A Little Bear from Belarus

This gorgeous little Brown Bear cub arrived from coralfish in Belarus for the Baby Animals RR Group #178. Brown Bears are found over much of Northern Europe and Asia as well as in North America. The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are sup-species. Did you know there are no bears found in Africa. How sad.

There are 18 postcards in this series of Fauna of Belarus and so far I have 2!

More Postcards for Trade

Added some more postcards to my trade album that I have never had before.

Postcards Received on 27th January

I received so many lovely postcards today. This is just a small selection. The above was from Jan in America via the All about Nature RR and I really like it.

I do not usually like multiview postcards but I liked the two above. Both Dokkum in the Netherlands and Heidelberg in Germany are on rivers and I think this is charming. Both these cards are via the Hometown RR

A Polish Hare

A Hare photographed by Jan Walencik, a photographer and nature documentary maker. I have quite a few postcards with his photography and they are wonderful. I love this one!

Lovely stamps featuring Red Deer and a Wildcat.

Hamburg Nights

This wonderful card was sent to me by Olivia for the Choose a Country RR. Awesome photo!

99 Cats and 1 Dog

Can you spot the one dog??

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace in Beijing. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in December 1998.

A Snowy Wolf

This is a magnificent shot of a Gray Wolf, somewhat marred by some Ukrainian postal worker putting the canceller on the front of the card (right in the middle of the wolf's forehead) rather than on the back.

Needless to say the Ukrainian Postal Service was not my favourite in the world for a day.

Tournee du Chat Noir

This is possibly one of my favourite postcards of all time. It is an iconic advert by artist Théophile Steinlen for a cabaret called 'The Black Cat' created and hosted by Rodolphe Salis in the 1880's and 1890's. This was sent to me by Anna when she went on holiday to Spain.

Mount Fuji

I asked Sumie to send something important to her country and she sent this lovely postcard of Mount Fuji. At 3,776 m this is the highest peak in Japan and one of the three Holy Mountains. In front is Lake Kawaguchi. This is a marvelous postcard - it has a mountain, a lake and gorgeous Cherry Blossoms. Sumie also used a beautiful stamp.

Reindeer Sledding

I cannot even begin to express how much I love this card. It is one of my favourites of all. When I was small one of my favourite fairy tales was the 'The Snow Queen' by Hans Christian Andersen and the part I loved the best was when Gerda travels to Lapland with a Reindeer as her companion. I have loved Reindeer and the North ever since then.

This was sent to me by Anna from Russia via the Animals RR.

Anna is always thoughtful in her choice of stamps. These feature Reindeer, a Snow Leopard and a Bear!

A Family of Wild Boar

This adorable family of little boars arrived from Lotty in Belgium via the Native Animal RR. Their stripes make me very happy ^_^

Suomenlinna

A postcard of Suomenlinna, Finland via Choose a Country RR. This postcard is special because it was signed by four postcrossers at a meeting in Helsinki on 16th December 2011.

Both the stamp and the canceller are marvelous as well.

Apple Strudel

I am not a big fan of cooked apple but I love this card. It was one of my faves at postcrossing and it was sent to me by Stefan for the Choose a Country RR. I have seen that there are others in this series, just as lovely and now I want them all ^_~

Moose in Love

I don't know why but the species Alces alces is called Moose in America and Eurasian elk in Europe. They do look odd but also gentle and mild manned but in fact they are neither of those things. In his book 'Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod' the author Gary Paulsen describes a scene where a moose comes out of nowhere and kills the lead dog of the sled team in front of him. Horrifying!

This postcard was sent to me by Paula who lives in The Netherlands but went to Sweden on holiday ^_^

Red Square after Rain

A gorgeous shot of some of the buildings of Red Square reflected in a sheet of water. The square and the Kremlin were recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage sites in 1990. There are many truly beautiful buildings in the world but surely St Basil's is the most wonderful! I love it.

A Roof Dragon

The postcard does not say where this roof is but I guess it is on a temple or some other important building. I love the effort put into creating something so beautiful that just seeing it must enrich your every day life. Not like the featureless concrete buildings of today.

The Delectable Duchy

I simply love this postcard. It meets a lot of requirements to achieve 'fave' status. First it is a map. Second it features little works of art and not photos (which can be so boring). Thirdly it is whimsical in nature and fourthly it is a watercolour - my favourite form of art. Last but not least it has lots of interesting names on it. I have always been fascinated by place names and Cornwall seems to have a number of them - from Jamaica Inn to Mullion Cove. It is printed by J. Salmon LTD of Sevenoaks, Kent. Did you know there is a Salmon Postcard Study Group for those who are enthusiasts of this particular printer.

Will Barnet

This is just the kind of postcard I love! Why? Because it has a painted cat in it! This is art by Will Barnet, an American artist. I also love that the cat is so huge - almost as big as the boy ^_~ This is an official Postcrossing card.