Uzbekistan , Country # 196

Well, today I received just a single postcard, but it's a keeper. It is from Uzbekistan and it is country # 196 from which I have now received a stamped postcard. It is from Anton Rakitskiy of Tashkent. It wasn't all that easy arranging for this postcard. At first Anton advised that one can receive postcards in Uzbekistan but you can not send them out as postcards. They must be in an envelope. Well that wouldn't work for my collection. What to do , what to do ? Anton and I emailed back and forth and came up with a solution. He took a postcard to the local post office and put a stamp on it and then asked for it to be postmarked. He told them at the post office that he would then put the stamped, postmarked card in an envelope and mail it. The post office people went for it and in addition to a stamped postcard from Uzbekistan, I also have a stamped cover from Uzbekistan. It's a win, win. Later emails from Anton now advise that postcards without envelopes can be sent from Uzbekistan post offices. They must , however , meet international standards if they are to be posted without an envelope.
The postcard shows the hills around the Tashkent area. Anton used a 2001 definitive stamp showing the coat of arms. The envelope shows 2 stamps from 2005 , also the coat of arms issue.

Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in central Asia, formerly a part of the Soviet Union. It is bordered by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. It has been an independent republic since December 1991. The country is a dry landlocked country, it is one of two double landlocked countries in the world- a country completely surrounded by land locked countries. The only other is Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometers and a population of approximately 27.5 million persons. Its capital city is Tashkent. The average summer temperature is 40 c while the average winter temperature is 0 c.

The 3 stamps that Anton used are the only Uzbekistan stamps in my collection. Hopefully I will get more. Thanks to Anton for this postcard and his extra efforts at the post office.
I now have just 3 of the former Soviet Republics left from which I still need a stamped postcard. They are Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan. As far as I know , a card from Kazakhstan is on the way. Hopefully it arrives soon. Stay tuned.
I also want to show 2 stamps that I received on an envelope that arrived today from New Zealand. I am showing them simply because I think they are outstanding. They are from a set of 6 issued 12 Jun 1991 showing scenic rock formations. I checked the complete set out on the New Zealand Post website and found all of them to be just as outstanding . I would be pleased as punch to have the whole set in my collection.

That's it for today. Hopefully I will have something more tomorrow.
Cheers,

Georgia , New Country #194 and Azores, 195

Hello again, well I have been away from this blog for a while , but I am now glad to be back. We had two lots of visitors this past week and we ourselves traveled to Banff and Lake Louise. There just was no time for postcards or blogging. However in that week I received lots of postcards, 10 in fact. As the heading of this post implies I have increased the total of countries from which I have received a stamped postcard to 195. The new additions are Georgia and The Azores. I realize The Azores is not a country , but it makes my list because that have there own stamps , marked Portugal, Azores. Cards also arrived from The Philippines, Australia, Taiwan, Luxembourg, and 3 from The U.S.A. I don't know at this point if I will show all the cards but we shall see what we shall see.
First , of course, is new Country # 194, Georgia. Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region, partially in Europe and partially in Asia. Georgia is bordered by Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and the Black Sea. It was part of The Soviet Union from 1922 until it regained its independence in 1991. Georgia suffers from the unresolved secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Even this month, August 2008, Georgia engaged in an armed conflict with Russia and separatist groups from South Ossetia. Just yesterday, Russia officially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations. Most western nations condemmed the declaration. I guess the final chapter of Georgia and its regions still has to be written. I guess I was lucky to get this postcard, dated 07 August, which I believe was just 2 days before the armed conflict started. The card was sent by Khatuna Kipiani of Tbilisi, the capital city. Thanks Khatuna.
A very nice selection of Georgian stamps was used on the card. The stamp on the bottom left was issued in 2001 and is a semi-postal. The theme of the stamp is We Trust America. What the extra value of 10 was for , I wasn't able to find out. The top left stamp was issued 2007 and is 1 of a set of 3, featuring mountains. Mount Kazbek is shown on this stamp and is at 5033 metres. The two stamps in the center were issued in 2006 and are both Europa stamps. The final stamp on the right was issued 2007 and is the stamp in a souvenir sheet issued for the art of illusion. All in all a very nice selection of current Georgian stamps., thanks to Khatuna.

My next card is from the Azores. It is country or entity #195. The Azores are a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean about 1500 km from Lisbon. The Azores are made up of 9 major islands and they are Sao Miguel, Pico, Terceiro, Sao Jorge, Faial, Flores , Santa Maria, Graciosa and Corvo. I had the pleasure of visiting Santa Maria , at least the airport, in Feb. 1975 , while flying from Lisbon to Montreal. We stopped in Santa Maria for fuel. The capital and largest city is Ponta Delgado. My postcard was postmarked Angra do Heroismo, which is the location of the Supreme Court. I received this card from Maria Leal of Terceira Island who is in Postcrossing. She used 2 stamps, the most interesting of which was issued in 2008 and is 1 of a set of 4 featuring birds. The stamp on my card shows the Priolo (Pyrrhula Murina) which Maria says is only found on Sao Miguel Island , and nowhere else in the world. The Priolo is endemic to the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. Its population is between 340 and 400 individual birds. It is the most threatened passerine bird in all Europe and is listed as critically endangered by Birdlife International. The postcards front shows a large multiview of scenes from Terceira Island. Thanks Maria for this. I learned something new from receiving your card.

