A Single Postcard From Malawi

Today I just have a single postcard to show. It was sent by M Dezi of Malawi. I think it shows a very unique scene.The card shows dawn, from Emperor's view, Zomba Plateau. Zomba is a spectaculer table top mountain overshadowing Zomba Town 2,500 feet below. Emperor's View is named after Emperor Haile Selasse of Ethiopia, who visited the area in 1964. The stamps that Dezi used on this card are from a butterfly definitive issue.

This has been a slow week for postcards , in fact a slow month. This past week I only received 3 postcards. During the month of May I received just 19 postcards and sent off a total of 21 cards. Not a typical month for me and postcards. Hopefully June will be better and bring more cards. June 20 is my birthday, so anyone reading this , you still have time to drop a postcard in the mail with birthday greetings. Let's see how it goes.

Talk again next week.

Saint Lucia , New Country # 187

Again today I get to increase the number of countries from which I have received a postcard. I am happy to say that the total now stands at 187 . Saint Lucia is #187. My St. Lucia postcard arrived today, compliments of the staff at The Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa & Beach Resort on Pigeon Island , St. Lucia.
Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It is located north of St. Vincent , northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It is also known as the " Helen of the West Indies" because it switched between British and French control so often it was likened to the mythical Helen of Troy. Saint Lucia is one of the Windward Islands and has a population of around 160,000 people. Its capital is Castries where about a third of the population lives.
The card doesn't have a stamp on it but received a round Saint Lucia Postage Paid postmark.
Thanks to the Sandals Resort for this card.


Another postcard received today is an official Postcrossing card from Indiana, USA. It shows Indiana University's Sample Gates. The Sample Gates, located between Franklin Hall and Bryan Hall, serve as a welcoming entreway for students into Indiana's beautiful 1860 acre campus. Edson Sample funded construction of the gates in 1987 and dedicated them to his parents, Louiise Waite Sample and Kimsey Ownbey Sample Sr. The gates are constructed of Indiana limestone . Indiana University os located in Bloomington.

The stamp on the card is a 2007 airmail rate stamp featuring Hagatna Bay on Guam.

That's all for today. More soon.

Part 2 for Sunday , May 25

Igor's second card is a kind of unique card in that the preprinted stamp on the card is exactly like the picture on the cards front. The 2nd stamp , to the left was issued in 2004 and shows the Dornier DoX. The DoX was a German flying-boat first flown in 1929. It was powered by 12 Siemens Jupiter engines mounted in tandem on the wing providing a top speed of 105 mph and was intended to carry 66 passengers or 100 passengers on short trips alon with a crew of 14. In October 1929 the Dornier DoX took off and flew over Lake Constance with 169 people on board , setting a record for the number of people carried in an aircraft. This is a wonderful stamp for me as it will be part of my aircraft on stamps collection. Thanks Igor for these great postcards.


The final card for today is the Postcrossing card from Norway. It shows various scenes from Norway. The stamps used include a 2008 Valentine stamp , 2 definitives from 1997 and 2 older stamps from 1964 , issued for the centenary of the founding of Norwegian high schools.

Have a great day all you blog readers.

A Couple of Cards From Igor and MOre

This past Friday, May 23rd was a good day , postcard wise. I received Four cards. Two were Official Postcrossing cards from Germany and Norway. The other two cards were from Germany and were sent by Igor. Igor has the website webmastermarkt.blogspot.com . First I want to talk about Igor's cards and then the Postcrossing card from Norway.
Igor's first card show a large modern airliner on its final approach into Berlin. A very nice card that fits into my aviation postcard collection. Two stamps were used and both are cancelled with a special postmark featuring the European Football Championship 2008 being held in Austria and Switzerland from 07 June to 29 June 2008. Sixteen teams will be participating in the tournament. The stamp on the left is a Europa issue from 2008 honoring Herzliche Grube. The stamp on the right was issued in 2006 for sport and is 1 of a set of 5.

New Country #186 Niger

Yesterday brought just one postcard, but when its from a country that you never received a card from before one can be quite happy with just one. That is the case . The one postcard is from Niger country # 186 in my collection. One doesn't often see, not to mention receive, mail from this part of Africa. And, I owe it all to Sara, who lives in Niger. Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. The capital city is Niamey.
The picture on the card shows the Agadez Grand Mosque which is located about 740 km northeast of Niamey. Today Agadez flouishes as a market town and is a centre for the transportation of the uranium mined in the area. The Grand Mosque dates from 1515 but was rebuilt in the same style in 1844. Sara used a 2006 stamp featuring President Tandja Mamadou. One interesting note is what Sara wrote on her card- with the conflicts in the North, it's no longer safe to go and visit- referring to the Mosque. Niger is the 22nd African country in my collection but I still have 32 more to go in that area. Still a big challenge.

