Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2011

Postcard RU-1967483 arrived today after "traveling" 92 days, showing an original photo of Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2011 by the sender. It is worth to note that the first card expired and the sender was kind enough to resend the card. I feel bad about it because it was the very first card she sent since joining the PostCrossing project. I still remember the anxiety and excitement when I was waiting for my first card to get registered. Hope it's an exception for her and wouldn't discourage her to enjoy the experience. The second card has a postmark on November 14, 2013. It reached U.S. from Russia in 15 days.

Floriade World Horticultural Expo

It is Thanksgiving today! To celebrate a harvest season, I would like to note Postcard NL-1895799 from the Netherlands that features Floriade, a World Horticultural Expo staged once every ten years in the Netherlands. The most recent Floriade was organized in Venlo from April to mid-October 2012. It was the sixth Floriade where the world's most exquisite and exceptional flowers, plants, trees and fruit and vegetables were on display.

However, Floriade offered more with a collection of music, dance, literature, theater and visual art programs from all over the world. What impressed me most was its sustainable, pioneering architectural components shown for the first time at Floriade. Guess I will have to mark my calendar for 2022.

Poet Su Shi from China

Postcard CN-769662 received last year was a handmade card of Su Shi (蘇軾/苏轼) (January 8, 1037 – August 24, 1101), a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman of the Song Dynasty in China. One online collection site in Chinese has his more than 3400 poems.

My favorite piece was 念奴嬌: 赤壁懷古 "Remembrance of the Tale of the Red Cliff" that he wrote during his exile due to the political conflicts with the Prime Minister Wang An Shi.

大江東去 浪淘盡 千古風流人物
Eastward flows the great river, whose waves have washed away gallant heroes of eternity.
故壘西邊 人道是 三國周郎赤壁
West of the old fort stands the red cliff where General Zhou of the Three Kingdoms was said to have won his early fame.
亂石崩雲 驚濤裂岸 捲起千堆雪
Jagged rocks pierce the clouds, towering waves dash on the shore, rolling up thousands of piles of snow-like foams.
江山如畫 一時多少豪傑
While the river and mountains are picturesque today, I wonder how many heroes have battled with the landscape as the backdrop.
遙想公瑾當年 小喬初嫁了 雄姿英發
Imagine Zhou in his prime time, with Xiao Qiao the newly-wedded bride, He looked so handsome, brave and bright.
羽扇綸巾談笑間 檣櫓灰飛煙滅
With a plumed fan in hand and a silk cap on his head, he was laughing and jesting while the masts and sculls of Wei's navy went up in smoke and turned into ashes
故國神遊 多情應笑我
Wandering through the old kingdom like a dream, I might get laughed at for such sentiments.
早生華髮 人生如夢 一尊還酹江月
With my hair turning early gray, my life has been such a dream. Let me toast to the moon over its reflection in the great river.

Waiting

Another card from a small city was UA-836888 from Zhashkiv, Ukraine, a city with 15,853 residents in 2001. The bicycle was waiting for its owner to return. Where are they going next?

Moon Rise

Postcard CZ-363191 arrived today from Hrob, Czech Republic. Hrob is a small town with a population of 2,092 as of 2006 census. However, the town has a long history that can be dated back to 1282.

Merry Christmas from Christmas, Florida

Christmas is an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, with 1,146 residents as of 2010 census. Every year, people send a large amount of mails to its post office for re-mailing so that they can have the "Christmas" postmark on their holiday letters and postcards. You will need to address your mails and affix adequate USPS first class postage: US$ 1.10 for a one-oz international letter or postcard; US$ 0.46 for a one-oz domestic one-oz letter or a 5"x 7" postcard; UD$ 0.33 for a 4" x 6" postcard. Then put your mails into a large envelop with enough postage and send the envelop to: 

ATTN: For Re-Mailing

Postmaster

U.S. Post Office

23580 E Colonial DR

Christmas, FL 32709

I recently sent a package with a few postcards to Christmas, FL for re-mailing and already received the one addressed to myself. 

I have drove pass Christmas, Florida several times but didn't get to stop due to either in a rush or not in the season. The most recent drive-through was when I flew into Tampa from Las Vegas, then drove to Kennedy Space Center to see the final space shuttle launch on July 8, 2011. Although from a YouTube video there seems not much happening there, I wouldn't consider that a failure as suggested in the video if I had stopped by. Certainly, the postmarks are beautiful and will bring joys to those who received your mails.

Color Clay Pottery from Gansu: in Paper Cut Art

Postcard US-2452508 to Netherlands received on November 22, 2013 was a replacement card via TouchNote, showing an art piece of Chinese paper cut that depicts a color clay pottery container from an image scanned moment before it was sent. The original large-postcard-sized art piece, while not exactly a postcard, was sent in an envelop on October 14, 2013. As discussed in my previous blog, after traveling for more than 30 days, more than a dozen cards sent on that day are now overdue and none of the originals is registered. I have re-sent the cards, and some of the replacement cards were already registered so far. However, this one is unique and I don't have a duplicate.

Cover of the Color Clay Pottery from Gansu: in Paper Cut Art

The art piece was part of the collection produced by the Gansu Provincial Museum in Lanzhou, China. The other pieces sent earlier included US-2180320, etc.