Last of the February Updates

Today is the last day of February and this will be the last update for February. My cards today are a varied lot, chocolates, penguins, ladies, a mailbox, planes and a Sri Lanka Spurfowl. They come from Croatia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, B.A.T., Ireland and Sri Lanka. That's a lot of cards, seven, I don't usually do that many in a single update, mostly because I'm a little afraid that readers like yourself may lose interest after 4 or 5 cards. I'll try 7 and see how it goes, maybe I'll be the one to lose interest. Then, on top of those cards , I'm starting a new feature that I'll put at the end of this update. More about that later.

Card # 1-- Something to make your mouths water , a nice display of delicious Belgian chocolates.   Lara, a young Postcrosser from Belgium sent this fine selection along. 










Lara used a 2011 stamp from a foil booklet of 5 called Highlights of Belgium.








Card #2-- A nose view of a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 is next. What to say about a 747- big, impressive , great to fly in, and safe . When I'm at an airport, and a B747 drives by, I always stop and take a look.

Vladimir, who hails from Croatia sent this card. This is Vladimir's 2nd entry to this blog. He used 2 recent 2012 stamps. The left stamp celebrates 400 years of the Greek Catholic Church. The right stamp is the most recent Christmas/New Year stamp from Croatia. Just noticed , there's a third stamp on this one. Lower left, is a 1991 airmail or airpost stamp, issued for the Zagreb-Spilt air route.

 

 Card # 3 -- This card of a young lady and her dog comes from Germany.

Jessica used a 2012 Welfare semi-postal stamp on this one. It is 1 of 3 in a set of Gemstones.

















Card # 4 -- This next lady is from Japan. Mari from Tokyo wrote that it was quite cold the day she prepared this card. I guess it would be if one is sitting around like the lady on the card. Now, I have no idea what is written on the left side of the card, all I hope is that it isn't offensive to anyone. 









Mari used 2 flower stamp on her card.





Card # 5 -- Another postbox for my collection. This one is from Ireland, courtesy  of David. The card describes it as an Irish lamp letter box, still found on country roads- a silent servant and symbol of the state. 















David used a new 2013 stamp celebrating The Gathering Ireland 2013. The Gathering is a series of events and festivals to celebrate Irish culture, history, and genealogy.











Card # 6--The card says Falkland Islands but it not actually from The Falklands, though it passed through The Falklands twice. It is postmarked Signy, British Antarctic Territory. Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. Signy Research Base is run by the British Antarctic Survey. This is another of the cards that I handed in at the Stanley , Falkland Islands post office way back on March 15th, 2012.  I found it is my mailbox on Feb 25th , 2013 , that's 347 days after posting it. It was postmarked in Signy on Jan 20th, 2013. When I handed in this card in Stanley, it was 1 of 4 that I prepared for 4 research bases in Antarctica, the other 3 were Rothera, Halley and Port Lockroy.  3 of the 4 have now returned to me, the only outstanding one is Halley, but I still have hope.  

The stamp on this one is from a 2011 set of 6 Research Ships. On this one we can see the RSS Shackleton.

Last card ( in a way ) -- A card showing one of A. Felix J. Perera's photographs. This one shows a Sri Lanka Spurfowl, although I compared it to other spurfowl online and it just didn't look quite like a Sri Lanka Spurfowl. But I guess Perera and the card producers know more that I do.    So here it is .

Dr. Mikram used 3 great stamps on this card. They are 3 of 10 in a 2011 World Tourism Day set.








Now as I mentioned at the beginning, I am starting a new feature today. From today, at the end of every update I am going to show an aviation related postcard ( airline or aircraft ) and a single or set of aviation stamps. There won't be a lot of comment about them, I just want to show them and have you comment about them. I know there are others out there that collect this theme, so I hope to hear from you. I won't soon run out of this material, as I have been collecting both the stamps and cards for years.

So here's the first entry on this theme : A Pacific Western Boeing 737 and a 1999 set of 4 stamps from Cuba celebrating Cubana's 70th anniversary. The aircraft on the stamps include a Fokker, a DC-10, a A-320 and a DC-3.Enjoy.   

Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too long . Thanks for cards to Lara, Vladimir, Jessica, Mari, David, and Dr. Mikram.
See you all again in March.

Another February Update

Here we go with another bunch of postcards. Not sure how many I'll get on here today, but we'll play it by ear. Let's start with this large card from Ravindra over in Sri lanka. We have swapped many times and hopefully will continue swapping. The card shows the Awkana Budda Statue. The Avukana statue is a standing statue of the Buddha near Kekirawa in North Central Sri Lanka. The statue, which has a height of more than 40 feet, was carved out of a large granite rock face during the 5th century. I like the slogan on the bottom of the card, "Sri Lanka A Land Like No Other ". That's a good one.




Ravindra used another of the aviation stamps issued in 2012. It is from a set of 4 celebrating the Centenary of Aviation in Sri Lanka. Ravindra used 2 of the set of 4 on an earlier card. Now I just need the 12.00 value stamp showing an Air Ceylon aircraft. My aviation stamp collection grows again.




With this next card , my Aircraft/Airlines postcard collection will grow with another entry. Now the card doesn't say what aircraft type it is , but let me go out on a wing here ( pardon the pun ). I believe it to be a Yakovlev Yak-40, the world's first regional jet, introduced in September  1968. Just over 1000 were built.

 

   Karolina used 2 quite nice stamps on her card. They are from a set of Zoo Animals issued in 2007. They make a great set, but the big cat stamp on the right of my card is outstanding. 

 

My 3rd card for today comes from Indonesia. It is an advertising card of Elyse Taylor, the 26 year old model from Australia. This Victoria Secret's  model was in 2011 named as the face of the surf brand O'neill.  

Maria used 2 of the 3 stamps in the 2012 Year of the Dragon issue. A great set










Here's another transportation postcard, and it's not an aircraft. This one is a train for all you train enthusiasts out there. And I know there are quite a few. This one is an old steam locomotive from the USSR. 

Mira used 2 stamps to get this card across the pond. The one on the left is 1 of 7 is a 2012 set of 7 Wonders of Ukraine.  The vertical stamp on the right is a Vancouver 2010 Olympic
stamp. A set of 4 were issued.


















Bruce from South Africa posted my next card . It is a 1996 Gerald Hoberman photograph of 3 Ndebele people. The South Ndebele people are an African ethnic group located in South Africa and Zimbabwe. My Lovely Teena always manages to spot a card with people on it. She says if she were to collect, people on cards would be her choice. 


Bruce used a 2009 stamp from a set of 10 Dinosaurs in a 3D m/sheet.. A nice sheet to be sure , but I can't quite see the 3D effect.


















Look into my eyes, tell me what you see . Green Eyes is a song by Erykah Badu and also the name of a Coldplay song. All of which has nothing to do with my next card., except  her eyes are definitely green. She will remain a mystery to me. 



Corine used a new 2012 train stamp celebrating 100 years of service of the Alpine railway, the Mittenwaldbahn.


















Hey another card from Germany and the same train stamp . It's a beautiful card of a MIAT , Mongolian Airlines aircraft flying high over the mountains. I last wrote about a Mongolian Airlines card back on Feb4th of this year. That card came from The Netherlands. A short time ago , I have no Mongolian Airlines postcards in my collection, now in just 3 weeks I have two of them. Here's the latest one.  As I mentioned Veronika used the same railway stamp so no need to show it again.

Today's last card is a 1991 black and white photo by Philippe Pache. It's entitled "A Graceful Assist". A ballerina executing a graceful move.

Tuula used a Fashion stamp from 2009. It is 1 of 5 values in a m/sheet.























That wraps up this update. Thanks for cards to Tuula, Veronika, Corine, Bruce, Mica, Maria , Karolina and Ravindra. Eight cards, now that's not a bad day. You may have heard the expression, take a penny, leave a penny, well here it goes , have a comment, leave a comment. Some might say, a penny for your thoughts, but Canada is phasing out pennies , so I can't really give pennies I might have to round up or down. Canadians know what I'm talking about here.

