend and his cheerful friends. After that, we got to enjoy our own lovely time for our first Heart's Day together. At the end of February, I was on the other side of the spectrum, struggling to hold together the crumbling pieces of a dream that my friends and I have been devoting so much time, effort, energy, and resources already for almost three years.

When I really thought a time alone with myself was what I needed to see a better picture of who I've been for the past 25 years and what I want to be now that I am starting another 25 years (well hopefully 75 more years, but let's talk about that later)...it dawned on me that a new experience each morning / day modifies your choices and very much affects your decision-making. You might be strongly inclined into something, then something goes out of control -- you don't complain but do your best to turn things still into something great. Then eventually, you'll never know that even though you've taken a detour, you're still on the right track into claiming that something that you really really wanted. Or perhaps, you get frustrated because you're on a completely different road now. But unknown to you is that you've been pushed into this other road so you can be a lot better than what you initially thought you can be.

I admit at 26, I am surprised to find I am still a bit confused sometimes of what I truly want. I am still a bit hesitant sometimes with a new morning, not knowing where my real space is under the sun in that new day. But then, I guess that's life. You just always give it your best shot despite the uncertainties and you discover a new perspective, a better sense of the world than what you've always thought it was.

Yesterday, I'm happy to discover a wonderful blog, Tina's PicStory. Apparently, the author and I shares the same name, she's Kristina, my complete first name is Maria Kristina. She uses the name Tina on her blog, which is how my mother Valentina is called by friends. This pretty flower postcard is my first submission to her Weekend Flowers linky.

Wishing us all a great Monday morning, a great start for a new week, and a wonderful week ahead!

~maria

Icebird, from Kalevala-sarja

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija Thil
Sent from Kuopio, Finland, Sent on 04 July 2012
Received on 28 Jul 2012, Traveled ~9,160 km in 24 days

And here we are, on the last week of November...life has been busier than it normally is here and yeah, shame...I've shared just one postcard so far for this month. Ok folks, I don't have any scheduled fieldwork this week so I'll make it up with all of you by sharing two cards per day. Yep, you read it right! :)

A month ago, my bestfriend and I organized my postcards. I realized I've already got a lot (!!!) and that I've really been behind in posting my cards here so this week is the perfect chance to catch up.

The first card for sharing this week is from my Finnish penpal, Tuija. I posted the scan of the back of the card cause there's a lot of information on it, plus I really love Tuija's penmanship. I wish I can write as legibly as her! 

*shuffling through my pile of postcards, watch out for the next one*

~maria

Hugs for Leontien: Sonnet CXVI

Postcard ID: UA-235752, Sender: Irina
Sent from Kyiv, Ukraine, Sent on 14 Mar 2012
Received on 30 Mar 2012, Traveled 8833.2 km in 16 days

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

or bends with the remover to remove:

Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

- W. Shakespeare

A postcard that I received from the Postcrossing member with the most postcards sent from Ukraine :) Sharing this with Clytie for Random Hearts Thursday and the Leaves for Leontien campaign. 

  

~ maria

p.s. It would have been nicer if I could also post autumn leaves for Leontien but my only card with autumn leaves was already posted on September 28. I am a medical physicist and quality control of mammography equipment is one of the things I do. Breast cancer prevention and awareness is a big part of my job... I hope even without an autumn leaf and with just the green leaves with a beautiful love poem, I can send some warm hugs for her. :)

North Shore's Autumn Foliage

World in Postcards October General Swap, Sender: Ritz Smitz
Sent from Minneapolis, MN, Sent on 11 Oct 2011
Received date not stamped on card, Traveled 12,553.42 km

I've always been a fan of autumn colors, like the sunset and sunrise colors. Though the red to orange hues invoke some form of melancholy, it also inspires quiet reflection. 

I like this poem that I found online about autumn, let me share a few lines:

Chanson d' automne

Les sanglots longs

Des violins

De l'automne

Blessent mon coeur

D'une langueur

Monotone.

The poem is by Paul Verlaine, and the lines translates to: The long sobs / of the violins / of autumn / wound my heart / with a monotonous / languor.

Hope everyone is having a blast for the end of another week and may we all have a reflective and quiet weekend :) Happy PFF!

~maria

Daddy Long Legs

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Claire Pai
Sent from Taiwan, Sent on: 26 Aug 2012
Received on: 7 Sep 2012
Traveled 1,185 km in 12 days

“He and I always think the same things are funny, and that is such a lot; it's dreadful when two people's senses of humour are antagonistic. I don't believe there's any bridging that gulf!

And he is--Oh, well! He is just himself, and I miss him, and miss him, and miss him. 

The whole world seems empty and aching. 

