Bears are one of my favourite animals and I have been lucky to see a few grizzlies and black bears in the wild, but from a distance.  I'm going to copy what is on the back of the card: The Grizzly is a threatened species with the contiguous 48 states. Omnivorous, they feed on plants, small mammals (mostly rodents), large mammals, and carrion. Standing 3-4 feet at the shoulders, the adult male (boar) will weight 500-1000 pounds, while the adult female (sow) will weigh 225-550 pounds. The Grizzly will vary in color from black-brown to straw-yellow and may have light tipped guard hairs that give a frizzled appearance. Breeding occurs from mid-May to mid-July and young cubs, weighing 12-16 ounces are born in January and February. They emerge from the den with their mother in April and May. Grizzly bears are dangerous and should never be approached. 

Chesapeake By is the largest estuary in the United States. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 167 000 square kilometre drainage basin. Along with Norfolk, Baltimore is another major city on the bay. Washington, DC, is also close by. As the photo suggests, seafood comes from the bay in the form of crabs, oysters, and other shell fish. 

The card is entitled Portugal de Azul/Portugal in Blue , with photos taken by David de Abreu, Manuel M. Pinturache, and Nuno Perestrelo. Braga is a city of about 200 000 people. it has ancient roots dating back to the Roman Empire, when it was known as Bracara Augusta . It is also home to the oldest Portuguese archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Braga.  There is an organ festival held annually in Braga since 2014.  Festival de órgão de Braga (The Organ Festival of Braga) takes place in several churches in the city that feature pipe organs. The main purpose of the festival is the safeguarding, valourization, and dissemination of the bracarense organism heritage, whose value in incalculable, is currently in the national and international panoramas a recognized cultural event. 

Tampere is home to two professional men's hockey clubs that play in the Liiga, the top tier of professional hockey in Finland. There was a third professional team, Koovee, that played mostly in Mestis, the second tier of professional hockey.  Tappara was founded in 1932 as the Tammerfors Bollklubb, and in 1955 as Tappara. Tappara plays out of Nokia Arena, which has a capacity of 12 700. They are the most successful club in Finland having won 20 Finnish league championships - Kanada-malja (13 Liiga titles and 7 Sarja (predecessor to Liiga) titles) the last being in 2024. They were also the runners up 17 times - 13 Liiga and 4 Sarja.  Internationally they have won the Champions Hockey League in 2023 and the Nordic Trophy in 2009.  Tampereen Ilves, or Ilves, was founded in 1931. They are the second most successful team in Liiga, with 16 Kanada-malja, and runners up nine times.  Koovee ry was founded in 1929, but dissolved in 2024. They mostly played in Mestis, the secon...

A beautiful card from Taroko National Park    太魯閣國家公園. It is located in east central Taiwan. It is one of nine national parks in Taiwan. It covers 92 000 square hectares. There are unique geological and natural resources, including 27 peaks over 3000 metres located in and around the Qilai and Nanhu Mountain Ranges. There is the marble gorge of Taroko, the Qingshui Cliff, the trail along the Shakadang River, and the waterfalls of the Baiyang trail.  In 2024, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Taiwan's eastern coast and caused widespread devastation and significant loss of life. Landslides obstructed the provincial highway at Taroko Gorge, trapping hundreds of people. Taroko Gorge's landscape was scarred by the aftermath of the earthquake mainly due to landslides that occurred. Because of the earthquake, and floods later in 2024, much of the park remains closed. 

This card made me laugh and made my day. The sender writes: Just wanna say that I love Canada and fuck Donald Trump. I work in a cannabis dispensary and Canada is so far ahead of the US in  cannabis it's  not even funny. Canada is exporting to Germany and Australia. Be well, happy postcrossing.

When I first received this card in the post I became very excited because it is a photo from Antarctica. There are seven Postcrossers in Antarctica and I thought I received a card from one of them! Alas it was from just outside of London. The photo is of Damoy Hut on Dorian Bay in Antarctica. The card reads: Damoy Hut in Dorian Bay, along with the glacial 'skyway' on Damoy Point, together made up the "Damoy Point Transit Facility,' which operated between 19756 and 1993. The facility served as a staging post between the sea and station for BAS employees making their way south. It is designated Historic Site and Monument No. 84 under the Antarctic Treaty. The sender writes about something unrelated to Damoy Hut on the back of the card. He says, Something about Greenford. In 1856, William Perkin made the first synthetic purple dye, mauveine, and in was in Greenford that he set up a factory to produce the dye. The factory was about 2 km from out house. There is now a schoo...