February's Third

All right, here we go with another postcard update. I have four or five cards for today, so let's get on with it.
My first card this time comes from The Netherlands. Marjon posted her card in the southern Netherlands city of  's-Hertogenbosch, which is home to about 141,000 people. The card shows a little tyke having fun possibly in a sprinkler. Underneath is printed 1000 Wishes.

1,000 Wishes…

The ancient Japanese tradition of senbazuru promises that a person who folds 1000 cranes will be granted a wish, such as long life or recovery from illness. Many times a family or group of people come together to accomplish this labor of love.
The Thousand Origami Cranes has become a symbol of world peace through the story of Sadako Sasaki. Although many stories and variations exist, the most common is that Sadako was a Japanese girl who tried to stave off her death from leukemia as a result of radiation from the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II by making one thousand origami cranes. Having folded only 644 before her death, her friends completed the remaining cranes and buried them with her. (This is only one version of the story. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum states that she did, in fact, complete the 1,000 cranes.)

There is a website about 1000 Wishes where you can submit your wish , be it for love, peace or a new pair of shoes. Have a look here.
 Here's my 1000 Wishes postcard.

 Marjon used 3 different stamps to send this card on its way. The large stamp on the right is a 2012 self-adhesive commemorative highlighting 125 years of Albert Heijn, the leading food retailer in the Netherlands. The small stamp with the candle is from the 2011 Christmas set of 10 different self-adhesives.







Now let's have a look at card # 2. It's a card showing some United States Air Force sights and the motto United ,  We Stand. It'll find a home in my aircraft postcard collection.  Joe , who I have swapped with a number of times, posted this card in Harford, Pennsylvania, a small town of just 18 persons , as of 2012.






A nice selection of stamps on this one, thanks to Joe. The top stamp on the left was issued in 2000 and shows a Los Angeles Class submarine. The top right stamp was issued in 1998 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift and we see a Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft on this one. Bottom right stamp , issued in 1997, commemorates The Marshall Plan. 





My next card is from The Netherlands and is of Queen Beatrix. She has been in the news lately, having announced her abdication , effective on April 30, 2013 after 33 years on the throne. Her son Willem-Alexander will become King. Her Majesty reined for 33 years. Perhaps my next card from The Netherlands will be of the new King. Berna, who sent this card , wrote of the 33 year reign, "It was breathtaking ".

The stamp on this card is a quite common one that I have shown many times before, so we'll leave it at that.


Now for a card showing what many from down under are quite familiar with, but how many see it quite like shown- glowing in an early sunrise. 

Vikki used a nice International Post Phillip Island Road Trip stamp featuring a bunch of penguins. 

This next card is the last for today. It's another entry in my Postbox/Mailbox postcard collection. The sender  Iris wrote that this type of mailbox is not typical of her area, but it is a nice one. The card comes from Hamburg, Germany and the caption says "Mail for you ". The stamp is a common flower definitive that's been shown many times, so no need to do so again.
















Thanks going out to Marjon, Joe, Berna, Vikki and Iris for their cards.
Thanks for reading and any and all comments are welcome, goog or bad.
Take care.

February's Second

I'm back with a few cards for this time. My first card today comes from Spain and gives us a look at the Soller Railway. The railway runs between the towns of Soller and Palma on the island of Mallorca. Work on the 27 km rail line started in 1911 and the railway was opened in 1912. 

Fabienne is the sender of this card. We have swapped cards quite often , however I received this card from my participation in Postcrossing. Fabienne requested a name to send a card to and luckily mine came up. This is actually the second time this has happened. Last year Ana from Macedonia got my name through Postcrossing and sent me a card. Like Fabienne, Ana and I have swapped cards for about 6 years. Fabienne used a number of stamps on her card. The vertical stamp on the left dates from 1958 and was 1 of 6 in a set celebrating the Railway Congress held in Madrid. The Juan Carlos definitive was issued in 2008 and was part of a set of 6. The stamp on the right was issued in 2012 and showcases the Postal Infrastructure of colonial times.

