Vintage wine

Dated corks from vintage wine bottles to anticipate festivities this evening.  As far as I can see, there is nothing there more recent than 2003, nor older than 1995.  I wonder who drank them all?

Wines from France are often labelled, "Mise en bouteille au château" but this no longer implies any great château with its own bottling plant.  Nowadays trucks come by smaller domaines which produce smaller volumes of wine and bottle the wine for them.  "Mis en bouteille au domaine", "Mis en bouteille à la propriété" both mean the same. 

Château, domaine, propriété, clos - all are much the same.  There is no necessity for there to be an actual château for the word to be used on a label.  For some reason though, "clos" is reserved for estates that are surrounded by a stone wall.

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

The Season's Greetings

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone who is celebrating.  Whether you are or you aren't, I will be back to see you in the New Year.

Gingerbread house

Gingerbread houses (Piparkakkutalo) are traditional in Finland at Christmas time.  The dough can be bought in grocery shops or even complete kits with everything needed to assemble yourself.  

More greetings from Finland

Three bears

Help the little bear to find his three friends. 

I always used to think these riddle cards from Lali were a joke just intended to get you to study the card, but in fact for this I saw the answer. 

Santas

Have a great Christmas

Almost all my Christmas greetings seem to have come from Finland this year.

A Christmas greeting from Finland

A Christmas postcard recently arrived from Finland.  The words say Christmas Greeting.  I'm not sure about the man though.  Is that Father Christmas in a yellow coat?

The sunshine state

Somewhere warm (I think) for those who don't appreciate the snow postcards. :)

And we shall have snow 5: - Reindeer in Lapland

Well, I've had quite enough snow now so I'll make this the last in my series, but I couldn't resist this one coming up to Christmas.  In spite of all the Christmas cards I see, or maybe because of them, reindeer pulling sleighs, sledges or sleds, seems so magical and out of this world.

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

And we shall have snow 4: - Park City, Utah

From the back of the card:

Park City is Utah's largest ski resort with a lift capacity of 15,000 plus skiers an hour.  Situated on the east side of the Wasatch Mountains it is just 30 minutes from Salt Lake Valley.

Plus skiers?  Who knew there were so many?

And we shall have snow 3: - Austria

The bridge over the river Enns with the monument to raftsmen and a view of Spitalskirche and Michaelskirche.

And we shall have snow 2: - firs in Finland

I expected, rightly, that snow scenes would be easily come by amongst my Finnish postcards, and I could easily have done a full week's worth.  This is one of them, sent from a small town called Nokia!

I had no idea that the Nokia telecommunications company started in a town called Nokia.  I'd never really thought about its name.  Sadly, since 2008, they no longer have any operations in Nokia and have moved about 200 kilometres south.

And we shall have snow 1: - the Netherlands

I was immediately put in mind of Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates when I first saw this card.  It was one of my favourite childhood books and tells the story of a Dutch boy who desperately wants to win a speed skating race.  I am a little dismayed to find out that the author had never visited the Netherlands before writing the story but not enough to spoil the memory of a great childhood read.  I see the complete story is available on line but I can't decide whether or not to re-read it.  Would I be disappointed?

According to the person who sent the card, ice-skating is one of the unofficial national sports in the Netherlands.  It doesn't happen every year but once every three or four winters the temperature drops enough for the canals to freeze enough to allow skating.  A most picturesque ice rink!

Snow in Portugal

I have never associated snow and Portugal but here's the card that proves how wrong I was.  Serra da Estrela is the highest mountain range in mainland Portugal.

Still life with books

Painted by Gerrit van Vucht (1610-1697), in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands.

****For the next two weeks or so, I will be posting with little or no comment.  It's a busy time. :)

Thatching for beginners

Because the Irish thatched cottages prompted some discussion, I thought I'd post this one today.  It shows the re-thatching of the Great Barn at the Home Farm in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, which is an approved conservation centre for the Rare Breeds Trust.  Not only do they provide a home for many rare breeds of farm animals, they also manage a working farm.

I lived in a thatched house for almost 20 years.  Before we saw it, I was convinced a thatch was more trouble than it was worth, but I fell in love with the house at first sight and decided to learn to love the thatch.  It has many advantages: warm in winter, cool in summer, very quiet (you never hear rain falling on it) and very eco-friendly.

English thatches are a great deal thicker than the Irish ones pictured the other day because often repairs are done just by removing the worst of the weathering and replacing with another layer of thatch.  It can build up to quite a depth.  Different types of thatching material are used such as wheat straw or water reed, and the style of thatching varies not only from area to area, but from thatcher to thatcher.  Each has their own signature.

Straw needs to be renewed more often and has to be netted to prevent birds using it as convenient nesting material.  Reed lasts very much longer but the appearance is stiffer and less rounded.

The second card shows some thatched cottages in Somerset.  The one at the bottom left looks as if it has been thatched more recently than the others.  They generally weather from a straw-like colour until they become almost black.

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Liefdefjorden Svalbard

The card attracted my attention because of the rectangular pieces of ice floating on the surface of the sea because I've never seen anything like that before.  After I read the message on the back, I had to buy it:

From time to time while I'm walking on a mountain, the Liefdefjorden is indescribable - white, blue, ice, wherever you look - lots of islands - the sun never goes down - surrounded by light - 13 people live together in a research station - there is a great variety of social interaction - you are only alone in the ladies - we are working the whole day outside on the ice, snow, and rock - coming home then is something very important - warmth, socialising, good food - the very basic feelings.

