thatch

rooftops

Storks are the national bird of Belarus. Their nests are high off the ground, in trees or rooftops, or pylons.  They evolve over time as the pair return year after year  and expand, alter and redecorate. Some nests have grown to 2 metres wide and could be decades old (and are, eventually, passed on to other pairs)

Some people's nests have thatched roofs that require repairs every 10-25 years or so.  It can be eyewateringly expensive, but is environmentally friendly and the materials are sustainable.  And is so pretty.  With the wildfires we are experiencing, it is a good thing that it is not a common practice here.

Some architectural details for Thursday Postcard Hunt.

symmetry

 

This stamp has been shown before, but I like it, so here it is again.  It was designed by Yauheniya Biadonik who has designed various stamps, especially on culture and arts

 A deceptively simple Japanese forest

 

More conical trees in front of the horizontal schloss with an even number of vertical windows

some patterns for Sunday Stamps

 

 

nature

 

lost in translation

 

I'm not really sure what kind of fruit this is (mango?), though I suspect the Chinese script in the corner gives a clue (if I could read Chinese)

 

This one from Belarus was also tricky.  Turns out it is a 'common raccoon dog' which is not at all a raccoon.  Or a dog.  It is a canid that is closely related to a fox. They are widespread in eastern Europe and Asia.

 

The Moravian Museum is easily translatable.  Okay, I had to google translate 'zemske' (regional)

and, this is obviously the Bavarian Forest, in full winter  splendour

 

some foreign languages for Sunday Stamps

monuments

 Minsk is a city of monuments and sculptures

In Tallinn there is a memorial to the Russian warship Russalka that sank (in 1893) somewhere in the direction this angel is facing.  Estonia was part of Russia at the time, though this was the first statue in the country made by an Estonian.  

The sculptor's housekeeper was the model for the angel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here in Canada, overlooking the Niagara River, is a tall monument to Sir Isaac Brock who died in the Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812 (the only war fought in the country)

 some monuments to history

bison

  

Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland.  A biosphere reserve home to 800 bison.

snow and ice

From speed skating (dominated in 1964 by Russia and Norway) to slalom skiing (dominated by France and Austria)

 

to curling (dominated in 2014 by Canada, Great Britain, and Sweden)

It was challenging to find anything not related to the Olympics, but then I remembered the World's, which is dominated by Sweden, Canada, and Finland (though it was won by Russia that year)

I can safely say that I have never participated in any of these sports.

For Sunday Stamps - winter sports

happy vegetables

As luck would have it, I received these happy vegetables from a Postcrosser this week.

These remind me of signs one of our grocery stores used to have in the produce section showing smiling fruits and vegetables with a "pick me, pick me".

a courgette and a potato

as well as a cabbage, cucumber and carrot

The stamps by artist Victor Chaichuk were part of                            14 vegetables issued on July 1, 2020

I will never understand the Belarusian postal rates as every card received seems to have different denominations of stamps. There is a stamp 'N' which has a face value for an international postcard, but here we have the cabbage which is 1 ruble and the carrot, cucumber, courgette are 5, 1, and 2 kopeks respectively. The potato is an  'A' which is a face value of a 20g letter within Belarus. My card had four courgettes and one of each of the others. And, not one of them was cancelled.

for Sunday Stamps - food

walking in the rain

artist: Leonid Afremov

city hall

forests

anyone interested in berry picking?

insects

I am sure there are many more insects, but these are the glamour shots

dancing and singing

black grouse lekking — a courtship ritual for attracting the ladies. In the spring the males strut around in a traditional area whilst making a distinctive mating call.

sauerkraut

cabbage, carrots, apples and cranberries!

underground in minsk

marshes, marshes, marshes

country manor

'Zdravnevo', near Vitebsk Belarus, belonged to Russian and Ukrainian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930 )and is now a museum. The original house was almost destroyed during WWII and much of the wood was used for firewood by the residents of Vitebsk. In 1988 it was rebuilt using Repin's original drawings and with help from some people who remembered it during his lifetime.

red fox

I was too old for the Roald Dahl book, The Fantastic Mr Fox when it came out in 1970. However, by magic, I was not too old for the movie of the same name which came out 39 years later. To this day, when ever I see a red fox I almost expect it to start talking in a George Clooney voice.

owls of Belarus

academy

Minsk.  The National Academy of Science