Hot Air Balloons

What comes in your mind when yo see such a picture? For me it's about dreaming, summer, relaxation & vivid colors. The picture was taken in October 2010 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. On the blue balloon you can see a golden symbol of the sun. This was of great importance to all of the Native American Indian tribes. The rays of the sun signified the cardinal directions, North, South, East and West. It is the symbol of Zia people and also the flag of New Mexico state where Albuquerque is.
The card came with 3 beautiful stamps.
The 0.50 ruble (2008) shows a fox from Russian fauna. It's a part of Definitive Issues (or common) stamps.
The 6 ruble (2007) shows the snow leopard one of the endangered species protected by WWF (whose logo you can observe on the left of the stamp).
The 20 ruble (2014) is a Joint Issue with Switzerland (clock series) and depicts the clock located on the building of the Kazan railway station in Moscow, established by the architect A.V. Schusev.
The personalized sticker on the lower left corner is a very nice touch-addition to the card, also showing its source. It is a common practice among some of the forum users to personalize their sent cards.

Thank YOU, Natali !

Country: Russia / USA

Description: Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (2010)

Photo: Eric Ward aka a4gpa

Publisher: PostMania.ru

Source: June Alt. RR 2

My very first card

When you're starting to use postcrossing you get anxious to receive new mail, as a sign that everything is as it's promised to be. I didn't knew that in order to receive a postcard, my own had to arrive & be registered first. So, those days when my mailbox was forever empty were quite grey.

Fortunately, since I've begun to activate in the forum too, a user was kind enough to request my postal address via U2U in order to send me a welcome postcard. I gladly gave him my address but I was rather skeptical about receiving anything.

But reality turned to be contrary. Today in may mailbox was... something. A colorful postcard with Kentucky hot air balloons race. The first Great Balloon Race was held at Iroquois Park in 1973, and featured only seven balloons. However, the Great Balloon Race quickly became one of the most popular Kentucky Derby Festival events, and what was once just the Great Balloon Race is now an entire weekend festival of hot air ballooning events.
The two forever stamps are a part of the 10 Songbirds Collection issued in April 2014 to celebrate those ten melodic voices and depicts a western meadowlark and the Baltimore oriole. Finally, the small stamp features a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, being issued in April 2011.


This beautiful card gives me the courage to continue on PostCrossing.
Thank you, Ron.

Country: United States
Description: The annual Derby Day Balloon Race in Louisville, Kentucky.
Photo: Courtesy of Kentucky Department of Travel Development.
Location: here.