RU-242128

Barnaul

US-899156

House with roots by Jerry N. Uelsmann

Another 'birthday' postcard came from the USA. It is a photo of a house with roots, very stylish.
The author of this photo is Jerry N. Uelsmann, an American photographer. He was born on June 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. The house on the postcard was created in 1982. I wonder how could it be done without help of Photoshop!

His official site is http://www.uelsmann.net/ There you can faind some more of his works.

And three stamps - an American clock, Celebrate! and - a cat from Animal Rescue.

EE-85346

US-886722

Yesterday I received this postcard. It is from the USA, but shows Montreal. Craig, who sent it to me, wrote, that he saw in my profile that my favourite singer is a singer from Quebec, and decided to send me such view of Montreal. It was quite a surprise! :)

So, it is St-Joseph Oratory and downtown of Montreal. It is a Roman Catholic basilica on the west slope of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in 1904 by St Andre Bessette as a small church, which grew with time into such a big building. The Oratory's dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the church is the largest in Canada.

In 2005, the Oratory was added to the List of National Historic Sites of Canada on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.

And what is interesting - it is the second stamp with Mother Teresa, that I received lately, from different countries.It was her 100th birthday in 2010.
And two other stamps - an American clock, and Scouting.

DE-741022

The second card, taken out of my postal box on Friday, was this one. It is Marc Chagall's 'Ascending angel'. Christina, who sent it to me, went to Hamburg to see the exibition of Chagall's paintings, and bought this card there.

NL-462191

Sneek, Netherlands

A card from Sneek, Netherlands, arrived last Friday, just before my birthday.

Sneek is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the Municipality Sneek in the province of Friesland (Netherlands). The city has approximately 33.000 inhabitants.
Sneek is situated in Southwest-Friesland, close to the Sneekermeer and is well known for its canals, the Waterpoort (Watergate, the symbol of the city), and watersport (Sneekweek). Sneek is one of the Friese elf steden (Eleven cities). The city is very important for the southwest area of Friesland (the "Zuidwesthoek").

Sneek received several city rights in the 13th century, which became official in 1456. Sneek was now one of the eleven Frisian cities. This was also the beginning of a blooming trading city that would last until the year 1550. In 1492 they began building a ditch and wall around the city. In those days Sneek was the only city in Friesland that had a wall. Only the waterpoort and the bolwerk are remaining today.

Sneek has its own dialect that dates back to the Dutch language in 1600. Snekers is part of the city Frisian dialects.

BE-76191

Brussels in 50s

A nice black-and-white card arrived from Brussels, Belgium from David. This is how the central part of the city looked like in 50s of XX century. This is how the Boulevard Anspach looked like.

It is a major boulevard in the city centre of Brussels, connecting the Place de Brouckère to the Place Fontainas. It is named after Jules Anspach, a former mayor of Brussels. It is built over the covering of the Senne. Many places of interest lie along the Boulevard Anspach, for instance the Brussels Stock Exchange (which can be seen here), the Ancienne Belgique concert hall as well as many shops and restaurants. Prior to 1879, it was named Boulevard Central.

And a nice stamp - trees in bloom. As I understood it is a photo by Bart van Leuven.

US-874491

Arizona in bloom

A card, that I haven't shown here yet, came to me from Arizona Desert, from the USA, on Friday. These are cacti, that usually are plants with spines. But when they are in bloom, they look like it is shown in this picture. I think the desert looks really wonderful at this time.

And this time - three stamps, totally different :)