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My second card is also a railway card. This one is the Bluebell Railway and runs 14.5 km along the border between East and West Sussex, England, The steam engine operated railway will be extended to 20 km later this year. It will then link up with the main line at  East Grinstead. Interestingly, Bluebells flower along the tracks of the Bluebell Railway in April and May.





David , a Postcrosser in England used 3 Machin definitives along with a 2012

Landscapes stamp showing Urquhart Castle in Scotland. The landscapes issue has 14 in the set.














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Here's another great Airlines card from Johan in Belgium. It shows passengers loading aboard a Sabena  Belgian World Airlines aircraft. Sabena ( Societe Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aerienne ) was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001. 

Johan of  Johan Postcards sent this card and used a 2011 stamp from a 5 stamp foil booklet called Highlights of Belgium.  Here is the stamp.

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My next card comes from Dominique in France. It gives us a look at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg. Dominique wrote on his card that he collects postcards of Seats of Power, like this one. I will be sending him a card of Canada's seat of power , the Parliament Building in Ottawa.  























Dominique used a recent 2012 stamp with an attached tab. It is a stamp celebrating the Frederic Bartholdi 1880 sculpture  The Lion of Belfort. The sculpture located in Belfort is 22 meters long and 11 meters high. Bartholdi also sculptured The Statue of liberty in New York. The lion symbolizes the heroic French resistance during the Siege of Belfort, a 103 day Prussian assault. Instead of facing Prussia to the east as was intended, it was turned the other way because of German protests.



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I think that's my update for this go round. Thanks for cards go to Dominique, Johan, David and Fabienne. Great cards, great stamps all around. Take care and enjoy your postcards. Later

February's First

Hello February , I know I'm a little late , it's the 4th and I'm only now getting to my first update for this month. I have a few nice cards though so let's get to it.

First up is a card from Madrid, Spain. It is an Iberia Air Lines of Spain card celebrating the Seville Easter Fair. The fair is held in Seville and this year runs from 16 April until 21 April. It has a long history dating all the way back to 1847. The card shows some of the fancy dressed ladies and some riders and their horses associated with the fair. Iberia also saw fit to put a Constellation  on the card, in my opinion, the most beautiful aircraft ever.


Fabienne used a new 2013 stamp celebrating the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. The 2013 World Water Day takes   place on 22 March 2013. 






Yes, another Airline/Airplane postcard. This one comes from The Netherlands, but it is of a Mongolian Airlines Airbus 310-300. Mongolian Airlines is a new addition to my collection. The airline no longer operates this aircraft type. The A310's were retired in 2011 and transferred to the Mongolian Armed Forces. The fleet now consists of only B737s and B767s. Mongolian Airlines ( MIAT) is headquartered in Ulaanbaatar.

Hetty, a Postcrosser from Werkendam sent this card along. She used a number of stamps including 2 of the 2012 Christmas stamps.









Another transportation card, but this time a a train. The Alishan Forrest Railway runs to the Alishan resort in Chiayi County, Taiwan.

Hedy used a number of stamps as shown.  I don't have any info on the two dragon stamps on the right, but the insect stamp on the left is from a set of 4 issued in 2011.











Mr Flower Power is up next. He really is Carl von Linne, Sweden's most famous scientist. The card, arrived from Germany,   was issued in 2007 , the 300th anniversary of his birth in 1707. I found an image very similar to this card online , but I really couldn't understand his nickname , Mr Flower Power.






   Eva used 2 nice and different train stamps , they look alike but they have differences. Both stamps celebrate 125 years of narrow rail service in Harz. The top stamp is the smaller of the 2 and is a self adhesive. The bottom one is the regular water activated issue. As a stamp collector I welcome both .





Now we have 2 views of Singapore. A city often seen on postcards. The images are courtesy of the Singapore Tourist Board.

Ravindra used a Turtle stamp from a nature/animals set of 3 issued in 2011 with the year shown as 2011B. There is a similar stamp in a much larger set of 10 with the year shown as 2011A. 













I think that's a wrap for today. Many thanks for cards to Ravindra, Eva, Hedy, Hetty, and Fabienne. I'll try and get a short update in tomorrow. Take care and enjoy your postcards , etc.