Elephants, The Colosseum, Merry Christmas in a Mirror, and Three Soviet Dogs

Well the update title above certainly tells what is to come, but not quite all. In addition I have my long awaited and overdue monthly postcard stats report for November. I know you all eagerly await that. The four postcards of this update come to us from Sri Lanka, Italy, China and Russia.

The card from Sri Lanka was sent by Ravindra. He collects postcards of lighthouses, trains and vintage cars. His card shows four elephants in Vala National Park. The park is located in the southeast region of the island bordering the Indian Ocean. Established in 1938, the park has elephants, leopards, sloth bears, wild boars and sambhurs. Ravindra used 3 great stamps. The two top stamps celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous People which was held on August 9, 2010. The large colorful stamp on the bottom honors Singapore 2010, the first Youth Olympic Games and Sri Lanka's participation in them.

My second card for today is from Italy and shows a view of The Colosseum. It is from my brother Dale who is touring that part of the world , among others. It's the second card from Dale, who sent an earlier one from Venice. The stamp is a 2004 definitive of the women set started in 2001.

The next card is the third Christmas postcard that has arrived so far this season. It comes from Shanghai, China. Judith , a Postcrosser over there sent this card . The picture on the card is kind of neat. Merry Christmas appears written on a car's side mirror, covered in snow. Miniature Christmas trees are perched on top of the mirror. Judith used a 2008 stamp from a special Happy New Year sheet that contained 2 stamps and 4 labels.

Now , the last card of today comes from Russia. The card is over 40 years old , it was issued in the old Soviet Union in 1968. pictured on the card are 3 soviet dogs and fine looking dogs they are. Irina, who lives in Rostov on Don, in the south of Russia sent this card. She is originally from Uzbekistan and is planning to visit there soon. It seems that sending me a card from either Tashkent or Samarkand is high on her list. I hope so. Irina used a 2009 definitive from the set of 12 Kremlin issue.

Thanks to Ravindra, Dale, Judith and Irina for today's cards. Without them I'd be blog less.
The last thing for today, my November postcard report. I received a total of 38 postcards , of which 31 were from Postcrossers. I mailed out 27 postcards and 24 went to Postcrossers. Again, no new country was added to my collection. That is 3 months straight now without a new country. To quote George Costanza from Seinfeld, "I need help here. "

Take care.