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I have a variety of postcards to share with you today. And for those of you who enjoy this blog but who do not swap postcards yourself, go to www.postcrossing.com to get in on the fun. Another good site for swapping postcards and many other items is www.swapbot.com. You too can find delightful surprises in your mailbox!

Here's another map card to add to my collection. This one is from sunny Portugal.

From Taiwan I received this scene from the 2011 movie "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale".

This reproduction of an old cover of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" came from The Netherlands.

I love old travel posters. This one reminds us to always wear white gloves when traveling.

The Cathedral of the Resurrection in St. Petersburg, Russia, otherwise known as "church in a jar".

I'm not sure what is happening in this Japanese painting. It looks like one of the Scrabble players took entirely too long to make a move and sent the other two players completely over the edge.

I want to end today on a calmer note. The translation of the writing on this card is "Everything will be all right", and if the picture doesn't give you the warm fuzzies then I give up.

Outdoors with imaginary friends

Spring has come to Oregon and Salem is filled with large, colorful azaleas, such as these from our back yard.

It's far too nice to spend the day inside, so I think I'll call a friend and go for a nice long walk.

I'll pick some flowers while I'm out.

I might have to stop for a rest in the shade once in a while.

If I get really tired, I'll just ride instead of walking.

I always stop in the park to feed all my bird friends.

OK, I'm off for my nature walk. I tried to talk my cats into accompanying me, but as usual they would rather stay home and do yoga.

Garden party

Here's an adorable Inge Löök card I recently got from Finland. Don't these two ladies look like they're having a great time? I like the little railway track that runs around the table delivering hors oeuvres. I want one of those for my dining table.

Remember My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison? One of the all-time great musicals. This card was sent to me from Belarus. I MUST get a hat like Audrey's.

Don't you just hate it when you go to a movie and the theater is really crowded?

Of course if you don't feel like going to the movies, you can just stay home and make your own music, as in this painting by John White Alexander (American, 1856-1915). The lady on the right prefers hip-hop and is very bored.

Or maybe she's just hungry, and wondering why the Chinese food delivery is taking so long.

I'm going to finish up today with a really beautiful card that I received from Western Siberia. What with the angels and all, it has a sort of Christmas-y feel to it.

The Merry Month of May

Hello, postcard lovers! Ready for another whirlwind trip around the globe? Let's start in China with a card about Peking (or Beijing) opera, one of China's cultural treasures.

I recently got another card to add to my map card collection. This one is from the Lüneburger Heide area of Germany, south of Hamburg. It looks like there is lots of great architecture to see there.

And here's one more from Germany, this time from Sonsbecker Ansichten.  I wish I knew how to pronounce these German names.

Here's something from my "Don't Try This At Home" collection. This is a student from a clown school in Lisbon, Portugal, giving a little performance on a city street. I believe the Latin inscription in the background says, "Whatever you do, don't look down".

Today I got still another Kaj Stenvall duck card but unfortunately it was damaged in transit from Finland. However, a damaged Stenvall duck is better than no duck at all, so I will definitely keep the card. Just pretend there is no big ugly white line right down the middle of the card.

When you wish upon a star tonight, make a wish that my future ducks will arrived undamaged.

This card is courtesy of Maria in Germany.

And don't stand barefoot in the snow.

Here kitty kitty

Be careful when you call your cats for dinner. There's no telling who might show up.

Purrrrrrrr..........

Some guests are just too sleepy to get up at all.

And there's always the identity theft problem.

I am TOO a pussy cat!!

I was thinking as I glided through the house this morning, singing and generally being beautiful,

should I show my new armadillo tattoo to Stephanie or not? She will be so jealous. What fun!

Here is a painting by Abbott Henderson Thayer (American, 1849-1921) called "My Children (Mary, Gerald and Gladys Thayer), c. 1897. Just offhand I'd say that Mary, Gerald and Gladys were not a bit happy about posing for this picture. Daddy could apparently see the black fumes rising off of Mary and decided to include them in the painting.

I think there's a dysfunctional family reality show in here somewhere, unless spontaneous combustion occurs first.

