Moores Family Day on the Blog

BLOG  1588 --- Day 887 of the Pandemic --- Day 172 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

                                                               GLORY TO UKRAINE

 Hello and welcome to my blog , all about postcards and stamps. Before I get to today`s postcards , I just want to show a number of stamps that have been issued lately in support of Ukraine. These I have now added to my stamp collection and I hope there will be other countries jumping on the bandwagon. 

LUXEMBOURG

LATVIA

SPAIN

MOLDOVA

CANADA

AUSTRIA

LITHUANIA

CROATIA

POLAND

FRANCE

Here are two GO F... Yourself Stamps from Ukraine . Take that Russia. 

Now it`s on to a few postcards, since that`s why you are here. My first card is the latest in my Postcards of Newfoundland Towns, sent from a Newfoundland town.. This time it`s Bell Island. Located off the Avalon Peninsula, in  Conception Bay , the island was the site of large iron ore mines from the 1890s to 1966. 

The card shows the 1991 mural called The Miner. It shows miner Billy Parsons , who worked in the Bell Island mines for 51 years. There are a series of murals throughout the town commemorating Bell Island`s Heritage. The iron ore mines at Bell Island were once the largest in the British Empire, extending more than 5 kilometres under Conception Bay. You can take a tour of the abandoned Number 2 Mine if you are in the area. 

Here`s an interesting fact  -- During the Second World War, the anchorage for bulk carriers shipping iron ore was attacked by German U-boats in two attacks on 5 September and 2 November 1942, by U-513 and U-518. Four ships were sunk and 70 merchant mariners lost their lives .In addition to the four cargo ships, an errant German torpedo also struck the DOSCO iron ore loading dock on shore. Bell Island was one of the very few locations in North America to see enemy action during the war, and the Only location in North America to be subject to direct attack by German forces during World War II (due to the errant torpedo hitting land).

This card was sent by my son Stephen and his family - Sara, Evan and Ryann. They just returned from nine days on Newfoundland island visiting friends and family and a lot of interesting spots. The stamp is 1 of 8 in the 2020 From Far & Wide set showing must see places in Canada.

Thanks guys. Now sticking with Bell Island for a couple of minutes, we have this .

There is a great picture of a sea stack near Bell Island that I would like to show. It`s outstanding. 

Isn`t that just a great picture, a Canadian Forces helicopter landing on a sea stack, near Bell Island. 

Today`s second card is another from a family member, My Lovely Teena. She always sends me a card from where ever we visit. Well a week or so ago we visited the town of Okotoks, located about 70 km south of Airdrie. The town's name is derived from "ohkotok", the Blackfoot First Nation word for "rock". The name may refer to Big Rock, the largest glacial erratic in the Foothills Erratics Train, situated about 7 km west of the town. It was moved by the glacier from Jasper National Park, between 450 and 580 km, sometime between 10,000 and 12,500 years ago. It is the world`s largest known erratic, measuring 41m by 18m by 9 m and weighs around 16,500 metric tons. 

 Teena`s card is a wooden card showing an elk. 

Teena used one of the Vintage Travel Posters set of 5 stamps release on June 9th., and got a nice , clear cancellation from Okotoks. 

Just for your info - here is a picture of the Okotoks Erratic. I know it`s just a rock, but it`s a big one and it took a glacier`s movement to deposit it at Okotoks. And I don`t see it moving away anytime soon. 

Take care. Thanks for today`s card go out to Stephen,Sara,Evan and Ryann and to My Lovely Teena. Thanks everyone, Love you all. 

A Swissair Caravelle, A Sarcophagus Lid, The Beatles and Cuba Cards

BLOG # 1587 --- Day 878 of the Pandemic --- Day 163 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

                                                           GLORY TO UKRAINE

Hey there postcard people.  Here we go again with a few postcards to look at. First up is a card from France. It's a view of Niederbronn-les-Bains, a commune in north Alsace, in north-eastern France, close to the German frontier. It was founded in 48 BC when the Romans discovered the healing proprties of the local water. 

Dominique used a recent stamp from May. It was issued to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Anne of France, or as I like to say , the 561st anniversary of Anne's birth. 

My second card today is a dream card if you collect aircraft on postcards. Eleven aircraft on the front of the card.  Wow !!  It can't get much better . The aircraft in the foreground is a Swissair Sud Aviation Caravelle. The Caravelle was a French jet airliner produced in the early 1950s. It had it's first flight in May 1955. A total of 282 Caravelles were produced. The last flight of a Caravelle was in 2005. That's 50 years of Caravelle flight. On a personal note -- I flew on a Caravelle between Lisbon and Faro , Portugal many years ago, 

Meelis used a number of stamps on this card. The small Yellow stamp on the left is from 2017. It is 1 of 3 Post Horn definitives issued with the 2017 date. The large middle stamp shows local Fauna - the Black Rat. The right stamp , from 2021, also features Fauna - the Stoat. 

