Maine Wild Blueberries

One more card from the swap with Erin... I'm rather fond of blueberries so I REALLY like this postcard. :)



Now if American wild blueberries are anything like the ones in Finland, they are vastly superior to the commmercially grown ones and taste totally different. I've only really eaten commercially grown blueberries in England (as nothing else is available here) as they are a bit tasteless and my parents' freezers have usually always been full of locally picked wild blueberries.

I tried to do a bit of research on blueberries but I only got more confused. :S If Wikipedia can be trusted here, it seems like the blueberries found in Finland might actually be bilberries. Or at least that's the impression I got from the description: "One characteristic of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush instead of clusters, as the blueberry does. The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of blue. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's is red or purple, heavily staining the fingers and lips of consumers eating the raw fruit. The red juice is used by European dentists to show children how to brush their teeth correctly, as any improperly brushed areas will be heavily stained." Yeah, that sounds familiar. I don't think they make a difference in Finnish, though; both are called 'mustikka'.

The rake on this postcard looks familiar, too, although the ones I've used in Finland have been a bit smaller, more like half the size of the one shown on this card. They're convenient and make picking quicker, but you do have to spend a while afterwards to sort leaves and other crap off the berries.

...and now I'm craving blueberry pie. :(

Maine lighthouses

I recently did a swap with Erin from the USA, she was on holiday in Maine and had loads of postcards from there. Maine looks like a particularly beautiful US state, one that I would probably quite like as well. The postcards I received from her included these two lighthouse cards:



The first postcard shows Portland Head Light, a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Its construction began in 1787 at the directive of George Washington, and was completed on January 10, 1791.

In 1787, while Maine was still part of the state of Massachusetts, George Washington engaged two masons from the town of Portland, Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols, and instructed them to take charge of the construction of a lighthouse on Portland Head. Washington reminded them that the colonial government was poor and that the materials used to build the lighthouse should be taken from the fields and shores. They could be handled nicely when hauled by oxen on a drag, he said.

The station has changed little except for the rebuilding of the whistle house in 1975 due to it being badly damaged in a storm. Today, Portland Head Light stands 80 feet above ground and 101 feet above water, its white conical tower being connected with a dwelling. The grounds, and keeper's house are owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth, while the beacon, tower and fog signal are owned and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard as a current aid to navigation.



The second postscard shows Nubble Light, also known as Cape Neddick Light. It is located in Cape Neddick, York, Maine. In 1874 Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a light station at the "Nubble" and in 1879 construction began. Cape Neddick Light Station was dedicated by the U.S. Lighthouse Service and put into use in 1879. It is still in use today.

Nubble Light is a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse. The Voyager spacecraft, which carries photographs of Earth’s most prominent man made structures and natural features should it fall into the hands of intelligent extraterrestrials, includes a photo of Nubble Light with images of the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.

Skopje, Macedonia

I thought I'd finish today with something a little different...




These are from a swap with Marja in Macedonia. She decided to send me the whole collection of this awarded edition of postcards, made by young Macedonian artists for a competition related to the city of Skopje. It is a collection that rebels against the drastic changes of the city's looks.

These two cards are probably my favourites. I obviously don't understand Macedonian so I have no idea what the cards say... It looks like a very interesting collection, though, I really like the idea. They should do something similar in my hometown of Lappeenranta in Finland, too... They seem to be rather too eager to destroy all the old, beautiful buildings there and replace them with ugly modern ones. :(



I didn't scan the postage label on the envelope but I did scan the stamp... It was issued in 2009 and shows Yuri Gagarin, the first human in outer space.

Glasgow, Scotland

Another official card, this one arrived today, up from Scotland.


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I'm not a huge fan of UK multiview postcards in general, but this one is more special as it's from Glasgow. I really love Scotland; for some reason I always feel right at home there, it would be great to live there one day, but I might just keep on dreaming... I've been to Glasgow once (almost five years ago now... too long!). A very good friend of mine lives there and I went to visit her when I was studying in England. I really liked the city and would love to go there again. I really should, I want to meet up with my friend again!

