My first card from Ireland

Yep, finally! Thank you, Mary!
I have many friends who dream about trip to Ireland. Just to breathe Irish air:) I can't say that I'm a fan, but this country is beautiful, no doubts.
About the view on the card: Wicklow - situated south of Dublin, is one of Ireland's most delightful counties and is commonly referred to as the Garden of Ireland. It consists mainly of a great mass of domed granite mountains penetrated by deep glens and wooded valleys, whilst the coastline is mainly sandy and provides some of the finest beaches in the country. The sportsman, the seaside holidaymaker, the motorist and the hill climber will find that endless opportunities are offered by this lovely country.

Paris...

... is incredible! *sigh*
Thank you, Elodie!

Lion Forest Garden

This card shows Lion Fores Garden in China, a very famous place. Card from Yuejiao.

Compactly yet harmoniously spaced, the Lion Forest Garden has a prominent part for series of man-made mountains with various buildings around the lake, and an artificial waterfall and cliffs at the edge of the lake on the west. Remains of the 14th century man-made mountains, covering 1,152 sq.m. and being the largest of all at Suzhou, can be still seen today. Noted for its labyrinthine mountains with winding pathways and caverns, old pines and cypress trees, awesome peaks and jogged rocks of grotesque shapes resembling dancing lions with striking and unusual poses, it possesses with pride the true delights of mountain and forest scenery in limited space with a flavor of Zen Buddhism.
The Hall of Peace and Happiness, one of the principal buildings in the garden, is a masterpiece of typical Mandarin ducks' hall at Suzhou. Divided in halves, the northern half of the hall differs from the southern half in many particular aspects, such as beam-framing systems, furnishings, pavements, carvings, window designs and so forth. With painted patterns and beam carvings and looking splendid in green and gold, the True Delight Pavilion in the royal style with the "True Delight" tablet inscribed by the Qing Emperor Qianlong is a main viewing place in the garden and differs from the other plain and elegant gardens of Suzhou. Other buildings include the Pointing at Cypress Trees Hall, the Asking Prunus Mume Pavilion and the Stone Boat, etc.
The Lion Forest Garden boasts 22 buildings of varied types, 25 tablets and plateaux, 71 steles inscribed with the famous Calligraphy Collection of the Listening to Rain Tower, 23 brick carvings, 5 carved wooden screens, and 13 valuable old trees such as ginkgo biloba L., pinus bungeana Zucc, etc., which fall into 5 catalogues.
A group of Zen Buddhist disciples of the famous Abbot Tianru had it built in the 2nd year of the reign of Zhizheng (A.D. 1342) under the Yuan Dynasty. It was then called "the Budhi Orthodox Monastery". Because there was s forest of bamboo, grotesque rocks resembling lions in the garden, and indirect reference to a Buddhist story of the Lion, it was renamed the Lion Forest Garden. Soon after its birth, the garden became a popular place for scholars at Suzhou, who came here to write poems and paint pictures. The well-known Yuan artist Ni Yunlin painted a scroll of the Lion Forest Garden. In the reign of Kangxi (the 17th century), the garden was separated from the temple. The Qing Emperor Qianlong (Hongli) visited it several times. The garden had changed hands a number of times. In 1918 it was purchased and repaired by Pei (now spelled "Bei" in China), an industrialist, becoming the garden one visits today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Peis donated it to the State. Since 1954, the Lion Forest Garden has been open to the public.

About tarsiers

Another interesting card from Asia. It's from Sherwin, from Philippines.

Do you know what's the animal in the middle of the card? Because you can see him very often - people like to make funny photos and videos with this animal. It's tarsier.

Tarsiers are small animals with enormous eyes; each eyeball is approximately 16 mm in diameter and is as large as their entire brain (!). Tarsiers also have very long hind limbs. In fact, their feet have extremely elongated tarsus bones, from which the animals get their name. The head and body range from 10 to 15 cm in length, but the hind limbs are about twice this long (including the feet), and they also have a slender tail from 20 to 25 cm long. Their fingers are also elongated, with the third finger being about the same length as the upper arm. Most of the digits have nails, but the second and third toes of the hind feet bear claws instead, which are used for grooming. Tarsiers have very soft, velvety fur, which is generally buff, beige, or ochre in color.

And new Stenvall card!

So, not duck, but cow:) Interesting:) The picture has a name "Handshake from the microcomputer" (2005) Even name is interesting:)
Thank you, marja2006 (sorry, I don't know the real name - it was written on the card and I didn't make out), for made my collection bigger:) !

New moomins

This card - from Ronja.



And this - from Johanna. Big thank you for both cards!
I love these characters:)))

Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty cards are also very populard among the postcrossers. And not just cards (magnets and othet stuff), and not just among postcrossers:) Hello Kitty is a world superstar.
Hello Kitty is the character of Japanese pop-culture, a small white cat into a simplified drawing. Invented by the company Sanrio in 1974 and receorded in 1976, Hello Kitty is used as a brand for many products, became the main hero of the same cartoon. Hello Kitty toys are popular souvenirs in Japan and all around the world.
Kitten Kitty has been invented in 1974 by Shintaro Tsudzi, the owner of Japanese toy company Sanrio. Once he decided to create a new character, who would like to everybody. As a result of a long work Tsudzi made a perfect hero. Today brand "Hello Kitty!" has about half a million dollars of income annually.
There were doubts about the name of a kitten. Her creator chose between "Hello Kitty" and "Kitty White" (that was a name of one of the Alice's cats in "Alice in Wonderland"). But the second version, at least, was rejected.
The first product became very popular among customers. It was the simple curse with the image of Hello Kitty! This Kitten was really popular, but in the end of 80's became to slow down. Customers didn't like that Kitty always had the same look - muzzle looks at the viewers, the body turned sideways, she was dressed in blue
overall and has a black outline around her figure. Then the designer Yuko Yamaguchi decided to change the image. She deleted the black outline, painted different clothes and put different items in her... mmm... hands:)
Later Kitty found a family - mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister Mimmi and hamster Sugar.
Now there are millions goods with HK-image - from T-shirts and toys to machine guns and toasters, which bike toasts with her image:)
Here is an official site of Sanrio company, where you can read her biography (and biographies of other characters). So, she was born on November 1st, live in London with her family and has lots of hobbies.
Hello Kitty has many web-sites: this, this.



The first card is from Tomoko and the second card - from Sumie.
I love this cat:)