The card from The Phillipines shows White Beach on Boracay Island. Boracay is a tropical island approximately 315 km south of Manila and 2 km off the northwest tip of Panay Island. in the western Philippines. It is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. White beash, shown on the card , is the main tourist beach. It is just a tad over 4 kilometers long and looks like a great place to just hove off and smell the roses.
Thanks to Michael of cddstamps for this card. Michael used 3 2007 stamps featuring the Barn Swallow.

Now we have 3 cards from the U.S , all of which show are showing tourist attractions. There is the Washington Memorial Arch, in NYC , The Glory Hole on Dismal Creek in Arkansas and The Queen Mary in Long Beach , Calif. The Washington Memorial Arch was erected in 1892 and designed by Stanford White. It is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It is located at the entrance to Washington Square Park which covers 9.75 acres and was opened in 1871.

The Glory Hole on Dismal Creek is in Ozark National Forest. It was formed by years of erosion and is truly one of Arkansas's natural wonders.

The Queen Mary is an ocean liner that sailed the North Atlantic from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. She was retired in 1967 and is permanently berthed in Long Beach serving as a museum and hotel.
Thanks to Toni for the New York card, M Doyle for the Arkansas card and Pam for the Long Beach card.
One more star wars stamp for me. I leave it to Parker for a description of the stamp.

One of the cards from Australia shows Suttons beach, Queensland, Australia. Looks like an impressive beach , also. The card is from a Postcrosser, named Neil Ennis. He has a blog at http://neilennis.com. Give it a look and see what he's up to. He used three very nice stamps that were issued in 2008. They are 3 of a set of 5 issued for ANZAC Day. ANZAC Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year. It honours members of the Australian and New Zealnad Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during The First World War. One can learn most everything about The Battle of Gallipoli by listening to The Pogues song And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. If you listen to that song, you'll certainly understand the futility of war. Lest We Forget!

And finally, we have another card from Wu Wei Yi of Taiwan. He has sent a number of cards after viewing my blog. This one shows a Japan Asia Airways B747. Wei Yi used 2 older stamps on this card. The lighthouse stamp on the left was issued in 1989 and is of The Oluan Pi Lighthouse. The larger stamp on the right was issued in 1983 for the 38th Junior Chamber of Commerce Congress wich was held in Taipei, Taiwan. Thanks Wei Yi.

This is quite a long update. Hopefully those that follow will be a little shorter. As always, your comments are welcome. That's how I know that you are reading and that I am not just talking to the wind.
Enjoy your postcards and stamps.

Card Dated 08-08-08

Today's mail brought one postcard. A small number, but a nice card , nonetheless. It is from Taiwan, Republic of China and was sent by Wu Wei Yi, a frequent reader of this blog. It is another addition for my airlines on postcards collection. Since he used the stamp that he did , the stamp will be an addition to my planes on stamps collection.
The card pictures a Japan Asia Airways B767 in flight. Japan Asia Airways is a now defunct subsidiary of Japan Airlines., based in Tokyo and existed between 1975 and 2008. JAA was established by JAL on 8 August 1975 to operate between Japan and Taiwan. Following an agreement between Japan and China , the Japanese flag carrier would be permitted to fly to mainland China only if it ceased its routes to Taiwan. These routes were discontinued immediately after the agreement in April 1974, but JAL , through Japan Asia Airways took up the route to Taipei in September 1975. JAL decided to merge JAA back into itself to reduce operating to costs. JAA ceased operations on March 31, 2008.
Japan Asia Airways operated 3 Boeing 767-300s and 2 Boeing 747-300s, however they did operate at various times with DC-8s, B747-100s, DC10s, and B747-200s.

The Boeing 767-300 had its first flight 30 January 1986 and went into service in Japan on 20 October 1986. Earlier -200 models flew as early as September 1981.
The B767 is a mid size , wide body , twinjet airliner, produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 767 can carry between 181 and 375 passengers depending on the configuration requested. It has a range of 5200-6590 nautical miles.

One of the most notable and successful landings of a B767 was on July 23, 1983. Air Canada flight 143, a B767-200 , ran out of fuel in flight and had to glide to an emergency landing at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada. The pilots used the aircraft's ram air turbine to power the aircraft's hydraulic systems for control. There were no fatalities. The aircraft was forever after nicknamed the Gimli Glider. The aircraft was retired in January 2008.

Wei Yi used 2 stamps on the card. The small one on the left was issued in 1980 , 1 of a set of 8 issued between 1978-1980, showing the National Flag. The larger stamp on the right was issued in 1980 , 1 of a set of 3 airmail stamps, for aviation and planes. The aircraft on the stamp is a B747.
Thanks Wei Yi. Of note , is the postmark, dated 8-8-08. Quite a lucky postdate.

