The Xiaoshang Bridge

As I've declared in this blog, over and over again, I love bridges.  So for this week's Postcard Perfect round, I'm sharing the very first bridge postcard I got from Postcrossing.  It was sent by Shiliang of China. 

Bridges have always figured in the history of nations as sites for historic battles.  I am pretty sure you have heard and learned of quite a lot of stories of great battles fought on a bridge.  In military strategy, bridges serve as choke points that allow numerically inferior  armed forces to impede the movement of larger enemy armed contingents.       


The Xiaoshang Bridge, built over 1,400 years ago, certainly has its share of war stories.  Accounts say that it was were Yang Zaixing, a lieutenant of the Song Dynasty general Yue Fei, met his death during the war against the Jin Dynasty invaders.


If the Xiaoshang Bridge served a military strategic function in the wars and battles of the distant past, today the very same bridge serves a cultural strategic purpose.   In fact, it was declared as an important heritage structure by the local government.   


Recognizing the bridge's cultural importance, China's State Postal Bureau included the Xiaoshang Bridge as one of the four featured special historic bridge stamps which were issued in March 2003.


Bridges serve a plethora of purpose.  These structures were used as strategic ambush points and choke points to weaken enemy forces.  They also serve as historical, cultural and architectural timepieces.  Most of all, bridges serve as important structures that connect communities and ensure the continuous flow of progress.



Wishing you happy journeys...

Visit The Best Hearts Are Crunchy

for more interesting postcards

Sunday Stamps: Spiritual Renewal

This is my first time to join Viridian's Sunday Stamps meme and I've chosen to feature a stamp showcasing the artwork of Canadian aboriginal artist Daphne Odjig. 

This stamp features the acrylic painting entitled Spiritual Renewal, which was done by the artist  in 1984.  It is one of the three artworks featured into stamps and released by the Canadian Post early this year.  


Odjig, who was born in 1919 at the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island to a father of Native descent and an English war bride mother, has championed Canadian cultural diversity and love of her native heritage through her works.  She has received various awards and recognitions for her achievements and passion for the arts.  


Wishing you happy journeys...

For more interesting stamps, head on to Viridian's Blog

A Lovely French Pigeon Loft

I won this wonderful postcard by joining a giveaway at Shiela's postcard blog back in June. I'm definitely a pigeon fancier, so you could just imagine my thrill when I learned that I won one of the beautiful pigeon loft postcards that were up for grabs.

I used to help my elder cousins feed and take care of the pigeons in our grandparents' backyard when I was a kid. My cousins had built a pigeon coop that was almost as big as my room. Of course the loft wasn't as beautiful as the one above, but it nevertheless looked like a small castle to me back then. The stucture was made of wood, tree branches, tin roofs, and wires. There were a lot of little rooms where the birds would lay and nest their eggs. I remember the excitement of taking a peek at the mother pigeons as they warmed their eggs.

Although my grandparents never really approved of my cousins' interest in breeding homing pigeons, they nevertheless tolerated their grandsons' hobby. As for me, I just love watching the pigeons fly out and race. My cousins and I would clap our hands, whistle, and cheer as we craned our necks to watch the amazing spectacle of a group of pigeons mightily flap their wings in unison and fly in perfect formation. :)

Anyway, I also want to share this beautiful stamp that came with the postcard. I adore windows with flower boxes!

Merci beaucoup, Shiela! I hope the card I sent you reaches your mailbox soon.

Wishing you happy journeys...

Visit The Best Hearts Are Crunchy

for more interesting postcards

Brussels in Bloom: The Flower Carpet at the La Grand Place

The La Grand Place featured in this postcard is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO website describes this famous square in Brussels, Belgium as:

"a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. The architecture provides a vivid illustration of the level of social and cultural life of the period in this important political and commercial center."

The building in the center is known as the Maison du Roi (King's House). It was was built on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, so the building is still also referred to as the Broodhuis (Breadhouse).


I am certain you'd notice the colorful carpet in front of the Maison du Roi. Every other year, in the month of August, an enormous carpet of begonias is set up in Belgium's most famous square. The one on the photo is the flower carpet set up in 2006. (To read more about Belgium's flower carpet, head on to this site.)


The fauna and flora stamps that came with the postcard are simply awesome!

Dankje, Raquel!

Wishing you happy journeys...

Visit Willa Stock's website for more interesting postcards.

Revisiting the Past through a Postcard

I am grateful to Jenny for sending this old Philippine postcard. It's my very first vintage card!

I like how this snapshot of happily smiling women and children carrying clay jars (probably containing water) and other wares shows a glimpse of the way of life in the decades gone past.

I wonder what's the story behind this snapshot. Perhaps the women and children were on their way to the rice fields to bring food and water for their husbands and fathers who were working in the paddies. Perhaps they were on their way to a festivity. Did they fetch water from a nearby spring or river? Wherever they were heading, they sure looked so merry and not all burdened by the weight of the jars.

Jenny said nothing about the card, except that a fellow postcard collector gave her a bunch of vintage Philippine postcards. How I wish I'd be lucky to get my hands on a bunch of lovely vintage postcards, too!

Salamat, Jenny! Thanks for sending this card to my mailbox.

Wishing you happy journeys...

Here's my share for Postcard Friendship Friday