Mauritania, New Country # 211

March is starting off just great. Yesterday I received a number of postcards including one from Mauritania, new country # 211 in my collection. That leaves just 55 to go. Mauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean, Senegal, Mali, and Algeria. It also shares a border with the Morocco - controlled Western Sahara region. It's capital and largest city is Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast. Mauritania gained its independence from France in November of 1960. One doesn't see much mail from this far off land. The front of the card shows Mheirth Oasis . Yates Moon of the blog Moon in the Desert sent this card . She is a peace Corp Volunteer in Mauritania. The stamp is from 2008 but I couldn't find any more information about it.

Next is a card from Slovenia. It is a card of the town square and town hall of Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital. A Postcrosser by the name of Katja sent this card. The stamp is one of a set of 17 flower definitives issued in 2007.

Now a card from Japan. It shows Maiko Girls worshipping at Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto. Another Postcrosser, named Yuko sent this card along . The stamp is from 2009.

The 4th card is from Finland. It shows a typical winter scene along with some husky dogs and snowmen. Need I say it again, a Postcrosser named Camilla sent this card and she used a stamp from a souvenir sheet of 5 issued for Valentine's. Camilla lives in Ahtava in western Finland.

The final two cards today are from Ireland and Austria. The Irish card shows An Teach Beas ( The Small House), a pub in Clonakilty , County Cork. Being in Clonakilty is like stepping back in time and seeing life as it was in the late 1940's Ireland. Clonakilty is famous as the birthplace of Republican leader Michael Collins and Henry Ford and both are commemorated in the town. Iva sent this card and used a 2008 stamp, one of a set of 3 featuring wild flowers.

The last card, from Austria shows Stift Melk, an Austrian Benedictine abbey, located above the town of Melk, overlooking the river Danube. It was built between 1702 and 1736 by architect Jakob Prandtauer. The card was sent by another reader of my blog, Earney. She has her own postcard blog called Postcard Journey Around The World at www.earneygerhard.blogspot.com . Give it a look see. She collects map cards , so one is on the way to her. She used a 2007 stamp from a set of 5 definitives featuring flowers.

Since this is March , here is a summary of my postcard activity for February. I received 33 postcards and sent 23 . Of the 33 received , there were 2 new countries , Guyana and Guam.
So not a bad month all in all.

To end off here, let me say that my next update will be on March 13th, Friday the 13th. I am off tomorrow morning for a week of sun, sand and lots of mojitos in Cuba. Hopefully my mailbox will be overflowing with postcards on my return. And, I'm sure some lucky souls will be getting a postcard or a cover from Cuba in a few weeks.
Cheers.