Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Rex, Mr Potato Head, Sinaia, Cezanne, Wangerooge, Dongba Paper and Huntington Beach

Here I am back again, Two days in a row, I must be trying for a record. I'm going for it so keep tuning in. That's quite a title above, for this update, covers just about everything. So let's get to the cards.
First up is a Toy Story card featuring Rex the green dinosaur and Mr Potato Head. The card is 1 of 100 in a set called "The Art of Pixar: 100 Collectable Postcards." I found the set on Amazon at a ridiculously low price, so anyone needing postcards , there you go. Amanda a Postcrosser from California set this card along. She used 2 Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps from a 2010 set of 10. Thanks Amanda, my grandkids will enjoy looking at this one.

Card # 2 for this time is a card showing the Casino in Sinaia , Romania. Sinaia is a town of about 15,000 persons located about 60 km northwest of Ploiesti which in turn lies 56 km north of Bucharest, in the historical region of Wallachia. Ploiesti was established in 1596 and in the mid 19th century, the region was one of the world's leading oil extraction and refining sites. The world's first large refinery was opened there in 1856-1857. This was an unexpected card, it arrived a few days ago. It's from Danut who writes that he reads and enjoys this blog and just decided to send a postcard. My kind of guy. Danut used a 2005 stamp from a set of 7 Pottery definitives and a 2007 stamp from a set of 4 Ceramics stamps.

Today's 3rd card comes from Chicago , USA I do believe. On it we can see a picture of Paul Cezanne's oil on canvas "Study for Railway Cut ." The Postcrosser who sent this card used a 2011 George Washington stamp along with 2 Forever stamps from 2011. The middle one is part of a set of 12 issued for Pioneers of Industrial Design and the ship stamp is from a set of 4 Ships issue.

Now we have a card posted from a place that I have to honestly say that I had never heard of before, and that's after collecting stamps for over forty years and also considering myself a bit of a geography buff. Where am I talking about , none other than Wangerooge, that's were. Wangerooge is an island in the North Sea located close to the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. A part of Germany, Wangerooge is the easternmost and smallest of the inhabited islands in the Frisian Islands. Approximately 1000 people live there but in summer more than 7000 visitors a day show up. The island's slogan is "God created time, but he never mentioned haste. "So, cars are prohibited on the island . The island can be reached by ferry or plane. Postcrosser Christine used a 2011 stamp of the Biertan World Heritage issue. It is a joint issue with Romania. I like the socked-on- the-nose cancel by the post office. The way all stamps should be cancelled.

Now here's a card from China. The sender writes that it's a special card with special stamps. Well let's see. The card is made of Dongba paper and the symbols on the front are called Dongba symbols. This kind of handmade paper is believed to never rot. The symbols are a system of pictographic glyphs used by the Bon priests of the Naxi people in Southern China. They have existed for about 1000 years. Dongba is on the edge of extinction but nowadays the government is trying to revive it. The symbols on this card show a poem of Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in the Tang Dynasty. The 2 stamps along the top are from 2009 and show Guangji Bridge. The 3 together make a nice picture. The stamp at lower right was issue in 1998 and is 1 of 3 showing cave paintings. Sounds like a special card to me. I just hope that I have the card right side up.

Finally , the last card for today comes from Huntington Beach, California, USA. Actually it was posted in Santa Ana, 15 km away. Huntington Beach - Surf City USA. A nice shot of the pier . The red building at the end of the pier is Ruby's Diner. It was built after the last restaurant was washed away in a storm. Let's hope this one survives. I don't know about the city but I think I could spend a week in the area shown on the card. Looks great. The stamp was issued in 2011 and shows Voyageurs National Park, one more in the long line of national park stamp issues.

That's the update for this time. Thanks to all who sent the cards used today. Hope you enjoyed today's time here. Come back again tomorrow. I'll be here. Leave a comment if you're so inclined.
Cheers!

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