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...

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Palo Sebo

I was going through my postcard collection and this photo of two boys climbing a greased bamboo pole caught my attention. It made me reminisce about my childhood days and my much-anticipated visits to my maternal grandparents' province.

Palo Sebo or greased bamboo climbing is a traditional Filipino game usually played by boys during a town fiesta. A long bamboo pole is greased and polished to make it slippery. The contestants are given the chance to climb the pole and try to reach the small bag of goodies tied at the end of it. The one who succeeds in reaching and untying the price is declared the winner.

The game can also be played by setting up two or more bamboo poles along side each other. The contestants race to untie the flag attached at the top of his designated pole. The first one to grab the flag wins the game and is awarded a prize money.

Well, if you'd ask me if I ever tried climbing a bamboo pole when I was a kid, my answer is no. I can't even climb a tree back then. Haha!

Wishing you happy journeys...

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Balut Vendor

I am featuring a postcard rendition of one of the paintings done by Philippine National Artist Vicente S. Manansala (January 22, 1910 - August 22, 1981). Manansala is regarded as a "social realist" for depicting in his artworks the Philippines' struggle for a national identity after the Second World War. He is known as the pioneer of transparent cubism in the country.

This watercolor painting depicts the scene of a street vendor selling balut, a popular Filipino delicacy. Balut is boiled fertilized duck egg which is believed to be an aphrodisiac.


I've sent out about five pieces of this postcard design to art lovers and the recipients told me they loved it. A postcrosser from Poland even sent me a bar of her favorite chocolate because she really liked the card.

The postcards I sent would have been much more interesting had they been sent with any of the following stamps issued in 2010 to commemorate the birth centenary of the national artist. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my hands on any of these stamps. I believe another trip to the Main Post Office is in order. I just hope the Postage and Philatelic Department still have these goodies.

Wishing you happy journeys...

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The Tyne Bridge

Bridges provide connectivity and passage over physical obstacles, be it a body of water, a valley, a canal, or other barriers. In our journey through life, we must seek out these passages that will allow us to overcome difficulties and limitations. Should we end up in a place where a bridge should have been built but wasn't, we can always build one. We can construct it ourselves or better yet, enlist the help of others. It is important not to allow obstacles to hinder us from continuing our meaningful voyage. What's even more important is that we build bridges of friendship, love, and understanding along the way.

I certainly love bridges! I enjoy looking at them, taking snapshots of them, and crossing them (especially the rickety hanging ones).

So happy am I to have received this Tyne Bridge postcard which was stamped in the Netherlands. Arnolda told me that she picked up this stunning postcard of the steel arch bridge during her trip to the United Kingdom.

"The Tyne Bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson who based their design on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The bridge was completed on 25 February 1928 and opened on 10 October by King George V and Queen Mary, who were the first to use the roadway travelling in their Ascot landau. The bridge is a landmark within Newcastle and currently stands as the tenth tallest structure in the city. The bridge spans 531 feet (162 m) from pier to pier and the total height measures 59 meters above the river level.

Tram lines were initially built into the bridge structure, but were subsequently removed. Some vestiges of these remain, such as redundant fixings for overhead power lines. Tram car No. 289 was the last Newcastle tram to run into Gateshead over the Tyne Bridge on Sunday, 5 March 1950." (Source: Wikipedia.org)

These three awesome stamps were pasted on the back of the card.

The stamp on the left was issued in 1989 to commemorate the 40 years of the founding of the North American Treaty Organization (NAT0). It features the flags of the NATO-member countries. Can you help me with the other two?

Wishing you happy journeys...

This is my share for the Postcard Friendship Friday Meme

hosted at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy

The Death Railway

Who would ever think that beneath this lovely scene lie the harrowing stories of the brutalities of war, of shattered dreams, and of thousands of lives lost?

This postcard features the Kanchanaburi portion of the infamous Death Railway which was constructed during the Second World War. Thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) were forced to work on a railway that was used to transport the supplies of the Japanese Imperial Army.

"The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre." - Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

About 130 kilometers of the original 415-km line, which used to connect Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat, Burma, are still operational today. Parts of abandoned route have been converted into walking trails. Proposals to rebuild the complete railway have been made, but not one of the plans has been realized due to the immense work and large amount of money the reconstruction project entails.


To honor the suffering and death of thousands of prisoners and laborers in the construction of the Death Railway, several memorials have been built along the route from Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

I thank Kulnita for sending me this postcard. It urged me to revisit history and draw parallelism to the experiences of the Philippines and Thailand during the World War II. We both have sad stories to tell, but they are the tales worth telling over and over again. LEST WE FORGET.