Lanhydrock in Cornwall

Lanhydrock (meaning "church enclosure of St Hydrock") is a civil parish centred on a country estate and mansion in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish lies south of the town of Bodmin and is bounded to the north by Bodmin parish, to the south by Lanlivery parish and to the west by Lanivet parish. The population was 171 in the 2001 census. The Parish Council meets every two months in Lanhydrock Memorial Hall.

Lanhydrock ecclesiastical parish is in the Deanery and Hundred of Pydar and in the Bodmin Registration District. The parish is in the Diocese of Truro and is now part of the Bodmin Team Ministry. The parish church is dedicated to St Hydrock and stands in the grounds of Lanhydrock House. Parts date back to the late 15th century and the church has a chancel, nave, north and south aisles and three-stage battlemented tower with one bell.

This pretty card sent to me by Ineke shows the church of St. Hydroc and the garden displaying attractive flower beds.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississipp River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his singular lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp California where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention, even being translated to classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

Though Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he invested in ventures that lost a great deal of money, notably the Paige Compositor, which failed because of its complexity and imprecision. In the wake of these financial setbacks he filed for protection from his creditors via a bankruptcy filing, and with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain chose to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, though he had no responsibility to do this under the law.

Twain was born shortly after a visit by Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it," too. He died the day following the comet's subsequent return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age“, and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."

Thank you Ron for this card, that features an author and a man I have admired since I first read “Tom Sawyer”. In those days, many a time did I day dream of being young Tom J

James Bond in "Thunderball"

This picture postcard features the James Bond "Thunderball" one sheet movie poster by An Original Vintage Theatrical Folded One-Sheet Movie Poster by Robert McGinnis and Frank McCarthy. 

Ian Fleming's Thunderball, the 1965 Terence Young English James Bond 007 secret agent spy espionage fantasy action adventure thriller "L007k OUT!"; "L007k up! L007k down! L007k out!"; "Here comes the biggest Bond of all!"; "Based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming") starring Sean Connery(asJames Bond 007), Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter, Martine Beswick, Guy Doleman, Molly Peters, Bernard Lee (as "M"), Lois Maxwell (as Miss Moneypenny), and Desmond Llewellyn (as "Q").

Thank you Jeff from Saginaw in Michigan for this nice card of my favourite Hollywood actor.

Turnau in Austria

Turnau is a market town at the foot of the Hochschwab in the Styrian District of Bruck an der Mur . Turnau has 5 boroughs: Turnau, Göriach, Seewiesen, Stübming, and Thal. Population of Turnau is 1615.

Turnau in Austria is a very small ski resort with just three ski lifts but it does boast a respectable 370 metres (1213 feet) of vertical descent. Turnau has 4 kilometers (2 miles) of pistes. Turnau is best suited to intermediate skiers and snowboarders but there is some terrain for beginners and advanced skiers.

The card shows a typical summer’s day in Turnau with the mountain cows grazing peacefully, with Hochanger and Aflenzer Staritzen in the background. An idyllic scene indeed. Thank you Thomas for this lovely card.

USSR Light Cruiser The KIROV

Kirov was a Project 26 Kirov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy that served during the Winter War, World War II and into the Cold War. She attempted to bombard Finnish coast defence guns during action in the Winter War, but was driven off by a number of near misses that damaged her. She led the Evacuation of Tallinn at the end of August 1941, before being blockaded in Leningrad where she could only provide gunfire support during the Siege of Leningrad. She bombarded Finnish positions during the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in mid-1944, but played no further part in the war. Kirov was reclassified as a training cruiser on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974.

Kirov was 191.3 metres (627 ft 7 in) long, had a beam of 17.66 metres (57 ft 11 in) and had a draft between 5.75 to 6.15 metres (18 ft 10 in to 20 ft 2 in). She displaced 7,890 tonnes (7,765 long tons) at standard load and 9,436 tonnes (9,287 long tons) at full load. Her steam turbines produced a total of 113,500 shaft horsepower (84,637 kW) and she reached 35.94 knots (66.56 km/h; 41.36 mph) on trials.

Kirov carried nine 180-millimeter (7.1 in) 57-caliber B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of six single 100-millimeter (3.9 in) 56-caliber B-34 anti-aircraft guns fitted on each side of the rear funnel. Her light AA guns consisted of six semi-automatic 45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K AA guns and four DK 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) machine guns. Six 533-millimeter (21.0 in) 39-Yu torpedo tubes were fitted in two triple mountings.

Kirov was damaged by a German magnetic mine while leaving Kronstadt on 17 October 1945 and was under repair until 20 December 1946. She was refitted from November 1949 to April 1953, during which her machinery was completely overhauled and her radars, fire control systems and anti-aircraft guns were replaced by the latest Soviet systems. She participated in fleet manoeuvres in the North Sea during January 1956. She was reclassified as a training cruiser, regularly visiting Poland and East Germany, on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974. When Kirov was decommissioned, two gun turrets were installed in Saint Petersburg as a monument.
Thank you Merja for this wonderful card.

The Drachenfels Castle

The Drachenfels is a mountain 321 metres (1,053 ft) in the Siebengebirge  mountain range between Konigswinter and Bad Honnef in Germany.

The ruined castle atop the mountain, built between 1138 and 1167 by Archbishop Arnold I of Cologne bears the same name and was originally intended for the protection of the Cologne region from any assault from the south. Originally it consisted of abergfried with court, chapel and living quarters for servants. The castle was slighted in 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, by the Protestant Swedes and never rebuilt. As a strategic asset it had outlived its usefulness. Erosion due to the continued quarrying undermined much of the remains and only a small part is left today as shown on this card.

The rock, like the rest of the Siebengebirge, is formed by the remnants of a volcano and has been the site of a trachyte quarry since Roman times, which, amongst others delivered the building material for the Cologne Cathedral. Of all the mountains in the Siebengebirge, it's closest to the river Rhine, which facilitates easy transport by barges, thus making it an excellent place for a quarry. This ended in 1836, when the Prussian government bought the quarry. In 1922 the first protection measures were put in place and in 1956 the site was declared a national park.

Thank you Kathrin for this card.

Tampere, Finland

Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of 217,767, growing to 313 058 people in the urban area and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is second-largest urban area and third most-populous municipality in Finland, after the Greater Helsinki municipalities of Helsinki and Espoo. In 2007, the entire Pirkanmaa region had around 470,000 residents, of which 230,000 were employed, and a turnover of 25 billion euros.

Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres (59 ft), the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity. Tampere is dubbed the "Manchester of Finland" for its industrial past as the former center of Finnish industry, and this has given rise to its Finnish nickname "Manse" and terms such as "Manserock".

The card shows the Tammerkoski rapids that flow through the centre of Tampere. The park on the shore of the rapids is Koskipuisto (Rapids park) and the building over the rapids is a power plant producing electricity.

Joonas sent me this nice card.