A Postcard a Day

Arizona state flag

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:19:17 PST

If you were to read the Postcrossing forum, you would once find people there saying how very many cards they reeive from Finland. As things developed, American cards became commonplace and at the moment they remain so - though with the Far East rapidly catching up.

Personally I seem to have far more cards arriving from Eastern Europe than anywhere else, and sadly few from the USA. So I was pleased when this card arrived, and doubly so when I read that it came from 6 year old Benjamin and he had written it himself. I will treasure it.

Arizona State Flag
The Arizona State Flag was adopted by the legislature in 1917. The top half of the flag represents the original 13 colonies of the United States and the western setting sun. The copper star in the center identifies Arizona as the largest copper producing state in the union.

Yaroslavl, Russia

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:05:15 PST

This card from Russia was sent to me recently in an envelope so there is no postmark and I seem to have mislaid the cover.
Yaroslavl
Elijah the Prophet Church
Fragment: Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral
Eglise de Prophète Ilia
Détail: cathédrale de la Transfiguration du Saveur.

I've included the French version which does translate the Spaso-Preobrazhensky into something I understand. I don't know why the English equivalent wasn't used.

The original building on the site dated back to the 13th century, but the main building now is the cathedral of St Saviour (Spassky) Monastery, dating from 1506. In 1787 the mastery was closed and converted into a residence for the bishops. The whole of the old city, which includes several Russian Orthodox Churches, is included on the Unesco World Heritage Site list.

Another point of interest about Yaroslavl is that Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space was born in a nearby village and went to school in the city.

Flowers in Thailand

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:55:09 PST

This very lovely card shows a landscape in Northern Thailand. Doi Hua Moe Kham is on the border with Myanmar in the Chiang Rai province. The yellow flowers are Mexican Sunflowers which cover the hillsides in the cool season in November and December. They are especially beautiful in the early morning mists.

Chester Cathedral

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:17:00 PST

This card has never been used at all, no writing, no date, no postmark. I think it probably dates from the 1960s.

Chester, The Cathedral from the south-east.
This magnificent church is said to have its earliest foundations in Roman times , when a church dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul traditionally stood on this site. The relics of St. Werburgh, legend has it, were brought here in 875 but the earliest document referring to the church dates from 958. In 1093 the foundation was changed to an Abbey of Benedictine Monks and dedicated to St. Werburgh. It became a cathedral after the Dissolution in 1540 and was dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Art of the Postcard in Cornelius, Oregan

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:43:31 PST

There is a call for Mail Art on The Art of the Postcard. A postmaster in Cornelius, Oregon, has asked for help in celebrating "the joy of small works of art and the beauty of personal communication". I don't have an artistic bone in my body and can't at the moment get postcards printed from my own photos, so I've sent the card pictured above. All it says by way of a description on the reverse is "Ancien bureau de poste". It's certainly ancient!

PFF - 500 years of German postcards

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:01:00 PST

This lovely card with the "matching" (both thematically and colour-wise) stamp, arrived recently, to my great delight. It shows two postal workers of the from the 19th century and is one of a series that commemorates 500 years of the German postal services.

Five hundred years! I was sure it must be a misprint. But no, in 1490 Franz von Taxis of the Thurn and Taxis family set up a postal service on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, to replace an ad hoc courier service already in existence. This earlier system used horns to announce its arrival and these horns have since become the symbol of many postal services, including the German.

Deutsche Post has yellow as its primary colour, and this too is thanks to Emperor Maximilian whose imperial livery was yellow and black.

It continues to fascinate me, the things you can learn from a postcard.

Visit Marie Reed's The French Factrice to find more people this Postcard Friday.

Musée d'Orsay on strike

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:01 PST

I've changed my scheduled post for today to show this unused postcard of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Why? Because employees in French museums and national monuments are on strike. The Pompidou Centre, the Palace of Versailles and the Musée d'Orsay are all affected, and not only places in Paris, so too are Carcassonne and the city walls at Aigues-Mortes, as well as many other famous monuments.

The Musée d'Orsay has always been a particular favourite of mine. It is a converted railway station, but such a splendid one. It was there that I realised that great art wasn't something I ought to enjoy, but something that really did bring something special into my world.

So very many of the places that are mentioned as being on strike are ones I have visited and loved. It seems such a shame that there will be people who will miss that opportunity because of being in France at the wrong time. However, I will say that all is not lost - there are many other places well worth visiting in Paris and beyond, and many of them may even be every bit as enjoyable.

White gold in the south of France

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:06:00 PST

This is an unused card, bought 2009. It isn't, I think, a commercially produced card because it has none of the normal postcard markings on the back, just an email address on the front. If it weren't for the fact that I know where it was bought, I would have little idea of what it shows.

