Linyi  临沂 is a prefecture level city in Shandong of over 11 million people. It is also home to Wang Xizhi  王羲之 (c 303-c361), regarded as the great calligrapher in Chinese history. He was also a politician and a writer. There is a park in Linyi dedicated to Want Xizhi. There is a small entrance fee and tourists can enjoy a pleasant walk and/or try Chinese calligraphy. 

These beckoning cats are found in Gotoku-ji  護国寺, a Shingon Buddhist Temple in Tokyo's  Bunkyō . The temple was established by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the 5th  shōgun, and completed in 1681. It is notable for surviving the American air raids during World War II, whilte most other historical sites in Tokyo were turned in rubble.  Beckoning cats, it is believed, bring good luck to it's owner. 

 

Chiayi is a city of 264 000 people located in southwestern Taiwan. This is a painting of the Cijin-Gushan Ferry that connects Cijin and Gushan. It is operated by Kaohsiung City Steamship Company. It is popular with tourists who wish to visiting the many attractions of Cijin Island. The journey takes about 5 minutes and costs NT$30 (CDN$1.31) for a one-way trip. 

Zolochiv is a city of 24 000 people located in western Ukraine. It has quite a storied and violent history: It was occupied  from 1180 under the name of Radeche until the end of the 13th century. This fort there was burned to the ground during the invasion of the Crimean Tatars.  In 1442, the city was founded as  Złoczów, by John of Sienna, a Polish nobleman.  The Polish king, Sigismund I the Old incorporated the town on 15 September 1523.  From 1772 - 1918, it was a part of Austrian monarchy.  From 1923 to 1939, it was a part of Poland. The Soviet Union occupied Zolochiv from 1939 to 1941. Ukrainian nationalists were tortured and the Zolichiv prison. In July 1941, the Germans began to occupy Zolochiv. As the Soviets fled, they killed about 700 Ukrainians. In retaliation, the Germans rounded up between 1800 - 2000 Jews and shot them. Jews who remained were forced to work as slave labourers. About 2000 Jews were sent to Belzec and were killed. Remaining Jews...

This is one of my favourite types of photos, getting a mirror like image on the lake. I've taken a few over the years and they are still amongst my favourites. Iisalmi is a small town in central Finland. There is about 20 500 people here. It can trace its roots back to 1627 when the parish of Iisalmi was formed around the local church. It gained town status in 1891. Iisalmi and area was a battlefield when Sweden control Finland. The Swedes battle with Russia is considered their great victories  - and it was their last one on Finnish soil. The Swedes lost the Finnish W ar and thus lost control of Finland to Russia in 1809.  Iisalmen Peli-Karhut is the professional hockey team in Iisalmi. They play in the Mestis - the second highest hockey league in Finland. The team was established in 1966 and made it to the Mestis in 2016. They are the current (2024) Mestis champions, beat Imatran Ketterä in the finals. 

This is a photo of batik. An artist will hand draw or hand stamp on the fabric apply wax, dye, and rinse. It apparently takes weeks to years to work.  

Perttula is a village in southern Finland. Most people in the area work in the agriculture industry. 

 

 

 

The sender is from Hollidaysburg, but the card is from Casey, Illinois. Casey is a town of 2400 people, but is home to several Guinness World Records. Local craftsman, Jim Bolin, has built 14 Guinness World record qualifying things. They include: world's largest wind chime; world's largest golf tee; world's largest pitchform; world's largest rocking chair; world's largest wooden shoes; world's largest mailbox; world's largest gavel; world's largest truck key; world's largest barbershop pole; world's largest teeter totter; world's largest golf driver; and world's largest swizzle spoon. There is also a large set of knitting needles and crochet hook, but they have been surpassed in size. There are also other big things that aren't records. There is the big ear of corn, the big mousetrap, and the big pizza slicer. The postcard features the big rocking chair in Casey, but it also features Illinois' largest man-made lake and St. Clair C...

