My first Kaj Stenvall's duck received from Maija (Hämeenlinnan, Finland). Beautiful!

A stamp with the flag of Finland.

The beautiful view of The Federal Territory Mosque, sent by Anne from Malaysia.  

Wiki says:
The Federal Territory Mosque or Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan is a major mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is located near MATRADE complex and the Federal Government Complex off Jalan Duta.
The Kuala Lumpur Mosque was constructed between 1998 and 2000. It is situated on a five hectare site near the Government Office Complex along Jalan Duta. The Wilayah Persekutuan (Federal Territory) Mosque was opened to the public on October 25, 2000 and was officiated by the 12th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Syed Putra Jamalulail. It is the 44th mosque built by the Government within the city limits. The mosque can accommodate 17,000 devotees at one time.
The mosque's design is a blend of Ottoman and Malay architectural styles, heavily influenced by the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. It has 22 domes made from a composite material of glass fibre fabric mixed with epoxy resin to make it durable and light.

I'm starting to jump, when I find in my mailbox an envelope from Felice. She always writes me inspirational letters, not to mention the cards that she sends.

Frida in a white dress. One of my favorite photos of her. Bought in Kansas City.

Hat, Paris 1952. A photograph by Fred Brommet.

Gorgeous card showing Sant Antoni marketplace in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in 1915.

Wiki says:
Sant Antoni is a neighborhood in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). Its non-official centre, the marketplace of the same name, designed by Antoni Rovira i Trias and built between 1872 and 1882, is one of the oldest and most popular in the city, with second-hand book stalls on Sunday mornings. I
The streets of Sant Antoni follow the grid pattern prevalent in all of Eixample, except for a central throughfare, Avinguda de Mistral, built on the site of an important medieval road which lead out of Barcelona. Another well-known landmark of Sant Antoni is the bar called Els Tres Tombs, right next to the market.

History
Although its origins are tied to the (no longer in place) Saint Anthony church of Raval, the urbanisation of the neighbourhood dates from the 1880s onwards: very few houses stood around the market when it was built, and most buildings visible nowadays in Sant Antoni date of the 1920s and 1930s, when major urban changes occurred in the city on the occasion of the 1929 International Exposition. A working class area during most of the 20th century, it has undergone important changes in the last decades.
As of 2009, the Mercat de Sant Antoni is currently being refurbished, and a temporary market site along Ronda de Sant Antoni has been set in the middle of the road. In the meantime, this major road has become pedestrianised.

On the stamps: * Julia de Burgos - a poet from Puerto Rico, who is considered as one of the greatest poets of Latin America. * Katharine Hepburn - an American actress of film, stage, and television. 

Beach at Bentota, a beautiful cost line of Sri Lanka. Thank you so much Thenuka, I dreamed about the postcard from your island! 

Gemini, Cancer & Capricornus stamps.

A vintage postcard sent by Jacqueline, a writer and photographer, now living in rural Pennsylvania (USA). 

Postcard from Joyce. She lives in a small town near Arnhem and Nijmegen, which is actually the middle of Netherlands. On this card Joyce wrote me a good quote, said by John Lennon: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". So true..

Elke from Germany sent me this beautiful postcard from her last weekend trip. It shows the morning view of  Monschau, a town in the western portion of Germany, district Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the hills of the Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park in the narrow valley of the Rur river. This card inspires me so much!

A frosty postcard sent by "Kuroi Sakura" from Kokkola (Finland).

Monument to Peter the Great on the Decembrists Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Arrived from Olga.

Stamps with Pskov Kremlin.

Amazing vintage royal postcard from Micaela. Adore it!

Postcard sent by Natascha from Germany. It shows the bridge at Royal Gorge (Colorado, USA) above the Arkansas River.

Wiki says:
The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within a 360-acre (150 ha) theme park. The bridge deck hangs 955 feet (291 m) above the Arkansas River, and held the record of highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2003, when it was surpassed by the Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge in China. It is a suspension bridge with a main span of 938 feet (286 m). The bridge is 1,260 feet (384 m) long and 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, with a wooden walkway with 1292 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that are 150 feet (46 m) high.

German stamps with flowers.

The postcard from Katerina with the view of the main building of the railway station in Minsk (Belarus). 

The emblem of Kamenets city (Belarus).

Satomi from Toyota city (Japan) sent me this beautiful vintage style postcard. 

The bee & Hello Kitty:)

One more AMAZING card from Nina. "Afghan Girl" was a postcard I dreamed about for a long time. And Nina made my dream come true! Thank you so so much!

