Greece: Donkey

Alina from Greece sent me this donkey card:

The donkey (sometimes referred to as an ass) is a domesticated member of the horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African wild ass. The donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years. There are more than 40 million donkeys in the world, mostly in underdeveloped countries, where they are used principally as pack animals. Working donkeys are often associated with those living at or below subsistence levels. Small numbers of donkeys are kept for breeding or as pets in developed countries.

A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny.  A young donkey is a foal.  Jack donkeys are often used to produce mules.

Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BC, or 4000 BC, probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia,  and have spread around the world. They continue to fill important roles in many places today. While domesticated species are increasing in numbers, the African wild ass and another relative, the Onager, are on the endangered species list.

Source: Wikipedia

Pin It

United States: Knight

This vintage card was sent by Misty from Ravenna, OH:

The Vigil - From the painting by John Pettie, R.A., in the Tate Gallery. The newly created Knight is kneeling before the altar of S. John's Chapel in the Tower of London, keeping his vigil preparatory to a life of Knight-errantry. His armor, dedicated to the service of chivalry, lies before him. 

This is a card I immediately liked, not in the least because my husband likes knights and stuff. I really like history and historical cards, so this was definitely up my alley.

I couldn't find out too much about this painting, other than it was painted by John Pettie (as the card info told me) and that he painted it in 1884. So I'm really glad for the description on the back that told me what was depicted. Pin It

Great Britain: HMS Victory

Sandra from Portsmouth, Great Britain sent me this one:

Launched in 1765 and now in dry dock at Portsmouth, the magnificent H.M.S. Victory mounted 104 guns and carried a complement of 850 men.

As the card says, it's a picture of the H.M.S. Victory, and Sandra wrote this interesting message on the restoration of the ship:

This world famous ship is currently undergoing a major refit. She recently had her main masts and all the rigging removed. The work will take about 10 years to complete as it is very specialist work. A lot of her will be completely rebuilt. Only about a fifth of the ship is still the original 18th century vessel.

I didn't know it takes that long to restore ships!  Then again, I didn't know much about this ship or ships in general  (hardly anything at all really), so I read up on it.

She was mainly known for being the flagship of Lord Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She was also used by others, such as Keppel at Ushant, Howe at Cape Spartel and Jervi at Cape St. Vincent, all of which were before the battle of Trafalgar.

She's been a harbor ship since 1824, and preserved as a museum ship in dry dock at Portsmouth since 1922. The H.M.S. Victory is the oldest naval ship still in commission, although the USS Constitution is the oldest one that is still afloat.

She was built by Chatham Dockyard, which is located on the River Medway and has been a visitor attraction since it closed in 1984; and was based on the H.M.S. Royal George.

She spent the first 13 years (!) dismasted and roofed over because they Navy didn't have any use for her. It wasn't until 1778 that Admiral Augustus Keppel decided to use her as his flagship. From then on she saw lots of action until 1824, when she was moored.

The original sails from when she was in the battle of Trafalgar have been perserved and are also on display.

Two little bits of trivia in closing:

* It is said that originally the ship was set to be broken up, and that when Thomas Hardy got home and told his wife that he had signed an order to do just that, she burst into tears and sent him back to rescind it. Whether or not this story is true, the 1831 duty log that has the orders has that day's page torn out.

* Now that the ship is on display, only one of the guns on board is an original from the Battle of Trafalgar. The other ones are fiberglass replicas, because the weight of the armaments on board would damage the structure of the dry dock without the support of sea water to help keep her afloat.

Pin It

Germany: Lion King

I received this card from Anja, from Gelsenkirchen in Germany:

As a big Disney fan, I absolutely loved this Lion King card! Of course, I love every card I receive, but Disney is one of my favorite themes.

The Lion King was released in 1994 and is the 32nd movie in the Disney Classics series. It tells the story of the young lion cub Simba, born to Mufasa, who is the King of their pride lands. His father shows him their territory and explains that after he dies, Simba will become king and tells him about the responsibilities. Mufasa's brother, Scar, would've become king after him had it not been for Simba, and out of anger, he sets up a scheme to kill both Mufasa and Simba. He personally made sure that Mufasa died, but Simba survived, so Scar makes him believe that his father's death was his fault and that the pride will blame him for what happened. Simba flees, and meets Timone, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog. He befriends them, and stays with them in the jungle until he's an adult.
Under Scar's rule, things have gone downhill in the Pride Lands, and the herds started hunting elsewhere. Simba's childhood friend, Nala, stumbles upon him in the jungle, and begs him to come back home to the Pride Lands and take his rightful place as King to put a stop to Scar's rule that is causing all the animals to starve. Simba eventually agrees and fights Scar over the kingdom. He learns his father's death was Scar's fault, which gives him the extra push to win the fight and become the rightful King. In time, Simba and Nala have their own son, continuing the Circle of Life.

I was quite surprised at all the big names that are in the cast line-up of the movie: Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick (young and adult Simba respectively), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Jeremy Irons (Scar), Rowan Atkinson (Zazu), and Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi).

One thing I've always liked about Disney movies, is that as a kid, they were fun stories to watch, but as I grew older I started noticing the stories they were based on, and the life lessons hidden in them. What I take away from this movie is that Simba was trying to run away from his responsibilities, living it up with his two friends Hakuna Matata, no worries!) while the herds he was supposed to take care of were starving. In the end, he went back and did what he had to do, and the herds flourished again.

Now all that's left to do is to start singing (you know just reading the words got the song stuck in your head!):

Pin It

Netherlands: Mickey and Pluto

Ans from Purmerend, the Netherlands, sent me this cute Disney card:

Who doesn't like the world's most famous mouse and his faithful dog!! Mickey Mouse was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks way back in 1928, and made his debut in the black and white cartoon "Steamboat Willie". Walt actually got the inspiration to use a mouse from a pet mouse he used to have on his farm, and originally wanted to name him "Mortimer Mouse" but his wife Lillian convinced him to change it until he finally settled on Mickey.

The first Mickey Mouse cartoons didn't have sound, but once sound started being used in cartoons, Walt personally did the voice of Mickey until 1946. Somebody else took over for the cartoons, but Walt still personally voiced Mickey for the original Mickey Mouse club. Right now, the voice of Mickey is Bret Iwan.

Aside from cartoons, Mickey also had his own cartoon, video games, has his image on tons of merchandise and is of course the favorite host at the Disney theme parks. He even has his very own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame (located on 6925 Hollywood Blvd. if anyone's wondering).

Mickey got his pet dog Pluto (his full name is Pluto the Pup) in 1930. Officially he's a mixed breed, but is modeled after the English Pointer, which is most likely because one of the main artists owned one of these himself.  He is the only one of the "big Five" (next to Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald) that doesn't wear clothes. He also doesn't talk, which is also different from the other main characters.

In the same year he made his appearance, the minor planet Pluto was discovered, and it is rumored that Mickey's pet dog was named after the newly discovered planet, although this hasn't been confirmed.


Pin It