2015's First and 2014's Last

I guess I'm a little late, but Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2015 is a great year for all postcard and stamp collectors and bloggers. May you receive lots of postcards. A new year often means resolutions - I thought of a few beforehand but as always never pushed the idea. I thought it would be good to update this blog every day in 2015 - not going to happen. I thought about writing and sending a postcard every day - too expensive. I think I will settle for visiting and reading at least one postcard or stamp blog every day this year. That one doesn't really seem too difficult to do. So there. Now on to postcards.

I have 3 cards for this time. Cards 1 and 2 are the last 2 cards I received in the mailbox in 2014. They both arrived on December 31st . The third card is the first card received in 2015. It arrived yesterday.

This first card is from the United States, postmarked in Syracuse , N.Y.  It is in fact a Russian Christmas postcard dating from 1983. I'm impressed that someone  would take time on Christmas Day to write a postcard out to me. Thanks Joe. Happy New Year to you and your family. 

Joe used 3 USA Forever stamps from 2014. One with Santa, one with Rudolph and one with Bumble. There is a 4th stamp in the set, one featuring Hermey. They commemorate the longest running holiday special in TV history. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is a Christmas television special that first aired on December 6, 1964.  It has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest running Christmas TV special in history. 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the television special and a series of postage stamps featuring Rudolph was issued by the United States Postal Service on November 6, 2014. 

 Today's second card shows the artwork of Ben Houstie and it's entitled Hummingbirds. 
Ben's works include: original paintings, limited edition prints, carved cedar rattles and paddles. He has worked with Cheryl Hall, Robert Hall, David Gladstone and Beau Dick, and in 1988 worked under Bill Reid painting several drums of Bill's designs and 20 paddles for the Canadian Museum of Civilzation, Ottawa. His first painting in 1977 and his first limited edition prints in 1987 were sold to Leona Lattimer Gallery. Ben also painted several reconstructed artworks in 2000 for the Museum of Anthropology's 'The Transforming Image' exhibition, at the University of British Columbia.

My Lovely Teena sent this card to me . We recently visited the town of Chemainus. 
Chemainus is a community on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Founded as an unincorporated logging town in 1858,Chemainus is now famous for its 39 outdoor murals. This outdoor gallery has given birth to many businesses, including a theatre, antiques dealers, and eateries. The tourist industry stemming from the murals helped rejuvenate the town after its large sawmill closed in the early 1980s and was replaced by a smaller but far more efficient mill. Here's another interesting fact about Chemainus - On 13 January 2006, a Boeing 737 aircraft was sunk off the coast in order to build an artificial reef. The sinking was documented in "Sinking Wings", an episode of the Discovery Channel Series, Mega Builders.
Teena used a Shania Twain stamp on this card. It's from a set of 5 Canadian Country Artists stamps issued July 31, 2014. Other singers in the set included k.d.lang, Tommy Hunter, Hank Snow and Renee Martel.

Now for the first card received this year. It's from Thailand and arrived with another fine selection of Thai stamps. It is of the railway station at Hua Hin ,  one of eight districts of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, located in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula. Its capital, also named Hua Hin, is a beach resort town. The district has a population of 84,883 in an area of 911 km². Hua Hin is on the southern rail route originating in Bangkok and ending in Singapore. Trains run through to the south of the country and link directly with Malaysia.The railway station is thought by some to be Thailand's most beautiful train station. The wooden building used to be a royal pavilion in Sanamchan Palace, Nakhon Pathom Province. It was rebuilt at Hua Hin in 1968.

This is another fine card sent by Jobbo, his 3rd, all of which have been loaded with great stamps.The 3 large stamps all feature The Princess Mother . People unfamiliar with the Kingdom of Thailand and its history, often wonder why the King's Mother is called Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother instead of the Queen Mother, as is done in Great Britain. Married to a Royal Prince, a son of King Chulalongkorn and Queen Sawang Wattana, she was never Queen. She is, however, the mother of two kings; the late His Majesty King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the present highly respected and greatly loved King of Thailand. She is best remembered for leading mobile medical teams - composed entirely from unpaid volunteers - into the rural hinterlands and hilltop villages untouched by modern medical practices. The large vertical stamp on the left was issued in 2011 on the occasion of her 111th birth date. The middle stamp was issued in 2000 and the stamp on the right was issued in 1996. Jobbo also included a couple of recent flag definitives. A great card with great stamps - keep them coming Jobbo.

 

Well , that's how 2015 started here on GemsWorldPostcards. I'm looking forward to another banner year with lots of great postcards , arriving with great stamps , from many great places. Thanks today go out to Joe, Jobbo and My Lovely Teena. I'd like 2015 to become known as The Year of the Comment, and you can help make that a reality. If you have read this, leave a comment and let me know what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like , or how I can improve the blog. Until next time, take care.