Another Grand Announcement and Two Cards

Here we go with another update. This one could be the final entry for year 2010. I'm not 100 percent sure about that of course but we will see. Just in case that it is , Happy New Year to one and all. I hope you all receive many postcards, covers and stamps in the coming year. Now to end the year , what better way , than with another Grand Announcement.

Today , my lovely Teena and I were blessed with the arrival of our 5th grandchild, our 4th grandson. Will Parker Anthony Moores entered the world this morning. He's quite a handsome little man and a great pleasure to behold. No pink this time unlike this past October, when pink was the order of the day.

Postcards, oh yes, right, sorry. Hope I didn't lose anyone here.

Luxembourg and Belarus. Both cards were received through Postcrossing.

Luxembourg , at 2.586 square kilometres , is one of the small countries. The card from Anne shows a number of attractions including Adolphe Bridge, an arch bridge in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. Built between 1900 and 1902, the bridge has become an unofficial national symbol, representing Luxembourg's independence. Anne used quite a nice stamp from 2004. It is 1 of a set of 3 issued to commemorate the National Museum of Art and History.

On to Belarus. It's good to receive a card from there but I have to wonder. The last 2 cards that I have sent to Belarus have failed to arrive there after more than 60 days on the go. Maria sent this card which shows a church somewhere in the country. Perhaps in Minsk as she is from there but I don't know for sure. The stamps here are just the regular, everyday flower and animal stamps from 2008. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of them. It seems every postcard I receive from Belarus lately has some combination of these stamps. I know , being a stamp collector for as long as I have, that I should be happy with my lot . And I am , but come on, use some of your other stamps. I checked the Belarus stamps in my online catalogue and they have issued some wonderful and beautiful ones, but they never arrive on postcards.

That's my spiel for today. As I said, just in case I don't get back here tomorrow ....................

Thanks for visiting and reading and also for your many contributions of postcards, stamps and even a few covers. Thanks also for your comments , I love it when you do. So ..................................
HAPPY NEW YEAR.

After Christmas Update

Welcome to this my first update after Christmas. I am hoping to get another one in before year's end. Before I actually get into this one I just want to welcome Shannon as another reader. He left a comment on the update for 23 Dec, saying that he had found my blog . He is actually my mailman, he delivers my mail, my postcards into my mailbox. So he is an important part to this blog and to my postcard collection. So, welcome Shannon, I hope you can visit the blog often and make sure my postcards get to the right mailbox.

Now onto the cards. I have four for today. These are the cards that arrived Dec 24th, the last date for mail here in Canada. Next mail should be tomorrow. If I am wrong here, I'm sure Shannon can correct me. The cards are from Vatican City, Morocco, Morocco again and Romania. Only the Romania card is from a Postcrosser. The other three are from my brother Dale. I wrote in my update of Dec 20th that I was expecting just one more card from Dale, and I expected it to be from Morocco. Well, I found three cards from him in the mailbox on Christmas Eve, the one from The Vatican and two from Morocco.

Let's look at the Vatican card first. It gives us a couple of views of St. Peter's Basilica. Located in Vatican City, St. Peter's can hold 60,000 people. It is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites and the greatest of all churches of Christendom. Construction on St. Peter's started on April 18, 1506 and was completed on Nov 18, 1626. Dale used two Vatican City stamps on his card. The first was issued in 2002 and is 1 of a set of 4 featuring paintings by the Italian painter Cimabue. The other stamp , issued in 2004, is 1 of 15 featuring Euro coins and their countries.

Dale's second card is from Casablanca, Morocco. It gives us a view of the clock tower of Medina and a wonderful street scene of the city of Casablanca. The city is Morocco's largest and its chief port, the largest in North Africa. The stamp here is the 2009 International Year of Astronomy issue.

Card # 3 , also from Dale, shows us some work by Pablo Picasso. Dale picked up this card in Barcelona, Spain but posted it from Casablanca. He describes Barcelona as a fantastic city, beautiful and modern, with incredible architecture. The 2009 issued stamp is from a set of 2 featuring fish.

Here is the final card and it comes from Romania. It shows us the Memorandistilor Monument located in Cluj-Napoca, the fourth most populous city in Romania.It is located in the north west part of the country and is considered the unofficial capital of the province of Transylvania. The monument is built on Union Square , on the corner of Avenue Heroes. It was built in honor of The Memorandum of Transylvania. It was a petition sent in 1882 by leaders of the Romanians in Transylvania to Frans Josef demanding equal rights for ethnic Hungarians. All I know about the stamp is that it was issued this year and features grapes and some sort of jug.

