Four Cards and a Set of Stamps

Hello again. It's time for another update to showcase the cards that arrived Thursday and Friday. I also have a great set of stamps to have a look at , also. First though, the cards and they come from Slovakia, Germany, France and Italy. All four cards are from Postcrossers.

Slovakia- Martina's card shows us St. Elisabeth's Cathedral. Located in Kosice, it is Slovakia's biggest church as well as the easternmost Gothic cathedral in Europe. It was constructed between 1378 and 1508. Martina made an interesting comment about the stamps . She wrote that she had no power over what stamps would show up on the card. I guess one just drops the cards at the post office and hopes for the best. Not an idea that I would like ! The 2 stamps on the card are from a 2009 set of 11 definitives.

Germany- Nicole sent along this map card of Hameln, a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony. It is also the gateway to the Weserbergland mountains. The town is famous for the folk tale of the Pied Piper of Hameln, a medieval story that tells of a tragedy that befell the town in the 13th century. Every Sunday in summer, the tale is performed by actors in the town centre. Nicole used 2 recent 2010 stamps. The one on the left was designed by Udo Lindenberg, a German rock musician. The other stamp is 1 of 2 Greeting stamps issued this year.

France- Nancy sent a great card showing the Roman theatre of Orange. It is still in use today , but with a new modern roof. Since 1969, only opera festivals have played here. In 1981 UNESCO declared the theatre a World Heritage Site. Nancy used a stamp from a Tourism set of 8 issued in 2009.

Italy- This card I leave to my readers for their interpretation and or thoughts. I don't have any. Nice stamps though, especially the large one , Italy's 2010 Christmas stamp. It depicts the famous Botticelli painting, " The Adoration of the Magi ".

Now I want to show a set of British stamps depicting different train engines from over the years. They were issued by Royal Mail on 19 August 2010. Just a wonderful set and they will be a great addition to my collection. Thanks go to Leslie for sending these stamps. Thank you very much, I appreciate your kindness. Also on the cover that contained the train stamps were a selection of definitives including a high value Machin, on the left.

That about does it for this time. Take care and leave a comment if you want.

Lithuania and Russia Cards

It's Wednesday evening and I have just a small update , with just 2 cards . That is all that has arrived so far this week. They come from Lithuania and Russia and both are official Postcrossing cards.
First let's have a look at the card from Lithuania. Gintaras sent this card showing a scene of the Baltic Sea seashore. I guess you have to have seen it to really know what it's about. Maybe it's some sort of signage or wind direction vanes. I really don't know. But, as always , I'm glad to have the card. Amber used 2 really nice stamps . The stamp on the left was issued in 2009 and is 1 of 22 in a set. The other stamp is from 2010 and is also 1 of a set of 2. The other one in this set shows a dragonfly.

The next card from Russia shows the last emperor of Russia , Nicholas II with his family. Unfortunately, none of them made it past 1918, having been killed by the Bolsheviks. Kati sent this card along and used a group of definitives from 2008.

That's it for this time. Thanks to Gintaras and Kati. Take care.

Venice, Big Pit, Ho Ho Ho, and Victor

Today's update deals with the cards that arrived on Friday. They are from Italy, Wales, Netherlands and Calgary, Canada. The latter arrived without stamp- in my email. More about that later.
The Italy card, from Venice is up first. It shows us Piazza San Marcos, the main square of Venice. The Piazza San Marcos is the lowest point in Venice, and as such, it is the first to flood. Known locally as "the Piazza" it is one of the few great urban spaces in Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic. The card is from my brother Dale and is the first of many that I hope to receive as he travels around a great portion of the world. He may have started his travels in Venice, but he is definitely traveling on to a bunch of other great postcard destinations. Included in his stops are Rome, Pisa, Casablanca, Alexandria, Athens, Barcelona, Cannes,Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Stanley- Falkland Islands, Ushuaia in Argentina, Punta Arenas Chile, and Buenos Aires. He will also fly to one of the Chilean Research Stations on the frozen continent of Antarctica. So I hope to receive a few choice cards. Sounds like a great trip. On his Venice card, Dale used a stamp issued in 2009. It is from a set of 3 featuring Pavarotti, Reitano and Rota. This one honors Mino Reitano, an Italian singer and actor.