Post 101- Card From Lempaala

Just a small update for today. Postcards have been slow in coming this past week. Not many have arrived. I am hoping this will improve next week. I have just a single card to show now. It is From Lempaala, Finland. It was sent by Elina, a fellow Postcrosser. Lempaala is a municipality in southwestern Finland with approximately 20,000 inhabitants.

The front of the card shows The St Birgit Memorial Church of Lempaala. The Church of Lempaala was built in 1504 and is dedicated in the memory of St Birgit. Birgit, daughter of Birger, died in Rome in 1373 and was proclaimed a saint on 7 October 1391. In 1999 she was appointed patron saint of Europe.

Elina used a 2008 stamp highlighting 100 years of technical university. Thw stamp was issued in a souvenir sheet format. Thanks Elina.

That's about all for today, other than to say that comments are always welcome . Feel free to leave a comment if you are inclined to do so. I look forward to them.

Friday's Postcards

Three days ago, on Friday, I received four postcards. Cards arrived from Finland, Japan, France and Germany. The Finland and Japan cards were from my participation in Postcrossing. To anyone out there reading this and likes receiving postcards from around the world, Postcrossing is the place to be. If you are interested just go to postcrossing.com and join. It's free.
I will just be showing 3 of these cards today.
First up is the card from Japan. Not much to say about the card itself except that I like it.
The stamps are quite nice too, especially the one on the left. I wasn't able to locate any info on these stamps, but as I say , I do like the one on the left. Thanks to Yumi (Fujie) for this card.

The Germany card is from Igor. Igor's blog can be found at http://webmastermarkt.blogspot.com

Igor's postcard shows a monument at Guex that has something to do with aviation. I wish I knew more about it. The stamp on the card was issued in 2004 on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Egon Eiermann, 1904-1970. He was one of Germany's most prominent architects. Some of his workd include the West German Pavilion at thr Brussels World Exhibition in 1958 , the West German embassy in Washington D.C . His most famous work is the new church on the site of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin.
The card has a special cancellation from Echterdingen, where on the 5th of August 1908, the airship LZ4 crashed and burned while at anchor during a violent storm. Thanks Igor .

The last card today is from Stephane Cotard of France. The card shows The Canadian Military Cemetery at Beny-Sur-Mer. It is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Normandy and the final resting place for 2048 Canadian soldiers. These are some of the 150,000 Canadians who waded ashore into the chaos and slaughter of Juno Beach on D-Day , June 6, 1944.

The card's stamp was issued in 2008, for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec, Canada. It is a joint issue with Canada. Thanks Stephane.

Luxembourg Calling

I have one postcard to show today. It is from Luxembourg and was sent by a Postcrosser. It is a map card of Luxembourg. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgiun, France and Germany. With a population of under half a million it covers 2568 square kilometers. The country is ruled by a Grand Duke and is the world's only remaining Grand Duchy.

The stamp used on the card is from a 2006 set of 2 issued for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. That World Cup was held from 9 June to 9 July in Germany. Thirty one teams along with host Germany participated in the finals tournament. Italy defeated France 5-3 in a penalty shootout to win.

I also need at this time to offer thanks to Eric Contesse of http://timbredujura.blogspot.com for a big favour that he did for me yesterday. He knows what he did and that's all that needs to be said. Thanks again, Eric.

Heritage Day 2008

Well, today is Heritage Day in Alberta, and as a result, there is no mail service today. So that means no postcards to show. Hopefully that will mean more cards tomorrow. I do have another reason for this posting , though. I do believe that I have at least one reader of my blog from Tbilisi, Georgia. If this in indeed correct , I would like to ask that that reader contact me via email at glenn.moores@telus.net.
Thanks in advance.
That's it for today, back tomorrow.

Cards from Velu and Ting

The cards that I am showing today arrived in my mail on Friday. Two cards were from Velu and were sent from Skikda, Algeria. The other card was from Postcrosser Ting in Taiwan, R.O.C.
First up is Ting's card. It shows a 1995 picture from Mountain Jade National Park in Taiwan. The highest point in the mountain range in the park , Jade Mountain, is 3,952 meters above sea level.

The stamp used by Ting was issue in 2007 for The First Taiwan-African Heads of State Summit.
The First Taiwan-African Heads of State Summit took place on September 9, 2007, in Taipei. The heads of state that led delegations to the summit were: H.E. Chen Shui-bian, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan); H.M. King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland; H.E. Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso; H.E. Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes, President of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe; and H.E. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi and H.E. Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice President of the Republic of The Gambia . After the summit, the heads of state signed the Taipei Declaration as a testimony to the concrete results of the First Taiwan-African Heads of State Summit.

The first card from Velu of The Stamps of Velu blog shows a couple of street scenes and The Hotel Salam in Skikda, Algeria. Skikda is a city in north eastern Algeria and a port on the Gulf of Stora. It was known as Phillippeville until the end of the Algerian War of Independence in !962. The population in 2005 was 170,000.

The second card is a free advertising card from India, featuring Coffee at Mocha.
Velu used a block of 4 , 2004 Algerian stamps featuring roses.

Thanks to Ting and to Velu for these cards.