 

Fenton is a suburb of St. Louis of about 4000 people. Reading about Fenton, it sounds like a nice place to life. There are a lot of parks and activities for local residents to do, and many employment opportunities. Upon further reading, I was interested in the Fenton Mounds - two conical earthen burial mounds in south west Fenton. They dated back to 1050-1400. However, in 2001, the mounds were levelled for construction of a Walmart Supercenter.  This card features Cottages at North Truro  by American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967). He is renowned for depicting modern American life and landscapes. He worked with oil, watercolours, and etchings. Hopper explored the themes of loneliness and isolation with American urban and rural settings. Nighthawks  (1942) is considered his most famous painting and has been used in homages and parodies. Nighhawks depicts four people in a downtown diner late at night as viewed through the diner's large glass window. The light coming from ...

This vintage (?) card comes from Munich but shows Acantilados de Los Gigantes (Cliffs of the Giants) along the coast of Tenerife, the largest island of the Canary Islands. They are basaltic geological features and are 500 metres in some places. The Indigenous people of Tenerife called the Muralla del Infierno (Wall of Hell).  The photo also features the town of Los Gigantes, which was developed in the 1960s with British investment. It is a tourist resort and features black sand beaches, a marina, and a natural pool. 

This card is a promotional card for tourists to visit Cotentin, which is a peninsula in north west France. This photo is from a commune from Cotentin, Fermanville.  The senders are a group of seven people who meet every Tuesday afternoon to do some activies, such as play games, go for walks, or go see a movie and to send postcards. They reside in Troyes, which is in north east central France.  There are about 62 000 people in Troyes and it dates back to Roman times, where it was known as Augustobona Tricassium. Reading about its history, a name stood out for me - Louis the Stammerer. Louis the Stammerer (Louis le B ègue) was the son of Charles the Bald (another great name), King of West Francia. Louis actually succeeded to the throne when his younger brother, Charles the Child, died. Louis reigned over West Francia from 877-879. The Archbishop of Reims, Hincmar, crowned Louis on 8 October 877. Pope John VIII crowned him a second time at Troyes in August 878 when the pope atten...

The sender is a SC Freisburg supporter but loves to visit other football stadiums when travelling. This one comes from Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the home stadium for the Heart of Midlothian Football Club, affectionally known as Hearts.  Tynecastle Park, or Tynie, can seat almost 20 000 spectators for football. It first opened in 1886, and then went through a major renovation between 1994-1997, and then underwent another renovation in 2017. The Hearts are as older as they were formed in 1874.  Hearts have won the Scottish Premiership four times and were runner-up 14 times. They won the Scottish Cup eight times and were runner-up nine times.  They have won the Scottish League Cup four times and were runner-up three times. 

A great card from the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)world championships, in which Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden co-hosted.  Russia went on the win the championship with a 6-2 win over Slovakia, Russia's Evgeni Malkin was named the tournament most valuable player. In the bronze medal game, the Czech Republic defeated Finland 3-2. Canada was knocked out in the quarter-finals by the Slovakians, 4-3. 

This card shows Sutro Heights Park around 1900. It is located above the Cliff House in the Lands End area. Then sender says there is an elegant and old lawn bowling green that was a big mystery to me when I was a kid - why did it look like it should be more fun than it seemed people were having?

Schlüchtern is a city of 16 000 people, located on the banks of the river Kinzig. Documents first mention  Schlüchtern in 1278. There is an earlier mention in 819, but it is disputed. It was around this time when a Benedictine abbey was established.  This card has an illustration from the children's book The Day Adam Got Mad  by Astrid Lindgren. Adam is a bull who is normally a quiet and peaceful bull. One day he gets furious and no one knows why. People are afraid of Adam except for a young boy, Kalle. Kalle talks gently to Adam and at first Adam doesn't want to listen. But Kalle persists and eventually Adam allows him to gently pet him. Adam is no longer mad and Kalle walks him back to the stable. 

Lahti is home to the Lahti Pelicans, who play in the Liiga, Finland's top professional hockey league. The Pelicans were established in 1996 and play in Isku Areena. Pasi Nurminen, a former Finnish National Hockey League players is one of the owners. Valtteri Bottas, a Formula One driver, is another owner.  Lahti has not had a lot of success in Liiga and haven't made it to the Kanada-malja yet (playoff finals). There are currently two Canadians on the team. Wyatt Kalynuk, from Brandon, Manitoba, and Josh Lawrence from Fredericton, New Brunswick. 