Such a wonderful picture drawn in the short message on the back of a postcard.

The Liefdefjord is thought to be named after the ship the "Liefde", meaning "love".  Svalbard is a group of islands, the most northern part of Norway.  Research is one of the three most important activities there, along with coal mining and tourism.  Norway allows any nation to set up research projects there.  It is also the place where the Global Seed Vault is situated, where they store a huge number of plant seeds in an abandoned coal mine, duplicates of seeds stored elsewhere in the world.

The card was written in June 1991.  I would love to be able to find out what research was being carried out there at that time.

Irish cottages

A John Hinde card from 1967 with the following write-up on the back:

Thatched cottage, Connemara. Connemara is a region of supreme scenic grandeur in the west of Ireland.  The coastline is fretted and carved into hundreds of rocky inlets which are almost indistinguishable from its numerous lakelets.  This cottage is typical of the region - thatched and whitewashed.  The type of thatching varies according to the region, and is often carefully pegged down to resist the winter storms.  Many of them have such wide fireplaces that several people can sit under the chimney beside the turf fire.

The second card dates from 1996 and merely says "A typical Irish cottage".  I feel sure this wasn't where the sender was staying, but the message says "Ireland is lovely and peaceful.  Cottage rather primitive but overlooks the harbour.  Spent first night in Kilkenny - very interesting."

I always think "interesting" is a word with a multitude of unexpressed meanings.

Harold Lloyd

A scene from the 1923 movie "Safety Last", a silent romantic comedy starring, of course, Harold Lloyd.  This is probably one of the most famous scenes of the time.

Narrow leaved Jersey tea

Otherwise known as Ceanothus ovalis (it says so on the back of the card).  I've had difficulty finding specific information about this species although Ceanothus americanus seems to be called New Jersey tea.  Does that mean they are the same thing, or closely related?

I'm not likely to find any around here because it seems to be native to North America.  It has been used as a substitute for tea which it resembles in appearance and taste when the leaves are dried. The root has medicinal properties.

I'm quite keen on herbal teas and at the moment I'm happily sipping a chamomile tea.  Eat your heart out, Peter Rabbit.

Kaohsiung Lighthouse

Kaohsiung Lighthouse was located at the peak of Qihou Hill at Kaohsiung Harbor.  In 1883 the square brick lighthouse, installed with grade-6 single-wick postioned reflectors was constructed by the customs.  In 1916 the lighthouse was remodelled by the Japanese.  In 1918 the remodelling was completed and the lighthouse turned to be a white octagonal brick lighthouse.  There was a western office built in front of the lighthouse.  The two buildings are combined as one to form Kaohsiung Lighthouse.

Although the lighthouse is called Kaohsiung Lighthouse on the card, it seems to be known more often as Chihou Lighthouse.  I don't intend to cut it up to make a model, because in that way someone in the future will be able to say, "Isn't it remarkable that it's lasted so long"!

Arad in Romania

Arad is in western Romania, one of the country's most prosperous cities.  It was first mentioned in the 11th century and developed into a major trading city while ruled by Turkey between 1551 and 1699.  It was then ruled by the Hapsburgs, then by Austria.

Arad looks much the same now as it did in this vintage view from the tower of the City Hall, according to the person who sent it to me. The only thing that has changed is that you can now buy a McDonalds at the base of the building.  I'm not convinced that's progress.

Napoleon

My husband found this card in amongst some stamp albums but has no idea where it came from.  Finds are the best treasure, I think.

It was issued in August 1969 to mark the bicentenary of Napoleons birth in Corsica, and it is postmarked Ajaccio, Corsica, which is where Napoleon was born very soon after Corsica was given to France (Treaty of Versailles 1768) by Genoa , now itself in Italy.  I used to know someone born in Corsica and he and his parents considered themselves to be more Italian than French, more than 200 years after the treaty!

I suppose it's a bit of a stretch to call this a postcard, but it isn't like any First Day Covers as I know them.  The card itself, according to the back, was issued by the museum of Château of Versailles but it also says it's a creation of FDC Paris. It's a slightly crude effort, I think, because the image of Napoleon is glued on with a glue that has marked the back of the card.  I don't mind that, though, I am delighted with my new find.

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Bees

A pretty little card sent to me from China which is delightful but the full story isn't immediately apparent.

The design was created by a 19 year old disabled girl in an activity carried out to demonstrate support for the Special Olympics and was sponsored by a bank.  The girl's name is Yanzi, which means swallow in Chinese and the title of the picture is "Spring is Coming". 

The story behind the picture is always as important as the picture itself.

Map of Panama and Columbia

I wasn't expecting to say be able to say any more about this card than that it's a reproduction of a map from 1671, drawn by Guiljemus Blaeuw, called "Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatense et Popayan".  And that although it was sent to me from Chile, it had been bought in Colombia.

In trying to find out more about Guiljemus Blaeuw and Panama, I discovered that in the late 1690s Scotland had attempted to set up a colony in Panama.  I have never heard anything about this before, but I'm not well versed in Scottish history.  It was called the Darien Scheme after the densely forested area of Panama.  It was the disastrous failure of the proposed colony that led to the Act of Union between Scotland and England.