Easter greetings from Mittenwald. Mittenwald in located in southern Germany on the border with Austria. Mittenwald is famous for the manufacture of violins, violas, and cellos, which began in the mid-17th century by the Klotz workshop. Matthias I Klotz (1640 - 1696) founded the Mittenwald school of violin making. Aegidius Klotz is believed to have crafted the personal violin of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

This is a portrait of Emilie  Flöge  (1902) by Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918) He was an Austrian symbolist painter. He is known for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art (French term for ornamental work of art).  Emilie  Flöge (1874 - 1952) was an Austrian fashion designer and businesswoman. She was the life companion of Klimt. She was portrayed in many of his works. She inherited half of Klimt's estate when he died in 1918. In 1945, in the final days of World War II, her house caught fire destroying her collection of fashion garments and some valuable objects from the estate of Klimt. 

A photo of Mount Shasta and Lake Shastina, taken by Erich Ziller.  Mount Shasta, or Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki (Karuk people), is a potentially active stratovolcano located in Siskiyou County in Northern California. It is the second highest peak (4322 m) in the Cascade Mountains. The last known eruption of Mount Shasta was around 1250, based on radiocarbon dating. The first written record of the mountain was made on 20 May 1817 by Narciso  Durán, a member of the  Luis Antonio Argüello expedition into the upper areas of the Sacramento River Valley. Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company recorded a sighting in 1826, and in 1827 the mountain was given the name Sasty or Sastise. The United States Exploring Expedition named in Mount Shasta in 1841.  The Klamath peoples in the area believe that the mountain is inhabited by the Spirit of the Above-World, Skell, who descended from heaven to the mountain's summit at the request of a Klamath chief. Skell fought with the Spiri...

This bicycle is a Belgian made Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra. This is a 1990 model.  The sender is from Atlanta and she mentions that Coca-Cola was invented here. Coke was invented her in 1886 by Confederate General John Pemberton. He was wounded in the American Civil War and became addicted to morphine. He also had a medical degree and tried to find a substitute for morphine.  Pemberton's first concoction was called Pemberton's French Wine Coca nerve tonic. It contained the African kola nut, which was the beverages source of caffeine. In 1886, Pemberton developed a non-alcoholic version of his tonic and renamed it Coca-Cola, with the tag line, "The Temperance Drink." The first sales for Coca-Cola were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta on 8 May 1886 and sold for five cents a glass. Drugstores had soda fountains because at the time it was believed that carbonated water was good for health. Coca-Cola was sold as a patent medicine and claimed it to be able to cure many diseas...

The  political status of Taiwan  is contentious.   Despite being a founding member, the Republic of China no longer represents China as a member of the  United Nations  after UN members voted in 1971 to  recognize the Peoples Republic of China  instead.   The ROC maintained its claim of being the sole  legitimate representative of China  and its territory until 1991, when it ceased to  regard the Chinese Communist Party as a rebellious group  and acknowledged its control over mainland China.   Taiwan is claimed by the PRC, which refuses to establish diplomatic relations with countries that recognize the ROC. Taiwan  maintains official diplomatic relations  with 11 out of 193 UN member states and the  Holy See .   Many others maintain unofficial diplomatic ties through  representative offices  and institutions that function as  de facto  embassies and consulates . International organi...

Cleveland is a city of almost 50 000 people in south east Tennessee. You would think it was named after Grover Cleveland, former president of the United States. Instead it was named for Benjamin Cleveland (1738 - 1806), best known as a colonel in the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina militia during the American War of Independence. Cleveland was one of the commanders of the Battle of Kings Mountain, which took place on 7 October 1780 between Colonial Patriot militias and Loyalist militias.  The battle has been described as "the war's largest all-American fight." Of the 900 colonial patriots, 28 were killed, and 62 wounded. The Loyalist side had 1105 men: 290 were killed, 163 wounded, and 668 were taken prisoner after Captain Abraham de Peyster surrendered. Major Patrick Ferguson, the commander of the Loyalist forces was killed in action. He was the only regular army officer participating on either side of the battle. Patriot forces desecrated his body in the af...

The words on the front of the card - sei wer du list - translates to "Be whoever you are." The photo is entitled Supermanner  by Andrey Kryuchkov. Bochum is a city of 375 000 people, between the rivers Ruhr and Emscher. The name dates back to the 9th century when Charlemagne set up a royal court at the junction of two important trade routes. It was first mentioned in 1041 as Cofbuckheim in a document of the archbishops of Cologne.  During World War II, Bochum was heavily bombed by Allied airmen. Bochum had many arms factories, coal mines, and steel plants which made it a major target . Most women and children fled the city, but factory workers and miners were forced to remain in the city. The British occupied the city after the war. They established two camps to house people displaced by the war. Many were former Polish forced labourers. Bochum was 83% destroyed by bombing. Unexploded bombs are still found every so often by construction workers. In 2008, a bomb detonated, inj...