I think that's it for this time. Depending on what shows up in the mailbox, I hope to have another update before year's end.
Take care .

Christmas Day 2010

GemsWorldPostcards Wishes

Merry Christmas To One And All

Peace On Earth To All

It's Christmas Eve 2010 - Merry Christmas To One and All

Merry Christmas
Once again as Christmas Day is just about upon us, I want to take this opportunity to wish all my fellow postcard , cover and stamp collectors and bloggers , along with all my readers a very Merry Christmas. My Christmas wishes for all of you are again summed up in the 3 Christmas stamps issued by Canada Post in 2007. Hope , Joy, and Peace. What more could we ask for ?


Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year , Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee , Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo ,Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo, Mele Kalikimaka me Ka Hou'öli Makahiki Hou.

A Small 3 Card Update

It's Dec 23rd and all is well. Most everything is now done for Christmas, so I am able to sneak in another update, all be it a small one. Just three cards for today and they come from the U.S.A. , Canada, and South Africa. So let's get right to it.

First up is the U.S. This one I received from Postcrosser Carlton of Bangor , Maine. It shows us the Thomas Hill Standpipe. Built in 1897 it is the oldest wooden covered water tower in the U.S. And, it's still in use today. Bangor is the home of horror writer Stephen King. Carlton used 2 current 2010 stamps including the Katharine Hepburn stamp and the William Brennan stamp. The latter is from a set of 4 featuring Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Now I know this is like chaulk and cheese and that they are not related in any way, but I prefer the Audrey Hepburn stamp issued by Canada in 2008. I think it's just a superb stamp and I have shown it here for comparison.

Card # 2 comes from Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. It is roughly 300 km north of Airdrie, where I am located. It shows us an evening view of the city skyline with reflection in the North Saskatchewan River. Edmonton's River Valley is approximately 21 times larger than New York City's Central Park . It is the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America. A fact I did not know that until John's card arrived. On this card we can see 1 of 5 historic watermills stamps issued in 2010. I very seldom profile a Canadian postcard in this blog, simply because I don't receive them. Why, I'm not sure ? In the 4 years of this blog, I'd say I have only received about 5 or 6 cards from Canada.

Today's last card is the South African card. It gives us a look at the King of the Jungle. Chantal sent this card and says that she comes from a long line of Krugers. A short while ago I received another card from South Africa that highlighted Kruger National Park. Any connection, I'm not sure. Chantal used 1 of 10 stamps issued in 2010 all of which are related to fishing. This one pays the international airmail small letter rate. All 10 are in a souvenir sheet shaped like a fish. Pretty unique I think. I have included it here for all to see.

That's all I'm writing today. As I said earlier a small update. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I will have my usual update for that day. I will find the time somewhere. Hope you can join me then. Take care

New Country # 242, Royalty, Istanbul and Cannes

Well, I'm back with a number of cards , four in fact. Am I excited , you bet. I received a card from a new country in my collection, it's # 242, and it is Curacao. It is indeed a new country in the world , having just attained independence on Oct 10, 2010. So my usual compliment of four cards come from Curacao, Sweden, Turkey and France. So without further ado.....

Even though I would love to start with Curacao, I think that I should start with Sweden, since the card bears the country's royalty. Queen Silvia is featured on Miki's card. Born on 23 Dec 1943, she married the King of Sweden on 19 June 1976. Before that she was a host at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the Deputy Head of Protocol at the Winter Games in Innsbruck and even worked briefly as a flight attendant. Postcrosser Miki used 1 of 5 stamps issued this year , from a Swedish Castles booklet.

Here we go, new country # 242, Curacao. This is my first new country since early August. If I knew how, I'd insert a drum roll here. Shown on the card are a number of views of Willemstad and a number of cruise ships arriving. I owe my good fortune for this card to Alan H of Westport , CT. U.S.A. I don't know Alan, but I'm glad he knows my blog and was good enough to think of me while in Curacao. As I mentioned earlier, Curacao became independent on 10-10-10, the 10th day of the 10th month of 2010. It was formerly a part of The Netherlands Antilles. Alan used a combination of stamps on the card. The stamp on the left is a 2010 Netherlands Antilles stamp from a set of 10 fruit definitives. The stamp on the right is from the new country , Curacao, and is their first stamp issue, issued on their independence day. So not only did Alan send me a great card , but he also used a great stamp. I actually have a collection of stamp # 1's from various countries and can now add one more . I think I need another drum roll.

