"To Those Who We Used to Love"

Mirabella Postcards

Postcard UA-574176 arrived today from Ukraine after traveling for 110 days. It is interesting because, according to the sender, the card was from a set named "Postcards for those who we used to love". So, if you were to send a postcard to an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, what kind of card are you going to pick and what will you write on the card?

The author of the card is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirabella.postcards

The Dreamers (2003)

The Dreamers (2003)

I am sending this movie advertising card US-2334372 that I got in 2004 to France. Coincidentally, "the Dreamers" was an American movie about a Californian student Matthew in Paris developing a friendship with a twin French brother Theo and sister Isabelle, with the 1968 Paris student riots "May Revolution" in the background.

The movie has a MPAA Rating of NC-17. You can purchase a copy of DVD from Amazon. Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Leonardo DiCaprio were initially considered for the role of Matthew but both turned it down because Jack's was concerned about the explicit nature of the nude scenes and Leonardo was in pre-production with "the Aviator".

Summer in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

MISR Image

Fifty five years ago on this day, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958. It paved the way for NASA to formally start to operate on Oct. 1, 1958. 

This postcard shows a colorful image, from one of the many missions since NASA opened its door for business, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Beaufort Sea. It was acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer's downward-viewing camera on August 16, 2000. 

The swirling patterns on the Beaufort Sea are small ice floes driven by turbulent water patterns. The Refuge has many arctic and subarctic ecosystems, including coastal lagoons, barrier islands, arctic tundra, and mountainous terrain.

Discovery.com has an information piece on "NASA at 55: the Birthing of a Space Agency" by Amy Shira Teitel.

You can learn more about the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer Project at JPL's MISR Project Homepage.

From the Top of Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji

Summer is the travel time. A PostCrosser friend traveling to Japan sent me this postcard of Mount Fuji. Located on Honshu Island, Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776.24 m or 12,388 ft and an active stratovolcano that last erupted on December 16, 1707. It can be seen as far as Tokyo from 100 km away on a clear day.

What was special about this postcard? It was actually mailed from the seasonal FujiSan-Cho Post Office on top of the Mount Fuji. The post office opens 6:00 am to 2:00 pm from July 10 to August 20 every year since 1906.  

Mount Fuji was added to the UNESCO's World Heritage Site on June 22nd, 2013. Notably, the mountain was selected as a “cultural” heritage site rather than a “natural” heritage site. As noted in the declaration, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. 

Wish You Were There from Hawaii

Memories of Kauai

A postcard of the Salt Pond Beach Park arrived today from a friend of mine traveling in Hawaii. The Salt Pond Beach Park is located on the leeward side of Kauai. Kauai, or any other Hawaii island, is like a ship that has leeward and windward sides. The leeward sides refer to the west and south sides that are usually hot and dry; and the windward sides (the east and north sides) are relatively cooler and wetter. Salt Pond Beach Park has a naturally made, shallow swimming pond behind a curling finger of rocks. The center and western edge of the beach is popular with bodyboarders and bodysurfers. The flat ground to the east of the beach was the last location to produce sea salt in Hawaii.

City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications

Vieux Luxembourg

I received my first postcard from Luxembourg today. Postcard LU-17397 shows the old quarters and forts of the City of Luxembourg. The city lies at the heart of Western Europe, located 213 km or 132 mi from Brussels, 372 km or 231 mi from Paris, 209 km or 130 mi from Cologne. Due to the city's strategic location, Luxembourg was one of Europe's greatest fortified sites from 1600's to 1800's during the European power transition from the Holy Roman Emperors, the House of Burgundy, the Habsburgs, the French and Spanish kings, and finally to the Prussians. "City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications" was declared a UNESCO's World Heritage Site in 1994.

World War II B-25J Mitchell "Executive Sweet"

Executive Sweet

Traveling postcard US-2323208 to japan shows the North American B-25J Mitchell 430801 "Executive Sweet", built in Kansas City in 1945, performing at Aviation Nation, Nellis Air Force Base in 2010.

Executive Sweet served the World War II as a crew trainer. It was converted into USAF VB-25J, a VIP transport in 1948. It was upgraded in 1954 and designated as VB-25N by Hayes Aircraft, Inc. After military service at the School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas, it was sold as surplus and became a crop sprayer. Next, it was acquired by Hollywood's Filmways Studios in 1968, and used in the movie "Catch-22". The aircraft was placed on sale after completion of the movie production in 1970, It was purchased by Ed Schnepf in 1972 and was restored to a wartime J model. In 1982, the restored bomber was donated to the American Aeronautical Foundation Museum at Camarillo, California.