A Number of Postcards

I am finally back to this blog after been away from it for quite awhile. I have few excuses other than working in my garden and going away for the long Victoria Day weekend here in Canada. I visited my wife's family in Saskatchewan. But now I'm back. In the interim I did receive a number of postcards, a few of which I want to show today. First up is another card , her second, from Megan , traveling in Laos. This time her card is from the capital Vientiane. The card shows a scene from The That Luang Festival. This religious festival is held in and around That Luang stupa, the national symbol of Laos, where hundreds of monks gather to accept alms and floral votives from the people; the festival includes a grand fireworks display at night, and a trade fair, showcasing Lao products, that takes place during the day.The festival is held from Oct 26th-31st. Megan used two really nice stamps on the card, but I was not able to find any information about either.


The second card is from a Postcrosser in Lahti, Finland. She wrote on the card that she hopes summer is coming soon, as it was just 10 degrees C when she filled out the card. Lahti is a city of about 90 thousand people and borders Vesijarvi Lake. It is a city that endeavours for great achievements in sports such ski jumping, skiing, soccer, ice hockey and track and field. An interesting bit of trivia about Lahti. The asteroid 1498 Lahti was named after the city by its discoverer, Finnish astronomer Yrjo Vaisala. The stamp , issued in 2007, shows a very young boy ski jumping. Better him than me I guess.


Another of the cards I received is from Bari, Italy. It was sent by postcrosser Kabbara Rami. Bari is a city of around 328,000 people and has the unwelcome distinction of being the only European city to experience chemical warefare in the course of the second World War. Mustard gas , that was stored on the dock and on a US warship in the harbour was released during an attack by German planes on the night of December 2, 1943. The incident was covered up by Allied leaders and was not known until 1959 and still remained quite obscure until 1967. A more positive note about Bari is that it is also the city of Saint Nicholas of Bari, commonly known as Santa Claus.


My last card for today is from Skopje, Macedonia. It was sent by Ana, the result of a private swap. Ana used 2 nice stamps , one featuring archeology items , issued 1998 and another stamp from 2007, about which I known little.


My thanks to Megan, Tarja, Kabbara and Ana for these cards.

More tomorrow.

Another New Country- Colombia #185

Again, two postcards to show today. The first is from the newest country in my collection, Colombia, the 185th country in my collection. The other card is from Germany.
The Colombia card took quite a while to reach me. It was posted about the middle of March in Popayan, Colombia. It was sent by Anne F who was traveling in Colombia. Colombia is a country located in northwestern South America. it is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil, to the south by Ecuador and Peru, to the north by the Atlantic Ocean through the Caribbean Sea, to the northwest by Panama and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the fourth-largest nation in South America. Popayan is a city of the Colombian department of Cauca, with a population of about 215,000. It is known as the white city because of its beautiful colonial houses.
Anne used 2 stamps on the card , although due to the large size of the stamps she had to overlap them somewhat. The smaller $1.400 value stamp was issued in 2007 and celebrates the 50th anniversary of ACIEM, Colombia's Association of Engineers. The larger $3.700 value stamp , issued in 2005 honors Huila , one of the departments of Colombia. Huila is in the southwest part of the country. The stamp is 1 of 2 in a souvenir sheet of that year. Thanks to Anne for this great addition tto my collection.

The card from Germany was sent by Isa , as part of a private postcard swap. This is the third card I have received from her. The card shows some scenes from Wevelinghoven which is a part of Grevenbroich, where Isa lives. The stamps on the card are very interesting and quite nice. The dark green stamp on the left was issued in 2008 and honors Max Planck, a Nobel Prize winner on Physics in 1918. Planck, 1858-1947, is considered the founder of quantum theory. His equation E=hv says that the energy of a particle of light (E), called a photon, is proportional to its frequency (v), by a constant factor (h). This means that photons with low frequencies like radio waves, have lower energies than photons with high frequencies, like x-rays. Sorry, but let's get back to more important things like more stamps. The second stamp on this card , again issued 2008 honors Birdwatch or 100 years of bird protection and maintenance. A very nice stamp indeed. Thanks Isa.

