OPW--a GIFcard

GIF via ARG!

I apologize if you arrived looking for Old Postcard Wednesday. The weekly old postcard is missing this week because I am extremely behind in reading posts at other blogs. So instead of researching, I am going to make the rounds to as many of your blogs as possible. If I don't make it to your blog please forgive and know that it was my hope to do so!

This decision has been very freeing......why, I am practically giddy and not at all like Wednesday's Child:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
But the child that's born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.


I thought I was born on a Wednesday, but discovered my birthday was on Tuesday instead while looking for this poem. Check out the Ultimate Day of the Week Calculator to determine your birth day.

See you next week for OPW (I wouldn't think of taking two weeks off in a row).


.

. . . in perfect harmony

One of my favorite websites for years has been this site with national anthems of nearly every country in the world. Visitors to the site can listen to instrumental, and sometimes vocal, anthems in either Real Audio or Windows Media, and can also download MP3 files of instrumental national anthems. The flag for each nation is shown, along with a defining logo, and information on population and total area are included. The website has separate information on the passports of nearly every nation and another with immigration and travel forums, including a live chat.

I love listening to national anthems from other countries and find them all stirring in different ways. Just thinking about small school children learning their country's national anthem, or a town festival beginning with a pause to listen to a simple community band play theirs, or the funeral of a soldier or leader made more solemn by the strains of the anthem of the country they served, or young Olympians standing on podiums with eyes, ears, and hearts wide open to the experience of having their national anthems played in their honor, fills me with emotion that isn't restricted to, or reserved for, the national anthem of the United States.

To celebrate this one world full of diversity and song, below you will find links to the national anthems of people who have visited my blog! (There is one exception, and that is Swaziland. I haven't had any visitors from there but the anthem is so lovely I wanted it here in my list.)

I've listed my visitors' national anthems in no particular order and with a heart full of love.


Note after initial posting: One comment has already come in saying that the Philippine anthem link below didn't work. Perhaps since I downloaded them for a particular player some or all of the links will not open for you. In that case, clicking on the link to the direct website above will take you to the spot where you can play any of these anthems...and many more! I apologize for this inconvenience :(


National Anthem of the Philippines

National Anthem of Austria

National Anthem of France

National Anthem of Turkey

National Anthem of Croatia

National Anthem of Spain

National Anthem of Finland

National Anthem of New Zealand

National Anthem of Canada

National Anthem of Netherlands

National Anthem of Singapore

National Anthem of Chile

National Anthem of United Kingdom

National Anthem of Russia

National Anthem of Iraq

National Anthem of The United States of America

National Anthem of Scotland

National Anthem of Germany

National Anthem of Israel

National Anthem of South Korea

National Anthem of Costa Rica

National Anthem of Switzerland

National Anthem of United Arab Emirates


National Anthem of Swaziland