One of my grandmother's parents, Victor and Lily Burt, came from Gosport in the early 1900s. They traveled on ship to the east coast of Canada and then went by train to Vancouver. A family story - and this has not been verified - is that they had originally book passage on the Titanic but had to cancel. They did leave England for Canada a month after the Titanic sailed, but, again, we can't verify the story.  This card comes from Jane Austen's House Museum located near Gosport in Chawton. It was the house that Jane Austen spent her last eight years of her life. During this time she wrote, revised, and made ready to be published all six of her novels, and the fragment Sanditon. The museum is a Grade I listed building in England. That means it has significant historical interest.  When Austen arrived at the house, she had drafts of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey. She revised and edited the novels here. Austen wrote and revised Mansfield Park,...

University Place is a city of 35 000 located just outside of Tacoma. Ironically, there is no university here. Instead, the University of Puget Sound had bought the land here in the 1800s as they were looking to build a new campus. It didn't work out so the university sold the land to the city.  Gary Larson, famous for creating The Far Side  single panel cartoon series, grew up here. The Far Side  ran from 1 January 1980 to 1 January 1995. At its peak, The Far Side  was in more that 1900 newspapers. The Far Side  books, 23 to date, have sold more that 45 million copies.  Since 2020, Larson has published additional comics online. 

The sender is from Bengaluru, but the card comes from Hunder. The card reads: Nubra is a tri-armed valley located to the north east of Ladakh Valley. The Shyok River meets the Nubra River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges. The Shyok River is a tributary of the Indus River. The average altitude of the valley is about 10 000 ft about the sea level. The common way to access the valley is to travel over the Khardung La from Leh town. In the picture is a small yet beautiful privately funded school in Hunder village. 

This card is coming from Mrs. Johnson's grade 2 class at Doss Elementary School - home of the Knight Owls. Mrs. Johnson had pen pals growing up and wanted to share that experience with her grade 2 students.  This card is a photo from Museum of the Weird. The local motto of Austin is "Keep Austin Weird" and is found on t-shirts and bumper stickers. The motto is used to promote Austin's eccentricity and diversity, as well as bolster support for local independent businesses. It remains an important symbol for many people in Austin who wish to voice concerns over rapid growth and development. Austin has a long history of vocal citizen resistance to development projects perceived to degrade the environment, or to threaten the natural or cultural landscapes. 

Yokohama  横浜   is a city of 3.7 million people and located on Tokyo Bay. It is a part of the Greater Tokyo Area, which has a population of 38 140 000 people, and a part of the Keihin Industrial Zone, which describes Yokohama, Tokyo, and Kawasaki as one industrial region. Yokohama is headquarters to Isuzu, Nissan, Keikyu, Bank of Yokohama, among many others.  Yokohama is home to many professional and amateur sports teams and associations. They best known is the Yokohama DeNA BayStars  横浜DeNAベイスターズ,  who play in the Japanese Central League. The team has was formed in 1949 and has had many different names. DeNA is a software company and the main sponsor of the team.  Yokohama is the current (2024) Japan Series champions. They have also won it it 1960 and 1998. Current Chicago Cubs pitcher, Shota Imanaga  今永 昇太 , played for the BayStars from 2016 - 2023. He signed a four year, $53 million contact. The Cubs also had to pay $9.825 million to the BayStars as ...

A beautiful winter scene on a farm or winery in Germany.  The sender is from Seevetal, a municipality of 43 000 people. In 1972, 19 smaller municipalities were merged to form the Seevetal municipality. Several of the towns that were merged included Ramelsloh, which was first mentioned in documents in 845; Maschen was first mentioned in 1294; Hittfeld celebrated its 900th anniversary in 2007. Archaeological finds of the region also date back to 2200 BCE.

