Birds and Other Things

My semester is over, and Christmas has come and gone. I have a lot of downtime on my hands, so maybe updating this blog will become more of a priority than previously (seeing as it comes up to one post a month, which isn't really acceptable).

As much as I thought that there maybe wasn't going to be snow after all, it snowed. And it snowed a lot. Enough for my sister and I to make a snowman. We weren't able to make one last year, as it was a very mild winter and there was no snow on the ground. This year there was more than enough snow to build one. That made me very happy. :)

I've been reading, knitting, and crocheting a lot since I got back from school. There have been various misadventures at home and at my grandparent's house, and I have had much fun through it all. I'm finding it difficult to write about one specific thing here without sounding stupid, but I have had a lot of fun and relaxation lately, which is exactly what I needed.

I decided to do a Postcrossing spotlight this week, even though I haven't been able to do Postcrossing for several weeks now. I usually have postcards sent to my mailbox at school--however, since I'm away from school for five weeks, I set my account to "inactive" so I won't receive any more postcards. However, I still have a lot of favorites that I haven't shown.

The Theme for This Week is Birds!

I'm not going to deny it: I really love birds. Pictures of birds, actual birds, you name it. My fascination with birds almost surpasses my inner childhood love of turtles. As much as I love birds, however, I don't think I could ever have one as a pet. Postcards of birds are much less noisy and aren't as much effort to take care of, so I ask for postcards of birds on my Postcrossing profile. I do receive a lot of postcards of birds as a result; most of them which I enjoy very much.

Received November 2012, Helinski, Finland

This bird is a Siberian Jay, apparently called a "Kuukkeli" in Finnish. The woman who wrote the card said she liked to knit too, but she couldn't anymore because her eyesight was going bad. I really liked the wintry feel of this card--plus the bird is just too adorable.

Received November 2012, Russia

This card was sent to me last month by a 10 year old boy who likes parrots. He told me he has a parrot called "Limonchik," also known as "small lemon." This parrot is called a Red-shouldered Macaw, and is native to South America. It is common in countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, and south-eastern Peru. It's the smallest macaw, and is often used for pet breeding. (Thanks, wikipedia!)

Received November 2012, Minsk, Belarus

These parakeets are just adorable. Not much more to say about that.

Received July 2012, Moscow, Russia

This is personally one of my favorite postcards, because it shows nearly all of the birds that are native to Russia. Of course, they are not named on the back of the card, but some of them are recognizable to me because I learned a lot about birds as a child. The only one I can name right now is the Snowy Owl, which of course is native to most parts due way up north.




Will probably post some more before the New Year, at least I hope so. I'll be traveling New Year's Eve.