The clue of its whereabouts lies in the narrow, almost silhouette-like, photo of city walls crossing the middle of the card. It is a less reddish colour and less like a fairy-tale city than Carcassonne but there are similarities. It is Aigues Mortes in the Petit Camargue in the south of France. The picture above is of Le Saunier de Camargue, producers of salt, and the pictures below are details from the area.

They produce something like 500,000 tons of salt every year, by evaporation of the salt water which has been pumped into lagoons. The process has been around since ancient times: salt has always commanded a price because of its ability to preserve food. It could be considered to be one of the foundations of civilisation. In more modern times, the needs of the chemical industry have increased the demand.

The salt works are in the midst of a very important wetland ecosystem, and the company is committed to maintaining it because the quality of the salt depends on the quality of the surrounding environment.

One final and interesting fact about salt, "la gabelle" was the tax on salt whereby everyone in France over the age of eight had to buy a certain amount of salt every week, at a price fixed by the state monopoly. This caused the development of salt smuggling because widely different taxes were levied in different parts of the country. The tax was not abolished until 1790, just after the start of the French Revolution.

Festival headquarters

Champs sur Marne, France

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:31:00 PST

This was sent home by my sister in 1964 when she was on her first French exchange holiday arranged through the school.

Champs sur Marne was a small village dating from the 7th century. By 1962, when its name was changed officially from Champs (meaning field) to Champs sur Marne, it had grown only to about 3,700. Now its population is 26,000+ because it is only 20 km (12.4 miles) from Paris.

The Château on the card was built between 1703 and 1707. The Marquise de Pompadour rented it for a time. Other famous guest have been Diderot, Voltaire, Chateaubriand and Marcel Proust. It has often been used as a film set, for example in Dangerous Liaisons (1987) and Marie-Antoinette (2005).

Champs sur Marne's other main claim to fame is that it is very close to Disneyland Paris.

Scotland - it's St. Andrew's Day

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:48:46 PST

With a perfect sense of timing, this excellent map card of Scotland arrived so that I could mark St Andrew's Day appropriately. The stamp has completely missed the franking machine, so I can't say where it came from. Probably Scotland. :)

From the back of the card:
Scotland has a land area of about 79,000 sq km (30,500 sq miles), with a total coastline of nearly 12,000 km (7,500 miles). There are some 800 islands, with almost 600 of them lying off the west coast, over 30,000 freshwater lochs and 6600 river systems. Scotland's population of 5.1 million live in only 3% of the total land area.

So, plenty of room to lose yourself there.

Monte Carlo - the casino terraces

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:13:44 PST

I picked up this card because I'm interested in seeing cards of places which have radically changed over the years and of course Monte Carlo is one of them. What I didn't realise at the time was that the reverse was every bit as interesting as the picture on the front, possibly even more so.

As you can probably see, it was postmarked Southampton and dated 24 February 1927. I had no idea what R.M.S. Lancastria was until I looked it up. It was a Cunard liner, first sailing on 19 June 1922, and on scheduled crossings of the Altlantic until 1932 when it became a cruise ship. This must have been sent at the beginning or end of a crossing, though you have to wonder why there was no message at all.

During the war the Lancastria became a troopship and was sunk during the Dunkirk evacuations, on 17 June 1940. Approximately 4000 lives were lost (and possibly considerably more) making this the greatest loss of life in British history, greater than the losses of the Titanic and Lusitania combined. Because it was such a disaster, public announcement was banned, though the New York Times and the Scotsman published the story in July that year. It is well worth reading the Wikipedia article if you have time, or the Lancastria Association history.

Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, China

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:30:38 PST

This beautiful card with the equally beautiful stamps was sent to me on 18 October 2009. If you can read the Chinese script, you can tell me where it was posted. :)

Cave No. 465 Family Dependents Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) Dunhuang, China

The Mogao Caves are a system of Buddhist cave temples created from the 4th century at a strategic point on the Silk Road. More and more were built and they remained an important centre of culture until the 14th century. This card shows a mural in one of the later caves of the Yuan Dynasty.

PFF: Flooding in the cathedral

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:12:20 PST

This picture shows the bust of William Walker, the deep sea diver who saved Winchester Cathedral.

Way back in the 13th century, the cathedral was enlarged using wooden foundations, but the area has a very high water table and the foundations were almost always flooded. Eventually, just over a hundred years ago it was realised that there was a serious problem and that the cathedral had to be underpinned.

To cut a long story short, William Walker was employed to go down into the waters and place concrete underneath the weakened walls. It took him from 1906 until 1911 to do the job, working in almost complete darkness, in deep and dirty water and in a heavy diving suit of the era. Once it was done, the water could be pumped out and the walls reinforced and repaired. The crypt still does flood to this day, especially during the winter.

