Three Cards and a Stamp

Here I am again with another update. This makes 3 days in a row. Must be a bit of a record for me. The 3 cards mentioned in the title come from Czech republic, Australia and Finland. The stamp is from Canada. More on that towards the end. First up will be the cards.

Today's first card comes to us from the Czech Republic. It shows a picture of Rabi, which is the largest ruined castle in south western Bohemia, about 130 km from Prague. The castle, which dates back to 1380, was proclaimed a National Cultural Monument in 1978. Jana who lives in a small village just outside the capital sent this card. She attends university and is studying biochemistry and microbiology. Not too shabby at all. Jana used a 2008 stamp honoring explorer Alois Musil (1868-1944).

Card #2 is from Australia. It shows us Macleay Island. The island which is 30 km from Brisbane is 6.5 km long and 4 km wide at its widest. Just over 2000 people live on the island in the state of Queensland. Judy used 2 nice stamps in order to get this card to me. The one on the left is from 2007 and is 1 of a set of 6 showing islands. This stamp shows Maria Island of the east coast of Tasmania. Stamp #2 is a WWF stamp from a set of 4 issued in 2009, all showing different types of dolphins. Shown here is the Hourglass Dolphin.

The final card today is from Finland. It is a picture of On A Swing by Marja-Leena Tolli. Suvi sent this particular card as it represents a child, a little girl, and because I just recently welcomed our first granddaughter to our family. That's good enough for me.
The stamp , issued this year, celebrates Torronsuo National Park in southern Finland.

That's the 3 cards, now what about the stamp? I recently received a package in the mail and on it as postage was a recent new stamp from Canada. It's a wonderful stamp and I just wanted to share it with all of you. It is a new high value definitive issued on October 4, 2010. It has a value of 10 Canadian Dollars, which is a hefty sum for a single stamp. It certainly won't be used much except on a scattered package. I think receiving a used copy so soon is pretty good. The Blue Whale $10 definitive features the largest creature on earth, on the largest stamp (both physically and denomination-wise) ever issued by Canada Post. The Blue Whale is the king of the animal kingdom. Weighing in at between 80 and 180 metric tonnes and reaching lengths of 30 m, it is the largest creature ever on our planet. Canada has two populations of the blue whale, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific.This large and beautiful stamp is the newest addition to Canada Post's Canadian Wildlife series, which includes a grizzly bear ( $8, 1997), a loon ( $1, 1998), a polar bear ( $2, 1998), a moose ( $5, 2003), a white-tailed deer ($1, 2005) , an Atlantic walrus ( $1, 2005), a Peregrine falcon ($2, 2005) and a Sable Island horse ($2, 2005 ) They make a wonderful set with a total value of $32 Canadian Dollars. The star of the series of course will be The Blue Whale, just by sheer size, as it measures 128mm by 49 mm.
I guess I got a little carried away here from postcards, but I guess the stamp collector in me just came out. Nothing like a good stamp or two to get me going. I can talk stamps with the best of them.
Hopefully the mail will bring a few cards tomorrow and I'll get to them over the weekend. I don't think I'll find much time for blogging tomorrow, as one of my little grandsons is visiting for a sleepover tomorrow night. My lovely Teena and I will be busy but loving it. Take care. Comments as always are welcome and encouraged.

Just one more thing, I thought I was finished , but not quite. I just want to thank Leslie for her comments on my last update. Leslie, thanks for the gallery address and your info on the Trabzon stamp and the Language of stamps . I agree with you on both. Thanks for keeping a check on me , I appreciate it.