Well with 185 countries in my collection, I have , by my count, 66 more to go. I'm getting there slowly but surely. I'm hoping to add a world map to this site soon which will show the countries that I have and will be updated as I receive a card from a new country. That's coming very soon.

Cheers .

Laos- New Country #184

Hi there . Today I received 2 postcards. One was an official Postcrossing card from Finland, sent by Postcrosser Marika. She used a 2007 stamp showing a butterfly- the Colias Palaeno. I'm not showing this postcard at this time, but just wanted to acknowledge receiving it.

The second card is from Laos and is the 184th country from which I have received a stamped postcard. It was sent by Megan who is traveling through that part of the world. Laos, officially the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Burma, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The capital and largest city is Vientiane and the countries population is 6.5 million people. Laos has the dubious honour of being the most bombed country in history. Megan sent her card from Vang Vieng, which is mainly a backpacker town. One of the main attractions of the town is inner tubing on the Mekong River. And, that is exactly what Megan said on her card. She had just finished tubing on the Mekong.
The stamp used on the card, which I think is a very nice stamp, was issued on March 9, 2006. It commemorates The King Phangum Lenglathorany, of which I could not find any information.
Sorry about that. Thanks Megan for this wonderful addition to my collection.

May's First Posting

May's first posting highlights a number of postcards and an envelope , all received either today or yesterday. The first up will be 2 postcards from Taiwan, R.O.C. Fireworks over Sun Moon Lake is featured on the postcard sent By Hui-Wen Huang. I am assuming that she is a reader of this blog which would explain her sending the card. She used 2 very nice stamps , especially the bird stamp. The very brightly colored bird stamp was issued in 2008 and is 1 of a set of 4. A very nice set, indeed. The other stamp , issued in 2007, is 1 of a set of 4 flowers.
Sun Moon Lake , surrounded by green mountains, is the pearl of Central Taiwan. The Eastern part of the lake is round like the sun, while the Western part is shaped like a crescent moon- hence the name - Sun Moon Lake. The beauty of Sun Moon Lake is found in the surrounding mountains. From the lake, tier upon tier of countless peaks can be seen rising upwards into the sky. It is a very famous spot for visitors, especially foreign visitors.

The second Taiwan card shows The 101 Building. It was sent by Rachel, a fellow Postcrosser. She used a very nice stamp, one about which I wasn't able to find any information. It shows a group of traditionally dressed band musicians. This card is the first card that Rachel has sent as a Postcrosser, so I am honored to receive it.
Taipei 101, its official name, is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. The building, constructed from May1995 to March 2005 is one of the world's tallest completed skyscrapers. The name of the tower reflects its floor count, above ground. It height, including antenna and spire is 509.2 m. Its top floor is at 439.2 m. It has 61 elevators and cost $1,758,000,000 US.

The card from Germany , sent by Isabelle K, shows the local museum in the city of Grevenbroich. She used 2 flower definitives and a 2007 commemorative honoring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Stralsund and Wismar. The Hanseatic city of Stralsund and Wismar was added to the UNESCO list on June 27, 2002.

The card from France shows the town on Clapiers in Southern France. It was sent by Thierry Viala who must have visited my blog. He used a stamp from a 2005 booklet strip of 5.

Of the card from Finland I just want to show the stamp right now. It was issued in a 2007 booklet of 4 values featuring trucks in traffic. A great set if one had them all.

And finally the envelope from Germany. It was sent by Igor of the blog http://webmastermarkt.blogspot.com fame. I show the envelope for 2 reasons. First, it has in the upper right corner, what I assume is a personalized computer generated postage. It even features Igor himself. My 2nd reason for showing this is the 2 stamps showing the polar bear. Not just any polar bear, but Knut himself. Knut was born at the Berlin Zoo on December 5, 2006. Rejected by his mother at birth, he was raised by zookeepers and became a popular tourist attraction and commercial success. Knut has appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair and is the subject of a book entitled Knut:How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World, written by Craig Hatkoff. Knut became the center of a mass media phenomenon dubbed Knutmania that spanned the globe and quickly spawned toys, media specials, dvd's and books. Due to Knut's popularity, attendance at the Berlin Zoo increased by 30% in 2007.
Just a great cover, thanks Igor.