A great card of a medical heliocopter bring medical supplies and medical professionals to Chillon Castle in Veytaux. Chillon Castle is built on the island of Chillon, a small, steep-side oval limestone rock on Lake Geneva. Chillon Island has had a fortification on it since the 11th century. A restoration of the castle began in the late 1800s and became a draw tourists and romantic writers and poets from around the world. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron are some of the names who spent time at the castle. Today, it attracts about 300 000 tourists. 

The San Francisco cable car system was established in 1873. Twenty-three cable car lines were established between 1873 and 1890 - three of these lines still run today. Most people who use the cable cars now-a-days are tourists. Commuters use modern public system methods. San Francisco's cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with one street railways named as National Historic Landmarks. 

Huddersfield is located in West Yorkshire and is home to 142 000 people. Human settlements have been in the area since the Iron Age. The remains of a Roman fort was found here in the mid 18th century. The earliest mention of Huddersfield in documents is 1086 in the Domesday Book. It's been a market town since Anglo-Saxon times.  The card is a reproduction of an old advertisement for F. H. Ayres', which manufactured sports and games. A cricket match is shown on the front. The Huddersfield Cricket League was founded in 1891. It represents teams from the suburbs of Huddersfield and villages in the Huddersfield district area. There are 41 teams in the league.

Shijiezhuang  石家庄  is the capital city of Hebei. It is a city of 11.2 million people. It experienced rapid growth after the founding of the People's Republic of China as a result of industrialization and infrastructural development.  Shijiezhuang Gongfu FC  石家庄功夫足球俱乐部  was established in 2020 as Hebei Jingying Zhihai FC. They play in the China League One, the second level of Chinese football. They play out of Yutong International Sports Centre, which can hold 29 000 for football.  This was a World Postcard Day card for 2024. 

Hefei is the capital city of Anhul province and has a population of almost 10 million people. It is a leading city for scientific research will several universities, including the University of Science and Technology of China. There are seven national laboratories. There is the Institute of Solid State Physics. The no. 105 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army is reportedly the site of the first human trials using CRISPR genome editing in 2015. 

I'm going to copy word for word this card. She sent it in an envelope and has written on both sides. She also included this vintage card. I think she has a great story to tell: I live in the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado. Colorado is a 'vote by mail' state, which is oddly rare amongst the 50 US states. We voted to have our ballots mailed to all registered voters. Thank goodness we can fill them out at home because Colorado's ballots are l-o-n-g. Citizens can put ballot issues via enough signatures and then the entire electorate votes for them. It's been mixed results. Sometimes it's a check on representative government, at other times it is issues that should be left to professionals.  One thing that has never changed is the trusty blue box. even with excellent regular mail delivery, my neighbours and I were distraught that we didn't have a Blue Box on the corner while an apartment building was constructed. It's back now. We like using it because we...

The sender says he was originally from Michigan, but now lives in Palm Desert. Palm Desert is located about 200 kilometres east of Los Angeles and has a population of 51 000. It is California's fastest growing cities. Almost 38% of the population are over the age of 65. The average age of Palm Desert is 56.1 years. A lot of retired Canadian ex-pats and snowbirds make Palm Desert their permanent or seasonal home.  The card features a scorpion. Scorpions have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions and can now be found on all continents except Antarctica. Scorpions number about 1750 described species, with 13 extant families recognized to date. Only about 25 of thee species are know to have venom capable of killing a human being. Scorpions are also known to glow is a vibrant blue-green when exposed to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light, due to the presence of fluorescent chemicals in the cuticle. This fluorescence may have an active role in scorpion light detection....

The sender lives in uptown Manhattan which has a rich and cultured history. Harlem is found in uptown Manhattan and was the centre of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in uptown Manhattan is considered the birthplace of the modern gay-rights movement in 1969. Upper Manhattan. Manhattan is home to almost 1.7 million people and is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City, with almost 29 000 people per  km 2  .  The sender says their house supports the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (Manhattan is home to the New York Rangers), the San Antonio Spurs (Manhattan is home to the New York Knicks), and New York City Football Club (who will be playing at Etihad Park in Queens, New York, when the stadium is finished). 

