Čukotka, Russia

card number two for today comes from the beautiful Russian peninsula of Čukotka. One of the parts of Russia that enthrall me to the utmost. I got this one in the favourites tag!

The writers call it the shore of two oceans.
It was named Chukotka after the most numerous population of indigenous peoples in the region, the Chukchi. "Chukcha" means "having many deer" in the local Chukchi language.
As much as I find appealing scenes portrayed in cards like the previous one, I am also deeply in love with the deep north sceneries, and there is this description about Chukotka which totally gets under my skin and makes me want to be there, like just NOW!
"your flight finishes on a different planet, not in the one where it began. You will encounter cool and humid air, a black and yellow landscape if you arrived in summer, and severe white bareness if you arrived in winter. There are no trees, only mountains and tundra, terribly naked" - Oleg Kuvaev.


If you have missed my initial fascination with this place, just take a look at this other Čukotka card 

the Kremlin stamps are definitives issued in 2009 while the fox is from a set of 15 definitives issued in 2008

Boa Vista

so, has the weather been acting weird on your side of the world? here it has...going to extremes of too cold and too hot....luckily we havent had snow at least, though it has occurred in some very neighbouring places...and such weather simply makes you dream of something like this....

which makes it also my first written and stamped card from Cape Verde!! The first one i had received was not mailed from there...and on the other hand, now i see how long it has been since then...huh...

I owe this beauty of a card to Michaela who was lucky to spend her holidays there, and kind enough to spread some joy around the world :)
This beautiful view comes from Boa Vista, which is the eastermost island of Cape Verde (which consists of 10 islands in general). Btw, Boa Vista means 'good view' in Portuguese...well, deserved!

the stamp was issued in a set of 4 in 2006, showing famous people, with this one portraying Francis Drake, a captain, navigator, politican of the Elizabethan Era.

Bear's Den Stone, Finland

I got this adorable card from the favourites tag! Just look at this pair of cute children.

if im not mistaken, these traditional clothing should be typical for Inari, the largest, sparsely populated municipality with four official language and the centre of the Sami culture.
And Bear's Den Stone is the English equivalent to Karhunpesäkivi, a place in this area.
I would still need some help from some of my Finnish readers....Anu? Please? :)

well, whether im right or wrong, I wish you days ahead full of love and hugs and kisses :)

the stamp is from a set of two self-adhesive Dahlias issued in 2011.
I know the Finnish issue some of the most unusual stamps...but the last one ive seen definitely beats them all so far...maybe ill get it on some postcard too :)

In the meantime, you can check it out here:

as a whole, it is crazy, no?? and just fantastic. It represents the Sami culture. Übercool!

Victoria, Malta

this great citadel card came as a lovely surprise from dear Agi, from one of her 'conquering the world' trips. This time, the target was beautiful Malta.

on the card you have a close-up view of the Citadel situated in the heart of Victoria, the capital of Gozo, an island of the Maltese archipelago.
It is known to be first fortified during the Bronze Age approximately around 1500 BC. and was later developed by the Phoenicians and continued into becoming a complex Acropolis by Roman times.
It is a really beautiful peace of architecture.
The massive defensive stone walls of the fortifications rise above the town and were built by the Knights to protect the village communities from foraging corsairs attempting to take slaves and threatened invasion of Moslem forces fighting Christendom

and here is how you can recognize a tourist has found a philately..or at least was on the hunt for good stamps. I really love this pair...these buses are just soo cool! I could remember seeing them on the streets of Skopje too. When I was in kindergarden, there was this van/bus which resembles the ones on the stamps (that one was yellow though) and it was in charge of transporting the lunch each day.
You can still see one of these every now and then, but it is very rare, and they are in poor condition...esp compared to all those modern-class vehicles along the streets next to them
But it is nice when some memories are revived :)

hvala ti drugarice Agi!! <3

Kilauea, USA

Long time ago (actually at the beginning of my posctcrossing career) I posted some Hawaiian volcanoes,

the card above is called "Birth Day" and the back of the card says: Almost every day the newest land on Earth is born here on Hawai'i Island. Since 1983, when most recent eruption began on the southeast flank of Kilauuea, nearly a cubic mile of lava has gushed forth, adding some 500 acres of new land - so far: Often, our excitable volcano goddess Pele likes to celebrate with fireworks when she gives birth.

