Karolyi Castle, Edward Hopper Art, Vietnam Airlines ATR-42, King Charles, and Walking in the Rain

 

Blog # 1650 --- Day 1183 ( That's One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Three Days ) Since the Start of the Current ( Second ) Russian Invasion of UKRAINE .        

                                                                

                                                                GLORY TO UKRAINE

Hey there, here we go again. A few cards, a few stamps , what more could you need ? 

My first card is from Carei, Romania , a city of just around 20,000 in the northwestern part of the country. Alena's card highlights Karolyi Castle, a  Gothic Revival castle located in Carei. Originally built as a fortress around the 15th century, it was converted to a castle in 1794, undergoing further transformations during the 19th century. The manor is surrounded by an arboretum which contains a great variety of species of trees and plants.

Alena used 2 stamps from a set of 9 showing Personalities. These stamps show Henri Coanda, Romanian Inventor. Coanda was the builder or inventor of an experimental aircraft , the Coanda - 1920, which never flew and which Coanda claimed was the world's first jet . It was not, nevertheless , it did get him on these stamps. 

My next card is from Illinois, in the states. It shows Automat an Edward Hopper oil on canvas painting from 1927.

 

Loral used a 2025 Compass Rose - the latest Global Forever stamp.

 

Here's an aircraft / airline card for all you aviation enthusiasts out there. This card arrived from Da Nang, Vietnam, and shows a Vietnam Airlines ATR-72. It was  registered as F-OKVN and the picture was taken at Toulouse in May of 1995.  F-OKVN flew for Vietnam Airlines from May 1992 to August 2009. Then it saw service with Calm Air here in Canada from Jan 2010 to February 2025. It has been parked since then. 

All three stamps on this card were issued in 2024. The 2 Snake stamps on the right celebrate Chinese New Year 2025, Year of the Snake. The stamp on the left , which you make have to turn you head a little to look at it, celebrates the 300th Anniversary of the Birth of Le Huu Trac, a 18th century physician in Viet Nam.

Next up is a card from England. The card shows a new stamp featuring King Charles III in the upper right corner. 

Josep and Assumpta used 2 copies of the recent King Charles definitive , from a set of seven. The larger stamp on the right  was issued this year and is 1 of 8 in a set , highlighting Armour Treasures from the Royal Armouries. 

Warning ---- last card call !    This one arrived from San Francisco in the U.S. It's entitled April Showers. There's not a lot to say about this card, other than it brings to mind the old English proverb " April showers bring May flowers " .

Krystal used a 2022 U.S. Global Forever stamp. It is a round stamp with a photograph of an orange African daisy. 

So ends another update of The Blog. Thanks for today's cards and stamp go out yo Alena, Loral, Hean Pierre and Rafal, Josep and Assumpta and Krystal.