Perfect day!

Many postcrossers are on holiday. I think some sent postcards arrived but they are not registered because of the recipients are not at home. This Monday was a perfect day. One of my sent card arrived to Japan. It is a lovely cat card with two cute red tabby kittens.

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I'm at home and I wait every day for postcards from all around the world. Today I have found four postcards in my postbox. All four cards are from my wishlist. The first one came from Belgium.

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It is an interesting card. There is a sculpture of Damien Hirst, an artist from United Kingdom. He was born in 1965. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He made the series "Medicine Cabinets". These sculptures are glass-cabinets packed with pharmaceutical packaging. "Sinner" is the first work in Hirst’s series of "Medicine Cabinets". There is portrait of his grandmother, Eileen Brennan, taken through the drug packaging she left to him, on his request, on her death. Three great stamps are on the Belgian postcard.

Spotted Nutcracker - fenyőszajkó (Nucifraga caryocatactes) occurs in Europe and Asia. Ginkgo biloba is a special tree and a popular medicinal plant. I have written about this plant in my post on 10 January, 2013. Third stamp was issued on the 100th anniversary of Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique (31 July, 2013).

Second card is from Germany. It is a funny painted cat. There isn't any information on the back-side about the picture.

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Lot of stamps are on the card. Two of them are colourful flower stamps. There are Crocus and Pulsatilla.

Third postcard is a Flower Fairy card. I like these series very much. I has a post (29 January 2013 ) about lovely Fairies of Cicely Mary Barker. This picture is from the book Flower Fairies of the Wayside, 1948. Rush-Grass and Cotton-Grass Fairies are two little boy on  adventure expedition.

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There are beautiful stamps on the lovely card from the Netherlands.

All four colourful stamps are related to children books. 1st and 3rd are from series Child welfare, 1980. The 2nd one is a funny Christmas stamp from 1991. The 4th one is from series Child welfare, Joost Swarte comics, 1984. 

I received the forth postcard from Finland.

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The picture was painted by Rolf Lidberg. Troll kid studying his water-wheel moved nailing hammer. So cute! Rolf Lidberg Jonas, (1930-2005), a Swedish artist and botanist. He was best known for his paintings and books with paintings of trolls depicting old life at Indalsälven, before the river was extended. Lidberg great interest was botany, especially orchids and fungi. He traveled around Europe to paint and draw of vegetation. My 2nd Lidberg card with a nice flower stamp was sent from a Postcrossing meeting. 

I got earlier an other Rolf Lidberg card from Finland. Theme: trolls studying a wild-orchid. Depicktion of the orchid is very realistic.

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Cats on cards - photos

In November of  2011 I found two black kittens on the street. They suffered from hunger and cold. I made a home for them in November 2011. The start of our “family life” didn't go easy, because they were very afraid of humans and didn't know toilet etc. Now they are totally domesticated.  They got their names after the Latin names of two medicinal plants. The both cats have a “spicy” Latin names. The sweet she cat is Pimpinella (anise) and the naughty tomcat is Zingiber (ginger). I love my cats and I like postcards and stamps with cats and kittens.

Tomcat Zingiber (2012)

She-cat Pimpinella (2013)

It's no wonder I like cat cards very much. Above all paintings and drawings with black cats. There are my cat cards received by Postcrossing. 

The first one is one of my favourites in spite of it is a photo. Title is Simon. He is a beautiful old style Siamese. My parents have a very similar cat. His name is Simi and he is 19 years old. Every day with him is a present for my mother. My father also love him very much. This card came from the Netherlands. I like it!

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I like not all cat cards. Artificial photos like the second cat card received in January 2013 from Japan is too kitschy and not so lovely.

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This photo received from Finland is also artificial:

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The next card is kitschy too, but the kitten on it is adorable. I got it from Sweden. It will be better without text.

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This photo of a tabby kitten from Germany is more natural.

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This simple photo of a Siamese kitten and a tabby cat is lovely. The card is from Germany.

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The last postcard of this note is my absolute favourite. It is a retouched photo from Germany. Eyes of a beautiful black cat like my dear Pimpinella. Oh, sooo great!

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In my next note I will show painted and drawn cats on postcards.