Károly Reich, Tale illustration

I found some lost and forgotten cards when I was cleaning one of my mystery boxes. In spring 2000 we made a trip to beautiful Budapest and I bought these cute cards  from there. Károly Reich's expressive and  colorful  Slavic style cards are a full of small lovely details. Most of his illustrations picture traditional Hungarian peasant life with folklore elements and animals like  foxes, cats, pigs, cows, horses, and birds.

Károly Reich, ( 8 August 1922 – 7 September 1988 )  was a Hungarian artist, best known for his children's book illustrations and for his original draughtsmanship. His illustrations were popular among Hungarian children throughout his 40-year career, during which he illustrated around 500 books. 

Kukkaisjuhla - Blomsterfesten i täppan - The Flowers' Festival

The Flowers' Festival by Elsa Beskow

Twinflower

Received on: 21 Jun, 2013

Distance: 252 km (157 miles)

Travel time: 9 days

Outi from Marttila, Finland sent  this cute flower card. She likes gardening, but at that time the weather was terrible, windy and rainy so she just had to sit inside, perhaps reading this lovely flower story.

Elsa Beskow was a Swedish children's book author and illustrator. She is often called the 'Beatrix Potter' of Scandinavia. The Flowers' Festival is a delightful illustrated tale of Elsa Beskow in which the flowers invite Lisa to their Midsummer festival. At the top of the garden, Queen Rose sits on her throne surrounded by Lady Pansy, Lady Honeysuckle, Lord Bleeding Heart, and the rest of her court, and welcomes all the guests -- the Vegetables, the Forest Flowers, and the Lake Flowers. The bumblebees and the birds each tell a story.

Today sun is shining, I think I'm going to my garden to see how are my dear Lord Bleeding Heart, Lady Purple Rose, Knight Larkspur and Peasant Black Currant doing.

Mt. Fuji - Fujisan

Received on: 18 Jun, 2013

Distance: 7,995 km (4,968 miles)

Travel time: 17 days

This beautiful card comes from Naoko. Naoko lives in Taiwan however she is from Japan and the card shows her home town Fuji and Mount Fuji.  She writes that Fuji is famous for paper manufacturing, but perhaps even more famous for it's magnificent Mt. Fuji.

Mt. Fuji is Japan's most iconic volcano and highest mountain. It has been worshiped as sacred mountain for centuries and has immeasurable impact on Japanese culture, while it is recognized as a symbol of Japan across the world. Mount Fuji was officially recognized as a World Heritage Site at the annual UNESCO conference being held in Cambodia on June 22, 2013.

The Brave little Tailor

She must be the queen... 

Received on: 17 Jun, 2013

Distance: 520 km (323 miles)

Travel time: 14 days

Milana from St.Petersburg, Russia sent  this really beautiful card showing illustration from Grimm Brothers' story The Brave Little Tailor  by Andrej Dugin and Olga Dugina.


When a tailor kills seven flies with one swipe of his cloth, he proudly stitches "Seven Killed With One Blow" on his belt. The villagers and the king mistakenly believe the "seven" refers to men, not flies. Fearful for his throne, the king orders the tailor to accomplish several impossible tasks. In the end, however, the tailor overcomes all the obstacles and earns the right to inherit the throne.



Black and White

Sam Shaw and Audrie Hepburn

Photo Larry Shaw

Received on: 17 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,968 km (1,223 miles)

Travel time: 11 days

Dominik sends greetings from Switzerland with this unusual photoshooting. He wonders if this is a paparazzi or just a fan. At least, she has some style when posing for the picture.

Ava Gardner

Received on: 17 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,278 km (794 miles)

Travel time: 6 days

Eva lives in a little village in Altmark Region, Germany. She writes about the flooding of the Elbe River which had broken through several dikes and many villages and towns were in serious troubles. Fortunately Eva's village was saved.

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”

Received on: 25 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,445 km (898 miles)

Travel time: 13 days

Ludmila from Kiev sent this lovely lady who needs no introduction.



The Břeclav Castle



The Břeclav Castle

Received on: 12 May, 2013

Distance: 1,581 km (982 miles)

Travel time: 20 days

Anna sent greeting from her beautiful town of  Břeclav situated in the south of Czech Republic.

The beginning of castle's  history go back to the 11th century when a border fort was built.  In 1534 the Žerotin brothers bought the domain and converted the old castle into a Renaissance castle. The castle got its modern appearance at the beginning of the 19th century, when the Liechtensteins created the Lednice-Valtice Area. In 1945 the chateau became the property of the Czechoslovak state. Today it is administered by the town.

Poika ja varis - Boy and a Crow

Akseli Gallen- Kallela

Poika ja varis 1884

Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work was considered very important for the Finnish national identity.

"Boy and a Crow" is an early work by Gallen-Kallela. The painting is from 1884 and is in the permanent collection at the Ateneum in Helsinki, painted when Gallen-Kallela was only 19 years, really an astonishing piece of work for a 19-year-old. The subject of the painting was the character of this peasant boy, whom the artist knew from before.

This is my post for Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday on blog The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Rusenski Lom, Bulgaria

Jana from Ruse, Bulgaria sent me a card of the river near her home town. She writes that the Rusenski Lom ( or only Rom )  is not so clean as it seems to be in the card. She thinks it's perhaps an old photo or then it is just edited.