My clearest memories relate to visiting the grounds of the Glasgow University (it looks like Hogwarts! :D), wandering around in the Bothanic Garden, and a visit to Uisge Beatha, where all the waiters wore kilts. Mmmmmmm...! ;)

Anyway. This postcard shows (from top left corner:) Art Galleries and Museum; St. Enoch's Square; The River Clyde; and Art Gallery from the River Kelvin.



The stamp is the Scottish second class definitive stamp, showing the Scottish flag (obviously :P).

Novel Mail Box Trail, Tasmania, Australia

It's always a treat to receive mail-related postcards, and I particularly love seeing different mailboxes around the world. I kind of wish we had a cool mailbox at home, too, but we just have a slot in the door. :/ Most of the really interesting mailboxes I've seen are from the USA, but here are some all the way from Australia!


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There is a really quirky "Novel Mail Box Trail" in the Wilmot Valley in Tasmania, Australia. These pictures show just a few of the unique mailboxes in the area (I did a bit of googling on the subject and saw some really cool mailboxes!). No wonder these mailboxes are a great tourist attraction!

Zagreb, Croatia

This postcard is from my postcard pal Nives in Croatia. Croatia looks like a very beautiful country and Zagreb seems like a fascinating city, it would be so interesting to get to visit it one day!



Unfortunately I have no idea what all these buildings on this card are called. Well, the one in the bottom left corner looks like Mimara Museum - I have a single view postcard of it that I received as an official last year. Isn't it beautiful?!

I'd love to know the significance of these little hearts - I've seen them on a number of postscards from Croatia. They are so pretty and give me the impression of a lovely crafty country, but I don't really know what they are... just decorations, or something more?



The stamp is from a set of 4 (very nice!) stamps issued this year, representing Croatian Ethnographic Heritage. This one shows Medimurje (which is a region in Croatia, unless I'm very much mistaken?).

St Petersburg, Russia

This might just be one of my favourite Russian postcards, or at least postcards from St Petersburg. I actually already had a copy from a swap with the lovely Katya, but this one came as an official last week.


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I think Katya mentioned earlier that this kind of houses are typical in St Petersburg. In any case, I think they look very pretty, and I love the colours here. This actually reminds me of Finland; I love the old blocks of flats there, I find them very charming for some reason. Also, I REALLY really like the little green heart on the bottom left corner in this postcard, so cute!



The big stamp on the right is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2009, representing World Cultural Heritage in Russia. This one here shows Solovetsky Islands.The stamp next to that is from a set of 12 definitive stamps issued in 2009, depicting Russian Kremlins. This one shows the Moscow Kremlin. The smallest stamps are from a set of 15 definitive stamps issued in 2008, showing animals, these being the Hare and Fox.

Kyiv, Ukraine

This very beautiful postcard of St Andrew's Church in Kyiv, Ukraine, arrived a while ago. The church itself looks very pretty and I really like the flowers on the foreground. Blossoming trees are one of my favourite things about spring. :)



St Andrew's Church is a major Baroque church located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The church was constructed in 1747–1754, to a design by the Imperial Russian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a cathedral.

The Saint Andrew's Church overlooks the historic Podil neighborhood, situated on a steep hill to which the church gave its current name Andriyivska Hill. It is currently one of four architectural landmarks of Ukraine, which were put down on the List of Mankind Treasures of Five Continents by the world society.



This stamp is what I see the most on mail from Ukraine. It's a definitive stamp issued in 2004 with the theme 'Agricultur'e. It shows Wheat and a trident.

's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

They obviously don't celebrate Midsummer in the Netherlands either as there was a big Postcrossing meet-up there then! :D My lovely friend Astrid sent me this beautiful postcard from there.



