Lord Ganesha

Of all the Hindu deities Ganesha must be one of the most recognisable ones. He is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom. Newly he is typically shown with his forward right hand towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness; the forward left hand holding a delicacy, while the back hands hold an axe (or sometimes a goad) and a pasha (noose). Thank you Abhay for this colourful card :)

This is a post for Sunday Stamps - letter J. I was browsing trough my scans for joint issues, and came across this stamp on the right presenting Jarabe Tapatio. In joint issues there are representations of one topic by two different countries, and this way you get to see some sombreros and china poblanas alongside some more typical Indian issues. Jarabe Tapatio is internationally known as the Mexican Hat Dance; it represents the courtship between a man and a woman, with the woman first rejecting the advances, then eventually accepting them. A video of the dance would be nice to see wouldn't it...I'll have a search. And you can see more J-entries on Sunday Stamps here.

Heading For The Arctic Circle

As I've written on the 22nd of Feb 

'Heading over to the homeland of the most fantastic musical duo...I have a crazy daydream of bumping into them in Tromsø'

We had two 12-day back-to-back Norway cruises, with the aim of hunting for the Northern Lights. The schedule was Åndalsnes-Tromsø-Alta(overnight)-Stavanger. Perhaps the highlight of the whole cruise ship experience. Despite having many cards from Norway already, more were on the way - for my friends back home as well :)

A Honky Tonk In Nashville

Another whiskey-related card from Bryon...And is apt to post these days. Why? I'll tell ya, in a bit of a promotional sense :)

This week the 34th International Blues Festival took place in Memphis, Tennessee. My 24-y-o niece is a singer in a local blues-rock band, which won the country's Blues Challenge, and was sent off to Memphis. Pretty cool, eh? It was the band's first performance outside Croatia, and my niece's first trip outside Europe, so you can see its all a bit exciting for everyone involved :) The band spent a few days in Nashville, where they visited Jack White's Third Man Studio, and did more extensive recording in the renowned Dark Horse Studio. Without much further ado, here I present the band's first video :)

White Storks (And A Local Story)

Another one in the series of Fauna of Belarus, showing White Storks. As they are migratory birds, they would have arrived from the Sub-Saharan Africa by now, nesting and having chicks. Thank you Liudmila for this card and lovely stamp :)

This has reminded me of a popular story in my country, about a pair of storks called Klepetan and Malena. Malena is a madame stork who (for 24 years now) hasn't been able to fly south because of a broken wing. Beginning of a sad story? One may think... But she has found true love in Klepetan, who comes back to her every year to the same spot! With a great help from a kind Sir Stjepan Vokić (who happens to live in the same village in the north of Croatia where my mum comes from :)) Malena is able to survive the winter and take care of the young ones. Each year (for 14 years now) the whole country is waiting for Klepetan to return to his Malena - it is usually on the same date, but this year he was 6 days late. Everyone was worried..! But in the end he made it, tired but happy :) 

A Panda Scene (and more)

I love this panda card because it looks like a scene in which each panda should have...you know those speech bubbles, and the one on the right would surely say something sarcastic looking at those two! Thank you Mengyao, pandas are always cute :) But especially on the video that was circling the social media in the last few days - a giant panda enjoying snow! Have a look if you haven't managed so far, trust me it'll make you happy just by seeing the fella happy :D

Happy New Year 2014 - Remember To Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life!

Wishing you all happiness, health and smiles in the new year, may it be much better than the last one :)))

And of course loooooots of great mail from all the corners of this wonderful earth!

(ok i wish the initial image of the video wasn't so gloomy..!)

Bette Davis

Even when I was a child Bette Davis (1908-1989) was one of my favourite actresses from the era of 'classic Hollywood'. Now I realise there are still so many of her movies than I haven't seen yet - something that needs to be rectified soon! She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress - in 1935 for Dangerous and 1938 for Jezebel, plus eight nominations.

Once you see her you understand this song better ;)

Kim Carnes: Bette Davis' Eyes

UNESCO - Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar, BiH

Recieving the stamps of HP Mostar inspired me to track down and post this beautiful b&w view of the Old Bridge of Mostar, which is one of the two unesco sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have received it more than two years ago from Eldin on behalf of Ana - so thank you both :)

The historic town of Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country. It was named after the bridge keepers ( mostari ) who in the medieval times guarded the Stari Most (Old Bridge) over the Neretva. The Old Bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most recognizable landmarks.

It is also a symbol of the Bosnian war in the early 90's, which also casts a dark shadow over my country. Very sad and so superfluous, when everything could have been dealt with much more care and humanity. It is enough to say that the Old Bridge stood proudly for 427 years until it was destroyed on November 9, 1993. In 1998 Unesco established an international committee of experts to oversee the design and reconstruction work; it was decided to build a bridge as similar as possible to the original, using the same technology and materials. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on 23 July 2004.

It is traditional for the young men of the town to leap from the bridge into the Neretva. In 1968 a formal diving competition was inaugurated and held every summer. Here is  video so you dont have to imagine ;)

Random Video #2 The Cure 'Lullaby'

Good night ;))D

Random Video #1 Lykke Li

Lykke Li: ''I Follow Rivers''

Every now and then there is a song that is just so memorable, even if you can't explain exactly why...I just felt like sharing :)

African Dancers, Kenya

This is a surprise card from a travel agency! I love it :)))

A few months ago there was a competition arranged by Croatian travel agency Da Da Da, Qatar Airways and Intrepid Travel - the task was to make a motivational video for travelling, using own footage and/or photos. The prize? Trip to Tanzania and Kenya! No greater inspiration possible ;) As I had no experience whatsoever with making videos it was quite a challenge, but in the end I am pretty happy with my 'baby' (although I didn't even enter the first 10 places, but the journey was interesting!) Now let me figure out how to post it here...