Weather in Finland - Four distinctly different seasons!

Finland is a country of contrasts, not just in a geographical sense but also in its climate. The country has four distinctly different seasons that transform the white winter wonderland to a green leafy summer in just a few months. Temperatures during the year vary considerably and -30C in winter and +30C in summer are not uncommon! And this is exactly what this card sent to me Britta from Raseburg in Southern Finland is trying to depict.

Summer– warm and fair, rain ample, nature green. Summer in Finland roughly lasts from June to August. The summer is the season of the Midnight Sun and nights are bright. In Lapland, for two months from June to July, the sun never sets! Even elsewhere in the country the sun only disappears below the horizon for a few hours. Summers in Finland are generally warm and in fact, the average temperatures are higher than those in the UK. Temperatures tend to stay around +15C-+25C, but temperatures of +30C are not unheard of.

Winter– snowy in the north; Northern Lights shine through Lapland nights. Winter in Finland lasts roughly from December to March, but the snowfall in Lapland might start as early as October and last till mid-May. The crisp winter days invite you to admire the beautiful frozen trees and lakes, whereas if you feel more energetic, there are thrilling activities such as snowmobiling, husky and reindeer safaris to try. The clear, dark nights are ideal for spotting the Northern Lights. 

Autumn– forests aglow with tinted foliage. Autumn months September to November see Finland's forest landscape turn into a splendid and unforgettable array of red and gold known as "ruska". This is the season when it rains the most and when the nature starts preparing for a new snowfall in the forthcoming winter. Temperatures start dropping and might start dipping below the zero during the nights. In daytime, temperatures hover around +5C to +15C. The moderate temperatures of autumn make this season ideal for cycling or hiking along the many woodland trails, while it is also popular to pick newly appeared wild blueberries, raspberries, lingonberries, cloudberries and mushrooms, that all make a large part of a Finnish diet. Days again start getting shorter and nights darker. 

Spring– brings in the thaw. Spring months April and May bring Finland much welcomed light and warmer temperatures. Days are quickly starting to get longer and the snow starts melting in the South, Western Lakes and Lakeland mid-April, while in the northern Lapland the snow might well not start melting before May. The further North you will go, the later the spring arrives. 

Lapland alone keeps its vernal snow for winter sport

Conservation & Protection of Nature

Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to protect the natural world. Those who follow the conservation ethic and, especially, those who advocate or work toward conservation goals are termed conservationists.

The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. The early conservation movement included fisheries and wildlife management, water, soil conservation and sustainable forestry. The contemporary conservation movement has broadened from the early movement's emphasis on use of sustainable yield of natural resources and preservation of wilderness areas to include preservation of biodiversity. Some say the conservation movement is part of the broader and more far-reaching environmental movement, while others argue that they differ both in ideology and practice. Chiefly in the United States, conservation is seen as differing from environmentalism in that it aims to preserve natural resources expressly for their continued sustainable use by humans. In other parts of the world conservation is used more broadly to include the setting aside of natural areas and the active protection of wildlife for their inherent value, as much as for any value they may have for humans.

The United Nations Postal Services issued a stamp on 19^th November 1982, which is shown on this maxicard with the special postmark of that day. Merja gave me this card.

Welcome to Loviisa

Pia sent me this card from Loviisa, which is a municipality and town of around 16000 inhabitants (31 January 2012) on the southern coast of Finland. The town centre is located about 87 km east of Helsinki, along the road to St. Petersburg. The new City of Loviisa (Lovisa in Swedish) was born on January 1_st 2010 when former municipalities of Loviisa, Liljendal, Pernaja and Ruotsinpyhtää were merged together. Loviisa is best known for its fortifications, the wooden houses in its Old Town and the Strömfors Iron Works. Both Finnish and Swedish (the two official languages of Finland) are traditionally spoken in the Loviisa area.
Loviisa was founded in 1745, as a border fortress against Russia. Most of the fortifications have been preserved. It is named after Lovisa Ulrika, the Swedish Queen consort of Adolf Frederick of Sweden. Loviisa is the site of one of Finland's two nuclear power stations, the other being at Olkiluoto.  