Let's move on to Turkey. This card shows a view of Istanbul, with The Hippodrome, The Egyptian Obelisk, Sultanahmet Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Istanbul is the largest and most populated city in Turkey, with in excess of 12.7 million people. It is located on the Bosphorus Straight. It extends both on the European and on the Asian sides of the Bosphorus, and as such is the the only city in the world that is situated on two continents. Dale, my brother , who was touring over that way, sent this card along. He used stamps from a 2009 set of 10 definitives as well as a 2010 issue , all of which featured Mustafa Kemel Ataturk. He was Turkey's first President, first Prime Minister and first Speaker of Parliament.

The final card today is from Cannes, Cote dÁzur, France. Cannes is one of the best known cities of the French Riviera. It is a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. This is another card from Dale, see above. He toured the medieval walled town of Saint Paul de Vence, famous for Marc Chagall , among others, having lived there. Dale used a Marianne definitive on this one.

I hope to get one more card from Dale's trip overseas, maybe from Morocco . He has since returned to this side of the world, arriving in Brazil 2 days ago. He left today from Rio de Janeiro, sailing south to Montevideo, Stanley in The Falklands, Antarctica, Ushuaia and Punta Arenas. You can be sure that I'll be looking in the mail box during the next month or so.

All in all I think this was a pretty good update. Any update of a new country is a good one for me. Thanks to Miki, Alan, and Dale for their cards. Alan, as noted on this blog, you can expect a thank you postcard soon. Comments ?

A Three Card Day

As the title implies I have 3 cards to showcase today. They come from South Africa, South Korea and Greece.The South Korea card is the only Postcrossing card this time. So let's do South Africa first.
The front of the card shows a number of scenes of Kruger National Park, one of just a few places magnificent wildlife can be seen in its natural habitat. Located in the east of South Africa, the park covers 18,989 square kilometres. The park is home to 1,982 species of plants, 517 species of birds and many animals including zebras, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, impalas , and 3000 crocodiles. The Big Five game animals of lions, elephants, cape buffaloes, leopards and rhinoceros are also very well represented. Kruger is truly the flagship of South African national parks.
Bruce, a reader of this blog, sent this card along. He used a new 2010 stamp Airmail postcard rate stamp, showing Zulu neckpieces. Bruce, if you are reading this, I would love to accept your offer of the set of stamps issued for the 75th anniversary of SAA. These show tail logos and if you go to http://www.postcrossing.com/user/zachary you can see that I used a tail logo from my first airline employer as my avatar for my membership in Postcrossing. So, those stamps would be a welcome addition to my collection of airlines on stamps. Thanks Bruce, I appreciate your offer. Now , as an after thought in regard to the Big Five I mentioned above, I noticed that South Africa Post issued this year a booklet of stamps showing The Big Five. And, here it is.

Card # 2 is from South Korea. It shows shoppers in the Outdoor Market at the Korean Folk Village. The Korean Folk Village is home to numerous collections of Korean cultural artifacts, providing an opportunity for Korean children to experience and learn the culture of their ancestors firsthand. The site provides a venue to promote traditional Korean culture to both domestic and international visitors, and provides an open-air learning place for succeeding generations. The village has been developed to convey the wisdom and the spirits of ancestors to both domestic and international tourists. Yunjeong Yang used 2 stamps plus a Christmas or Easter seal. The bug stamp was issued in 2000 while the World Heritage stamp on the right was issued in a set of 2 in 2005. The seal is on the left with the figure skater.

My last card is from Greece and is another one from my brother Dale , who travelled in the area. The card is a map card of Chios island. Chios is the 5th largest of the Greek island. It is located in the Aegean Sea, 7 km from Turkey. The 11th century monastery of Nea Moni , a UNESCO World Heritage Site , is located on the island. A few interesting facts about Chios include these.

• The town of Vrontados is home to a unique Easter celebration, where competing teams of locals gather at the town's two (rival) churches to fire tens of thousands of homemade rockets at the other church's bell tower while the Easter service is going on inside the churches, in what has become known as rouketopolemos ("the Easter church war").
• There is reportedly a "small country church" on Chios that has a family memorial which lists 14 generations of a family, starting at the fifth century BC and going back to the tenth century BC, before there were any written records in Greece.

Dale used a new 2010 stamp issued for 2500th anniversary of The Battle of Marathon.

That is the update for this time. Thanks to all for their cards. And as we postcards collectors say, keep those cards coming and we'll always have something to blog about.
One more thing, congrats to Ana , who writes My World of Postcards at http://thewholeworldatyourhands.blogspot.com for receiving not 1 but 4 written, stamped and posted cards from Tristan da Cunha. I bet some of you will have to look that one up. A card sent from Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, Tristan da Cunha is like The Holy Grail of postcards. Believe me, they are hard to get, much like cards from Nauru, St. Helena, Pitcairn Islands and Wallis and Futuna. I have been trying for Nauru and Wallis and Futuna for 4 years now and can't seem to get to first base with either.
Oh well, that's what keeps me going. Take care.

