Snow Soft

I received this postcard from Kate in Russia for the February 50 Round Robin. It was in my favourites so I am very happy to have received it. Naturally I picked it because of the adorable sleeping cats ^_^

The artist is Anna Petrova and she appears to have quite a few postcards, all in this charming and whimsical style.

On the back of the card it says 'снежные-нежные' which according to Google translates as 'Snow-Soft'.

Old Tom Gin

This is an advertisement poster circa 1880 for Cordial Old Tom Gin distilled by Boord & Son of London and apparently distributed in the USA by Du Vivier & Co of New York.

Gin is an alcoholic beverage whose flavour comes primarily from Juniper berries. The name 'Gin' comes from either the French 'genièvre' or the Dutch 'jenever' both of which mean Juniper. There have apparently been various forms of gin over the years and Old Tom Gin was a slightly sweetened version that was popular in the 1700's in England (so long before this advert). It was a cloudy drink back then and only became the clear liquid known today when distillation methods improved.

I love this postcard but remember dogs and cats should never drink alcohol! (And nor should humans in my opinion.)

A Chamber Opera

I received this beautiful postcard from Russia when I took part in the Alphabetical tag on the Postcrossing Forum. Have you ever taken part in a tag? It can be lots of fun! The lovely person who tagged me checked my favourites ^_^

This is actually a poster, circa 1885 for a chamber opera. What is a chamber opera? I had no idea myself so I asked wikipedia who tells me:

Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.

The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small performance spaces.

So now I know! However I cannot imagine the story of Puss in Boots performed as an opera, even a small one.

Oddly enough I was just reading about Benjamin Britten the other day because he and WH Auden collaborated on an opera using the words of Auden's poem 'Stop all the clocks'. I happened to be looking it up because I took part in Emilie's 'Adopt Penguin Books Postcards' project. It will be interesting to see how long the cards take to travel back to the USA.

This was a post for Postcard Friendship Friday at "The Best Hearts are Crunchy". Check out the other participants to see more lovely postcards!

A Window With a View

Right after I started being active on Postcrossing again in September last year I received a message from a wonderful girl (Ptawka) who offered to send me a card of hers that I had favourited. This is the card. It got a bit smudged by postal ink but I think that adds to the charm. Ptawka says she has a grey cat who never goes out because there are many stray dogs in Kiev so he loves to watch the birds from the windowsill. The picture, the stamps she used and her lovely message have made this one of my favourite received cards.

A New Year Dragon

According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar system 2012 starts on January 23rd and is the 4,709th Chinese year! There are 12 Animal Branches that fall in the following order: Rat, Ox/Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster/Chicken, Dog and Pig.

I was born in 1973, an Ox year and this is what I have read about it:

Those born under the influence of the Ox are fortunate to be stable and persevering. The typical Ox is a tolerant person with strong character. Not many people could equal the resolution and fearlessness the Ox exhibits when deciding to accomplish a task or an objective.

I have to tell you that is all completely untrue! I wish I had those characteristics.

This lovely pink Dragon came from Kotona in Japan via Choose a Country RR.

I received a great message this evening from an American Swapbot user who finally received the 'One Sentence Journal - October' that I made and posted on Nov 12, 2011! How amazing is that! It arrived in a plain white envelope. I sent it in a handmade envelope made from a calender but the Post Office must have taken exception to this and decided to put it in their own envelope and keep it for a bit before sending it on. Or perhaps it was delayed at this end?

My mother warned me about my handmade envelopes and the way I write the addresses on them (why shouldn't the address go up the giraffes leg I ask??) but I said "These are postal workers - they get the mail through rain or shin, snow or hail!" Well I was right ^_~ Thank-you USPS!

99 Cats and 1 Dog

Can you spot the one dog??

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.