US Brig Niagara

US Brig Niagara or the Flagship Niagara, is a wooden-hulled brig that served as the relief flagship for Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. It is one of last remaining ships from the War of 1812. The Niagara is usually docked behind the Erie Maritime Museum in downtown Erie in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania as an outdoor exhibit for the museum, but travels the Great Lakes during the summer, serving as an ambassador of Pennsylvania when not docked. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated the official state ship of Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1988. This lovely card was sent to me by Maria.

1600th Anniversary of Saint Theodul or Saint Joder

Maria sent me this maxicard with The 80-rappen postage stamp on it. The picture is of the fourth 'Saint Joder' stamp published by the Postal Service in Vaduz. Bishop Saint Joder is shown with a bunch of grapes. 'Saint Joder is the Patron saint of farmers and vintners. The patron saint of Triesenberg, Saint Theodul (or Saint Joder) is once again appearing on a Liechtenstein postage stamp, in especially impressive form. Once again a worthy jubilee is a legitimate occasion for the issuance of a special stamp, this time in celebration of the 1600-year festival of this legendary saint. His history, going back to the year 381, is presented by a scholar, former Deacon Engelbert Bucher (Triesenberg). The horizontal stamp shows the Theodul statue from the parish church of Laterns. The sculpture, of about the year 1500, from the old Vorarlberg forest settlement indubitably belongs to the most beautiful visual images of the saint. The stamp was designed by Bruno Kaufmann and Walter Wachter.

Cargolux 747-400F LX YCV

This 747-400F LX YCV (Freighter) shown on the card is on the taxiway at Seattle, USA. It is an all freight version which uses the fuselage design of the 747-200F. The aircraft's first flight was on May 4, 1993, and it entered service with Cargolux on November 17, 1993. Major customers included Atlas Air, Cargolux, China Airlines, Korean Air, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Polar Air Cargo, and Singapore Airlines. The −400F can be easily distinguished from the passenger −400 by its shorter upper-deck hump. Whatever the configuration, I have always loved to be on a 747:-))
The 747-400F has a main deck nose door and a mechanized cargo handling system. The nose door swings up so that pallets or containers up to 40 ft (12 m) can be loaded straight in on motor-driven rollers. An optional main deck side cargo door (like the 747-400M (Combi)) allows loading of dimensionally taller cargo modules. Boeing delivered 126 Boeing 747-400F aircraft with no unfilled orders as of November 2009. The last −400F was delivered to Nippon Cargo Airlines. This pretty card was sent to me by Katya from Russia.

Hannover - The Kröpcke Clock

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later described as the Elector of Hanover). At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Electorate was enlarged to become the capital of the Kingdom of Hanover.
In addition to being the capital of Lower Saxony, Hanover was the capital of the administrative area Regierungsbezirk Hannover (Hanover region) until Lower Saxony's administrative regions were disbanded at the beginning of 2005. Since 2001 it is part of the Hanover district (Region Hannover), which is a municipal body made up from the former district (Landkreis Hannover) and city of Hanover (note: although both Region and Landkreis are translated as district they are not the same).
With a population of 522,686 (31 December 2010) the city is a major centre of northern Germany, known for hosting annual commercial trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair and the CeBIT. Every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hannover, the world's largest marksmen's festival, and the Oktoberfest Hannover, the second largest Oktoberfest in the world. In 2000, Hanover hosted the world fair Expo 2000. The Hanover fairground, due to numerous extensions, especially for the Expo 2000, is the largest in the world. Hanover is also of national importance because of its universities and medical school, its international airport, and its large zoo. The city is also a major crossing point of railway lines and highways (Autobahnen), connecting European main lines in east-west-direction (Berlin - Ruhr area) and north-south-direction (Hamburg - Munich et al.).
And, what you see on the card is the The Kröpcke Clock. Hannover's most famous meeting spot, located above the Kröpcke underground train station, the main station of City Center. This Kröpcke Clock is a 1977 replica of the original built by Konrad Oertel in 1885 but destroyed in WWII. It takes its name from Wilhelm Kröpcke, a famous headwaiter of a cafe in the area. The four corners have all the 12 Zodiac signs on them. This lovely card was sent to me by Sisela.