Indiana, USA

well, to my total dismay, some days ago I realized that my blog is actually missing cards from a few US states..yup, that's right! I dont know how I had managed that, but well, I have...just totally neglecting not one, not two, but 5 of them!! Can you believe it!! So once realized, I dug up into my collections, desperate to find something from these 5 US states forgotten by me....and the first one to cross of that list is Indiana...

well, corn seems to be one of the popular crops in Indiana, so this card does feel representative....I just wonder if it is GMO or non-GMO corn...really, you can never be sure nowadays, and corn and soybeans are on the top of the GMO list...either way, it does look nice on the card

btw, Bryon nicely told me on this card that I have no Indiana card on my blog, but I just didnt listen....just didnt listen...not surprised by myself must admit :)

if corn is of no interest to you, maybe stamps are :)
here you have a nice selection of older and newer ones...the orange eagle one did give me some trouble...and it should be a definitive issued in 1978, showing the bald eagle on an orange background, used as A postage. The stamp next to it is from a set of 4 Wildlife Conservation stamps issued in 1972. This stamps shows the cardinal, which is also Indiana's state bird.
The other two stamps show cars...the top right one comes from a set of 5 Automobiles' stamps issued in 2008, with this one showing a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk, while the one below it is the Indianapolis stamp issued in 2011 (and btw, Indianapolis is also in Indiana....so nice matching in general :)))

thanks so much again Bryon!!

Travel by train in Alderney

Ill always be grateful to extended weekends! maybe national holidays do not bring mail..but boy, a 4 day weekend! wohoo!!
and hopefully by then this melting temperatures will drop down as those forecast guys keep saying..they have been proven wrong more than once, but I hope they will be right on this one :)

well, until those better times come, here are some nice cards to show :)

and first one comes from Alderney, the most northernly Channel Island...and on tops of that, it is a card with a train!

this awesome surprise comes from Chris and Julie who have visited this lovely place recently and dropped me a card! Thank you guys!!
The back of the card says: "Alderney trains run regularly in summer. This scenic journey shows the train passing Château L'Etoc, left, and Fort Corblets, right.

The island itself is 4.8 km long and 2.4 km wide, with an area of 7.8 km², so it makes it pretty easy to travel around, whether by train, car, bike or simply on foot :)
The island has a population of only 2,400 people and they are traditionally nicknamed vaques after the cows, or else lapins after the many rabbits seen in the island.

well, apart from being an interesting place, it is also a cool Island for collectors, since not every day you see a card with Alderney stamps...yup, Alderney DOES have its own stamps, he he he :D
The top right 50c stamp comes from an issue of 4 Corals and Anemones stamps, issued in 2007. The other three stamps are from a series of 12 definitives issued in 2006, again representing Corals and Anemones....seems Alderney has fixed on that subject.

and with that said, this means i can actually add a new country to my list! Wohoo!! Thank you again Chris and Julie!!

Moszna, Poland

last card for today comes from Poland, showing the beautiful Moszna castle.

I dont know if some photoshop has interfered here but however, the card is just lovely, and i absolutely love the colours!
Moszna is a small village in south-west Poland. The castle was built in the 17th century and it's reminiscent of the English castles from the Elizabethan period. The castle has as many chambers as there are days in the calendar.
The castle has a chapel which is also used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the building houses a gallery, in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.
It is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia.

Another one, fairy-tale like card :)

the stamp is from the 2011 EUROPA series, representing forests .

thanks for reading and dropping by...and...see you again, sooner or later 

St. Kilda, Sctoland

here is one awesome card from my favourites! Actually, I think that all Scottish cards are just awesome! I dont know how they manage it, but I think that even out of the simplest thing, they can make a fantastic card!
 

St. Kilda is an isolated archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, containing the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The card here shows the Village Bay...probably the most famous place on St. Kilda. It is considered as the most complete and least altered site of its type in Scotland and in this respect is an excellent example of a settlement associated with what is now a rapidly declining crofting way of life - a rural tradition of great significance.
These houses are just soo cool, esp. that one with the light coming from the inside...even feels surreal...for a moment I thought it may be the sun coming through the backside window..but there is a mountain on that side, so sun cant possibly be lurking here...just like one of those fairy tale stories when two kids go astray in the woods, and just there in the distance, notice a glimmering light...but the situation is veiled in mystery and uneasiness...well, you are familiar with those tales :)
Now, St Kilda is also on the UNESCO whs list, so I guess this part of it is also included ...

well, here you have three queen stamps, and one from a set of 4 stamps, dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London of this year.

Oklahoma, USA

last time I told you that i lack posts from some of the US states...and of course, i got into the maniac search through my boxes....the results were far from disappointing...the only thing I could find are two Oklahoma cards (and both maps). But i cant believe it that Im absolutely missing 3 US states in total!

soooo... i need a good US soul here to help me out with Arkansas, Nebraska and Vermont....you dont need to live in that actual state, but I do need the card to be mailed from the US...view card or map card, doesnt matter...though a view card from Oklahoma would be highly appreciated too :) Thank you soo much in advance!

as for the card above...Oklahoma is home to the longest driveable stretch of Route 66, with nearly 400 miles of "America's Main Street"
I ABSOLUTELY love that cute little car on the card! It just has this happy, dancing kind of attitude :))))

and a nice choice of 3 not-so-every-day-US-stamps :)

the love stamp (left) was issued in 1991 in a set of two love stamps (just cute!). The Rachel Carson stamp was issued in 1981 (she was an was an American marine biologist and conservationist). The third stamp (right) was issued in 2006 in a set of 3 and it shows the Bryce Canyon (in Utah).

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Extended weekends come and go...time and days go by, or better say, fly...and Ana makes no updates...the same old story :)
well, been wanting to make one ever since i actually finished the previous one, but due to overall circumstances, it didnt happen until today...life.
But lets see what do we have for today....and for starters we have a great surprise that arrived this summer from Alvin :)

Alvin visited Svalbard and was kind enough to drop two cards in the mail for me! (the other one is actually with a train, but since they screwed on the cancellation, im showing this one, which isnt any less beautiful!)
Here you can see a bit of Longyearbyen, the capital, largest settlement and administrative center of Svalbard. Тhe population is around 2,040 people...so it is really really small actually....and you should just see its cute colourful houses, blending so nice with the surroundings!
Svalbard, for those who are not very familiar with it, is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway.

believe it or not, I got stuck with the stamp...seriously! I believe it is one of those stamps from the Tourism series Norway issues...but still, im stuck! well, at least im happy to have a card mailed from Svalbard and cross out another country off the list :)

thanks so much again Alvin!!!

Ephesus, Turkey

well, one more card for today which came as a great surprise from Zoran and his holiday in Turkey.

the Celsus library in Ephesus was the third largest one in the ancient times, following the one in Alexandria and Rome.
It was built in 117 A.D.and was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance where there was a statue of Athena over it since Athena was the goddess of the wisdom.
It was unusual to be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honor for Celsus.
The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls.
Unfortunately, the interior of the library and all its books were destroyed by fire in the devastating earthquake that struck the city in 262. Only the facade survived. About 400 AD, the library was transformed into a Nymphaeum. The facade was completely destroyed by a later earthquake, likely in the late Byzantine period.

well, still, at least something has remained that could make it onto a postcard nowadays

the stamp was issued this year in a set of 3, regarding the Provision of Equality of Opportunities between Men and Women in Turkey.

hvala još jednom Zorane!

and all of you, have a great day...it is a lovely sunny one here...so im off to some sunshine and fresh air...and see you soon! :)