 

 

What a great photo of the atmosphere of Mars. This was taken by the Viking I orbiter. Mars' atmosphere is composed of 95% carbon dioxide, molecular nitrogen (2.85%), and argon (2%). There is trace amounts of water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and noble gases. It is a much thinner atmosphere that Earth's, and much colder. The temperature is generally below zero to -60 degrees Celsius. The Martian atmosphere doesn't prevent Sun's radiation from getting to the surface. The thin atmosphere also cannot retain heat at the surface. It also prevents the existence of liquid water on the surface. Studies suggest that the Martian atmosphere was much thicker in the past.  Science fiction has written about terraforming Mars in order to make it into a planet able to sustain life, mainly human life. In the real world, it is consider infeasible using present day technology. There is also ethical reasons for not terraforming Mars and the considerable cost an undertaking wou...

Nantou City  南投市 is located between the Bagua Mountains and the Maoluo River, and is the county seat of Nantou County. It's population is nearing 100 000 people. The economy is based on agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing.  In 1999, the Jiji earthquake killed 92 people in Nantou, and over 1000 buildings were damaged. 

Rocky Mountain National Park in located about 90 km northwest of Denver, within the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The headwaters of the Colorado River are locted near the park's northwestern edge. It became a national park in January 1915 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act. UNESCO designated the park as one of the first World Biosphere Reserves in 1976. In 2019, 4.7 million people visited the park.  There are five regions, or geographical zones, within the park: Moose and Big Meadows Alpine Region Wilderness Heart of the Park Waterfalls and Backcountry The photo on the postcards shows Bear Lake Road.

The sender says I share a birthday with her daughter so I must be stubborn, too! Is that what a person who is an Aries is? According to astrology, Aries is one of the six positive signs of the zodiac and is one of the four modality cardinals of the zodiac. Aries is one of the three first signs, along with Leo and Sagittarius. The ruling planet is Mars. The opposite zodiac sign to Aries is Libra. 

Maitland is a small village of 1814 people on the west bank of the St. Lawrence River, 5 km from Brockville. In Brockville you will find Canada's first railway tunnel.  (This is from the back of the card) Canada's first underground railway tunnel is one of Brockville's most unique historical sites. The tunnel was constructed between the years 1854 - 1850. Brockville's location on the St. Lawrence River made it an ideal area to move goods from river to land. The tunnel stretches 518 metres underneath the city, including city hall and stands 4.26 metres high and is 4.26 metres wide.  The sender continues by saying, the tunnel is very popular, especially on a hot and humid day - it's nice and cool inside. There's music playing and the lights flash, quite the experience!

The sender asks how my life would be different if I made a couple of essential changes to my life in the past. I think we all have those thoughts. Being smarter with money would have been a big one for me. The old saying goes "youth is wasted on the young."

 

The sender is from Farmington Hills, Michigan, which is about 35 km from Detroit. The card, however, is from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The sender says she visited and went to the Icewine Festival. The 2025 version of the festival will take place between January 10-26, 2025. 

 

I like these old advertising cards. This one is for Red Cross Shoes/Gold Cross Shoes. You could buy a pair for $6.95! The sender is from Flagstaff, a city in north central Arizona of 77 000 people. The city got its name from an actual flagstaff made from a stripped pine tree that was erected at the Antelope Spring on 4 July 1876.  In Navajo, Flagstaff is called  Kinłání Dookʼoʼoosłííd Biyaagi. The Havasupai call Flagstaff  Wii Hagnbaj.

The sender is from Dortmund, but the card is from Timmendorfer Strand (Timmendorf Beach) is norther Germany. It has a population of 8700 people. The community is along the shores of  Bay of Lübeck. 

The sender is from Tuusula, in southern Finland, but was on her dream vacation to Australia and New Zealand. Postcrossing has a travel mode where you can send a card with the code of the country you are visiting. In this case, the card is coming from New Zealand.  The card features a photo of Lake Wakatipu, in the southwest corder of the South Island. Wakatipu is a version of the original Māori name Whakatipu wai-m āori. It is a long lang at 80 km long, and is very deep, with a maximum depth of 420 metres. 

The sender is from Detmold, a city of 75 000 people. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place near here in 9 CE. This was a battle between Germanic tribes and Roman Legions. Hermann led the Germanic tribes who defeated the Roman army led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.  Detmold was first mentioned in documents in 783 CE: the same year the Saxons and Charlemagne's forces fought one another in a battle of the Saxon Wars.  From 1468 to 1918, Demold was the capital city of the small Principality of LIppe.  This card comes from Rinteln, found on the banks of the Weser in the state of Lower Saxony. 

