# 225 In My Collection

I received just two postcards in Friday's mail, but one was from a place that is new to my collection. The card in question is from American Samoa, which makes # 225 in my collection. The other card is from Belgium . First , let's look at the American Samoa card.
American Samoa is a group of Polynesian islands in the South Pacific. Fourteen degrees below the equator, it is the United States' southern-most territory. it became an unorganized U.S. territory in 1900. It is located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga and 500 km south of Tokelau. To the west is Wallis and Futuna Islands, a place I would love to receive a card from. I have tried and tried but still nothing.
The card from American Samoa shows a couple of Breadfruit, which is a staple of the Samoan diet. American Samoa uses U.S. postage , but in this case a postage label was used indicating postage paid at Pago Pago, the capital. The card was sent by a park ranger at the National Park of American Samoa. Notice the hand stamp, lower left .
As mentioned the second card is from Belgium. It shows some building and its reflection, but, of which I know not. It is from Thomas of My Stamps and Covers blog , located at www.veedeestamps.blogspot.com . Thomas used 2 new aviation related stamps , from a set of 5 issued this year. The one on the left celebrates the first flight of Concorde 40 years ago in 1969.
The stamp on the right celebrates The Bleriot , which first flew January 25, 1909, 100 years ago.
These are great stamps and will be welcome additions to my aircraft on stamps collection. But of course, they will stay on the card. Thomas was able to get a special postmark for these stamps , on June 20, 2009, which just happened to be my birthday. I can see that the postmark contains a drawing of The Bleriot, itself. I just wish I knew a little about the postmark, but perhaps someone will leave a comment as to its significance. Also Thomas , your comment on the card is a little too cryptic for me. Tell me more.
Now to clue things up for today, we have another Norfolk Island card , # 3 of 7. It is another view of Kingston, Norfolk Island. The stamp is from 2002 and is 1 of a set of 7 definitives featuring flowers.

Take care and enjoy the weekend or what's left of it.