Postcard #26: Artsy Photo?

Caption: none
Photograph: none credited

Sorry about the quality of the image - apparently my new scanner is pretty bad with matte-finished cards.

I found this postcard at a thrift store, but I have no idea who she is, but the photograph reminds me a bit of Madonna's vogue, and certainly very 80s.

Postcard #25: Little Bee Eaters

Caption: Little Bee Eaters
John Lowin
Photography

Bee-eaters are mostly found in Africa and Asia, but some are found in Europe, Australia, and New Guinea as well. They are usually colorful and slender with elongated central tail feathers with the silhouette of swallows. And of course, they feed on insects like honey bees - and the coolest thing is that they know to remove insects' stingers (basically by beating it out of the insect).

Another unusual characteristic of these bee-eaters is that they are gregarious (form colonies) with monogamous parents, and the responsibilities of child-rearing are shared by both parents as well as the whole colony. Pretty cool, eh?

Postcard #24: Montreal

Caption: Montreal
Le Centre-ville (vu du Mont-Royal)
Downtown (view from Mont-Royal)
Photograph: Michel Degray
Postmarked: October 16, 2011 (from Yancy)

Obviously this is not your typical view of the downtown skyline.

My friend Yancy sent me this postcard during her stay in Montreal for a research conference. She mentioned that finally on their 6th day in Montreal, they (she and her fellow researchers) got to tour around and even hiked up Mont Royal. At the top of Mont Royal, they were able to oversee the whole city. And because this was in Fall (October), they were actually able to see the skyline juxtaposed with the Fall colors - just like on this postcard.

Annnnd, not only am I currently in Canada, I'm off to see Yancy tomorrow! So this postcard is perfect =)

Friday Stamps #2: Poland

The stamp on the right shows one of Polish manor houses. This one is called "Dwor w Janowcu k. Pulaw", or (Manor in Janowiec near Pulawy)

The stamp on the left features Castle of Sieradz, built by King Casimir the Great (during the 6th century?). Sieradz is one of the oldest towns in Poland, and known as the 3-time location for the coronation of Polish monarchs. (I also think this stamp dates back to 2005).

Postcard #23: Autumn Creatures

Caption: Autumn Creatures
Robert Schaap
Photography

This postcard is like two pieces combined into one.

The photographer created a sort of obscure imaginary insect using mirrored photography and natural branches for the skeleton. The beautiful gold and orange foliage then filled in the rest, leaving each viewer to his or her own imagination.

Very clever indeed.

Postcard #22: Tiny Little Angel

Caption: none
Art: none credited

Now, I'm usually not one for angels, but this was too pretty to pass up. The brushwork on her curly hair is just gorgeous.

It also really helps that the little angel looks so focused on tying a ribbon on the rabbit - It's serious-business yo!

The back of the postcard features a faint, miniature version of this, which made me feel a little bit bad for writing on it.

This is going out to Russia for a postcard swap.

Postcard #21: It's raining cats and dogs!

Caption: none
Art: none credited

This gives a whole new meaning to "It's raining cats and dogs!"

At least the cats and dogs look happy =^_^=

Postcard #20: FRUITS - Kaori & Suguru

Caption: From FRUITS by Shoichi Aoki
Photo: Shoichi Aoki
Description:
Left: Kaori >> 19                                              Right: Suguru >> 18
        Dress >> New Funk                                           Jacket >> New Funk
        Trousers >> New Funk                                      Shirt >> New Funk
        Shoes >> Swear                                                 Trousers >> 20471120
        Bag >> 20471120                                              Bag >> 20471120
        Accessories >> 20471120                                 Accessories >> 20471120
        Point of Fashion >> waya                                  Point of Fashion >> heat
        Current Obsession >> retirement                       Current Obsession >> retirement

Another FRUITS collection postcard. For those of you who don't know what FRUITS is, you can read about it in my first feature of the collection here

Postcard #19: Helsinki, Finland

Caption: The Market Square, Helsinki, Finland
Photo: Antero Vartia
Postmarked: May 27, 2011
(Ari series #6)

Here we have the last postcard that Ari sent during this trip. I was a bit surprise when I received this postcard; usually when I receive postcards from people on vacation, they feature heavily on famous attractions and other nationally iconic things. But this was actually a really nice card to receive from a series of "tourist" postcards: It gives you a sort of wound down, relaxed feeling - and it's certainly a good way to end a 2-week vacation. (And of course, the scenery is extremely European, if nothing else).

