POSTCARD N.74 - FINLAND

Postcrossing postcard sent on  (?)  April; received on the 15th April

Postcard image: Somewhere in Finland in winter
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The land of the thousand lakes can be a land of deep cold, I presume, not having visited it. And it couldn't be any other way since we all know that Finland is one of the Headquarters of Santa Claus and science has it that he only sets up office in extreme cold places, so seeing ice sculptures clinging to tree branches on the postcard I received from Suomi, comes as no real surprise. Thank you so much Sari, I'd love to see it "in the tree"...

Stamps, left to right.

I have to say (and I hope I'm not offending anyone) that I dislike the rather current fashion for some postal administrations of issuing stamps in all formats and shapes. Not that I'm against creativity but if you'd ask to chose, say, between the two first stamps on the postcard Sari sent me, the Duck stamp would win hands down. First and foremost stamps should have perforation teeth, not look like a miniature  decorative bumper sticker, even if they are of the sticker type.... 😃

This said 

0,30€ auto-adhesive stamp, part of a two stamp set (0,20€; 0,30€) themed on the birch tree, issued on 24JAN2011.

0,20€ stamp, part of a four  stamp set issued on 09MAY2017, dedicated to artic birds. The 4 stamps were also issued as a souvenir sheet. 

The birds depicted were: 0,10€ - Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis): 0,20€ - Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca); domestic (no facial value) - Brent goose (Branta bernicla); domestic (no facial value) - Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis).

Stamp with no face value (1,85€ at the date of issue) part of a three stamp set celebrating Christmas, issued on  03NOV2021, Besides this stamp that showcases the Northern Lights, the other two in the set feature a Bullfinch and a Christmas tree.

The machine applied cancelation fell on the black areas of the bird stamp, so it is mostly illegible, though very clearly printed. I can make out the beginning of the word Helsinki, so probably the postcard was mailed from the capital.