Interesting story and an amazing eruption!
Thanks a lot to Mary for sending me this awesome card as a part of her Vacations RR group. She also used a number of lovely stamps as you can see below:

the two on the right side are part of the four stamps issued in 2011 representing the US Merchant Marine (i really like those); the top left stamp was issued in 1974 as a part of 4, mineral heritage stamps, while the Magna carta stamp below dates back from 1965. I dont know if Mary had these stamps purchased in advance or found them on spot (though my guess bets on the first), but she certainly had put effort in them!

US-1478078

the second volcano came as an official card, and it again represents the Kilauea volcano at twilight and you can see (or not) how lava is flowing into the ocean. 

the stamps you can see hee are the American clock from 2003, the Cars from the Send a Hello series, issued in 2011, and one more ship from the US Merchant Marine series....the owl is a sticker ;-) 

Son Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan

Yes, someone is still alive here...or better said, struggling to survive this heat....i know I always complain about the summers in Skopje (though practically summer hasn't even come yet), but the worst thing is that this weather strikes all of a sudden and from 10 degrees, it just decides to go to 30 overnight...and then people feel lost in the universe...well of course they do..and i dont seem to be an exception...

apart from that...well, I dont know, life has been going at some fast pace and i just seemed to have really little time for one of my favourite hobbies lately...so my mailbox is in some starvation phase, my postman feeds it like once a week with some breadcrumbs...and then my dear darling blog has not been given enough attention from my side...and that pretty much gets me down coz I have some really great stuff to give to my blog, but I've been this selfish little thing, depriving it of what it deserves..and what has either way initially been intended for it...
Erm, Im talking too much no? But this cute horse seems to be patiently waiting for me to stop the claptrap and get down to something meaningful...like for example telling you that this sweet horse came all the way from Kyrgyzstan...and he came tagged (in the philatelic terms, read: written and stamped) Yay!! Finally a written and stamped card from Kyrgyzstan! Im soo extra happy!  Thanks a bunch to Sonya and Travis who have offered to send cards from their Silk Road journey. I tried to be modest, and pick just a few out of all the countries they are travelling to *blush*
It is so cool to visit a card like Kyrgyzstan....with such undiscovered beauties (like Macedonia, btw...;)

the card shows some yurtas near the Son-Kul Lake. Yurtas are portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structures traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. And what's funny is that they are designed in a way so that they can be dismantled and the parts carried compactly on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site. So cool! These are most likely the yurats that are rented to tourists, since there are no other facilities in the area, but for sure you will not remain without accommodation.
And this beautiful Son-Kul lake is the second largest lake in the country (18x29km wide, 13 meters deep).
The area is inhabited and safely accessible only from June to September....so you still have time to pack your bags and enjoy the morning sunshine lurking through the yurt.

and i just love the cancellation...so clear! and the stamp is so beautiful too!! (and pretty much blending the whole postcard mood). It was issued in 2008 in a set of 4 stamps representing the Yaks of Kyrgyzstan.

Titanic, Canada

as for my last choice today come these two cool Titanic cards, sent by two dear people respectively.

As many of you probably know, 2012 is a year commemorating the 100 year memorial of the Titanic disaster so many Postal services have issued a commemorative stamp (even Macedonia..though I cant say the stamp is anything special, plus as usual, the face value is totally useless....it is enough not for one, but 3 postcards actually..so unfortunately, cant be something to be used on daily mails).
Anyways, Canada also issued the Titanic stamps, plus it issued a reprint of old Titanic postal cards, each one with a matching preprinted stamp. The card above shows the bow of Titanic and I received this card from Glenn as a part of his National Postcard Week Quest! Im honoured and touched to be one of the chosen for this, since you can use like just seven cards. So to be one of those, means a real lot!
I hope that next year Ill be able to take part in this too...though im not sure how ill manage it with Sunday, since post offices here do not work and our mailboxes are not operational..but we'll see...there is till plenty of time to come up with a plan.

as i said, these are matching stamps to go with the card...

the second card shows Titanic's prow and propellers...im not sure if i got the terms 'bow' and 'prow' correctly here, so sorry for any potential misuse.
This second card came from Bryon who as you could have figured out by now, loves making surprises and putting smiles on people's faces :)

I dont know if there is any point in asking if you had watched Titanic...i could say I guess you have...well, I watched it when it came out to the cinema, so long time ago...for that age i was, it was not bad...but even then, Leonardo was not someone i fancied..neither Kate...plus lasting over 3 hours...give me something else please!
I wonder if they're gonna maybe make a movie soon about Costa Concordia......

thanks so much Glenn and Bryon for always cheering me up! I hope I manage to do the same...at least from time to time!

I would like to say that I would try to squeeze in updates every day for the rest of the week....but lets not get overambitious...every second day would be perfectly fine :)

stay well!