I also really enjoy the stamp; I actually really prefer to have a stamp featuring the flag of the country before I collect the other "special" stamps, so this was super nice to have in the collection. While I do have a friend in Finland (Hi Mosh!), we usually send each other packages and pay the post office for a boring little barcode sticker. Maybe I can convince Mosh to send me some used stamps (wink wink!).

Details of Helsinki can be found on Ari's travel blogs here, here, and here.

And this concludes the "Ari special" Eastern Europe postcard series! (It also concludes Ari's vacation lol). Hope you guys enjoyed it. And we'll return to the regular programming now. =)

Postcard #18: St Petersburg - by Night

Caption: The Church of the Resurrection of Christ (the Saviour-on-the Spilt-Blood)
Photo: none credited
Postmarked: May 24, 2011
(Ari series #5)

 This church is absolutely gorgeous! Of all the postcards Ari sent me during this vacation of his, I have to say this is my favorite.

Say what you will regarding religion/ religious establishments, but I think most people will agree that they have the most splendid architectures in human history; granted, they have a completely different feel than structures like grand pyramids, but the attention to details is something to be admired. And this certainly includes the restorations done on them.

PS: I used to get St. Peter's Dome and this church confused, but now that I have postcards from both places, I think my brain is finally cleared up!


Details of St. Petersburg can be found on Ari's blog here and here.

Postcard #17: Moscow, Russia

Caption: Moscow. Red Square. Lenin Mausoleum
Photo: none credited
Postmarked: May 22, 2011
(Ari series #4)

My boyfriend described this as the "final chilling place of Comrade Lenin". It seems like a pretty good place to chill indeed. I mean, dead or alive, a fortress is always a good place to stay, right?

The... fortress-like barrier/ isolation reminds me a little bit of Great Wall of China... Just saying.

Details of Russia can be found on Ari's travel blogs: here, here, and here.

Postcard #16: Minsk, Belarus

Caption: Minsk. The National Library of Belarus
Photo: Sergey Melnik
Postmarked: May 20, 2011
(Ari series #3)

This grand library in Minsk is an extremely strange modern feel it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It seems very cool at first, but the more I look at it, the more "gimick-y" it feels. It could very well be more beautiful when seen in person.

I do, however, love the stamps. These two Belarus stamps are the only two I've shown so far because they were on all the postcards that were sent thus far - so apparently Ari had bought all of them, wrote them out, and sent them all in Belarus (insert Callie's scream of "That's cheating!" here...) On the blog, Ari mentioned that his travel companion, Sunny, was obsessed with sending postcards from the country she got them from; I think there's merits in that. (Love you Ari, I'm just giving you a hard time ^_^ )
Not to worry, there are new stamps in the following postcards. Stay tune.

Details of Minsk can be found on Ari's travel blog here, here, here and here.

Postcard #15: Warsaw

Caption: Warsaw. Palace of the Culture and Science.
Photo: R. Jablonski
Postmarked: May 17, 2011
(Ari series #2)

The red in this card is very cool, but a tiny bit intimidating. My boyfriend described this as the "scary Stalin-era building". Yup. Even the sky is fittingly red.

Again, details about this trip can be found on Ari's travel blog: here and here.

Postcard #14: London

Caption: London. Piccadilly Circus
Photo: none credited
Postmarked: May 15, 2011
(Ari series #1)

Hi everyone! It's exactly a year since my boyfriend Ari went on his 2-week trip to Eastern Europe. He sent me a series of postcards, one by one, which I've decided to showcase in the next several blogs. Interestingly, the postcards were a perfect way to keep track of all the places he's been, especially since he went through a few countries (including Russia, Poland, and Belarus). Anyway, please note that I won't be talking too extensively about these postcards - anyone that wants to know more should visit Ari's travel blog that describes his trip in details.

The first is a postcard from London, featuring the prominent red telephone booths. The postcard is mostly black and white except for Red and a few selective street lights. As I've said before, I'm always intrigued about this type of selective highlighting in photography. Another interesting thing is that I actually though this postcard was a collage at first glance - my mind just doesn't want to blend the phone booths with the rest of the picture.