The flooding of the crypt is not entirely a bad thing. There is a wonderful sculpture of a contemplative figure there, Sound II, (see the postcard I sent to Mary/theteach), created by Antony Gormley to take advantage of this flooding. The materials making up the work are listed as lead, fibreglass and water.

There is an exploration of some of Gormley's works on the Tate Modern website. When you get there, click on "Explore four of Antony Gormley's works", and then you will find Sound II as a thumbnail. You can see many more photos of the sculpture, and from different angles, unfortunately taken when the crypt was dry - I say unfortunately because water really is an integral part of the piece.

But it's thanks to William Walker that we can see the sculpture in the crypt at all.

Thanksgiving

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:59:00 PST

Because I live in Europe I have no Thanksgiving cards whatsoever, but I'd like to mark the occasion for my many American friends by re-posting a few cards I think are appropriate, and at the same time being grateful for the new friends that postcards and blogging have brought to me. So here we have my own, international, interpretation of Thanksgiving.

Harvest in Finland

Oranges from Spain

Cheeses from France

Berries from Finland

Vines, grapes, wine from South Africa

Family and friends, the world over.

Egypt - the desert

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:41:00 PST

Egypt - Western Desert: the White Desert near Farafra.
As usual I can't read the postmark clearly but I think it says Maadi, and the date is 23 October 2009.

I have never seen any sort of desert in real life so this is something of a revelation to me. It looks so architectural with the rock formations, almost like some old town. According to the message, other parts consist purely of sand dunes, and that is how I imagine a desert. The message continues:

"A lot of this sand gets blown into the cities by strong winds so everyone has a problem of dust in their homes."

I have a problem with dust in my home too, but I can't blame the desert!

Japanese tea party?

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:56:00 PST

Postmarked Takeda, dated 13 November 2009, this pretty card is something of a mystery to me. Do the characters mean anything? They seem to end in a question mark, so it does look as though they are more than decoration. I'd love it if anyone could enlighten me.

Deal Castle

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:51:00 PST

This lovely view of Deal Castle in Kent, on the south coast of England, is clearly postmarked Deal, and dated 18 August 1911. The date will become significant.

The castle is one of 30 castles or forts built by Henry VIII between 1539 and 1540, all along the south coast, in an effort to prevent invasion. It is shaped like a Tudor rose, with a central, low circular tower, and six semi-circular bastions over-looking its outer wall. In this outer wall are six more, much larger, bastions. It eventually became the official residence of the Captain of the Cinque Ports until the residence was destroyed by World War II bombing.

The message is interesting because for onec there is a some mention of the current affairs of the day.

Dear A.
Just a line to say we like Deal very much. I hope you are enjoying your visit and are quite well. Does Reg keep you posted up with newspapers? How terrible all these strikes are. There are so many places of interest in and around Deal.
Love from all.

The strikes mentioned are a reference to a wave of unrest leading to riots and strikes across the country. Several key industries were affected.

The cathedral of Brasilia

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:40:51 PST

This card, looking amazingly like a modernised picture of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, is postmarked Brasilia and dated 31 October 2009. It is, though, the Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in Brasilia.
PATRIMONIO CULTURAL DA HUMANIDADE
Night view of Brasilia's cathedral.

Brasilia as a whole is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It was designed and built from scratch by Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer. The cathedral too was designed by Oscar Niemeyerwho was also responsible for Le Havre's cultural centre, the Volcan. I must say that the cathedral is a great deal more attractive than the Volcan which, as Beth Niquette so neatly puts it, is just like a giant tennis shoe.

French bagpipes

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:48:06 PST

I'd like to bet that when you see the word bagpipes, the first place you would think of would be Scotland, but you can find them in the traditional music of several countries. This card I picked up at a flea market. It has never been used and has no date. Folk music in Brittany, north-west France) experienced a great revival during the 1970s so that with the deckle-edge to the card makes me think it probably dates from around then.

MX 3151 - Sonneur de biniou de Plougastel-Daoulas
Le biniou se compose d'un sac que l'on gonfle par un sutel et sur lequel sont adaptés une flûte - levriad des Bourdons
Roughly translated (very roughly) Bagpipe player from Plougastel-Daoulas
The bagpipe consists of a bag which is inflated by a pipe, and with a chanter attached.

There are two types of bagpipes that originate in Brittany, the veuze and the biniou kozh (old bagpipe in Breton), but this card shows neither. This is the biniou bras (big bagpipe) and is based on Scottish bagpipes. Breton soldiers saw Scottish pipe bands and brought the idea home with them. They became popular in the 1950s and then followed the revival of folk music in the area, so they are still popular these days.

