Vladimir Heavy Draft (no, that's not a nickname given to Vladimir by his draft beer buddies; in fact, he probably prefers vodka, like Boris did). Of Horse, my dear readers, it's a cool maximum card with a horse, that I received from Russia (for sure) with love (for swapping maxicards with friends from around the world)

Do you see pink in this image? 

My maxicard is no.14 out of 72! :)

Beautiful cover! Thank you again, Iulia!

"The Vladimir Heavy Draft is a breed of draft horse which comes from Vladimir, in the former USSR, in Russia. It is a strong horse that is an all-around draft horse of medium size."

"This horse was developed in the province after which it is named at the turn of the 20th century. 

Today, its breeding is widerspread. [MY NOTE: maybe "widespread"]. 

The imported foundation stock was mainly British, consisting of the Suffolk Punch, Clydesdale (horse) and Shire horse. 

Some Ardennes (horse) and Percheron were also used. 

In 1946, the Vladimir Heavy Draft was found to be breeding sufficiently true to type to consider it a true breed. 

This quick-maturing, strong, heavy horse is popular for draft work. 

It is also used for pulling Vladimir trokia sleighs."

Wikipedia contributor, what TROKIA are you misinforming us about?

It's TROIKA, dude!

:)

Here are two stamps from Cambodia / Kampuchea, both inscribed as depicting Vladimir Heavy Draught.

But I have a Heavy Doubt that the leftie is really it.

What do YOU think?

 No blacks allowed? Why?

"The Ardennes or Ardennais is one of the oldest breeds of draft horse, and originates from the Ardennes area in Belgium, Luxembourg and France. They are heavy-boned with thick legs and are used for draft work. The Ardennes is found in many colors, although black horses are very rare and are not allowed to be registered with the breed registry."

Function creates form.

Heavy duty creates super-strong work horses - no steroids for this ancient breed.

Don't be offended or grossed-out by the muscular massivity and sheer virility of it.

Naturalia non sunt turpia.

Photographic evidence suggests that this is no GEERLING (castrated horse).

This an etalon stallion of the large size (Vladimir Heavy Draft is mid-size, remember?) breed of Ardennes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Etalon_race_ardennaise_1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardennes_(horse)

Happy Mother's Day! Woman's Day...and what have you.

"Nine years after the first official United States Mother's Day, commercialization of the holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.^[4]

Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Jarvis and she made her criticisms explicitly known the rest of her life.^[4][60] She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".^[60]

Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.^[62]

For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.^[63]

Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's rings.^[64]

It's possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, like Children's Day and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity.^[65] Mother's Day is also prominent in the Sunday Funnies of the United States, ranging from sentimental to wry to caustic."

[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day

================

Pink harness in the first image above.

Happy Pink Saturday! (still open on Sunday!)

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

9/11/2001 personalized postcards (and one personalized stamp design that was finally approved by Zazzle, who usually just WON'T SHOW RUINS of WTC on a stamp!) that I recently created at zazzle, plus personalized stamps with other subjects. Feel free to create yours - you don't have to buy anything

Interesting people: Abigail and Brittany Hensel, dicephalic parapagus twins. They learned how to live in inescapable togetherness, and they want us to get past our impulse to freak out - they, too, are worthy and respectable human beings, though highly unusual. Also, a "Learning never ends" freestyle maximum card

"Learning never ends" says the stamp from USA.

"I don't pay attention; I am not a stamp/postmark collector" seems to say the postmark, since a postal associate has inserted the date slug upside-down in the canceller.

"Start thinking about college" says the ad(vertisement) postcard.

This is not a FIP-compliant maximum card, since 

"in general, abstract or symbolic subjects do not suit Maximaphily and are excluded from its field." says the Commission for Maximaphily of FIP:

http://maximaphily.info/Articles/Regulations/MXLY%20regulations%20approved%20in%20Malaga%20conference.%20English%20version.pdf

I created this maximum card (or dorincard, if that pacifies you) regardless of any rule and regulation of FIP.

My only rule is: "if I want, I'll just do it."

My only question is: "Do I like it?".

What I say is "Yes, learning never ends - in various ways, with or without any college."

Interesting people: Abigail and Brittany Hensel, dicephalic parapagus twins

http://www.care2.com/news/member/290588163/666086

http://jeez.co.za/2011/03/the-twins-who-share-a-body-abigail-and-brittany-hensel/

They learned how to live in inescapable togetherness, and they want us to get past our impulse to freak out - they, too, are worthy and respectable human beings, though highly unusual. 

We all should learn about the diversity of life, including human life, and be more respectful, supportive and open-minded.

"Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990 in Carver County, Minnesota, US) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins of whom each has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. 

They are highly symmetric, giving the appearance of having just a single body with little variation from normal proportion. In fact, several vital organs are doubled up, each woman having a separate heart, stomach, spine and spinal cord.

Each twin controls her half of their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. 

This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. 

While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. 

Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of quite separate actions that coordinate with the other."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_and_Brittany_Hensel

Please watch this video, get over your possible initial inclination to freak out (or to think about them as freaks), and appreciate the difficult, brave and unusual struggle of two human beings, trapped in the same body, to make a life (or two lives) for themselves, as much as possible.

http://youtu.be/7ZUzi0RhBpM

There are other videoclips, too.

See also:
Lori and George Schappell - conjoined twins
http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/09/conjoined-twins-to-separate-or-not-to.html


See also:
 "Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyopova were born in Moscow, Russia on January 4, 1950. They were ischiopagus tripus twins (their third, vestigial leg was amputated when they were 16 or 17 years old) with their spines conjoined at 180-degree angles."
http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search?q=masha+dasha
==============

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).