I hate the moonlight because it's beautiful and he isn't here to see it with me. 

But maybe you've loved somebody, too, and you know? 

If you have, I don't need to explain; if you haven't, I can't explain.” 

-Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

This is one of my most beloved animated TV series. In a way I can relate to Judy, the protagonist of the story. Like her, I also chronicled my professional and personal growth in college (even until now, actually!) through writing. She did it through letters, I did it through emails. She had Jervis Pendleton; I had Elizabeth, my Dutch foster mom. Judy and Jervis shared a rather comical romance, I developed a quasi - daughter-mother relationship with my foster mom. Like Judy who had a sweet finish to her story, I hope I can also have a chance for a long-awaited meet-up with my Dutch mom. It has been more than 9 years of a relationship based on good faith for us -- email correspondence, photo sharing, I hope one day I can say 'thank you' to her in person.

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday, everyone!

~ maria

Thou hast brought me many flowers

Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers

Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
And winter, and it seemed as if they grew 
In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.

Postcard ID: DE-1442283, Sender: Kizza00

Sent from Germany, Sent on 28 June 2012
Received on 18 July 2012, Traveled 10,199 km in 20 days

So, in the like name of that love of ours,
Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,

Postcard ID: HR-27972, Sender: Daca
Sent from Slavonski Brod, Croatia, Sent on 14 Dec 2011
Received on 19 Jan 2012, Traveled 9, 489 km in 36 days

And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
From my heart's ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers
Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,

Postcard ID: AU-202808, Sender: IndigoAngel
Sent from NSW, Australia, Sent on 10 May 2012
Received on 4 June 2012, Traveled 6,125 km in 25 days

And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,
Here 's ivy!—take them, as I used to do

Postcrossing Private Swap, Sender: Ayumi
Sent from Hawaii, USA, Sent on 8 March 2012
Received on 20 March 2012, Traveled 5,497 km in 12 days

Thy fowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.
Instruct thine eyes to keep their colors true,
And tell thy soul their roots are left in mine.

Postcard ID: PL-342968, Sender: Mariola
Sent from Jelenia Gora, Poland, Sent on 13 Jan 2012
Received on 23 Feb 2012, Traveled 9, 789 km in 41 days

Sonnet 44 - Beloved, thou has brought me many flowers
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I needed something cheerful so I picked these flower cards from my collection
for today's post. Postcard Perfect indeed! 

~ maria

Per Pacem Ad Lucem

In honor of the celebration of the Holy Week, I'm sharing this card that I received from India. The sender gave it a title of, 'Touch The Sky'. The card is of Rammakalmedu, a hill in Iduki, India. The view is of the Tamil Nadu villages and town.

Together with this card, let me share with you a poem by Adelaide Ann Procter. I saw it on an FB wall and can't forget about it ever since.

I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be
A pleasant road;
I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from me
Aught of its load;
I do not ask that flowers should always spring
Beneath my feet;
I know too well the poison and the sting
Of things too sweet.
For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead,
Lead me aright—
Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed—
Through Peace to Light.
I do not ask, O Lord, that thou shouldst shed
Full radiance here;
Give but a ray of peace, that I may tread
Without a fear.
I do not ask my cross to understand,
My way to see;
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand
And follow Thee.
Joy is like restless day; but peace divine
Like quiet night:
Lead me, O Lord,—till perfect Day shall shine,
Through Peace to Light.

Head over to Beth's for the Postcard Friendship Friday to see what other bloggers have shared for inspiration in this season of reflection. A meaningful Easter for everyone!
~maria

Europe stamps 2/2 (+ a comforting love story)

Another Sunday in Europe and here are flower stamps from Finland and Germany:

Forgive me if I ain't sharing info about these stamps. I am sharing a story about a love affair with a flower vendor instead...

...I go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle almost every Saturday morning to shop and carry on a love affair.

For several years I've bought flowers from a youngish woman who is a refugee from one of the hill tribes of Indo-China. For one thing, she has the freshest and most beautiful flowers. For another, she is a fresh and beautiful flower herself. I don't know her name, nor she mine.We won't speak the same language. To her, I must be just another customer.

She is spring to me. She's there with pussywillows, daffodils, and then irises. She's summer, with roses and sunflowers. She's fall, with dahlias and chrysanthemums. As the growing season comes to an end, she brings stems of fall leaves to sell, and then it's over. In winter, I miss her.

...I always insist she keep the change and she always insists on giving me an extra flower.

Once I tried to buy all her flowers at once, but she just shook her head. "No." I don't know why. Maybe she, too, is in love with someone and wants to be there to sell him flowers when he comes.

- an excerpt from Robert Fulghum's True Love, a collection of short love stories