The second card today is from Wales, United Kingdom. On the card we see Big Pit, The National Museum of Wales. Located in Blaenavon, the museum is dedicated to the Welsh heritage of coal mining. The mine closed in 1980 and the museum opened in 1983. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1983. David used 4 stamps including 2 Machin definitives. The other 2 include a Wales definitive from either 2003 or 2006, I couldn't really determine and a 2010 Christmas stamp featuring Wallace and Gromit.

The next card , the Ho Ho Ho card, is from the Netherlands. It has a picture of Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas or Father Christmas, or Kris Kringle. I guess he answers to many names. Esther , who sent this card translated the words under the Ho Ho Ho as " Is it all ready this time of the year again " . I guess it is or at least it's getting close. The stamp on the left is a definitive, the middle stamp is a semi-postal issued in 1983, 1 of 4 issued for child welfare. The stamp on the right is a 1983 stamp honoring Martin Luther. Esther said on the card that she used older non-euro stamps and that many people in the Netherlands don't really know that they can still be used.

My final card this time is one that I can't really hold in my hand. I received it in my email. It is from my little grandson Evan and he had his Dad 's help sending it. Evan loves the Thomas and friends characters who are all train engines. The card he sent me is of Victor. He is the manager of Sodor Steamworks and he keeps the Island of Sodor steaming along.

Thanks for cards today go to Dale, David, Esther and Evan. That ends this week's blogging and it has certainly been a successful one in number of cards received .
Hopefully I'll have something new tomorrow. See you then.

Three Cards and a Stamp

Here I am again with another update. This makes 3 days in a row. Must be a bit of a record for me. The 3 cards mentioned in the title come from Czech republic, Australia and Finland. The stamp is from Canada. More on that towards the end. First up will be the cards.

Today's first card comes to us from the Czech Republic. It shows a picture of Rabi, which is the largest ruined castle in south western Bohemia, about 130 km from Prague. The castle, which dates back to 1380, was proclaimed a National Cultural Monument in 1978. Jana who lives in a small village just outside the capital sent this card. She attends university and is studying biochemistry and microbiology. Not too shabby at all. Jana used a 2008 stamp honoring explorer Alois Musil (1868-1944).

Card #2 is from Australia. It shows us Macleay Island. The island which is 30 km from Brisbane is 6.5 km long and 4 km wide at its widest. Just over 2000 people live on the island in the state of Queensland. Judy used 2 nice stamps in order to get this card to me. The one on the left is from 2007 and is 1 of a set of 6 showing islands. This stamp shows Maria Island of the east coast of Tasmania. Stamp #2 is a WWF stamp from a set of 4 issued in 2009, all showing different types of dolphins. Shown here is the Hourglass Dolphin.

The final card today is from Finland. It is a picture of On A Swing by Marja-Leena Tolli. Suvi sent this particular card as it represents a child, a little girl, and because I just recently welcomed our first granddaughter to our family. That's good enough for me.
The stamp , issued this year, celebrates Torronsuo National Park in southern Finland.

That's the 3 cards, now what about the stamp? I recently received a package in the mail and on it as postage was a recent new stamp from Canada. It's a wonderful stamp and I just wanted to share it with all of you. It is a new high value definitive issued on October 4, 2010. It has a value of 10 Canadian Dollars, which is a hefty sum for a single stamp. It certainly won't be used much except on a scattered package. I think receiving a used copy so soon is pretty good. The Blue Whale $10 definitive features the largest creature on earth, on the largest stamp (both physically and denomination-wise) ever issued by Canada Post. The Blue Whale is the king of the animal kingdom. Weighing in at between 80 and 180 metric tonnes and reaching lengths of 30 m, it is the largest creature ever on our planet. Canada has two populations of the blue whale, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific.This large and beautiful stamp is the newest addition to Canada Post's Canadian Wildlife series, which includes a grizzly bear ( $8, 1997), a loon ( $1, 1998), a polar bear ( $2, 1998), a moose ( $5, 2003), a white-tailed deer ($1, 2005) , an Atlantic walrus ( $1, 2005), a Peregrine falcon ($2, 2005) and a Sable Island horse ($2, 2005 ) They make a wonderful set with a total value of $32 Canadian Dollars. The star of the series of course will be The Blue Whale, just by sheer size, as it measures 128mm by 49 mm.
I guess I got a little carried away here from postcards, but I guess the stamp collector in me just came out. Nothing like a good stamp or two to get me going. I can talk stamps with the best of them.
Hopefully the mail will bring a few cards tomorrow and I'll get to them over the weekend. I don't think I'll find much time for blogging tomorrow, as one of my little grandsons is visiting for a sleepover tomorrow night. My lovely Teena and I will be busy but loving it. Take care. Comments as always are welcome and encouraged.