Jacksonville has a population of about 29 000 people, but is a part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has 730 000 people. The city was named after Nicholas Jackson, a landowner who gave the railroad the right-of-way to the Cairo & Fulton Railroad in 1870.  This card is of the University of Arkansas' sports mascot, a razorback boar. The football program played its first game in 130 and has an all time record of 740 wins, 529 losses, and 40 ties, which gives it a .576 winning percentage. It has earned 13 conference championships, but have only been national champions once, in 1964. 

This is a promotional card for Salo. The words on the front translate to: Feel the Experimental City. Salo is a small city of 51 000 people located between Helsinki (114 km) and Turku (52 km). Businesses have grown in Salo due to its location between these two main cities. Farming is also a major economic activity in the area.  Salo is also home to Salon Vilpas Vikings, who play in the Korisliga, the highest level of professional basketball in Finland. The Vikings won their first Korisliga title in 2021. The current roster includes 11 Finns, and 5 Americans. 

The writing on the card translates to: Friends are like stars - you don't always see them, but they are always there for you. Kelkheim is located on the southwestern slopes of the Taurus Mountains and about 10 km west of Frankfurt. 

This card is from a communications student at the University of Mary. The University of Mary was established in 1959. It is a private, Benedictine university located near Bismark. It has almost 3900 students. It is the largest degree granting institution in western North Dakota.  The athletic programme is a member of the NCAA Division II. They use the nickname Marauders. They have teams in 18 varsity sports. Their hockey programme, established in 2018, has won two national championships (division II). They moved to division 1 in 2023. 

 

I've been through Hope many times in my life. It is the last stop before you enter the Lower Mainland in south west British Columbia. As a child, it always felt like the middle of nowhere when we finally got there.  First Blood , the first Rambo movie by Sylvester Stallone was filmed here back in 1982. It was a box office success, grossing $125 million in the domestic box office - the 13th highest-grossing film of the year.  It is about a Vietnam veteran, John Rambo (Stallone) who is coming to Hope (but set in Washington) to see a war buddy who died from the effects of Agent Orange. The local sheriff, assuming Rambo is a drifter, transports him to the outskirts of town, telling him to move on. Rambo starts walking back towards town so the sheriff arrests him. Flashbacks to his time in Vietnam surface when he is abused by a deputy. He fights his way out of the sheriff' station and into the forest. Rambo uses his knowledge of guerilla warfare to survive and set booby traps for t...

Tianjin  天津  is one of China's nine national centre cities cities with regional, national, and international importance). It has a population of almost 14 million people. If you include the metropolitan area, there are 25 million people.  Tianjin was built as a wall city in 1404. It's been a seaport and gateway to Beijing. Tianjin literally means 'the port of the emperor.' 

Ingolstadt is a city of almost 150 000 people located on the Danube. It was firt mentioned in documents in 806. It was a capital city of the one of the Bavarian duchies. In 1472 it opened the first university in Bavaria.  Hockey and football are extremely popular in Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt is home ot ERC Ingolstadt, who play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of professional hockey in Germany. It won its only DEL championships in 2014. They went in as an underdog, finishing 9th in league play. The Panthers - the nickname of ERC Ingolstadt - upset Eisbären Berlin in overtime in a playoff qualification game. They went on to eliminate Krefeld Pinguine (2nd seed), Hamburg Freezers (1st seed), and Kölner Haie in seven games in the championship final. The Panthers had finished the regular season with 21 wins, 22 losses, and 6 losses in a shootout or overtime. They would go to lose in the championship final the next season (2014-15) and again in 2022-23....

One of the photos on this card is of Johann Strauss II, found in the Stadtpark. The Stadtpark is a large municipal park found in Vienna and is 65 square km big. It was officially opened in 1862 becoming the first public park in Vienna. The statue of Johann Strauss II is the best known and most frequently photographed monument in Vienna. It is a gilded bronze monument which was unveiled to the public in 1921. The gilding was removed in 1935, and laid on again in 1991. Other composer statues found in the park include Frank Schubert, Franz Lehár, Robert Stolz, and Hans Makart. Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) composed light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composes 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. He was known as "The Waltz King." His father, Johann Strauss, was a composer during the Romantic Period. Strauss II's younger brothers were also composers of light music, but not as well known...