Spring Donkeys From Menorca

I've opened this year's swapping 'season' in March when I was in Germany on island Amrum - I went there to work the season and had a contract until October. However, opposite from the previous year, I was met with conditions not matching the contract/agreement...and beside that totally ignored as a human being...So I ran away after three weeks. The thing is, thinking that I will stay for months, I've bought a considerable stash of postcards! Most I had to bring back home and will hopefully be able to swap them from Germany sometime in the future...

Anyways! From one of my march FB swaps, great Menorcan donkeys for my collection. Gracias Elena!

Touchnote

Does anyone remember the Touchnote craze? Anyone doing postcrossing (back in...2012 was it?) must do, as Touchnote page did a promotion that lasted for weeks, enabling us to send each other any image on a postcard for free...of course they are not regarded (by many) as 'true' postcards, but it was fun :)

As I am trying to sort out my collections these days (with emphasis on 'trying') I am going through all of my shoe boxes, often not knowing what's in them lol. So, for example, I totally forgot that I have received a postcard from Eswahili/Swaziland some years ago, so it is still on my list of missing countries 😅. Some postcrossers I remember fondly from the 'busy' postcrossing era about a decade ago...I have joined the forum again, have seen some familiar 'faces' but missing some others...There seems to be a lesser variety of countries too, and some RRs that I used to participate in are now gone. Still, excited to send and receive again :) And here are some Touchnote examples: my favourite band (though I'm definitely breaking some law by using this image, gulp!), a donkey photographed during my trip in Jordan, and of course my kitties 💓

Donkey Love

Happy Sunday everyone! I have finally a) swapped a bit throughout the year b) scanned the cards. Now I am trying to le-learn the process of blogging...as automatic as it did go years ago, I have become rusty, but also don't deal best with the changes - and I can see that there are some...anyways!

I have lived and worked in the very north of Germany for six months - start of april to end of september. So there will be many cards from that area 😅 And a lovely area it is! But these donkeys were sent by my sister. I thought it would be a good starting comeback point as I am still very much a donkeys fan :))

The Whole World Can...

It's probably something naughty that is supposed to finish this sentence heh, but this donkey seems sooo pleased, it's quite a nice place he lives at from the look of it; this Austrian donkey arrived from Berlin via official postcrossing, so he's traveled a bit too. But is here to stay!

Brazilian Beach Donkeys

Most recently acquired postcard of cute long-ears; obrigado Marcos :)

Life In The Nile Valley

As I've noticed its letter 'P' today for Sunday Stamps I thought of the pyramids, but hey lucky chance I got some Pharaohs as well :) Took a bit of digging to find out what exactly these were, definitives from 2002: Statue of Pharaoh Sesostris III, Pyramids of Sneferu (Sneferu was a founder of a great dynasty and had three pyramids built in Dahshur, all happening in the 2nd millenium BC), and Mask of the Pharaoh Psusennes I (made of gold and lapis lazuli). 

Postcard received for the wishlist tag - and I guess I had donkeys on my wishlist as usual :) Dear Farah thank you for this card, I haven't seen you for a while I hope all is well x.

 

Vintage Donkey Postcards

A selection of old donkey postcards was a surprise from Claudia some time ago - imagine my reaction :D

Kefalonian Long-Ears

Two ports on the Ionian islands was my first experience of Greece - I just can't seem to get there on my own..! Argostoli is the main port on the island of Kefalonia, it was pretty cool as the harbour is home to some sea turtles; first time I've seen one 'in the wild'. Also very happy with the mail, i.e. nice stamp and cancellation. 

Menorcan Long-Ears

If you are wondering about Menorca / Switzerland relation, I mentioned it in my last post :) But actually I'm curious to find out a bit more...which doesn't seem to be that easy at all. Apparently Swiss Post operates on Canary islands too, and the mail gets to drop in on Malta on its way to you! (and accordingly takes ages to arrive). I am always happy to participate in any new posting adventures as long as the mail arrives in the end - shame about the lack of cancellation though.But hey its a donkey! :D

La Rochelle II, France

I was in La Rochelle twice, both times for a stroll around town as tours were not to be had. It is one of those ports that require shuttlebuses as means to get to the town/city centre. It was the 2nd time around that I realised we were so close to Île de Ré, home to these adorable donkeys in trousers! Alas still not enough time to organise myself for a visit, if indeed a visit is possible - perhaps another time? I surely wouldn't mind coming to the north French coast again, La Rochelle is a lovely town, and I had one of the more memorable cat encounters there heehe ;) 

Long-Ears In A Poppy Field

Corsican Scene From 1895

Moroccan Man On A Donkey

From the Canaries across to Morocco - and since I haven't been on the Moroccan coast before, I was excited about this more exotic spot of the cruise..! Very much resort-like, you could almost forget you are in a different culture - until you start getting catcalled by, well,  teenagers. I had a chat with one of them, asking if his plan to lure western women ever works, and he was laughing at himself so we parted amiably.  I found a tucked-away souvenir shop with a small range of postcards (and stamps!) and very friendly staff who also directed me to the closest mailbox. Let me just say it was a lovely sunny warm day and the beach in Agadir is endless, walking in the sand and listening to the ocean waves felt very soothing after all the business and noisiness on board...a welcome distraction :)

Burro Grazing

And another burro :D The Christmas stamp is quite interesting as one could send it as a square whole (like on the previous postcard) or separating the shaped centre (like here). A bit of a let-down that the posties don't have a local cancellation but were sent from the 'neighbouring' Tenerife. Nevermind, the donkey is here!

Views Of La Gomera

Next stop: La Gomera. I have posted a little bit about this island before, as my sister visited and sent a postcard from there. The ship docked in the port of San Sebastián de La Gomera, which can be seen here top-left - I best remember the black sand beach, and seeing a first cat since on board :) Went for a walk, then looked for a decent wi-fi (which will become one of the major sports to do in ports!) and that was pretty much it. The choice of postcards was again tempting; whole of the Macaronesia seems to be like that, donkeys and lizards aplenty..!

Official - Hungry Donkey

Wow I can hardly remember what its like to receive an official postcrossing card...and this one must have been sent aaages ago as the Netherlands number is quite low, very much so..! In any case this is a sweet nibblin' donkey sent by Susanne, and I needed to see something this cute today after a hard day of looking through employment options...:)

Asino Amiatino, Italy

And good morning to you on this fine drizzly sunday morning, perfect for celebrating the International Sweatpants Day :D And for posting this cutie :) Grazie goes to Luca and Raffaella, who got this card on their holiday in Tuscany.

The Amiatina or Italian: Asino dell'Amiata is a breed of donkey from Tuscany in central Italy. It is one of the eight autochthonous donkey breeds of limited distribution recognised by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture and forestry. It is a strong and rustic breed, capable of foraging on harsh marginal terrain. 

Bulgarian Roses And Donkeys

'Bulgarian rose oil is very popular and widely used by perfume producers all over the world. It is taken from the Rosa Damascena, which is grown near the towns Karlovo and Kazanlak. At the end of may in this region there are celebrations honouring the rose.'

Even though I've swapped for this one cos of the donkeys, and didn't even see roses as a possible theme, I am thankful to Evgeniya for writing this information on the back :) благодаря!

Lila i Lala

The caption is exactly what is written at the back of the card, I will assume those are the names of these cuties :) Sent from (what now seems to be ancient) my trip to Mallorca.

Life In The Fast Lane

Irish donkey, cute dog, a pub sign...I've had my eyes on this card for quite some time, and now its in my collection thanks to Anastasia :) Also a curious stamp, representing one of the five senses - when you touch it with a warm finger, it changes colour..!