USA: Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops

Another nice postcard from Mimi – Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops by Jan Sovák

Jan Sovák (born February 13, 1953 in Tábor) is a Czech paleoartist and renowned painter currently living in Canada (since 1982). He has done many paintings for various scientists including paleontologist Phil Currie. Many of his paintings depict dinosaurs and other popular primeval organisms.

Sovák was born in former Czechoslovakia and moved to Canada in 1982. His work has been published in over 170 books in more than 15 languages. More than 40 museums around the world house examples of his art on prehistoric animals, and his illustrations also have appeared on educational television in 12 films on Discovery Channel Worldwide.

Thank you Mimi!

USA: Missing in action

Very nice postcard from USA: Missing in action by Yoshitomo Nara.

Yoshitomo Nara (美智奈良, born 5 December 1959 in Hirosaki, Japan) is a Japanese artist. He lives and works in Tokyo, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received his B.F.A. (1985) and an M.F.A. (1987) from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. He is represented in New York City by Pace Gallery, in Los Angeles by Blum & Poe and in London by Stephen Friedman Gallery.

 

Thank you Mimi very much!

USA: Amber Cattails

Amber Cattails by Dale Chihuly at The Denver Botanical Gardens.

Thank you Barbara

China: Giant pandas

The giant panda, also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south central China.
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in neighbouring provinces, namely Shaanxi and Gansu. As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The giant panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. A 2007 report shows 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas live in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise.

Thank you Yuki!

Russia: In autumn grass

Very nice postcard from Russia - "In autumn grass" by Daria Gerasimova

Thank you Lana!

Czech Republic: z cyklu KRAJINY

Jan Šplichal: z cyklu KRAJINY (1981)

 Thank You Anna!

USA: Dover Air Force Base

Just south of Dover is the Dover Air Force Base, home to the country's largest cargo planes, the C-5 Galaxy. Three dozen of these 247-foot-long planes are assigned to this Air Force base, the only all C-5 wing in the U.S. Air Force. The base is the largest on the east cost and is Dover's second-largest employer, after the state government.

Thank you Sophie!

Germany: Gerstruben

Gerstruben near Oberstdorf in the Allgäu

Thank you Johanna

Finland: Lapland

Finish postcard from Lapland.

The area of Lapland was split between two counties of the Swedish Realm from 1634 to 1809. The northern and western areas were part of Västerbotten County, while the southern areas were part of Ostrobothnia County (after 1755 Oulu County). The northern and western areas were transferred in 1809 to Oulu County, which became Oulu Province. Under the royalist constitution of Finland during the first half of 1918, Lapland was to become a Grand Principality and part of the inheritance of the proposed king of Finland. Lapland Province was separated from Oulu Province in 1938.

During the Interim Peace and beginning of the Continuation War the government of Finland allowed the German Army to station itself in Lapland as a part of Operation Barbarossa. After Finland made a separate peace with the Soviet Union in 1944, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland expel the German army from her soil. The result was the Lapland War, during which almost the whole civilian population of Lapland was evacuated. The Germans used scorched earth tactics in Lapland, before they withdrew to Norway. 40 to 47% of the dwellings in Lapland and 417 km of railroads were destroyed, 9,500 km of roadways were mined, destroyed or were unusable, and 675 bridges and 3,700 km of telephone lines were destroyed. 90% of Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, was burned to the ground, with only few a pre-war buildings surviving the destruction.

After the Second World War, Petsamo municipality and part of Salla municipality were ceded to the Soviet Union. The decades following the war were a period of rebuilding, industrialization and fast economic growth. Large hydroelectric plants and mines were established and cities, roads and bridges were rebuilt from the destruction of the war. In the late 20th century the economy of Lapland started to decline, mines and factories became unprofitable and the population started to decline rapidly across most of the region.

The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010, but Lapland was reorganised as one of the new regions that replaced them.

 

Thank you Kari

Belgium: lemurs

Dutch postcard received from Belgium with lemurs.

Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. The word "lemur" derives from the word lemures (ghosts or spirits) from Roman mythology and was first used to describe a slender loris due to its nocturnal habits and slow pace, but was later applied to the primates on Madagascar. Although lemurs often are confused with ancestral primates, the anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) did not evolve from them; instead, lemurs merely share morphological and behavioral traits with basal primates. Lemurs arrived in Madagascar around 62 to 65 mya by rafting on mats of vegetation at a time when ocean currents favored oceanic dispersal to the island. Since that time, lemurs have evolved to cope with an extremely seasonal environment and their adaptations give them a level of diversity that rivals that of all other primate groups. Until shortly after humans arrived on the island around 2,000 years ago, there were lemurs as large as a male gorilla. Today, there are nearly 100 species of lemurs, and most of those species have been discovered or promoted to full species status since the 1990s.

