Albania, Year of the Dog, The Poconos, and More

It's that time again, time for a few good postcards. I want to start with Albania, actually 3 cards from Albania. First up is this view of Rana e Hedhum Beach. It's a powdered sand beach north of Shengjin in northwestern Albania.

Indrit used 2 stamps from a 2008 set of 3 featuring Archaeologically Excavated Cities.

Indrit's second card shows some local beauties from Kelmendi in traditional dress. Kelmendi is a northern Albanian tribe and region in the mountainous borderlands with Montenegro. The area is composed of a Roman Catholic majority.

Indirit used 2 nice triangle stamps from 2002. They are 2 of a set of 5 showing Mediterranean Cactus.

There was a time , not that long ago that triangle stamps were frowned upon and thought to be not at all collectible. Of course there always were some old triangle stamps that were collectible and quite worth having in your collection. Times change and now this past 20 or so years , many countries have issued triangle stamps and maybe they aren't so bad after all. Triangle stamps, round stamps, shaped stamps, stamps made of wood, wool, cork and even glass  - who know where it ends ?

Indrit's 3rd card is a nice view of Shengjini. This is a coastal town of approximately 8,100 located in northwestern Albania. It is well known for its beaches and resorts.

The Flower stamp on the left is from a set of 3 Albanian Flora issued in 2016. The other 2 stamps are from a Personalities set of 2 issued in 2000. The guy on the right is Bajram Curri, politician and activist. The other gentleman is Naim Frasheri, poet, writer and patriot.

Year of the Dog - I think this is my first Year of the Dog postcard, and maybe even stamps, but I'm not sure on that one. This one arrived from Viet Nam.

Jean Pierre used 2 of the Year of the Dog stamps issued by Viet Nam this year.

Shohola Falls, in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania is the focus of this next card. The falls are 75 feet wide and roughly 50 feet wide and are 10 miles west of Milford , Pennsylvania.

This card is from Mike & Ashley. Haven't heard from them in a while, but good to be back on their mailing list. They used 3 Forever stamps on their card  this time. On the left is 1 of 5 in the set of Marine Life - Sharks. The middle stamp is Pluto, from the Planets set issued in 2016. That completes the Planets set for me.  On the right is the New Horizons Spacecraft issued in 2016 also.

That was the last card for today, but I still have this left. A nice cover received today from Wolf in Switzerland. A nice stamp on the left but a much nicer mini-sheet on the right. Can't you just smell that quince ?  To tell the truth, I've never seen a quince or even heard of them till now.  Guess I don't get out much !
Wolf included a bunch of great postcards in his cover - some wonderful aircraft cards.

I will show one or two of Wolf's cards next time.
Today thanks for cards go out to Indrit, Jean Pierre, and Mike & Ashley.  And Thanks to Wolf for the cover and cards inside.

Take care, see you soon.