The name of this place has been confusing me for a while. Online I always see it in the form "'s-Hertogenbosch", but then I also hear people say "Den Bosch", and that's what Astrid wrote on the card as well. Apparently the latter is a colloquial name for the place - well it does seem much easier to say! :p

Doesn't it look pretty?! I wouldn't mind taking a walk by this canal and admire the old houses by it. :) Apparently, hidden below the old city is a canal network called the Binnendieze that once spanned 22 kilometres. It started out as a regular river, the Dommel, running through the city in medieval times but due to lack of space in the city, people started building their houses and roads over the river. In later times it functioned as a sewer and fell into disrepair. In recent decades, the remaining sixth of the old waterway system has been renovated, and it is possible to take several guided subterranean boat trips through it. (I think Astrid has sent me a postcard showing this before, I have to dig it up now!)



The card was signed by everyone attending the meet-up. Looks like there were more people there than in London in May! I recognise a few names here...



The stamp on the left is from a set of 10 Christmas stamps from 2009. As for the stamp on the right... It was issued this year, but the only info I could find was this and it's in Dutch so it's not very helpful. It seems to be football-related, though.

Midsummer in Finland

Since I'm on the topic of Midsummer, here's one Midsummer related postcard from Finland. :D It's from my postcard pal Suvi in Finland.



The old photos are from Äänekoski, a small town in central Finland. I think the fire in the picture on top is supposed to be a bonfire, although I'm more used to seeing them set up in the middle of a lake, but perhaps that would've been too difficult to arrange..?

The second picture shows a smoke sauna. Smoke sauna is one of the earliest forms of the sauna. It is simply a room containing a pile of rocks, but without a chimney. A fire is lit directly under the rocks and after a while the fire is extinguished. The heat retained in the rocks, and the earlier fire, becomes the main source for heating the sauna. Following this process, the ashes and embers are removed from the hearth, the benches and floor are cleaned, and the room is allowed to air out and freshen for a period of time. The temperature is low, about 60 °C, while the humidity is relatively high. I've never been in one but I can imagine it would be an interesting experience. I'm very much looking forward to going to a "normal" sauna in Finland next month. :)



These weird customisable vegetable stamps were issued earlier this year. I must say I prefer them without the extra bits... They just don't look like proper stamps. :( I also found out recently they are not that original; a set of similar stamps was issued in the UK back in 2003!

Midsummer in Åland

It was Midsummer last weekend. It's not celebrated in England but it's quite a major event in Finland and some other countries including Sweden. I've never been too fond of it so I haven't bothered celebrating it here in England, I just read about it in blog entries and postcards, and look at the pictures. :D



Åland islands are technically a part of Finland, but have a lot more in common with Sweden than Finland. Midsummer seems to be no exception here - most Finns light a bonfire while Swedes (and Swedish speaking Finns?) have maypoles ((majstång or midsommarstång). It's an activity that attracts families and many others. People dance around the pole, listen to traditional music and some even wear traditional folk costumes. In addition, many wear crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads.



The stamp was issued earlier this year and shows a painting by Victor Westerholm, the founder of an artist colony in Önningeby, Åland and who therefore became quite a significant artist in Åland.

Trinidad & Tobago

Ooops.. I certainly didn't mean to take over a week to update this blog again, but life has happened again. :P I got two translation assignments to do this week; one rather small but the other one was 7000+ words and larger than anything I've done before. It's taken me quite a while to do, but I'm all finished now. Mmmmm, there should be some nice money appearing in my bank account next month. :)

Anyway. This week has been pretty hot as well, certainly hot in British terms. :P I've been dreaming of visits to a beach again, such as seen on the card below...



This is my first postcard received from Trinidad & Tobago, a private swap with Jacquline in T&T. I have to admit I know very little about Trinidad & Tobago, except that it looks a lot like paradise to me - sunshine and all those beaches, ahhhh...!

About this card... There are two sheds on the shore, the one that is scloser up is selling local snacks and sweets and is covered with Carat-a Type of branch used to cover roofs and houses long ago. The second shed is selling souvenir items.



I couldn't find any info about the stamps so all I know is what it reads on the stamps... The one on the left shows the Giant Anemone, and the bigger stamp appears to be from a series of stamps depicting historical buildings, this one showing Hayes Court in Port of Spain.