Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Yes , I Know I'm A Week Late

If you read my lateest update , you know I mentioned that I would likely be back here on Tuesday. Well it is Tuesday but just not the one that I meant. I intended to be back here on July 31st but you know me and my online promises. So I'm a week late , what can I say ? The good part in all this is that quite a few great cards arrived during that week. I also have started to receive cards from Newfoundland and Labrador for my Towns of Newfoundland and Labrador Collection. Let's start with a couple of those today.

First up is a card from Twillingate. Twillingate is a community of about 2,600 people located on the north east coast of Newfoundland. The town is known as the " Iceberg Capital Of The World " because of the many icebergs that flow past its shores in early spring and summer. And what else should we find on a Twillingate card but an iceberg ? If you are familiar with icebergs , then you know they can founder or topple over and break up. That's just what the iceberg on this card did on Saturday 05July 2008 . You can even watch this happen here . I have to thank Wilma of the Anchor Inn Hotel for sending along this card. The stamp is 1 of 5 in the Canadian Pride issue of January 17, 2011. Quite a nice , clear, circular Twillingate cancel also.

Today's second card is postmarked Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. The postmark is actually on the front of the card. Bay Roberts is a town of 5800+ located on the north shore of Conception Bay on the Bay de Verde Peninsula, Newfoundland. The history of the town goes back to the early 16th century when fishermen from Brittany and Normandy fished the waters around Bay Roberts. My postcard shows The Spirit of Harbour Grace, a DC3 given to the Town of Harbour Grace in 1993. Harbour Grace is the site of the first commercial airport in North America, opening in 1927. It is still the oldest surviving operational airstrip in Canada. Although not visible on my postcard , just in front of the Spirit of Harbour Grace, stands a monument statute of Amelia Earhart. She flew from Harbour Grace on May 20, 1932 , becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. My brother Mel used a Baby Wildlife stamp from a set of 4 issued on January 16 of this year.

So there you have the latest 2 cards received for my Towns of Newfoundland and Labrador Collection. I'll try and add 1 or 2 in each of my updates from here on .

Now let's have a look at a few international cards. Cards from Turkey, Madagascar and South Africa. Maybe even The Netherlands if time permits. So let's get to it.

Turkey, Ankara to be exact. A postcard of the city skyline at evening with the Kocarepe Mosque lit and standing above everything else. At least I hope it's the Kocatepe Mosque as it is not identified on the card. Leslie of " the postcard blog ! " sent this one along. You can see her fine blog here . Leslie used 2 great large stamps from this year. The left stamp shows a historic high school in Istanbul. The stamp on the right marks the 60th year of Turkey's " Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges ".

The next 2 cards are from Africa, but 2 totally different places. First is a card from South Africa. Bruce sent this card showing a number of scenes along the Garden Route. This is a beautiful coastal terrace that runs from the historic town of Mossel Bay in the west to Storms River in the east. Bruce used 2 definitives from a 2010 set of 27 Handicrafts issue.

Here's the second African card , this one comes from Sambava, Madagascar. Sambava is a city of 40,000 at the east coast of northern Madagascar. Jean Pierre pretty well filled the back of the card with stamps. 6 stamps, 5 face different. The 2 stamps on the far right are from 2002 and part of a set of 7 Flora definitives. The other stamps were issued in 2010 and are part of a Flora set of 4.

I do have time for The Netherlands after all. This card from Carola shows , I think , a search and Rescue helicopter in action. I'm not quite sure whether it's a Belgian or a Dutch helicopter, so maybe someone will leave a comment as to that. There are 2 nice large 2012 stamps on this one. They are a set of 2 Visit Amsterdam issue, with tabs.

Let's do another one, say from Luxembourg. It's a card from Johan and we get a view of Luxembourg City in the fall. Johan's postcard blog can be found here . He used a beautiful London XXX's Olympics Games stamp, 1 of 2 in a set.

I think on that note , I will call it a day. I covered more than I expected when I started. thanks to all who sent the cards -- Wilma, Mel, Leslie, Bruce, Jean Pierre, Carola and Johan. I can't do this without the cards, so keep them coming.
Take care.
Comment if you have one , even if you don't !

1 comment:

Stamp'94 said...

The helicopter is a Belgium one: the registration code is oo-... in Belgium. Nice clear cancel on the Europe stamps.