This card is coming from a high school teacher who teaches Spanish and English. In fact, she shared some exciting news that she gets to take a class to Spain for an exchange program, of which she has been preparing for a few years.  The card is from Bremen, but the teacher is from Stuhr. Stuhr is a municipality about 7 kilometres southwest of Bremen. There are about 35 000 people who live in the municipality. The municipality includes the following communities:  Brinkum, Fahrenhorst, Groß Mackenstedt, Heiligenrode (Neukrug), Moordeich, Seckenhausen, Stuhr and Varrel. The card shows the city centre of Bremen, or the Bremer Marktplatz. It is one of the oldest public squares in the city and covers an area of  3,484 m 2  . It isn't used as a market place exept for the Christmas market and the Freimarkt Fair at the end of October. Parts of the marketplace have been used since the age of Charlemagne (mid to late 700s). Bremen Town Hall was built here from 1405 to 1410...

A great card that shows the amount of snow Finland gets in the winter. In Espoo, they average about 6.5 metres of precipitation every year. Snow generally arrives after Christmas and can last to March or April. Espoo also has years where there is very little snow. 

St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) is an almost 900 year old cathedral. It is the home of the Archdiocese of Vienna,    Christoph Schönborn . Groundbreaking took place in 1137 and the building was complete 1578 - 441 years later. It was dedicated to St. Stephen in 1147, in the presence of Conrad III of Germany, Bishop Otto of Freising, and other German nobles who were about to embark on the Second Crusade.  The first structure was completed in 1160, major reconstruction and expansion lasted until 1511, and repair and restoration projects continue to the present day.  The heighest part of the cathedral is 136.7 metres.

 

The sender took this photo himself on a camping trip to Kolukkumalai. All the green are tea plantations.  Thrissur is a city of 315 000 people, but a part of a metropolitan area with 3.7 million people. It is known as the Cultural Capital of Kerala. There are cultural traditions that date back centuries. The Thrissur Pooram is an annual Hindu temple festival. It attract upwards of a million people.  The Maharaja of Cochin (1790-1805), Sakthan Thampuran, came up with the idea of the Thrissur Pooram. 

 

The sender writes that she just attended the Arizona Renaissance Festival last week. She says her favourite part is when the actors joust "to the death" complete with brawl and fake blood. She comments "even the queen attends!" The Arizona Renaissance Festival runs from mid winter to early spring every year since 1989. It takes place at Gold Canyon, east of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The fictional village of Fairhaven is open Saturdays, Sundays, and President's Day Money.  At the festival there are daily jousting tournaments, a birds of prey display, games of skills (axe throwing, archery), and a feast. There is an artisan marketplace - an outdoor arts and crafts market located throughout Fairhaven.  There is a petting zoo, comedy routines, sword swallowing, a live mermaid exhibit, and Renaissance themed foods. Visitors are welcome to wear costumes and costumes are available to rent. The Arizona Renaissaince Festival is on 2 00,000 m 2  and averages about 25...

Tianjin is home to the Dule Temple  獨樂寺, which dates back to 984. The origins of the temple date back to the early Tang dynasty (618 - 907). The gate of the temple is the oldest part of the structure. 

A beautiful card of a tree with cherry blosoms, or something similar. There are some Chinese characters in the corner. I think they are a poem.

 

Another of the great national parks cards from the United States and Canada. This one is of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. It is found in northern Alaska and covers 34 287  km 2  . The purpose of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is to preserve the vast, wild, undeveloped character and environmental integrity of Alaska's central Brooks Range and to provide opportunities for wilderness recreation and traditional subsistence uses. There are no roads or official trail in the park. Visitors must arrive by bush plane or hike in, usually from the Dalton Highway that runs about 12 kilometres to the east of the park. People can hike, pack-raft, and sightsee. There is hunting allowed in the park but by only Nunamiut Corporation shareholders. Camping is permitted throughout the park. Arrigetch Peaks and Mount Igikpak are the two most popular mountains for hikers. The park is the second least visited park in the United States national parks system. In 2021, ...

A great card depicting a canal and bridge with a bunch of people on it. I'm sure it is a historical photo of China. 

So I'm not sure what's happening with this card. The sender says, We seldom get to sit on the side of a new day, historical change. Tomorrow the new American president will be sworn in, positive change is in the air. The end of 8 year of fiscal idiocy. No one will be shot, no one sent to prison, the future will be brighter. I think the sender is writing about DJT, and is he talking about President Biden's "fiscal idiocy?" He was only president for four years, not eight. The four before that it was DJT.  Anyway if the sender is a MAGA, and/or supporter of DJT, the future is definitely not brighter! He just took over Venezuela. He is now threatening Iran and Greenland. Even my own country of Canada is in his sights. DJT is sending the world into a darker future. I am waiting for China, who are seeing what Russia and the United States are getting away with, decide its time to invade Taiwan.  Apologies for the rant. I don't want to get political when writing postc...