  Nature Park of Rusenski Lom is one of the ten nature parks of Bulgaria. It is situated along the canyon type valley of Rusenski Lom River -  the last right feeder of the Danube. The park is recognized as an interesting and precious site of high aesthetic value preserving beautiful riverside terraces, meanders, high vertical rocks, areas of rich variety of species, caves, rock formations, historical monuments of national and international significance.

Shrines and Temples of Nikko

Received on: 3 Jun, 2013

Distance: 7,775 km (4,831 miles)

Travel time: 9 days

Masayo from Tokyo sent me this card showing Yomeimon gate of Nikko Toshogu Temple. It is one of the most magnificent structures in Japan. The two-story "Yomei-mon Gate" is decorated with brilliant colors and over 500 sculptures. It is also called "Higurashi-mon (sunset gate)", because people spend all day long gazing at its beauty.

Added to UNESCO sites in 1999.

It's Movie Time

Received on: 16 May, 2013

Distance: 1,501 km (933 miles)

Travel time: 3 days

Sari from Netherlands is a real postcard fan. From he collection of 9000 unwritten cards she picked  Marlene Dietrich's  The Devil Is a Woman for my movie night. The Devil Is a Woman is an alluring romance about a cold-hearted temptress who destroys the lives of two best friends (Cesar Romero and Lionel Atwill) during the Spanish revolution.

Received on: 17 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,676 km (1,041 miles

Travel time: 11 days

Sandra from United Kingdom is sitting in the garden and the sun is shining. She has one or two thing to do, but she thinks they can wait until tomorrow. She choosed Dr.No for saturday night's movie in which James Bond's investigation of a missing colleague in Jamaica leads him to the island of the mysterious Dr. No and a scheme to end the US space program.

Received on: 1 Jul, 2013

Distance: 1,391 km (864 miles)

Travel time: 8 days

Carin lives in a small town nearby Gronigen in Netherlands and she has three lovely and nauhgty cats. She sent me La Dolce Vita for the saturday night's movie.  Thank you Carin, I'll choose your movie!  The film is a story of a passive journalist's week in Rome, and his search for both happiness and love that will never come...

What is your choise?

Have a nice weekend with movies or without!



Castles

Received on: 3 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,339 km (832 miles)

Travel time: 8 days
Willi lives in a small village of Riepe in Germany. He sent me this card from my favourites list, Neuschwanstein Castle, the Fairy Tale Castle.  I really believe it must have been the castle of  Sleeping Beauty. 



 Received on: 17 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,456 km (905 miles)

Travel time: 10 days

Sake lives in  Hardenberg in the eastern part of the Netherlands, he sent me this great card of Banz Monastery also known as Banz Castle  which is situated in the valley of the  Main River, Germany.    An other beautiful attraction in Germany.

Received on: 1 Jul, 2013

Distance: 1,391 km (864 miles)

Travel time: 8 days

Schloss Greifenstein b. Blankenburg ( Schwarzatal ) im 12. Jahrhundert

Das eigentliche Schloss

Anni sent me the third castle from Thuringia region Germany. 

This old castle is near her home town.

Greifenstein is situated north of Bad Blankenburg in Thuringia on the mountain "Greifenstein". It  is one of the oldest feudal fortresses in Germany. Known until the 17th century as Blankenburg Castle.  Today it  consists of a principal building with a great hall and tower and has several courtyards and bastions. The Counts of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg resided here in the 13th and 14th century.

I think it is a perfect place for medieval markets, knights fights, musicians, falconers, magicians and jugglers.

Up Up and Away

For we can fly we can fly

My beautiful, my beautiful balloon....

Received on: 14 Jun, 2013

Distance: 7,924 km (4,924 miles)
Travel time: 15 days

I received this cute postcard from Helena who at  that time lived in Hong Kong.
The card is illustrated by Korean artist Kim Min.

Dorothy is finaly back home in Kansas :)

"The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was. At length, however, she sat up and looked about her. "Good gracious!" she cried.
For she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward the barn, barking furiously."

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, also known as The Wizard of Oz,
is a book written  by L. Frank Baum and published in 1900.



Received on: 25 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,890 km (1,174 miles)

Travel time: 136 days

Lena from Donetsk, Ukraine sent me these three balloons. Perhaps the northwest wind was blowing too hard and that's why Lena's balloons took so long to reach Finland. The balloons were released into the air from Donetsk stadium.

Received on: 6 Jun, 2013

Distance: 1,428 km (887 miles)

Travel time: 8 days

 This balloon card I received from Daryna, who is eight years old and lives in Lviv, Ukraine.

The Death of Harris, who jumped from a hydrogen balloon in 1824.

A sad story of Thomas and  Sophia

It was not a “perfectly good balloon,” as the sky divers put it – it was leaking, and he’d run out of ballast to eject in order to slow the balloon’s descent. So, to save his young fiancee’s life, he ejected himself. Thomas Harris is primarily known for his spectacular death, but he’s also remembered as the guy who invented the gas-discharge valve, which is a device that gets gas out of balloons quickly so they don’t drag on the ground.