Ice Fishing in Finland

The smallest lakes freeze usually in late November and the bigger lakes in December. This signals the winter fishing season in the Finland. The ice-fishing season lasts 4–5 months ending in April. There are a lot of risks in this sport. Usually the fishermen walk on only a few inches of ice. Midwinter is the most difficult fishing season. The days are short and usually there is plenty of snow on the ice. The weather may be cold and the fish are quite passive then. The few light hours around noon are the best for ice-fishing in December and January. A special period starts in late January when about one month´s long burbot fishing season begins. Burbot can be caught from quite shallow water in the evening with special burbot jigs.

In February the days get lighter and longer and perch get more and more active. The best ice-fishing season now starts. The biggest perch are usually caught in late February and in March when there may be still snow on the ice. For instance the Finnish record perch of 21st Century, a specimen weighing 2.475 kg, was caught 12th February 2005 in the Tampere Region. The main ice-fishing catch is perch, but zander, pike and whitefish are also potential game species on certain lakes, as are salmonoids on ‘plant and fish’ lakes. The region’s waters provide almost endless opportunities for ice-fishing different kinds of cyprinids. The early season and the late season are the best periods. Just after the lakes have got a thin ice cover perch are usually active and the catch can be very good. Especially if there aren´t much snow covering the ice yet.

Ice fishing is not just a way to get food over the winter, its long history in Finnish culture. In the past 20 years ice fishing has changed drastically, it is more modern and the way of fishing has advanced with technology.

Thank you Dear Merja for this lovely card.

Tight Rope Cycling

Without a safety net a cyclist crosses on a tight-rope with his human passenger hanging underneath. And, mind you all this over a 1000 meter deep gorge. Scene of this show, was in a valley in Chaibuxi national park in central China's Hubei Province. I have never seen or hjeard of such a stunt. All I can say is unbelievable. Thank you Vorliebe from Witten in Germany for a really wonderful card.

Fox Bay - Bay of the Black Sea

Fox Bay - Bay of the Black Sea,lies  between the mountain ranges of Kara-Dag and Meganom. Fox harbor - this is probably the most famous beach in the Crimea, which is a girded foot sand strip Echki Dagh. Of course, in the Crimea in general a lot of wonderful beaches with the same soft sand and gentle sea, but only on Lieske reigns true spirit of carelessness and emancipation.  The Fox Bay you can relax as you wish: if you want - live in a tent, if you want - go ahead naked on the beach, if you want - hang with a backpack on the beach or beat the tambourine, drink beer, bathe in the sea and so on and so forth. However, nudity - this is not an obligatory component of the beach, you want - relax dressed, and in any way you want.

Thank you Eugenia for a pretty card.

Hyannis Harbour – Cape Cod

Hyannis is the largest of seven villages in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape". It contains the Barnstable city offices and two important shopping districts, the historic downtown Main Street and the Route 132 commercial district, including Cape Cod Mall and Cape Cod Potato Chips. And, Baxter's Fish and Chips seen in the centre of the card) must be a very popular place!

Hyannis is an important tourist destination and the primary ferry boat and general aviation link for passengers and freight to Nantucket Island. Hyannis provides secondary passenger access to the island of Martha's Vineyard. Due to its large natural harbour, Hyannis is the largest recreational boating and second largest commercial fishing port on Cape Cod.

Thank you Andrew for this lovely card.

Season's Greetings

A very pretty card from my friend Ada in Warsaw. Thank you Dear. Wish you all the best in the New Year too.

Hirvensalo, Finland

Hirvensalo is an island in the Archipelago Sea, belonging to the city of Turku, Finland. It is divided into 14 districts, the largest ones being Moikoinen, Kukola and Haarla. Most of the island's economic activity is concentrated on the suburb of Moikoinen, which has a school, shops, a Lutheran church, and a post office. The island's total population is 6,547 (as of 2004).

Hirvensalo was formerly part of the municipality of Maaria, until it was annexed to the city of Turku in 1944.

This pretty card sent to me by Pia shows a few sights of Hirvensalo. Lets start with the top, which shows a view towards the Aristo Sea. The ships you see are of the Silja and Viking lines going from Turku to Stockholm. The next is the popular Skiing Centre on Hirvensalo. The two lower pictures are of the local church there and the other is where the artist Aaltonen the Finnish artist and sculptor lived.

Khanty-Mansiysk Concert-Theatre Centre "Yugra Classic"

The originality of Yugra is that the authorities here, headed by the governor Alexander Philipenko, is taking a good care about the level of citizens’ living, about their upbringing and cultural education. For the last 14 years Khanty-Mansiysk turned from barrack village into a modern city with red-brick houses, restored churches, good roads, trade centers, well-equipped museums and first class hotels one of which was occupied by Helikon artists.

Undoubtedly, one of the brightest achievements of city’s development and building is the concert-theatrical centre Yugra-Classic. The walls of its lounge are decorated with Venetian plaster and authentic onyx; it consists of three perfect concert halls, one of which contains a unique organ, specially manufactured for Yugra in Germany (its keys are finished with natural mammoth’s bone) and one of the three Fazioli pianos which Russia has. There is also a transformer hall for drama performances. The third is the Big hall for 1000 seats, the stage of which is equipped with modern machinery and there are special acoustic seats in the hall. Yugra-Classic is built as the big Tour house, where for the last three years only super stars have been performing. Among them are Valery Gergiev with Mariinsky theatre, Gidon Kremer with “Kremerata Baltica”, Yuri Temirkanov with Academic symphonic orchestra of St.-Petersburg Philharmonic, Peter Fomenko’s Theatre, Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre named after A. Chekhov, Lev Dodin with Academic Small drama Theatre – Theatre of Europe and Boris Eifmann’s St.-Petersburg’s State Academic theatre of ballet.

Thank you Galina for this nice card.