Forth Rail Bridge, Hong Kong at Night, Ephesus and The Acropolis

I have four cards for today, to end off the week. They come from Scotland, Hong Kong , and Greece. One of the two cards posted from Greece is actually a Turkish card.

The first card for today is from Scotland. Sent by David , it shows a superb view of Forth Rail Bridge. This bridge is a cantilever bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It connects Edinburgh with Fife. It was opened on 04 March 1890. It is 2,528.7 m long. David used 2 Machin definitives from 2010 and 1 of the 2010 Christmas stamps.

Card number 2 shows us the lights and skyline of Hong Kong at night. It certainly looks like a lively place. A Postcrosser named Sandy sent this card along. She used 3 nice stamps, including a 2006 definitive , from a set of 16 featuring birds. The other 2 were issued in 2010. The middle stamp is from a set of 4 showing Hong Kong through the eyes of a child and the one on the right is 1 of 6 celebrating Railways centenary. It seems that many countries are issuing train stamps this year.

Cards 3 and 4 are both compliments of my brother Dale. The one showing the front portion of the Celsius Library , he picked up in Ephesus, Turkey.The Library was built between AD110 and Ad 135. The ruins in Ephesus is one of the greatest archaeological sites. Ephesus is located near the present day Selcuk, Turkey and at one time was a main center of Christianity. Both St. Paul and the Apostle John lived in the city.
This card was posted from Greece, hence the Greek stamp. It is a 2010 issue, 1 of 4 issued for the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon.

The final card shows The Parthenon sitting atop the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a flat-topped rock that rises 150m above sea level in the city of Athens. It was added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. This card is a prepaid card, with just an imprint on the back . It is also a maxi card with a similar stamp to the card , on the front. The stamp is from a 2009 set of 6 World Heritage sites issue.
That's it for today, and this week. Thanks to David, Sandy and Dale for their cards.
Take care.

Senglea, The Sphinx, Leh City and Sig the Troll

Here I am again, back on the blog. With all the preparations for Christmas, it is tough to find the time. But here we go, with four cards . They come from Malta, Egypt , India and The U.S.A.

Card # 1 is from Malta and shows a view from the sea of Senglea. This is a fortified city in the east of Malta. It is often called Civitas Invicta, because it managed to resist the Ottoman Invasion of 1565. The city is famous for the miraculous statue of Jesus Christ the Redeemer, located in the Senglea Basilica. With an area of 0.2 square km and a present population of around 3500, it was at one time the most densely populated town in Europe. In the photo on the card, to the left, is the Church of St. Lawrence, formerly the Church of the Knights of Malta. This card and the next card are from my brother Dale , who has been touring Europe since mid November. Actually today , he is in Morocco. Dale used a 2008 commemorative , showing a door knocker, 1 of a set of 4.

Here is Dale's next card, sent from Egypt. It shows us the Great Sphinx and one of the three pyramids in Giza. Giza is the 3rd largest city in Egypt and on the west bank of the Nile River, 20 km southwest of Cairo. The Great Sphinx is the largest monolith statue in the world. It is thought to have been constructed between 2558 and 2532 BC. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the 3 pyramids in Giza. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Again, it is thought to have been constructed over a 20 year period ending around 2560 BC. Unfortunately I couldn't find any info about the stamps that Dale used. The larger one was issued in 2008 and pictures De Klerk. That's all I know.

Now a card from India and I don't get too many of these. The front of the card has a view of Leh City in winter. Located in Jammu and Kashmir state , Leh City is dominated by the ruined Royal Palace. Leh has a population of 27,000 plus and is at an altitude of 3524 meters. Again I didn't have any luck with the stamps.

My final card is from Minot , North Dakota. It shows Sig the Troll and let me say , he's one ugly dude. The card is published by the Scandinavian Heritage Assoc of Minot, N.D. The troll is a gift from Sigdal, Norway. Ria sent this card and she says that she operates a postcard blog called Ria's Postcard and Stamp Collecting. You can find her at http://rias-postcard-and-stamps.blogspot.com . Ria used a nice 2008 Wisdom stamp. Wisdom by Lee Lawrie is perhaps the most famous piece of art at Rockefeller Center.

That is today's update. Hope to be here again tomorrow. take care. Comments ?