The First Post of 2011

Welcome to 2011's first update. Tuesday was the first mail delivery day since New Year's Eve. I started writing this piece Wednesday afternoon. Took a break to watch the Canada Russia final of The IIHF World Junior hockey game. Well that turned into a real disaster for Canada, guess I should have continued on with the blog. It's now Thursday afternoon and I should get this finished soon. What did I find in the mailbox Tuesday- 7 postcards, not a bad way to start of the year. Cards arrived from Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Germany, Estonia, and Australia to name a few .

Let's start with the card from Italy. It has a great picture on the front of Cinque Terre, a rugged portion of the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre or The Five Lands is composed of five villages. Shown on this card is Manarola. The villages and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was added to the list in 1997. The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Trains and boats connect the villages but cars cannot reach it from the outside; however it is a very popular tourist destination. Just looking at the card, I can easily see why. It is certainly on the list of places I would love to see one day. Dale wrote this card way back on Dec 5th. It has been on the go quite a while. A recent women definitive was used.

Next up is Macedonia. This card is quite the surprise, coming from Ana. Ana and I have swapped dozens of cards over the years, but this one is still a first for both of us. We are both members of PostCrossing and as such we have sent and received cards from just about everywhere. Of course as members we really don't have a say who we send cards to or who we receive cards from. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, this is the first time Ana has sent an official Postcrossing card to someone she has swapped with and the same goes for me, first official card from someone that I have swapped with. Ana's card shows me my first view of Kokino Megalithic Observatory in the northeastern Republic of Macedonia. Discovered in 2001 it is at 1030 m above sea level and covers an area of a 100 meter radius. It is more than 3800 years old. It includes special stone markers used to tract the movement of the Sun and the Moon on the eastern horizon. Kokino has been nominated to be included on UNESCO's World Heritage Site list. NASA included Kokino on its list of ancient observatories in 2005, putting it in the company of Abu Simbel, Stonehenge and Angkor Wat. Ana used a wonderful and beautiful set of 2 stamps featuring Kokino from 2007. Thanks Ana , it was a delight to get your card.

Card # 3 comes from Poland. Sorry, but I couldn't find any information about what's on this card. However Lidka did use a number of good stamps. The top left stamp id from a set of 6 flora and fauna stamps issued in 2001. This one shows a Lynx. The other two are from a set of 4 Locomotives issue of 2002. The four make quite a nice set, one that would look good in my collection. I seem to be receiving more and more locomotive stamps lately. They all look good though .

I'm not sure at this point if you will actually be able to see my next card. It comes from Germany and wishes me Merry Christmas. It is a completely white card with a star cut in the top center , with the words Frohe Weihnachten near the bottom. Merry Christmas to you Tanja for sending this card. She lives near Cologne and at the time of writing the card, she says they have 40 cm of snow and everything was in chaos. I believe her , the stories on the news were nightmarish. Oh well, it reminds me of a small sign in my lovely Teena's garden which says "its takes winter to make spring ". Tanja used a number of stamps including a tulip definitive, and 2 others from 2009 issued for universal post.

Now for the Estonia card. Maria sent it from Tallinn. Maria says the card shows the smallest building in the Old Town of Tallinn. Located directly in front of The Holy Ghost Church, the small red building now houses a chocolate shop. The church dates from 1316. The stamp is 1 of 2 issued for Christmas 2010.

The final card this time is from Australia. It shows a scene from Walhalla. Located just over 2 hours east of Melbourne, Walhalla is a small historic township in the Gippsland District of Victoria. The area is blessed with raw, natural beauty and it's location is the reason people from all over the world visit Australia's "Valley of the Gods ". Johanna used 1 of 5 stamps issued in 2010 commemorating the 1942 Kokoda Campaign of Papua New Guinea.

I think that's it for postcards this time , but I do have a few other tidbits that I want to leave with you.
# 1 I just want to mention Michael's two blogs and I think that you might enjoy vistiting either or both. His first is called cddstamps on stamps and you can find it at http://cddstamps.blogspot.com where he writes about stamps , stamp collecting and philately. His other site is called cddstamps on aviation & aerophilately. This one you can find at http://cddstamps.wordpress.com . He always has something interesting and every now and then , some sort of quiz or contest. I have received numerous stamps, covers, postcards from Michael for taking part in his contests. Give him a shot , you won't be disappointed .

#2 Another blog that I highly recommend is Eric's called My Philately. It can be found at http://my-philately.blogspot.com . Of particular interest is his Monday Jan 03,2011 update entitled The Future of Our Hobby. Here he give a list of 5 good Philatelic Resolutions. These should be of interest to all stamp collectors, philatelists, cover collectors or postcard collectors. We all need to do our part. Finally Eric has said what many of us just think or feel.

#3 The final blog I would like you to have a look at is Don Schilling's The Stamp Collecting Round-up. You can find it at www.stampcollectingroundup.blogspot.com . Sorry, but I couldn't make the link work for Don's blog, don't know why, but just type it in and have a look see. Look at his Sat, Jan 01,2011 entry. He also has some Philatelic New Year Resolutions. Anyone interested in stamps, covers or postcards can't go wrong with these.

Sorry to go on and on here but if I encourage just one person with this , then it's worth it. So, have a look , and leave a comment on any of the blogs mentioned or on this one. It just lets the writers know someone is reading.