Stay tune for Warsaw...

Postcard #13: 1970s Fashion Model

Caption: none
Photo: none credited

Another great find at the thrift store - St. Vinny's at. This postcard is from a collection called "Catalog Woman: Mail-Order Fashion Foxes". It includes vintage reprints of 1970's fashion models. The description on the collection says:
"1970s fashion has never been so much fun! Lust after the mail-order fox of your dreams with this postcard collection featuring sexy vixens in polyester hip-huggers, baby-doll smocks, psychedelic knits, and more. Get down tonight!"

Regardless of how cheesy (and slightly perverted???) the description sounds, the collection is certainly fun. Not all the cards are as "scandalous" as this one, but I thought it was a good one to start with. Also, since I posted this collection on a postcard-swapping forum, this was the first one of the collection to be requested. It is going out to Russia soon. =)

Postcard #12: Gray Wolf

Caption: Gray Wolf (Canis lupis): The Mexican Gray Wolf, a sub-species of the gray wolf may be extinct in the wild. There are approximately 24-30 held in captivity for breeding. These captive wolves are a promise that their offspring may once again run wild in the Southwest.

Vanishing Species

Photograph: Denver A. Bryan

D'aww.

It's always sad to see such cute pictures of animals and then read underneath that they are extinct in the wild. =(

Luckily it seems that there are efforts to revive the wild population through breeding the captive populations. I can't say I'm satisfied with that - especially the geneticist in me that understands just how much diversity had been lost...

Sad. But oh so cute.

Postcard #11: Havana, Cuba

Caption: Ciudad Habana, Cuba.
              Paseo del Malecon.
Received: March 11, 2012

I have a friend - a crazy friend - who decided to go to Cuba. Not only is this friend American, he decided that being American and going to Cuba alone is a good thing to do. As you've probably suspected, digital communication from Cuba isn't very good, and he was certainly without internet for the duration of his trip. I must say, those of us that know him wondered if he was still alive.

And indeed he is! The good news is that he actually returned to us before this postcard reached me, which definitely made getting the postcard a 100% happy occasion. (Instead of the 50% happy, 50% omg-is-he-still-alive??? anxious).

The stamp is also very very cool. It's the 50th anniversary of Ministerio del Interior, and feature several modes of transportation. It's also big enough to almost cover my name on the address, haha.

This is probably the one and only mail I'll ever receive from Cuba. Special might be an understatement. Enjoy!

Postcard #10: Roses are Red

Caption: none
Photo: unknown
(Though the style remind me very much of Kim Anderson photos)

I. Love. Monochomatic Saturation.

Personally I adore black and white photography of this sort of children-acting-like-grown-up-romance. (I honestly have no idea how else to describe them). There's not much else to say except "awwww" at the sheer adorableness. If this kind of postcards is not your cup of tea, then Thursdays might not be your day (for a short while, at least).

Enjoy the love.

Postcard #9: The Enunciation - Mark Tansey

Caption: The Enunciation
Mark Tansey
Oil on canvas, 84 x 64 in
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I have to say, I am slowly becoming that crazy lady that always loiters at the thrift store... But it is so rewarding.

This is the first of a Mark Tansey card collection I found at the thrift store.

Mark Tansey is an American artist that specializes in oil paintings on canvases; his "trademark" seems to be a sort of old-fashioned, monochromatic style that uses one single color to set the mood. In this case, we have a sort of purplish/ magenta; to me, it says a sort of elegant nostalgia.

Another thing about Tansey paintings is that they remind me a (very little) bit of Magritte art, such as the realism and the contradiction. I'll be posting more of the Tansey collection postcards, and you guys will probably see what I mean by contradiction.

Postcard #8: Winnie the Pooh

Caption: Friendship Forever / L'amitie pour la vie
© Disney
Based on the "Winnie the Pooh" works, by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard.
Postmarked: Sept 23, 2008

This adorable postcard is from my friend Jaidi in Canada (notice the bilingual English/ French on the card). It's got the major Winnie the Pooh favorites chilling by the river on a Hunny picnic - though I have no idea where Kanga is...

It's worth mentioning that even Eeyore looks happy.

Who's your favorite Winnie the Pooh character???