Just one more thing, I thought I was finished , but not quite. I just want to thank Leslie for her comments on my last update. Leslie, thanks for the gallery address and your info on the Trabzon stamp and the Language of stamps . I agree with you on both. Thanks for keeping a check on me , I appreciate it.

Turkey, Language of the Stamps, van Gogh and Tha Haka Poi

The title of this update must leave any viewers wondering what it's all about. I hope after reading , all will be explained. Cards today come from Turkey, Germany, The United States and New Zealand. But , first I have to offer an apology. On my last update I wrote that winter had arrived on the prairies.Well, I heard from Shaunna who advised that there was no sign of winter or snow in Winnipeg, Manitoba. So I offer my apology to Shaunna and all of Winterpeg, oh sorry, Winnipeg. I hear though,that it's on the way very soon, Shauna. All right, let's get on to the postcards.

My first card today is from Trabzon City, Turkey, located on the Black Sea. It seems to me that I have been receiving more cards from Turkey lately than in the past. That's good as I am always open to adding more Turkish stamps to my collection. Not that I would ever remove them from the postcards of course. The card shows us Izmir City. Izmir is Turkey's third most populous city and is located in the western part of the country. The clock tower in the center of the card was built in 1901 and is 25 m high. It looks like I will be flying blind today in relation to information on stamps. My online source is updating their website today and as a result is unavailable. The smaller stamp was issued this year and celebrates Mustafa Kemel Ataturk ( 1881-1938). He was a Turkish army officer and president of Turkey from 1923 to 1938. Today , he is remembered as the founder of modern Turkey and a great statesman. All I know about the larger stamp is that it was issued in 2007.

Card # 2 is from Germany. It is titled Language of the Stamps. It gives us English, German and French translations of six short phrases. Just what this has to do with stamps , I'm not quite sure. But, as a longtime stamp collector, any postcard with stamps on the front , will find a good home in my collection. Sigrid, a Postcrosser in Germany used a couple of stamps , including the large soccer stamp from this year and a smaller definitive.

Next up is a card from The United States showing Vincent van Gogh's The Quay, Antwerp 1885. Eric , who sent this card, says " even though this is not Detroit, I thought it conveyed the feeling , grey, industry and water". When I think Detroit, I think Red Wings, and cars. Getting back to The Quay, I think I'd have no problem finding a wall for it in my place. Eric used 2 First Class Forever stamps and an American Clock definitive from 2003.

Today's last card comes from New Zealand. It shows us a group of girls performing The Haka Poi. The Haka Poi is a dance in which the girls keep time with raupo balls ( pois). As the dance and song progresses the pois are twirled and swung in time to the rhythmic music. Gina , who sent this card along, says she has collected cards since she was a child. This particular card is about 25 years old. Since she joined Postcrossing, she has started to send cards from her collection all over the world. On this card is a 2010 New Zealand Christmas stamp, celebrating 50 years of Christmas stamps. It shows a 1979 Christmas stamp from New Zealand. I'm not one to boast of course, but Canada issued the world's first Christmas stamp on December 7, 1898 . I know, I know , some people will say that it really wasn't as a Christmas stamp. To quote Charles Dicken's Ebenezer Scrooge "Bah, humbug".

I think that about does it for this time. See you tomorrow.

Postcards, Postcards and more Postcards

am back from my weekend in Saskatchewan. I arrived home Sunday night. When I checked my mail on Monday, I found 7 postcards and then today 4 more. So this week is starting off wonderfully. I picked out 4 for today's update and they come from Poland, Serbia, Ireland and Norway.