Excuse me, but I have to go put a sign in my yard. There have been too many possums walking across it recently. Presumptuous little creatures.

More mailbox goodies

I'm going to do a bit more catching up today with some of the interesting postcards I've found in my mailbox recently.

First, a vintage 1969 card from the island of Kizhi, Russia, sent by Sergey, who says not a single nail was used in the construction of any of the buildings, just interlocking logs.

It's time for one of those colorful WAKE UP cards! This is a picture from an older Slovenian cartoon. Such happy, happy bugs! Thanks, Anja!

Here is a painting by Julio Romero de Torres called "La Chiquita Piconera". I googled to get a translation of "Piconera" and found this definition: "Maker of small charcoal for braziers". I'm not sure if that is actually what's going on here. The girl looks like she'd rather be doing something other than piconera-ing.

From Great Britain I received this reproduction of an old reading education poster. On the back of the card is printed "I'm part of the Ladybird generation!". Apparently many English children grew up reading Ladybird books. As for me, I'm part of the "See Spot Run" generation.

 
Some scenes from Sevastopol, Ukraine (previously known as Sebastopol). The devastation of the Ukrainian "b" orchards during the 1922 happy, happy bug infestation resulted in many spelling modifications. Prebiously, plenty of 'b's were abailable but are no longer avundant.

Here are a couple of beautiful pineapples for you.

See ya soon!

I'll see your two ducks and raise you a frog

I've received so many great cards in the mail lately and it's about time I showed you some of them!

I'm going to start with a beautiful art card I received just today from Danielle in Omaha. This is an 1864 painting entitled "Caprice in Purple and Gold No. 2: The Golden Screen", by James McNeill Whistler. His most famous painting is "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1", better known as "Whistler's Mother". His mother offered to pose for "Caprice" as well, but James decided on a younger model. Once his mom got down on the floor, she had a heck of a time getting back up.

I've never actually seen any large dinosaur skeletons like these at the Smithsonian, but it must be amazing to stand underneath one and look up - and realize those creatures really did exist. I'll bet they really went through the kibble.

Speaking of old dinosaurs, take a look at this "Colossus Computer" that was operational at Bletchley Park, England during WWII. This is the computer that was used to break the famous German "Enigma" code. I sure am glad computers have gotten a lot smaller. This would definitely not have fit in my office.

So what's this duck and frog stuff anyway? Well, it was a great week because I got TWO cards with illustrations by Kaj Stenvall. I just love his ducks!

And finally, such a frog I have for you! This guy's had too much caffeine, I think.

I still have lots more to show you, so come back soon!

The Bobby

Hi, folks! Let's wander about a bit.

This card from Oulu, Finland cracks me up. See the statue on the left? It is the city mascot known as "The Bobby", located in the Market Place. I'll bet the man standing to the side of the statue never thought he'd end up on a postcard. Too bad the man didn't have a hat on - it would have been perfect. 

We have a small group of gray wolves that migrated here from Idaho and have taken up residence in Eastern Oregon. They are such beautiful animals, but not popular with local sheep and cattle ranchers who would like to see them killed. Even with all the wide open spaces we have in Oregon, there doesn't seem to be room for everyone to live together. Sad, I think.

On a happier note, have you ever seen a straw teddy bear in a field? Have you ever fixed your hair like this?

If spring ever arrives this year, we will have huge fields of colorful tulips here in the Willamette Valley. Right now we have huge fields of mud. Well, that makes it sound like it's really been raining a lot here. Let's just say our soil is a bit damp. We are all pretty sure that the sun will come out one of these days.

I received this card from an 11 year old girl in Belgium. Remember being that young and innocent?  I see that the author of this "Learning To Read" book is "M. E. Gagg". What makes this even worse is that her first name was Margaret, so she was "Maggie Gagg". Poor thing.

Oh, those tulips I mentioned earlier? They aren't grown by people; we have cows to take care of them. Teaching them to drive the tractors was the hardest part.

I will finish for today with this card from Minsk, Belarus showing one of their cathedrals. Let's all pray for sunshine.