Today's third card is from Belgium. It shows the sarcophagus lid of the coffin of Khonsutefnacht. It dates from the 4th century BC and can be seen at the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. Of note are the large eyes and reddish brown color of the skin. 

Johan used a stamp, matching the card,  issued in June. It is 1 of 5 in a set celebrating Jean Capart and Egyptology in Belgium. 

These next two cards are the last for this time. I'm sure you heard the expression "better late than never". That is certainly the case here.  My Lovely Teena and I visited Varadero, Cuba in March. With the help of Roxana, a young lady working at the hotel we were staying at, I posted, actually,  Roxana took the cards to Matanzas and posted the cards at the post office in her hometown. Well months past and there was no sign of the cards. Then about 2 months or so after posting a few cards started to show up , the first in Spain, then Germany. Later cards arrived in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Philippines  and Sri Lanka. Of course the last cards to arrive were those to Canada - 4.5 months after posting. Obviously , the fact that Canada is closest of all those countries to Cuba never played any part in the disposition of the cards. My guess is that they were all dispatched to Spain and then dispersed from there back across the pond. Anyway I'm glad they finally arrived. Again , they say " anything worth having is worth waiting for " .  

The first of these two cards show Ringo, John, George and Paul standing in from of  The Beatles Bar and Restaurant in Varadero. 

The stamp on this one is actually a one stamp souvenir sheet. It was issued in 2010 to mark the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China. The sheet itself shows a Cubana Vickers Viscount. The stamp shows a Handley Page 42E, of which only 8 were built. They flew from 1931 to 1940. 

The second Cuba card shows a few of the old buildings in Havana , with a big old American car from the 1950s or 60s. You can see lots of these old cars in Cuba. 

An interesting set of stamps arrived on this card. Well , 4 of the set of 6 at least. They were issued in 1991 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the First Man in Space, Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin is shown on the left stamp. 

All of this is wonderful of course, but you know me, I always find something to complain about. It's great that the Cuba cards arrived, Lord knows I waited long enough for them. It would have been perfect if the lady in the Matanzas Post Office had seen fit to postmark / cancel the stamps. I would have even taken a pen cancel over no cancel. But I guess you can't have everything ! 

 Big thanks for todays fine cards go out to Dominique, Meelis, Johan, My Lovely Teena and Roxana for her help in Cuba. 

Thank you all. 

Kiribati, Turkish Airlines B727, Tara-a Celtic Woman , Marmaris and a Cittaslow

BLOG # 1586  --- Day 869 of the Pandemic--- Day 154 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

                                                                GLORY TO UKRAINE     

I'm starting off today with an Aircraft / Airline card. Here is a Boeing 727 in service with Turkish Airlines. It had its first flight on Oct 31, 1974. It was delivered to Turkish Airlines on November 27, 1997 and saw service with the airline until August of 97. It was then taken out of service and scrapped on Jan 1 , 1998. 

Jean Pierre used 2 stamps from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. They formed a 2 stamp minisheet in 2006. It commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the First EUROPA stamp.

My next card arrived from Kiritimati Island in the Republic of Kiribati. The island is often called Christmas Island and is located in the central Pacific, in the Northern Line Islands. It  has the greatest land area of any atoll in the world, 388 square kilometres . The island lies 232 km north of the equator and is in the world's farthest forward time zone. As a result it is one of the first inhabited places on Earth to experience New Year's Day. 

  

This is another from Jean Pierre. This time the stamp is from 1981. It is 1 of a set of 4 showing Area Islands. 

That is a very clear and attractive postmark/cancellation. Too bad they all can't be like that. 

Here's another of my Celtic Woman cards that I have been showing periodically. This is Tara, who we met a few blogs back. 

 

Here are the stamps. The stamp on the left is from 2010. It marks the 5th Anniversary of the Death of Czeslaw Slania. It was a Joint Issue with Ireland and Sweden. The other 3 stamps are from the set of 6 Irish Fashion Designers. The set was issued in 2010. 

Now here's the last card for today. It's a card from Turkey. It's a look at the port city of Marmaris, a Mediterranean resort area in southwest Turkey. Looks like a nice beach area there on the card. 

 David used a 2022 Definitive  stamp from a set of 6, showing Cittaslow communities. And what are they you might ask . A cittaslow is  a whole-of-community approach to promoting quality of life and sustainability in towns and cities based on a partnership between local government and communities. There are currently 287 cities in 50 countries identified as such. Four of them are in Canada.

