Frill-Necked Lizard, Australia

This is one of the earliest and and my favourite lizard postcards and yet I post it only now...love the photography! Thank you Heather, you have significantly enlarged my lizard collection :))

On the right a Mangrove Golden Whistler, with gorgeous yellow breast (other posts below also have bird stamps, I am not sure everyone has noticed ;))

So, enough birds for today! They will surely be present on many other posts, and I can't say that I mind, they are the loveliest creatures. And more chirpy fellas here (mind you I am a bit early. again. khm khm :)):

Mucha - Flower

Alphonse Mucha created Flower in 1897. The stamp on the right shows the Common Rock Thrush, a medium-sized but stocky representative of its family. They are strongly migratory, all populations winter in Africa south of Sahara. Looks cute, thanks Marta :)

Moruga Beach, Trinidad And Tobago

This I believe was my first written & stamped postcard from T&T :) The stamps show the Channel-billed Toucan, native to Trinidad and most of tropical South America. I think toucans are just so cool! And subsequently I loove these stamps, thank you Eshara :))

Lantern Fly, Hong Kong

It is hard to believe that this creature is a type of fly isn't it..? It is a kind of a lantern fly - its long and and slender proboscis is used to pierce tree bark to reach the sap. I thought it very interesting-looking so I tagged for it, thank you Manyee :)

On the stamps another kingfisher, this time a common one; and a wise Collared Scops Owl, native to south Asia parts.

Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore

 

This is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple and a National Monument; Heather was kind to send this view from her travel, thank you :)

The stamp shows the Stork-billed Kingfisher, native in south and southeast Asia. Awesome colours!

The Pansy Fairy

Today I have seemingly a really random order of posting, but they are connected by this week's Sunday Stamps theme: birds. They were quite a few to choose from, but these have been waiting to be posted for a while now so I've decided to give them some 'air time' xD

First comes one of the fairies from A Flower Fairy Alphabet, not something I'd normally collect, but as I mentioned once or twice I like having one example of each illustration series. This fairy seemed the liveliest! And the stamp on the right shows the Black-tailed Godwit, this picture doesnt do it justice its a beautiful bird from what I could find!

Thank you Giuli :)

Faial Island, The Azores

Faial Island  is one of the islands in the Azores group that form the Triangle (the other two being Pico and Sao Jorge), and is the smallest and westernmost of the three. The initial postcard shows the general views, the second its capital Horta and the third the paintings that cover its walls and walkways, left there by the many sailing crews that stop on their way across the Atlantic.

The fourth is the islands centre or Caldeira, the crater of a stratovolcano integrated into the dispersed Parque Natural do Faial.

Lago De Atitlan, Guatemala

This beautiful view is of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan and the San Pedro Volcano which rises to a hight of 3020 meters. Not sure about the little town/village but according to the map this must have been taken from Panajachel, a tourist hub situated on the northeast shore of the lake.

A lovely surprise last winter from Pat, thanks a million xD

Tasmanian Tiger, Australia

This is an informative postcard about the Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) thought to be extinct...one of those sad stories...it used to be widespread on the island but then, yes humans came along and became their worst enemy. The last live recorded thylacine died in the Hobart zoo in 1936. There is still hope that the species managed to survive in the Tasmanian wilderness where humans only so rarely venture...fingers crossed :)

Thank you Kathryn for this postcard, I wanted to have one of these creatures on a postcard ever since I visited Tasmania and heard the story :)

Ephesus, Turkey

The ancient Greek and later Roman city of Ephesus was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classic Greek era (5th-4th cent. BC) and later played an important role in the beginnings of Christianity - the Gospel of John may have been written here.

The centre of this view of the archaeological site is the Library of Celsus, built in the honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, completed in the year 135 AD by his son. It was built to store 12 000 scrolls. In 262 the interior and all its books were destroyed by fire in a devastating earthquake...

Thank you Goran, I believe you enjoyed your tour of the archaeological sites in Turkey ;)

(UNESCO tentative list)

Kuwait Water Towers

These unique structures were commissioned by the government of Kuwait, in need of a modern water-supply system. The water towers (each holding 3000 cubic meters of water) were completed in 1976 by the Swedish engineering company VBB (Sweco since 1997). Great to have this in my collection, thank you Ahmed :) This postcard came a while after the first one and was totally unexpected, and hurray for the cancellation..!

Delicious Macedonia

Ana and me were writing this postcard after savouring the delicious lahmacun with ajran on the side, loved it!

Craiova, Romania

I have a very exciting assignment for today - through postcrossing friends on FB I have discovered an excellent online printing shop, and now I have to browse through my photos to see which ones may make a good postcard! I had my friends telling me a number of times to do this...so I hope the results will be pleasing :) If not, well I tried..! But also I need to do more blogging as I have a huge pile of postcards waiting...and as usual I won't be able to do it much over the winter, so lets chop-chop! xD

Starting with a view card of Romania's 6th largest city Craiova, the capital of Dolj County in the country's south. Lovely stamps of Romanian flora from 2012. Jelena went there via student-exchange programme, hvala ;)

Views Of Menorca

A lovely view of the Port Of Mahon, which is the capital of the Balearic Island Menorca. The town's population is about 30 000 inhabitants and it has the second deepest natural harbour in the world. And what an awesome beach, the colour of the sea is just amazing..! Thanks to my nomad friend :))

Equus Africanus Asinus

This photo really does look like an encyclopedic presentation of a donkey - a perfect portrait I'd say. Thanks Karin :)

Isle Of Man

Before I disappear for the weekend, more views of Isle Of Man from my dear friend, he was worried if the map was mappy' enough, but I think its one of the coolest I have ever seen xD

Macau Tower

This 338-meters-high tower allows a great view of the Macau City, Hong Kong and the Pearl Delta. I have arranged this swap via Facebook, yes I have dared as it is known to be quite a bit risque..! Some previous tries have ended up in blind alleys. In this case I was sent a totally different card than agreed; but that was partially redeemed by the awesome stamps :)

September Officials

Now here is my story with the official postcards...I haven't sent any for quite some time, almost a year I think. Then I've decided to remind myself what it was like...and sent four. Since they were registered I've received 12 postcards to register, and I have a +9 ratio. Still not sure how come! Here are the last five total-surprise postcards:

 SG-112436

 RU-1927060

 

BR-274187 

RU-1932664 

PL-749033

Overall impression? Its a nice selection of postcards from frequent countries, if I had more resources I would send more, but with lots of going on in private swaps arena I don't feel encouraged to expand my field of action! What I miss most is the element of surprise, which subsides with time...