Note: The glaring scrape on the card is done by some sort of postal machines. Unfortunately it happens often, and the scrape is usually around that same area. Kind of makes you wonder just what kind of paper-shredding monster they're using to sort mail...

Postcard #7: Elvis Presley

Caption: Elvis Presley, Tupelo, Mississippi, 1956
Photograph: Roger Marshutz

Even thought this iconic picture of Elvis was taken in Mississippi, the postcard was actually purchased at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

For those of you who have never been to the Hall of Fame, I highly recommend it; I am by no means an expert in Rock & Roll - frankly, I'm not that much of an expert in any type of American classics - but I still enjoyed it immensely. They had a diverse enough genres of music - from Gospels, R&B, to Heavy Metal, and some stuff that I didn't even think would be featured - that I knew more names than I thought I would. It's pretty fun to just walk through all the memorabilia, or sit and listen to all the biggest hits from the biggest stars. If you're into American music at all, it's worth going to.

Postcard #6: Black Bear Cub

Caption: Black Bear Cub (Ursus americanna)
Weighing about a half pound at birth, Black Bear Cubs usually arrive in early February while the female is denning up against the winter cold. The tiny naked newborn cuddle against their mother for warmth and to nurse. Mother bears are fiercely protective of their cubs and will fight to the death to protect them.
Photographer: Michael H. Francis
Postmarked: June 9, 2010

I received this postcard from my good friend Yancy when she visited Yellowstone National Park. Even in the summer (June), she mentioned that the park is quite cold. Though sightings of wildlife made it worthwhile - she reported having seen bisons, bears, deers, elks, etc etc. When I went to Yellowstone - granted it was quite a few years before Yancy - I definitely didn't see as much wildlife. I did remember the cold; I also saw the good Old Faithful geyser.

I did manage to see a very angry bison; my father and I actually got an extremely clear head-shot of it before it started chasing us. The two of us half-jumped and half-slid down this slope (it seemed more like a cliff at the time...), and luckily it didn't follow. I'm still unsure what exactly we were thinking...

Postcard #5: Lake Havasu City - London Bridge

Caption: Located along the eastern shore of the Colorado River, the London Bridge has been a fixture of Southerwestern life since 1971, when it was moved from London, England to Lake Havasu CIty, Arizona
Photo: Steve Gibson

This is an old postcard I found in my travel collection - I don't remember exactly when I visited Arizona, but it was a good many years ago. I will tentatively say that it was during a roadtrip where I visited Grand Canyon and part of Yellowstone.

Did you know there was a "London Bridge" in Arizona? I definitely forgot until now. (Actually, that's probably why I bought it...)

Friday Stamps #1: Canada - White-Tailed Deer

Hi everyone, welcome to the first Friday Stamp - I will (try) to post a special stamp every Friday.

This week we have White-Tailed Deers on a Canadian $1 stamp. The image is pretty remarkable - I didn't just scan this into a big image, the stamp itself measures at 4cm x 4.75cm. In terms of stamps, this is one of the biggest I've ever seen.

Postcard #4: Jazz girl

Photo: Kim Anderson

Another great find at the thrift store (St. Vinny's this time)! This was inside a tattered, squished box, at the bottom of a barrel of random photo albums - If you're asking why I was fishing inside a barrel of photo albums, I will tell you that's usually where the best stuff are hidden.

Anyway, this little gem was in a collection of note cards called "Just Between Friends." On the back of the box were shown the 4 designs in the collection (1 of which is absent by the time I inherited this). To my delightful surprise, inside the box were actually 7 designs! All were of semi-vintage photos of children doing cute/ funny things. Whoever donated this must've lumped similarly styled cards together.

And thus we conclude another day of good thrift hunting and fine recycling.

This is going through Postcrossing to a lady in Russia.

Postcard #3: Cat - Climb the Fridge

Art: Jeffrey Brown

This is from a collection called "The Cutest Sneeze in the World" which has 30 of these comic-strip-style cat postcards. I saw this at the local art museum store, and it was just too cute to refuse. I also just have a grand weakness for cats. A lot of these remind me of my cat, Mooshi. (Those of you that know me probably think I talk too much about him).

Well, the cuteness speaks for itself. Of course, there will be more of this collection in the future. =^w^=

This postcard is going through Postcrossing to a guy in Australia; he has a birthday coming up, so I decided to honor his request (stated on his profile) for cat postcards.