A very pretty card from George Town, the capital city of Penang, a state in Malaysia. 

Happy New Year (2025) from Selb! Selb is located in eastern Germany with the border of the Czech Republic about 20 kilometres away. It is known for porcelain manufacturing. Philipp Rosenthal (1855-1937) founded the Rosenthal factory in 1879 as a family business. 

A fellow teacher from the capital city of Hesse, Wiesbaden. Wiesbaden is home to SV Wehen Wiesbaden, who play in the 3.Liga, the third division of football in Germany. It was established in 1926. They play at the BRITA-Arena.

The sender writes: the motto of India is - Satyameva Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs). He also says "don't look for happiness, create it. Happiness is not perfect until it is shared.  Bengaluru is home to Royal Challengers Bengaluru of the Indian Premier League (Twenty20 Cricket). It was founded in 2008 and play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. After finishing as the runners up thrice - 2009, 2011, and 2016 - they finally won their first title in 2025. 

This card is from an undergraduate student. She mentions that she and her family are preparing for the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year. On the card is photo of origami swans(?).

 

Tourist card from Litoměřice, located in northern Czech Republic. There are about 23 000 people who call Litoměřice home. Geographically it is located at the confluence of the Elbe and Ohře rivers. It was a royal town of great political, cultural, and economic importance during the European Middle Ages. The historic town centre has been well preserved and is protected as an urban monument reservation -  protected properties designated by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.  

A great card commemorating Chinese athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The sender says that Xie Siyi comes from his hometown of Shantou. Xie Siyi  谢思埸  has won four gold medals at the World Aquatic Championships and three Olympic gold medals. He first started as a 10 metre synchro diver but suffered a serious injuring in 2012. After that he focused on the springboard. He competes in the 1 metre, 3 metre, and 3 metre synchro events.  His four gold medals at the World Aquatic Championships are for the 1 metre springboard (2015), 3 metre springboard (2017, 2019), and 3 metre synchro (2019) He won his two gold medals at the Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning the 3 metre springboard event and the 3 metre synchro events. At the 2024 Paris Olympics he defended his Olympic gold medal in the 3 metre springboard event. A teammate took the silver. 

Nouzenville is a commune in north east France near the Belgian border.  This card is a  Commemorative card for the collectors' and unusual items fair at the Lac des Vieilles Forges complex. ,

This tile panel is found on one of the walls of the Aveiro Train Station, in Costa de Prata.  The sender is from Murtosa, a town of about 10 500 people. Most people are employed in agriculture, fishing, and fish processing. 

A great history card from Shelton, Washington. It is a drawing of Fort Vancouver, a Hudson Bay Company trading fort and the mouth of the Columbia River and controlled the Oregon Territory. At the time, Oregon Territory stretched to Alaska to California.  Fort Vancouver was built in the winter of 1824-25 and named for Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. Captain Vancouver led the Vancouver Expedition through this part of the Pacific Coast in the late 1700s.  Trade goods from London would arrive at Fort Vancouver and the Indigenous people would trade furs pelts for them. Some of the furs collected at Fort Vancouver were shipped to the Qing dynasty through Guangzhou where they were traded for Chinese manufactured goods for sale in Britain. At its peak, Fort Vancouver controlled 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and employed 600 men.  In 1946 Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty ceding the land around Fort Vancouver to the United States. Although the Hud...

Hemer and the neighbouring towns of Deilinghofen and Iserlohn were home to Canadian military bases. Deilinghofen was home to the barracks of Fort Macleod and Fort Prince of Wales, while Iserlohn has Fort  QuèAppelle and Beausejour. Hemer was home to Canadian soldiers and their families. In 1970 the Canadians were transferred to based in the Black Forest region. and Canadian holdings were transferred to British.

Aalsmeer is a town of 32 000 and is home to the largest flower auction in the world. The Aalsmeer Flower Auction ( Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer) is found in a building that almost covers a million square metres. Flowers from all over the world are traded every day and about 43 million flowers are sold daily. This goes up by about 15% around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Flowers are quality checked about 30 times so they can be graded on a scale.  The auction is a Dutch auction, which means the price starts high and works its way down. Bidders only get a few seconds to bid.