Sauna in Finland

I had to go back quite a long way to find stamps from Finland.  Once upon a time I could depend on receiving cards from Finland almost every week but now they are something of a rarity.  But I am delighted to be able to show this themed card and stamp from 2009.

According to the sender, the card and stamp rove that Finnish people are maniacs as far as saunas are concerned.  There is a sauna in every home and they are used at least once a week.  As she was writing her own sauna was heating, ready to welcome her family.

A post about stamps from Finland wouldn't be complete without some Moomin stamps.  I have more than I realised.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, run by Viridian. To join in just click on the button and visit her blog.

Youth organisations

From 1982, a set of stamps as shown on PHQ (Postal HeadQuarters) stamp cards, depicting youth organisations.  The upper ones are the Girls' Brigade and Boys' Brigade, the lower ones Guides/Brownies and Scouts/Cubs.  I believe all these organisations have changed fairly radically since 1982 in an effort to remain relevant with the changing times.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, run by Viridian. To join in just click on the button and visit her blog.

Map and stamps from China

I've been trying to look through all my map cards - I have a LOT of them - but can't find any others of China.  I'm almost certain this is the first one I have been sent that is a map of a part of China, sent from China.  It is the Shichai district of Beijing, popular with tourists because of the three lakes and an abundance of temples and residences.

It came with equally wonderful stamps.  The problem I have with Chinese stamps is that I frequently can't tell what they represent though they are almost always very beautiful.  This time, though, I do recognise the Wulingyuan scenery, second from the left.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, run by Viridian. To join in just click on the button and visit her blog.

Bring forth May flowers

I was looking for flowery postcards for this Postcard Friendship Friday entry and discovered quite a number of them and the majority, like this one, from the Netherlands.  I don't list flowers among my preferences but in this case at least it probably comes under the art banner.

It's once of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, the Lilac Fairy.  It was a good choice by the sender because I've always loved lilac.  I had a constant battle with my father during May because he believed having lilac indoors would bring bad luck but as soon as I had my own garden with a lilac tree I could have that wonderful scent around my home as much as I liked. He was not alone in that belief though some people restrict the ban to white lilac.

If you'd like to see more Flower Fairies, do visit Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.  She completed the A-Z Challenge last month using all Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, though her letter L was lily of the valley.

I'll leave you with a couple of verses of Albert Noyes' poem "The Barrel Organ".  There are a good many more verses but I remember these from having to learn them at school when I was very young.  I don't know which came into my life first, the poem or the lilac tree.

Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)

The cherry-trees are seas of bloom and soft perfume and sweet perfume,
The cherry-trees are seas of bloom (and oh, so near to London!)
And there they say, when dawn is high and all the world's a blaze of sky
The cuckoo, though he's very shy, will sing a song for London.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.  Just click on the button to visit and join in.

Early steps

This lovely picture of a little girl negotiating a curving staircase has long been in my list of favourites, and fortunately for me, someone noticed and sent it to me from Lithuania.

It is yet another from the Photo Fabrique postcard publishers, from their series "Genres", titled "Up the stairs".  It could of course be down the stairs. :)

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.  Just click on the button to visit and join in.

Hongcun, Anhui

Hongcun is one of the two Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui, now inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.  There are only about 150 houses in the village but they date back to the 12th century and have preserved a remarkable water system which runs through every house in the whole village.  This is the second card I have received from this beautiful place.

Here, on the river's verge, I could be busy for months without changing my place, simply leaning a little more to right or left. 
- Paul Cezanne

Church of St Anthony of Padua, Pastavy

This building, the Catholic church of St Anthony of Padua in Pastavy, was constructed between 1898 and 1904 on the site of a former Franciscan monastery, founded in 1617.  It was severely damaged during the First World War but reconstructed in the 1920s and renovated again in 1988.  Pastavy is a town in the Vitebsk region of Belarus.

“You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can't forget. Those are your friends.”