South Africa - Robben Island

From the 17^th to the 20^th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment. Today it is a World Heritage Site and museum, a poignant reminder to the newly democratic South Africa, of the price paid for freedom.

Robben Island lies about 10 km from Table Bay Harbour and 7 km from Bloubergstrand. It was here that Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years with many of his comrades. From here they could see the city from where they would rule the Republic of South Africa (RSA). Today the Island is a UNESCO World heritage site. An Island so integral to this Great Nation’s history, and indeed , to its future. Maria sent these two cards to me.

Finland – Kajaani

Kajaani is a town and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the Kainuu region. It is located southeast of Oulujärvi (Lake Oulu), which drains to the Gulf of Bothnia along the Oulujoki (river Oulu). There are 38,137 (31 January 2011) inhabitants and city surface area is 2,264.01 square kilometres (874.14 sq mi) of which 428.94 km² (165.61 sq mi) is water. The population density is 20.78 inhabitants per square kilometre (53.8 /sq mi) . The town is unilingually Finnish. Kajaani is in the center of the region of Kainuu. Folklorist Elias Lönnrot began his travels from here when collecting folklore in Karelia. Eva sent this card.

Finland – Liperi

Merja sent me this pretty card of Liperi which is a small village near Joensuu. The rowing event displayed on the card takes place every year in July. The biggest row boat with seven pairs of oars is called the “Church Boat”. The name comes from olden times when people went to church by these kinds of boats in the countryside.

Liperi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region. Liperi is a picturesque community of 12,253 (31 January 2011) with the growth rate of 83 newcomers in 11 months in 2007. The population density is 16.86 inhabitants per square kilometre (43.7 /sq mi). The municipality covers an area of 1,161.22 square kilometres (448.35 sq mi) of which 434.33 km² (167.70 sq mi) is water, so it can be described as beautiful countryside.

UK - The Baily Lighthouse

The Baily Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the southeastern part of Howth Head in Dublin, Ireland. It is maintained by the Commissioners of Irish Lights. The first lighthouse on this site was built in about 1667 by Sir Robert Reading, and was one of six that Reading had received letters patent to build from Charles II in 1665. The original facility consisted of a small cottage and a square tower that supported a coal-fired beacon. Parts of the original buildings remain. In 1790, the coal beacon was replaced with a set of six Argand oil lamps, each including a silvered copper parabolic and a bulls-eye glass pane. During this period, the lighthouse was maintained by the Revenue Commissioners.

In 1810, the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin took over the operations. The original building's location was high on the headland, so the light was often obscured by fog. On December 5, 1811 a recommendation was issued that the lighthouse be moved south on the headland to Little Baily, or Dungriffen. A new tower and house for the keeper, designed by George Halpin Senior, the corporation’s Inspector of Works, was completed on March 17, 1814. The top of the tower stood 134 feet (41 m) above the sea, and the fixed white catoptric light was provided by a set of 24 Argand lamps and reflectors. Karen sent this nice card to me.

USA - 1959 Rambler Rebel

Cate from Austin, Texas sent me this nice card. The Rambler Rebel was an automobile produced by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) of Kenosh, Wisconsin from 1957–60, and again in 1966 and 1967. The Rambler Rebel debuted as a special model in the Rambler line showcasing AMC's big new V8 engine for the 1957 model year. It became the first factory-produced lightweight muscle car.

The Rebel name reappeared in the 1966 model year on a top-of-the-line Rambler Classic model. For the 1967 model year, AMC's entire intermediate line took the Rebel name. American Motors dropped the historic "Rambler" marque to become the AMC Rebel in 1968.
The stamps on this card are also very impressive. William Hart and Gene Autry were two very important actors in Wild West movies.
William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. In 1917 Hart accepted a lucrative offer from Adolph Zukor to join Famous Players-Lasky, which merged into Paramount Pictures. In the films Hart began to ride a brown and white pinto he called Fritz. Fritz was the forerunner of later famous movie horses known by their own name, i.e., horses like Tom Mix's Tony, Roy Rogers's Trigger and Clayton Moore's Silver, etc. Hart was now making feature films exclusively, and films like Square Deal Sanderson and The Toll Gate were popular with fans. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, William S. Hart has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6363 Hollywood Blvd. In 1975, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On November 10, 1962, Hart was honored posthumously in an episode of the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, a western variety program on ABC.
Orvon Grover Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s. Autry was also owner of the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997, a television station and several radio stations in Southern California. Although his signature song was "Back in the Saddle Again", Autry is best known today for his Christmas holiday songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus" (which he wrote), "Frosty the Snowman", and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". He is a member of both the Country Music and Nashville Songwriters halls of fame, and is the only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Finland - Moomins

Continuing from the previous post.

Finland -The Moomins

My Dear Friend Merja sent me these lovey maxicards. Of the Magnificent Moomins! The 2011 Moomin stamps show adventures of the much-loved Moomin characters from Tove Jansson’s picture book “The book about Moomin, Mymble and Little MY”. The different shapes of the stamps bring to mind the intriguing peepholes in the book. The stamps depict Moomin, The Mymble, Little My, Moominmamma, the Hemulen and Hattifatteners. Every stamp has a different form, some have soft edges, the others the angles. Aren’t they all really lovely? The discerning must have detected that one maxi card is missing. That is quite correct, one card has been a tad tardy in the post.