Chinese Junk

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks may have developed from very early bamboo rafts which had a high stern. Cromagnon cave paintings on the Indo China coast show junk shaped doublehull vessels. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout South-East Asia and India, but primarily in China, perhaps most famously inHong Kong. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats.

The term junk may be used to cover many kinds of boat—ocean-going, cargo-carrying, pleasure boats, live-aboards. They vary greatly in size and there are significant regional variations in the type of rig. To Western eyes, however, they all appear to resemble one another due to their most significant shared feature, their fully battened sails. My friend Iris sent me this wonderful card from Hong Kong. Besides the junk you can see the Victoria Peak on the Hong Kong Island and on the other side the commercial District of Kowloon on the mainland.

The Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size. A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–680 kg (770–1,500 lb), while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means "maritime bear", and derives from this fact. Polar bears can hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present.

The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline  For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect  For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures. Thank you Xavier (from Montreal) for this lovely card, which shows a Polar Bear mother relaxing with her cubs.

Wind Surfing

Merja sent me this card from Limassol. I wonder where she is in this picture ;-))

Well what exactly is windsurfing? Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2 to 3 metres long, with a volume of about 60 to 250 liters, powered by wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, 2-sided boom and sail. The sail area generally ranges from 2.5 m² to 12 m² depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor and the type of windsurfing being undertaken.

The history of windsurfing began in 1948 on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, USA when Newman Darby invented the sailboard, which, incidentally, he did not patent. In 1964, Darby began selling his sailboards.

Windsurfing can be said to straddle both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, a windsurfer offers experiences that are outside the scope of any other sailing craft design. Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. Windsurfers were the first to ride the world's largest waves, such asJaws on the island of Maui, and, with very few exceptions, it was not until the advent of tow-in surfing that waves of that size became accessible to surfers on more traditional surfboards. Extreme waves aside, many expert windsurfers will ride the same waves as wavesurfers do (wind permitting) and are themselves usually very accomplished without a rig on a conventional surfboard.

At one time referred to as "surfing's ginger haired cousin" by the sport's legendary champion, Robby Naish, windsurfing has long struggled to present a coherent image of the sport to outsiders. Indeed, participants will regularly use different names to describe the sport, including sailboarding and boardsailing. Despite the term,"Windsurfing" became the accepted name for the sport, participants are still called "sailors" or "board heads" and not "surfers"

Town Hall of Somero

Somero seems to be the flavour of the season. And Ella takes us to the well planned and nicely decorated Town hall there. What goes on in that august building between elders is anyone's guess. But, whatever the do, they do in wonderful surroundings.
On the wall one can see the Coat of Arms of the City. And, in the fore ground is a statue of the "Settler"or "The Pioneer Farmer".

Lighthouse and a little church on the rock in Bolshoy Utrish

In this postcard sent to me by Maria, are shown a lighthouse and a little church on the rock in Bolshoy Utrish (Big Utrish), south Russia, on the shore of the Black Sea. Between the seaside village of Bolshoy Utrish and Sukko, a rural locality serving as a resort, sprawls across the Bolshoy Utrish protected area, which stretches for 12km along the coastline and is closed on the north ridge Navagir. Sukko lies in the north of the Abrau Peninsula, in the valley of the small Sukko River, wedged between the westernmost spurs of the Caucasus Mountains, otherwise known as the Markotkh. 

The lighthouse, is located on an island and appears to be abandoned and deteriorating. The date when it was put into use is unknown, but probably is 1920, because the station was established in 1911. It's a round cylindrical masonry tower with a gallery and a band of sculptured faces around it at about a quarter of the height, and a small red lantern on top.  

Somero Church

The Somero Church is built on a small hill. Georg Theodor von Chiewitz designed, styled the red-brick church. The church was built in1859 .

Church organ and the Zachariassen organ were made in the year  1880 . Organ changes were made ​​in 1960 - and 1970's. The player is a valuable example of a Finnish history.

 This card which Ella sent me depicts the Lutheran Church of Somero. The Chaple is to the left. This picture must have been taken more than 20 years ago. Now there are many trees between the Church and the river.

Lutherans are Christians and they are found throughout the world!  They represent the world's third largest block of Christians and are the oldest Protestants.  There are nearly 70 million Lutherans living on every continent, speaking hundreds of languages.  In the USA alone there are more than 12 million Lutheran Christians.

Zaporozhian Cossacks

The Zaporozhian Cossacks, or simply Zaporozhians  were Ukrainian Cossacks who lived beyond the rapids of the Dnieper river, the land also known as the Great Meadow in Central Ukraine. Today most of its territory is flooded by the waters of Kakhovka Reservoir.

The Zaporizhian Sich grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth establishing itself as a well-respected political entity with a parliamentary system of government. During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th centuries the Zaporozhian Cossacks became a strong political and military force that challenged the authority of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and its vassal the Crimean Khanate. The Host went through a series of conflicts and alliances involving the three powers before falling into the Russian sphere of influence and eventually being forcibly disbanded in the late 18th century by the Russian Empire, with most of the population relocated to the Kuban region in the South edge of the Russian Empire, where the Cossacks served a valuable role of defending the Empire against the fierce Caucasian tribes and in return had a great degree of freedom granted by the Tsars.

The name Zaporozhtsi comes from the location of their fortress, the Sich, in Zaporozhzhia, the ‘land beyond the rapids’ (from za‘beyond’ and poróhy ‘river rapids’).

This card showing three comical characters from Ukranian folklore Oko, Gray and Tur, were famous for their bumblimg and tumbling ways, but, they invariably did what they wanted to do J. This card was sent to me by my friend Irina from Kiev.