PFF: Friendship

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:11:30 PST

I am late posting today, but for once I noticed that Marie's theme is Friendship, and I am able to tie in this card which has the words "Mes Amitiés d'Ambérieu", my friendly greetings from Ambérieu. I've made many very good friends through Marie's The French Factrice so it's a very apt theme.

There was obviously a stamp on the back of this card, but it was removed even though it had been cancelled.

I'm wondering if the N.A. followed by some letters signifies some form of forces postal service because I have a series of postcards apparently sent by the same person showing submarines, troop ships, and so on, from 1920.

The message gives further information:

"Dearest Elsie
Am in Ambérieu, today Tuesday. Will reach Venice next week. Fine time. Your old Bill. Good messieur [sic]. xxxxx"

In the same collection, I have several cards from Venice too. But the greeting and the sign off with xxxxx seem to imply rather more than just friendship. :)

Visit Marie Reed's The French Factrice to find more people this Postcard Friday.

Painting al fresco

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:21:06 PST

An rather amusing card this one, sent to me from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on 10 July 2004, though I don't think it's intended to be. How often does an artist go out for a day's painting wearing a white shirt, neatly pressed trousers and of course a tie, balancing the canvas on his knee? I'd like to bet that even his lady friend, reclining before him, would have a very sore elbow after a few minutes like that. The card is produced, it seems, by a company called Quantity Postcards.

I think it must have been sent to me through a card exchange in the days before Postcrossing, possibly organised through BookCrossing. On the back is a quote from Wasteland:

"And I wanted more than anything else for it to rain for one whole day like it used to."

Not appropriate for current conditions in the UK, where we currently are experiencing flooding in several northern areas.

La Défense

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:33:15 PST

I bought this card myself in 1992, for my son who was doing a project on the Grande Arche de la Défense, pictured on the card. It has never been through the mail.

La Défense is one of the main business districts for Paris. It surrounds the central area shown on the card and contains some very impressive modern architecture. The Arche itself is very interesting:

It is directly in line with the Arc de Triomphe and the Arc du Carrousel.
The canopy that you can see suspended within the arch represents clouds.
There is a viewing and information area right at the top.
The sides are occupied by government offices.
The whole is offset by 6 degrees to reveal the depth of the cube. (It was known as The Cube at the beginning of the project.)

A rose

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:55:35 PST

This beautiful red rose was sent to me by a friend in April 2008. Roses are possibly my favourite of all flowers, especially if they are scented. This one has a strong, sweet, scent. :)

Mesa Verde National Park

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:12:28 PST

A really beautiful card from PostMuse of the Mesa Verde National Park. It has, intriguingly, two postmarks. One is Pittsburg and the other Baden, both dated 22 October 2009.

Cliff Palace at Dusk, Mesa Verde National Park
This Ancestral Pueblo culture site is the largest cliff dwelling still standing in North America. It is believe to have been constructed somewhere between AD 1190 and AD 1280. Located at over 7,000 feet in elevation. Cliff Palace contained 151 rooms, 23 kivas and housed between 100 - 150 people.
Photographer George H.H. Huey.

The Mesa Verde National Park is in Colorado near the Four Corners area, and was home to the Ancient Pueblo people. Cliff Palace is far larger than any other dwelling in the area. It was discovered in 1888 by two cowboys looking for strays.

Belfast Botanic Gardens and Irish miles

daily.postcard@gmail.com (Sheila) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:54:03 PST

At first glance I thought this card was a picture of Kew Gardens and it wasn't until I saw the postmark Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone, and wondered why it would be posted from there that I examined it further. It is dated 15 May 1968.
Botanic Gardens Belfast
The Museum and Art Gallery is beautifully situated in these gardens.

The card could have said so much more, that the gardens were first opened as a private park in 1828 and didn't become public until 1895. By then the Palm House shown on the card had been built (1839-40) by Richard Turner from Dublin who went on the build the iconic Palm House at Kew (1844-48). It is one of the earliest examples of a glasshouse made of curved iron and glass.

Fivemiletown has no connection with the picture on the card but it's worth a mention for its name, given to it after the Ulster Plantation, which signifies its distance from its neighbours. You may or may not know that the Irish mile is longer than the Scots mile which in turn is longer than the English mile. As long as you know which country you are in, you'll be all right.

1968 was the year of student protests. I'm assuming this card was written by a student, to "Mum and Dad", and clearly a hitch-hiker: "I had good lifts this morning. Have stopped off to write these in a pub". You don't see so many hitch hikers about these days but I did once cross England coast to coast that way, with a friend. I never did tell my parents who would have been horrified.