Morocco, Austria and Belgium Cards and Italy stamp

Well , it"s Friday again and it appears I have been lax with my updates. There are a couple of reasons for this. First last weekend was a long holiday weekend here , with no mail delivery last Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then , my wife and I , looked after our 15 month old grandson for 3 days. So there was certainly no time for postcards, stamps or blogging. So, I should now be able to sneak in a small update.
Just a couple of cards though, don't want to spoil you guys. My first card is from Morocco. It shows a stone gate in the wall surrounding the medina(old village) of Essaouira. Essaouira is an isolated city of about 70,000 on the west coast of Morocco. Research shows the city has been occupied since prehistoric times. It is considered one of the best anchorages on the Moroccan coast. The present city was only built in the 18th century. The Medina of Essaouira is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as an example of a late 18th century fortified town. A medina is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled and contains many narrow and maze-like streets, many less than a metre wide. This card was sent to me by Yates Moon, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania. This is her 2nd card , having earlier sent one from Mauritania a few months ago. Thank you Yates and don't forget me if you get to any more African countries. On this card Yates used a 2006 stamp, 1 of a set of 3, featuring King Mohamed VI.

Next is a card from Austria. It shows St. Stephens Cathedral. This Romanesque, Gothic styled Catholic Church was consecrated in 1147 and construction was completed in 1160. The card was sent by Martina, a Postcrosser from Hurm, Austria. Martina used 2 stamps from 2008 and 2009. The bird stamp on the left is from a set of 2 , issued in 2008 for animal protection. The larger stamp on the right features Schonbrunn Castle and was issued in 2009.

That's it for cards today, but I also want to show a couple of stamps that I did receive on other cards. First a stamp from Belgium. It is the 2009 issue , or part of it , from the Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers issue, featuring a polar bear. Also worth noting is the great socked on the nose cancellation, not often seen these days.The other part of this Belgium issue features penguins. A nice issue , too bad I only received half. This is part of a worldwide issue , Canada included, to highlight the polar regions and glaciers.
Now a stamp from Italy. It is a 2008 issue for Italia 2009, a philatelic festival to be held in Rome from 21-25 October 2009. The stamp features The Mouth of the Truth, an image carved from marble, of a man-like face, located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. The most famous characteristic of the Mouth is its role as a lie detector. It was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth, it would be bitten off. I think that's more than enough information about one stamp.

Finally I just want to show 2 souvenir sheets issued recently by Canada Post. The top one was issued for the Preserve The Polar Regions and Glaciers. One stamp shows a Polar Bear and the other The Arctic Tern. A really nice issue. The other one, on the bottom was issued for The International Year of Astronomy. The stamp on the left features National Research Council's Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Saanich, British Columbia , Canada. It is pictured with the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion. The other stamp features the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii.This stamp shows the Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens. Another wonderful issue.
Just wanted to show that not all of Canada's stamps are the boring ones which pay the international rate for postcards. Unfortunately though , these shown only pay the domestic rate for within Canada.

I think this is enough for today. Take care and as always your comments are welcome. Let's hear from you.