Nebraska became the 37th state to be admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867. Today, Nebraska is one of the country's leading producers of feed crops and livestock.

This is the downtonwn area of Omaha: business disctrict to the right and commercial shopping district to the left.

Lincoln is the capitol city of Nebraska, about 45 min drive from Omaha. It is a small college town -- University of Nebraska. They have the country's only unicameral legislature.

Nebraska, where the West begins, has lots of cattle ranches and exports beef. You still can see some buffalos in the countryside -- along with loads of cows!

All five postcards came together in an envelope safe and sound. These stamps made my day and put a big smile on my face. I am a huge fan of everything green, including the colour itself! I try to go green everyday and am glad to say that I follow both advices on the stamps: days are mostly sunny where I live so I can let nature do the work. Also, I just walk or take the bus everyday and share rides when I need to go somewhere farther. ♪

On the top right, a stamp of the Wisdom mural of the Rockefeller Center in New York City with a facial value of $1, and below the gorgeous coffeepot painted by Lou Nolan from the American series (American Toleware).

I don't think I can have enough of these! This is the first time I see these colours in the northern lights -- it was also a first for the sender, who had taken this photo herself and got it printed at a print company. The card came with a little scratch on the bottom right corner, which bothered me a little because the image is breathtaking.

How wonderful must it be to live in the Norwegian countryside?

Another post horn! ♥ This one from Norway with green colours reminds me very badly of the label of a beer company. I wonder who got inspired by whom?

On the right side, an art stamp. The stampmotive is a section of Lyset ved pinsetider, 162 x 200cm. Commemorative Issue Norwegian art II issued in 2009. This is the info I found about the artist:

Irma Salo Jæger (b. 1928 in Finland) has been a major figure in Norwegian art since the 1960s. She studied art in Munich, Oslo and Florence after taking a degree in art history in Helsinki. She is regarded as one of the greatest exponents of abstract painting in Norway, and her debut coincided with the breakthrough of this form of expression around 1960. Her paintings are characterised by clearly demarcated areas of intense, bright colour, often blues, reds and oranges. Irma Salo Jaeger held a professorship at Statens Kunstakademi in Oslo from 1986 until 1992. Her work is presented in a book by art historian Erik Daehlin, which was published in 2002.

Łazienki Królewskie (Royal Baths) is the largest park in Warsaw (Poland). It was designed in the 17th century, and enlarged and developed in Classical style in the 18th century. What a wonderful place! I can picture the ladies dressed in full gowns and wigs taking walks around the lake...

This is the Moorish Revival southern façade of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (Crimea, Ukraine). Built from 1828 through 1848 -- which you can tell by its Romantic architecture: remember Lednice's Minaret? -- for Prince Vorontsov for use as his personal summer residence. This Romantic palace was designed in the English Tudor style, although it encompass elements of Scottish Baronial, Moorish Revival and Gothic Revival styles. It still manages to incorporate Classical style architectural elements. There are a total of 150 rooms.

The Vorontsov Palace is part of a national historical preserve along with the 40 hectares park, including the Massandra Palace in neighbouring townlet Massandra.

The stamp doesn't match the card (you cannot have it always). But for a penmanship lover like me, it couldn't be more valuable. An old inkpot! ♪

Guess what my favourite animal is? ♥

Hint: is furry and brown. Note: sometimes it can be white or black-patched. Answer: you can see it above.

Bear cubs are really cute! I love bears above all animals, they have appealled to me since I was a little child. My best friend was a (teddy) white bear cub that I still have. In Spain, brown bears are endangered species and nowadays can be only found in National Parks in the Cantabrian Mountains. This little one however lives freely and happily in the Estonian forests.

Now the stamps. Plenty of them and variegated!

♪ On the left there is Estonian writer and playwright Oskar Luts (1887-1953), a 0.45€ stamp issued in 2012, Luts' 125th birth anniversary. At just 25 years old Oskar Luts, who had earlier penned only a few lines of poetry, authored Spring, a book that made him famous all over the country overnight.

* More info about this stamp can be found on the Eesti Post website.

♪ The little green one is a silhouette of a post horn, which seems to be the symbol of the postal service worldwide -- I like that!

♪ And last, another fauna beauty: a watercolour of a roe deer (capreolus capreolus).

This week theme is poets and poetry.

This little beauty came to my letter-box not long ago. Tiina is an 11 years-old girl who enjoys postcrossing thanks to her mum, who thinks this project is a great idea for her daughter to learn English -- agree. I was lucky enough to be sent this gorgeous greeting card with a matching stamp. Spring has sprung! ♪

We don't celebrate Easter in Spain* and I have never sent or received this kind of cards before. Needless to say, I love it.

* although we do celebrate Holy Week & Resurrection Sunday, those holidays have nothing to do with eggs, bunnies or spring, but they are a religious celebration.

The stamp also put a big smile on my face: bunny and chick painting the easter egg together! It is a design by illustrator Janne Harju released in March 2012. Ten points to the Finnish postal service!

This postcard's theme: Easter (obvious).

Lednice's Minaret

Any scan or photo wouldn't make this postcard justice. It is a lenticular card or 3D. My first! I didn't even know there were postcards like this. This minaret is actually an observation tower located in the middle of Lednice's Gardens.

The Lednice - Valtice Area in South Moravia is the largest artificially created landscape in Europe. Created by the dukes of Liechtenstein on their Moravian domain in the 18th and 19th centuries, it features several chateaus, large parks and various monuments spread around the landscape fashioned in the Romantic and Classical styles.

The minaret is a Moorish Revival structure (62 m high) in the Lednice Castle garden. The construction of the minaret began in 1797 and ended in 1804. The centre of the building is a tower in whose upper gallery 302 stairs lead. Three other ring-like roofed galleries encircle the tower. The first floor of the minaret is formed by eight halls, where the owners kept their collection of oriental items. Floors are made of stone mosaic, the ceiling and walls are decorated with Moorish handwriting. It is one of the typical buildings of the Romantic period when the Orient strongly influenced art and park architecture in Europe.

Lednice was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the twin manor of Valtice in 1996.

Pind'a (left) & Pat and Mat (right)

A multiview from Germany. These are my identified landmarks -- feel free to comment and correct me or add another:

The stamp is for my UNESCO World Heritage collection! It shows Ratisbon's Cathedral in the Old City. Its face value is 0.75€ and was issued in 2011. The special postmark features a graduation tower (Gradierbau), part of Bad Dürkheim's spa facilities. My first special postmark! ♥
Another themed postcard: German landmarks.