 

Thank you Danique

Greece: Chalkidiki

Chalkidiki (Greek: Χαλκιδική), is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the Region of Central Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos region constitutes the easternmost part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit. The capital of Chalkidiki is the main town of Polygyros, located in the centre of the peninsula.

Chalkidiki today is a popular summer tourist destination.

Aristotle was born here in 384 B.C.

Thank you Lana

Belarus: Eros and the Swan

The first fountain in the city of Mink - "Eros and the Swan". Erected in 1874. in Alexandrovsky Park

Thank you Anastasia

Switzerland: F-5 Tiger

Beautiful postcard from Switzerland issued for 100 years of the Swiss Air Force.
On postcard is F-5 Tiger.

Origin

USA

Type

light tactical fighter

Max Speed

940 kt / 1,082 mph

Max Range

3,724 km / 2,314 miles

Dimensions

span 8.13 m / 26 ft 8 in length 14.45 m / 47 ft 4.7 in height 4.07 m / 13 ft 4.25 in

Weight

empty 4,410 kg / 9,723 lb max. take-off 11,214 kg / 24,722 lb

Powerplant

two 2268-kg (5,000-lb) afterburning thrust General Electric J85-GE-21 B turbojets

Armament

two 20 mm M39 cannon with 280 rounds per gun; provision for 3175 kg (7,000 Ib) of disposable stores, including AAMs, ASMs, bomber, cluster bombs, dispenser weapons, rocket-launcher pods, cannon pods, drop tanks and ECM pods, carried on five external hardpoints and two wing tip missile rails

Thank you Gabriela

Germany: spider web

My first Postcrossing card is spider web from Germany

Thank you Sabine

Year of the Horse 2014

The Horse occupies the seventh position in the Chinese Zodiac. The 12 zodiac animals are, in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each year is related to a Chinese zodiac animal according to the 12-year-cycle.

• Lucky Colors: yellow and green
• Lucky Numbers: 2, 3, 7, and numbers containing them (like 23 and 37)
• Lucky Flowers: calla lily and jasmine
• Years of Birth: ...1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026...

Year of the Sheep 2015

Chinese year 2015 begins on 19.02.2015.and on same date Serbian post has released two nice stamps.

2015 is the Year of the Sheep according to Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Sheep starts from Feb. 19, 2015  and lasts to Feb. 7, 2016.   

Sheep (goat, or ram) is among the animals that people like most. It is gentle and calm. Since ancient times, people have learned to use its fleece to make writing brushes and skin to keep warm. The white cute creature often reminds people of beautiful things.

Lucky Signs for Sheep:
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9
Lucky Colors: green, red, purple
Lucky Flowers: carnation, primrose, Alice flower
Lucky Directions: east, southeast, south

Things Should be Avoided:

    Unlucky numbers: 6, 7, 8
    Unlucky colors: gold, brown, black
    Unlucky direction: west

Chinese year 2015 begins on February 19, 2015.

Chinese year 2015 begins on February 19, 2015.

Chinese year 2015 begins on February 19, 2015.

Chinese year 2015 begins on February 19, 2015.

Centenary of birth of Branko Ćopić

Ćopić was a Bosnian Serb born in the village of Hašani near Bosanska Krupa. He attended schools in Bihać, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Karlovac before moving to Belgrade to study at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy until his graduation in 1940.

Upon the uprising in the Bosanska Krajina in 1941, he joined the Partisans and remained in their ranks until the end of World War II. That period of his life influenced much of his literary work as can be seen by the themes he later writes about. At the end of the war he returned to Belgrade where he was, until 1949, the director of a children's magazine called "Pioniri". From 1951 until his death he was a professional writer.

His books have been translated into Albanian, Czech, English, Dutch, Italian, Macedonian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Slovak, German, French, and Russian, and some of them have been turned into TV series. He was featured on the 0.50 Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark bill, which has been withdrawn from circulation and replaced with coins.

Ćopić committed suicide, jumping off Branko's Bridge in central Belgrade. He is buried in the city's New Cemetery.