Wiki says:
Sharbat Gula (born ca. 1972) is an Afghan woman who was the subject of a famous photograph by journalist Steve McCurry. Gula was living as a refugee in Pakistan, during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed.
The image brought her recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine, at a time when she was approximately 12 years old. Gula was known throughout the world simply as the Afghan Girl until she was formally identified in early 2002. Some view her as an Afghan Mona Lisa.
The identity of the Afghan Girl remained unknown for over 17 years; Afghanistan remained largely closed to Western media until after the removal of the Taliban government by American troops and local allies in 2001. Although McCurry made several attempts during the 1990s to locate her, he was unsuccessful.
In January 2002, a National Geographic team traveled to Afghanistan to locate the subject of the now-famous photograph. McCurry, upon learning that the Nasir Bagh refugee camp was soon to close, inquired of its remaining residents, one of whom knew Gula's brother and was able to send word to her hometown. However, there were a number of women who came forward and identified themselves erroneously as the famous Afghan Girl. In addition, after being shown the 1985 photo, a handful of young men falsely claimed Gula as their wife.
The team finally located Gula, then around the age of 30, in a remote region of Afghanistan; she had returned to her native country from the refugee camp in 1992. Her identity was confirmed using biometric technology, which matched her iris patterns to those of the photograph with almost full certainty. She vividly recalled being photographed - she had been photographed on only three occasions: in 1984 and during the search for her when a National Geographic producer took the identifying pictures that led to the reunion with Steve McCurry. She had never seen her famous portrait before it was shown to her in January 2003.
More recent pictures of her were featured as part of a cover story on her life in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic and she was the subject of a television documentary, entitled Search for the Afghan Girl, which aired in March 2002. In recognition of her, National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women. In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children's Fund.

Interesting fact:
* Gula's photograph was taken on Kodachrome color slide film, with Nikon FM2 camera and Nikkor 105mm F2.5 lens.

Adore these stamps!

Frida Kahlo’s "Fulang-Chang and I" (1937). Fulang-Chang was one of several spider monkeys that Frida kept as pets. The pet monkeys that frequently appear in her paintings are often interpreted as surrogates for the children she and her husband, the artist Diego Rivera, were unable to conceive. This postcard came from Nina, who always knows what card will make me happy. Thank you!

Postcard sent by Jill from Taiwan.

An amazing bronze sculpture of a lifelike cattle drive, sculpted by Texan Robert Summers, graces this 4.2-acre plaza in front of City Hall and the Convention Center (Dallas, Texas, USA). Sent by Bradley.

Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace:) 

Beautiful postcard from Ada. It shows the views of different streets in Warsaw (Poland). Oh how I love old European cities..!

The illustration "Posture of the hand and the penknife" from The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert. I love it very much! Sent by Seija from Finland.

Crimean Bridge (Krymsky Most) in Mockow, Russia. A postcard from Kirill. He plays in the band and loves books by J.S.Foer.

Wiki says:
Krymsky Bridge or Crimean Bridge is a steel suspension bridge in Moscow popularly known as a favourite place for suicides. The bridge spans the Moskva River 1,800 meters south-west from the Kremlin and carries the Garden Ring across the river. The bridge links the Crimean Square to the north with Krymsky Val street to the south. The nearby Moscow Metro stations are Park Kultury and Oktyabrskaya.
The existing bridge was completed on May 1, 1938, as part of Stalin's ambitious reconstruction of downtown Moscow. Designed by engineer V. P. Konstantinov and architect A. V. Vlasov, it is the fourth bridge on this site and the only suspension bridge in all of Moscow.

Amazing postcard sent by Barrett from Richmond (Virginia, USA). "Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man. I'd Join The NAVY":) World War I poster by Howard Chandler Christy. 

Postcard sent by Kuang with the view the Black Dragon Pool in Yuquan Park (Jade Spring Park), China.

Wiki says:
The Black Dragon Pool is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing Dynasty and offers a spectacular view on the region's tallest mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, over its white marble bridge. The park features several smaller temples and pavilions:
* The Moon-Embracing Pavilion, which was originally built in the late Ming Dynasty. The current structure is a reproduction from 1963 after a fire in 1950.
* The Dragon God Temple (Longshen Temple) was constructed by local Naxi people in 1737 and is located to the east of the park. It was given the name Dragon God of Jade Spring by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in the same year.
* The threefold overlap Five-Phoenix Tower (Wufeng Tower) was built during the Ming Dynasty (1601), and today located at the north end of the park. The tower was originally situated at the Fuguo Temple, which is 30 kilometers to the west, but was moved to Jade Spring Park in 1979.
The park is further home to the Dongba Culture Research Institute and the Dongba Culture Museum.

The ad-card of the Thai movie "February"(2003). Sent by Phakphum from Chonburi, a little city by the sea in the east of Thailand. 

Incredible Thai stamps.

Postcard from Marjan. She lives in Haarlemmermeer, a small town near Amstedram (Netherlands) with her husband Vincent. 

Nice postcard with the bridge from Verena (Bayreuth, Germany).