That's all for this time. I'll be back again soon. 

Take care.

Thanks today go out to Jean Pierre and David.

Rhodes, The Pinnacle, Val d'Or, Lille, Land of Arlon and a Garuda A330

BLOG # 1585 --- Day 862 of the Pandemic --- Day 147 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine 

                                                                       GLORY TO UKRAINE

Hello again, it's been a number of days since my last update. The Calgary Stampede , the ten day exhibition is now over. The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth ended last Sunday evening after an attendance of 1.2 million people during the 10 days. So no more cowboys, no more horses, cowboy boots, outdoor pancake breakfasts, haybales or shouts of YaHoo for another year. The town will be back to normal in a day or two. 

I have  8 cards here on the desk to blog with today. Not sure if I will get all 8 done, but I'll give it a shot. This first card shows us Camping Val d'Or, Luxembourg. This is one of the most charming campsites in the country. located in the north of Luxembourg, it offers walking, biking and motorcycling. 

 

Meelis used 2 stamps on this card. On the left is a stamp issued in 2008 commemorating the 50th Anniversary of MAMSA - NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency.  The right stamp, from 2021, is 1 of 2 issued to showcase Tourism in Rural Areas. 

Today's second card was also sent by Meelis, this time from Belgium. It shows the area in south western Belgium called the Land of Arlon. It is a traditional and cultural region with strong Luxembourgish ties to the neighboring Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Shown on the card is the interior of Saint-Martin Church, Reine-Astrid Square, the ancient gate of Saint-Martin Church and a rather bucolic view of Arlon. 

 Meelis used a mixture of 2 stamps. On the left is a TBC-Post Europe stamp. On the right is a 2015 stamp, 1 of 10 in an  Animals on the Move set.  It was issue by Bpost. 

TBC-Post is a private postal player in Belgium. Not sure how the 2 different issued stamps work together on a card or letter, but they did work.. 

First aircraft card of the day. This is a Garuda Airlines A330, registered as PK-GPG. The picture was taken at Sydney in July 2011. This  A330 is 25.3 years old , having its first flight in March of 1997. It was delivered to Garuda on April 14 , 1997. It is still in service with the airline. 

 Jean Pierre used a Flora and Fauna of Indonesia stamp of Indonesia from 2019. It was 1 of 2 in a rather cool minisheet. 

Have a look at this stamp. It received a cancellation postmark but that wasn't enough for someone. Looks like the Great Stamp Defacer struck again. You know , I really have a hard time deciding which is worse. Between defacing the stamp with a pen or marker and not cancelling the stamp altogether, I hate it when a card receives no postmark or cancellation, as I feel that the stamp hasn't done its work, and I hate it when the stamp gets ruined for no reason. However  as a long time stamp collector I think I would rather add a card with a defaced stamp, at least it's cancelled , than to receive a card with the stamp not cancelled at all. I always want to send them back for a cancel.

How do you all feel about this  ?  Leave a comment if you want and let me know.  

Now we're off to South Africa. The card shows The Pinnacle, a quartzite pillar of rock, towering 30 m above the lowveld of Mpumalanga. The ravine below, Driekop Gorge,  was formed over the centuries by the Ngwaritsane River. 

Bruce used a stamp from 2017 that celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Krugerrand. It was 1 of 3 in a Minisheet.

This next card is of Lille, a city in northern France, near the border with Belgium. Lille has 17th century brick town houses, cobbled pedestrian streets and the Grand Place - the large central square. Shown on the card is a part of the Grand Place and in the foreground the Column of the Goddess. This monument was inaugurated on October 8, 1845 and commemorates the heroism of the people of Lille during the siege of the city in 1792. 

Dominique used a current 2022 stamp that showcases French painter Henri Rouart.

Rhodes Old Town is the subject of my next card. Rhodes - the largest of the Greek Islands has an Old Town featuring the the medieval Street of the Knights of St. John and the castlelike Palace of the Grand Masters. The Medieval Old Town has been declared s World Heritage Site. 

 

The column on the card with the deer on top stands where a foot of the Colossus of Rhodes is believed to have stood. The Colossus was a giant statue , about 110 feet tall, of the Greek sun-god, Helios. It only stood for 56 years, when it was toppled by an earthquake in 226 BCE. Huge chunks of the former statue stayed on the beaches of Rhodes' Mandraki Harbour for over 800 years. 

David used a Postcards Worldwide , Rhodes Tourism stamp from 2019. It is from a set of 5. 

Well I didn't get all 8 cards I mentioned earlier done, but 6 is good. So this ends another blog update. Thanks today go out to Dominique, David, Jean Pierre, Bruce and Meelis. Thanks fellas, I appreciate it.