Friday, January 31, 2014

A floating camel and an unhappy gardener

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Postcard from Liam31 from the United Arab Emirates (our first)

We’re not entirely sure how this got here as it seems to have travelled without a stamp.

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This card came from a friend of mine in Germany. She couldn’t send real plants as a housewarming, so she sent us a garden on a card. She says the card asks “Who ripped the gardener’s pants apart?” J found the culprit before I’d even finished reading the question! (maybe she should go on Jeopardy!)

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Cupcakes and Cathedrals

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Postcard from aya_mi from Japan

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Postcard from KapaStark from Russia
Description: Moscow. The St Basil’s Cathedral
I LOVE this card…it’s stunning. And it came with an Olympic hockey stamp!

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

My Melody, Where’s Wally and Musicians and Dancers

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Postcard from pancake-syrup from Japan
J was super excited to receive this card – she says that My Melody looks like Hello Kitty.

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Postcard from alicestrange from the United Kingdom
Description: Find Wally (or Waldo if you’re Canadian) as well as four robots, four six-armed aliens and an alien with its arms folded. J loved searching for the list of items and she’s spent quite a bit of time studying all the other things going on in the picture. She really likes the Can You See What I See series of books, so it might be time to see if the library has any Where’s Waldo books for her.

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Postcard from YuShane from China
Description: it really does say Musicians and Dancers! Maybe that’s the name of a series of postcards and not this individual ones???

Monday, January 27, 2014

Horses

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Postcard from lbackstr from Sweden – our first one from Sweden!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Purple elephant, blue bear and some baby wild pigs

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Postcard from Astra1235 from Russia

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Postcard from Strickpetra from Germany
Description: “Beary Greetings”

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Postcard from Klausdiemaus* from Germany
*Klausdiemaus is a cat who has send and received over 12,000 postcards. Pretty talented mouse if you ask me!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Winter and daisies

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Postcard from Suzanka93 from the Czech Repulic
Description: (from Suzanka93) – the twelve drawings are all things connected with winter.

1. The white snow
2. The decreasing temperature
3. More warm clothes
4. Frosts on the windows
5. Snow
6. Flock of crows
7. Long evenings
8. Winter sleep
9. Snowballing
10. Winter merry making
11. The red of mulled wine and frozen noses
12. WINTER IS HERE

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Postcard from sktour from Japan

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Krtek, snap dragons and a fairy

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Postcard from Korij from the Czech Republic
Description: (from Korij) Krtek is the Little Mole, a character by a famous Czech animator, Zdeněk Miler.

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Postcard from AlinaZalevskaia from Moldova
Description: Gura-leului * Antirrhinum [snapdragon]

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Postcard from Lisabosch from the Netherlands

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Pig peeling an apple

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Postcard from neuland from Germany

Monday, January 20, 2014

Golfing cat, balloon boy and French tram

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Postcard from karir from Russia
Description: Rumyanez V. The Golf Player. Water-colour

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Postcard from SCHofman from the Netherlands
Description: from Kinderpostzegels
[Translation courtesy of Google]
Met de opbrengst uit de verkoop van kaarten en kinderpostzegels steunt Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland projecten voor kwetsbare kinderen.
With the proceeds from the sale of cards and stamps child Kinderpostzegels Netherlands supports projects for vulnerable children.

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Postcard from LiDeFeng from France via Germany
Description:
NANTES (Loire-Atlantique) FRANCE
NOSTALGIE DU PASSE
Passage du tramway devant le Château des Ducs de Bretagne.
Motrice “144”
Constructeur: Société “France Belge” (Croyère)
Année de fabrication: 914
Rénovation SEMITAN: 1987

The tram, in Nantes, passes in front of the Château des Ducs de Bretagne

Friday, January 17, 2014

Violin

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Postcard from NerdBird from the United Kingdom
Description: Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) * Violin, ‘The Messiah’ (‘Le Messie’) * Cremona, 1716
Hills Collection of Musical Instruments
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Australian Wildlife

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J and Baby C got a card from their cousins who spend the Christmas holidays in Australia. J was super proud that she was able to identify the first three animals, but the cockatoo had her stumped!

Description: Australia is the home of some of the world’s most fascinating creatures. Left to right: A female Koala and joey; an Orange-eyed Tree-frog; a female Eastern Grey Kangaroo and joey; a Sulphur-crested cockatoo.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

First card…

This is the first card we’ve received in 2014 (and it was quick…it took 5 days). It is also the first card for our new mailbox at our new home!
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Postcard from doublenz from New Zealand

Saturday, January 11, 2014

The next chapter

Five and a half years ago we opened this door and started a new chapter of our life that would see our family grow from two to four.

front door

I was hugely pregnant with J and this was the place that would be her first home. By the middle of that day, our place looked like this:

living room after we moved in part 1

But even so we hosted our first dinner. My awesome parents were here to help us move and we got the apartment cleaned and sorted enough to have company. Luckily we didn't have to do anything for dinner...my amazing aunt and uncle brought dinner, dishes, cutlery and a lot of laughter which was great after a really long day. We had a one hour window between when we could get into our new home and when we had to be out of the ghetto Pink Palace. Thank goodness for excellent helpers!

Less than three weeks later, before we were fully unpacked, this little lady made a dramatic entrance into our lives and the Lyons' Den became home to a family of three.

lyons cub
We had lots of fun, celebrated some birthdays and Christmases and then, last April, this happened.

introducing lyons cub the second

And we made do in the Lyons' Den we had outgrown a year or two before for another nine months...it looked like this for a while

spotlessly spotless(seriously, what family with two small children can sustain this for an extended period of time?)

Today, our little Lyons' Den looks like this...

empty den

much like it did on that hot summer's day five and a half years ago. We made a few changes and a lot of memories. And now our keys belong to another family, also starting a new chapter in their lives. There were a few tears and one emotionally torn five year old went around to each room to say goodbye and I love you. She kissed all the walls and each window and door in her special green room.

special green room

And then the chapter ended.

And our next chapter? Well, it begins here:

the door to the next chapter
Goodbye Lyons' Den. You were good to us and we'll miss you, but we are very excited to see what this next chapter brings!

Friday, January 03, 2014

Happy New Year from Germany

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A postcard from a friend in Germany…once again I wish we had more postcards like this here (the black is actually silver on the card)