Monika sent the Poland card to me. She is a Postcrosser that I had sent a card to earlier . She liked it so much that she sent back a card to me. Monika's card is a Panoramic sepia card of Krakow. It shows The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaw and Vaclav. The cathedral has a 1000 plus year history. The current building is the third built on the site and construction was started in the 14th century. Monika used a nice selection of stamps from 2010, 2004, 2001 and 1999. The 2 top stamps are current for this year and are celebrating Pope John Paul II. The other stamps all show various styles of buildings. Thanks Monika.

My next card is from Belgrade, Serbia and is from my good postcard friend Ana. The card shows us The Temple of Saint Sava, an orthodox church in Belgrade. It is the largest orthodox cathedral in the Balkans and can seat 10,800. It is dedicated to Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Ana's card has a 2009 definitive from a set of 2, this one showing a castle of some sort. Thanks Ana.

Now for a card from Ireland. It shows a few traditional boats in Roundstone, Connemara on the west coast of Ireland.

Quite a peaceful scene. Bram used 1 of 4 stamps in a 2008 souvenir sheet highlighting Irish Music.

The final card for this update is a photo of Geirangerfjord in the south west of Norway. This fjord is one of Norway's most visited sites. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, as an example of one of the world's most beautiful classical fjord landscapes. I can't argue with that after looking at the card. The stamp on this card is from 2007 , 1 of 2 honoring Theodor Kittelsen.

That's it for this time, thanks to those that sent the cards, and thanks to you for reading.
Fyi, winter has arrived here on the prairies. Woke up this morning to 10 cm of snow. Forecast calls for snow until Saturday. Take care.

Remembrance Day 2010

November 11, 2010 Remembrance Day

Today , November 11th is Remembrance Day in Canada . It is a national holiday, so no mail service means no postcards today. Today is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of Canada's Armed Forces in times of war. It is observed on November 11 to recall the end of World War I on this date in 1918. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Lest We Forget.

Every year on this date we share a moment of silence to honour the memory of the men and women of Canada's Armed Forces who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.In Canada the spirit of remembrance is captured on a commemorative stamp issued in 2009. The stamp features a close-up photograph of Canada's National War Memorial in Ottawa. Red poppies are given prominence on the stamp. Thanks to Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and his well-known poem, '' In Flanders Fields" the poppy and Remembrance Day are deeply linked in the minds of Canadians.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks , still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amidst the guns below...

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae,
'' In Flanders Fields" (1915)

Here is the stamp issued by Canada Post , to honour the courage of our soldiers and
and to remember all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

A Four Card Day

Here we go with four cards that arrived either yesterday or Monday. Two of them are from the United Kingdom , one is from China and one is from The Netherlands. The first from the U.K. shows a statue of the Loch Ness Monster at Drumnadrochit. This is a small village in Scotland , on the west side of Loch Ness. I'm not going to write about Nessie, as the legend is known the world over. We even have our own equivalent here in Canada, Ogopogo, in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia. The card is from Leslie, who is on an extended stay in the U.K. She writes that Loch Ness is quite peaceful and not touristy at all. Leslie has a postcard blog at ctrekoza.blogspot.com but it is on hold until Feb, 2011. I'm looking forward to reading your blog again in February. By the way, can I still send a postcard to your address in Turkey ? The stamp on this card is from a 2010 set of 6 issued for Winnie the Pooh. Thanks Leslie for this card.

The next card comes from South East Anglia, which is just north of London. It is a map of the British Isles, consisting of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are lots of map postcard collectors out there so I'm sure this card appeals to quite a few. The stamp is from a 201 set of 6 stamps , all showing railways from the steam era. A really great set that would look great in my collection. A nice stamp from a nice set, hey Ana ?

Card # 3 is from China. It appears to be a picture of a painting . I don't have a lot to say about it except that it kind of appeals to me. I see a number of boats moored off on choppy waters. The card was sent by a Postcrosser named Chen, who said this was his first card to Canada. He also mentioned that I was the oldest person he had sent cards to. I'm not sure how he knows this but if I am, I am. Chen used two copies of a 2002 bird definitive from a set of 3.

The final card for today is from the Netherlands. A postcrosser named Marleen sent it along. The card shows a print by the famous tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, with the theme, Too Little Time. I leave it to my readers to figure it out. As often is the case with cards from The Netherlands, I show the stamp , but offer no comment.

That's it for this time and actually for the week. I will be in Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan until Sunday evening, visiting family. Take care.