It's Springtime In Alberta

Yes, the calendar tells me it's spring today, the t.v people say it's spring, but how come the weather department doesn't know ? We are experiencing an Alberta Clipper today,  with snow , blowing snow and reduced visibilities all over. The temperature is - 3 and with the wind , it feels like -12. The next days won't be much better, with temperatures between -9 and -17 with flurries. So I ask - where is spring ?

Anyway it's on to postcards. My first card comes from Pinegowrie, a suburb of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. The card shows Union Buildings in Pretoria. They are the official seat of the SA government and house the office of the President. The Union Buildings  are built at the highest point of South Africa's capital city, Pretoria. They were designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1908, building began in 1909 and was completed in 1913.  In 1994 the buildings were the scene of much jubilation as they played host to the inauguration of former President Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected President, and heralded the beginning of a new era in South Africa's history.

 The Union Buildings were 100 years old in 2013 and as such were the subject of 2 M/sheets of stamps containing a total of 20 different stamps. Bruce used 2 of the 20 on his card. The longer one on the right is a view very similar to the picture on the postcard.

Today's second card comes from Sumy, Ukraine. Sumy is a city on the Psel River in Ukraine.  As of 2004, the city's population was 283,700.  Sumy is located in the northeast part of Ukraine, well away from Crimea , but quite near the border with Russia. Nina's card shows an old Russian steam locomotive.

 Nina's stamps include definitives from 2012 showing Trees and Fruits, along with a stamp issued for EURO 2012 Football.

An A380 Airbus is shown at Frankfurt Airport on this next card.  The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner.
The A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and entered commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. As of February 2014 Airbus has received 324 firm orders and delivered 124 aircraft. Emirates has the most A380s on firm order with 140 as of January 2014. The first aircraft, MSN003, (registered as 9V-SKA) was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October 2007 with flight number SQ380 between Singapore and Sydney . Passengers bought seats in a charity online auction paying between $560 and $100,380.

Emirates was the second airline to receive the A380 and commenced services between Dubai  and New York in August 2008. Qantas  followed on 19 September 2008, starting flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles in October 2008. By the end of 2008, 890,000 passengers had flown on 2,200 flights totalling 21,000 hours. In February 2009, the one millionth passenger was flown with Singapore Airlines and by May of that year 1,500,000 passengers had flown on 4,200 flights totalling 41,000 hours.Air France received its first A380 in October 2009. Lufthansa received its first A380 in May 2010. By July 2010, the 31 A380s then in service had transported 6 million passengers on 17,000 flights totalling over 156,000 hours between 20 international destinations.
Airbus delivered the 100th A380 on 14 March 2013 to Malaysia Airlines.

 ^{I am happy to say that I have in my collection an A380 First Flight cover that was flown on that first commercial A380 flight, SQ380 / 25 Oct 2007 from Singapore to Sydney. It is compliments of Mr Michael Dodd who carried it on that historic flight.  Michael operates cddstamps and you can find his site here .   Now here's that cover.}

Chrissy used a flower definitive and a stamp commemorating the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. It was issued in 2013 and is 1 of 2 in the set.

Who said " You're deth-picable! " ? If you said Daffy Duck, you're correct and he is the subject of my next card. The card is actually a reproduction of the 1999 U.S. Daffy Duck stamp.

Kim from new Jersey used a number of stamps on this one. The card is a prestamped postcard with the 1999 Daffy Duck stamp printed on it. Kim also used the Wood Duck stamp, the Frederick Douglas 1995 stamp and a Circus stamp.

That is the update for this time. Thanks  going out to Bruce, Nina, Chrissy, Kim and to Michael. Be sure to check out Michael's stamps and covers . I'm sure you'll find something you like.  

Thanks for dropping by. Do come again. Now I'm going out and enjoy spring - shovel the snow that's fallen in the walk and driveway.