Return From .................

I'm finally here, live or maybe alive would be better. It's been quite a while, my last update was April 7th . Wow, more than a month ago.  Some of you know that I was away and that takes care of 25 days. I returned home on May 5th . The rest of the time I have been sick, ill,  not well , or all of the above. I have been to the doctor 3 times , been on 4 medications , yesterday was my best day since returning home. Today is another good day. Looking forward to tomorrow and every day after. I haven't seen my kids or my grand kids since I returned , so am definitely looking forward to that. Must have picked up some form of cruise ship bug. That's enough about me. You didn't come here to read about me, it's postcards you were looking for.

When I returned I found 54 postcards in the mailbox, there wasn't room for too many more.  And, of course I posted a few cards while away. 83 cards in fact  . I managed to find postcards, stamps and post offices or a postbox  in each port we stopped. A total of 13 places to post from. All I can say is , look in your mail box., you never know.

So let's get to today's goodies. First up is a card from Bhutan, "Land of  Happiness ". It shows a Drukair Royal  Bhutan Airlines Airbus A319 on the runway , possibly at Paro Airport. David sent this card from Thimphu back in February .














The extra specialness of the card is the postage that David used. The actual stamp contains  a CD-Rom . It is a video promoting the country. It was issued in 2008 as the world's first CD-Rom stamp. All stamp collectors know that there are some strange items out there listed as stamps, 3D stamps, hologram stamps , stamps made of wood or metal, stamps that give off a smell, stamps with bits of rock, wood or crystal embedded . These are all good and collectible to who ever takes a liking to them. Myself, I have a fine collection of the Holograms stamps. The thing is , we rarely , if ever,  see these types of stamps used or fulfilling this role of carrying the mail. I'm happy to report that this Bhutan CD-Rom stamp did its postal duty. The postmark or cancellation is quite visible in the lower left corner, datestamped  25. 02. 13 . A fine and rare addition to my collection. Thanks David. Check out David's great postcard blog called Postcards A World Travelogue .




My second card for today is from Singapore. The Singapore Philatelic Museum in fact. Every year the museum has a children's exhibition of postcards based on the current Chinese New Year. Since this year is the Year of the Snake, the exhibition is entitled Snakes and Ladders. Every year through Postcrossing the museum asks members to send a postcard theme related. If you include your name and address, you get a card back from the museum. Hence my card.

 

The card arrived with a nice, clear cancellation of The Singapore Philatelic Museum on a stamp from 2009. It is 1 of 7 stamps in a Sculptures set.

 
 
Here's a card of a 1958 photo of a Sabena Douglas DC7. I wonder why this lady is out strolling around the airfield by herself. Don't think you can do that today.

 

Johan of Belgium sent this one along. He used a Belgian Chocolate stamp from a set of 5 in a m/sheet. I couldn't really smell the chocolate , guess I don't have quite enough imagination. Be sure to give Johan's postcard blog a look , it's called Johan Postcards . 
Here's the chocolate stamp, can you smell it ?

This next card is a photo of a painting by Macadonian artist Tomo Vladimirski ( 1904-1971). A very nice painting, but I really don't know if it actually has a name.

Ana used 3 large stamps on this card, 1 of them, the one on the far right represents another of Tomo Vladimirski's works. The stamp on the left is from 2006, 1 of 4 in a Famous Persons set. The middle and right stamps were both issued in 2004 , 2 of them in a Paintings set. Don't forget Ana's blog, My World of Postcards


Two more to go.  Saba is up next. Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. Mount Scenery ( 870 m ) is located on Saba, and is the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Saba is one of the BES islands along with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius. The three now form  the Caribbean Netherlands.

Jean Pierre used a 2012 Caribbean Netherlands stamp.

Now here's the last card for this time. It comes from Bruce from South Africa.. It's of a very flashy painted South African Airways B747. It was commissioned to commemorate the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The SAA Boeing 747 bears the colours of the SA Flag along with the hopes and dreams of The Rainbow Nation. It was used to transport South Africa's athletes to the '96 Summer games in Atlanta. It's another great addition to my Airlines/Aircraft on Postcards Collection.    



Bruce used a 2010 definitive from the Handicrafts set of 27.

  

So ends another update. It's good to get this one up and running after such a long time away. Thanks to Bruce, Jean Pierre, Ana, Johan, David and The Singapore Philatelic Museum for these cards.  

Please come back again soon, I promise my next update won't take near so long. 

Take care.