Charming Postcrossing arrivals

Happy Saturday night! The past week was a busy and sometimes stressful one at work, which is why some of my posts were silly and less than stellar. I'm trying to do whatever it takes to remain disciplined and stay on target with six posts per week the rest of the way, which will get me to my goal of 250 posts this year. 

Anyway, my long week was made brighter by some delightful Postcrossing cards that arrived in my mailbox. First up and shown above is this card from Russia. In cursive, the sender writes: "Hello, Chris! Warmest greetings from Russia! My name is Anastasia. I live in Ekaterinburg — it's a big city located on the Ural Mountains on the border between Europe and Asia. My summer hobby is gardening — my husband and I have a garden about 40 km from our city. We grow some vegetables and berries there. Strawberry is my favorite. I can eat it in any quantity! I like reading in the garden, among the flowers, in the shade of a big apple-tree — this is my special summer pleasure."

It's possible that the separate (and wonderful-sounding) garden plot Anastasia refers to would be considered a dacha. Wikipedia notes: "Surveys in 1993–1994 suggest about 25% of Russian families living in large cities had dachas. Most dachas are in colonies of dachas and garden plots near large cities. These clusters have existed since the Soviet era, and consist of numerous small, typically 600-square-metre (0.15-acre), land plots. They were initially intended only as recreation getaways of city dwellers and for growing small gardens for food."

This second postcard comes from France and features artwork by 19th century artist Adolphe Maugendre. The sender lives in the small commune of Alba-la-Romaine and writes: "Hello Chris, 'bonjour.' My name is Marina, 66 y.o. I'm a retired school-teacher. Vegetarian for 56 years. We have a dog mix-labrador. 2 years ago, we spent a week in FLORENCE but ITALY!!! Have a nice day and stay healthy. Best wishes."

Today, by the way, it was 112° F here in Florence, Arizona, while it was about 90° F in Florence, Italy.