Cards From Here, There and Everywhere

Hello again postcard people. It's been just over a week , so it's definitely time for a new update.  I have cards from all around for today. They have arrived from Macedonia, Alberta and British Columbia in Canada, Croatia, Oregon in the U.S., Taiwan, Kazakhstan, and Finland.  That's quite an assortment. Now, let's get to it. Macedonia is first up. Ana's card is from Veles, a city of just over 43,000 in the center of the Republic of Macedonia, located on the Vardar river. The area has a long checkered history, having been inhabited for over a millennium. The city was once a Bulgarian city, then a part of the Serbian Empire, and later a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before its present status as part of the Republic of Macedonia. Veles is a city of poetry, culture and history as well as a place with precious heritage and centuries old churches. On Ana's card , you can see a number of different views of the city.

Ana used 2 stamps, the one on the left is from a set of 2 called Handicrafts issued in 2014 and the other stamp is 1 of 4 in a 2001 Costumes set.

Be sure to check out Ana's postcard blog, which you can find right  here .


The Trans Canada Highway is next. The longest highway system in the world, even more than the Trans Siberian or Highway 1 in Australia. It is 7,821 km from east to west, or St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, taking in all 10 provinces. It opened in July 1962 but was not completed until 1971. The card I have shows the T.C.H ,as we Canadians call it, going through the prairies where it is a wide open driving experience. It's not all wide open prairie of course - driving across Canada you'll see rivers, lakes, mountains, valleys , waterfalls and even go through tunnels and some places you'll even have to take a ferry or two. But be assured, you'll see and enjoy lots of fantastic scenery along with many , many attractions that you won't see anywhere else.

 

A Postcrosser from Alberta called Snowyalberta sent this card along. The stamp is one that was issued April 13th of this year. It is 1 of 5 in a set called Dinos of Canada.

A card from Zagreb, Croatia is next. Now  I wrote some about Zagreb back on July 4th so I won't go there again. However this time I'll tell you about a music festival held there. It's the INmusic Festival, Croatia's biggest international open air festival. Held annually since 2008, it takes place on Youth Island in the middle of Lake Jarun. Now I looked up this year's list of music acts and I can safely say I only heard of one - Of Monsters and Men. Guess I'm not tuned in as much to today's music any more. Anyway, here's Ana's

card from red-roofed Zagreb.

Ana used a new 2015 stamp . It is from a set of 4 entitled Undersea World. I scanned it as a horizontal stamp, but I now believe it should be vertical, so you might have to tip your head a little.

A little bit of "Olde England ". Victoria's distinctive tour buses await the visitor outside the Empress Hotel, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Victoria is the capital of B.C. , and located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The Empress Hotel opened in Victoria in 1908. It has 477 rooms , with most overlooking the city's Inner Harbour. It was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. For many years the hotel did not have a sign above the front entrance. As workers raised a sign, one gentleman was overheard saying "Anyone who doesn't know this is The Empress, shouldn't be staying there " .  
The hotel is famously known for its Classic Victorian afternoon tea service. The hotel serves tea, with sandwiches, scones, preserves and cream in its Tea Room to more than 800 guess and tourists daily. Afternoon Tea is priced at $60.00 per person and reservations are often required on or two weeks in advance. On a personal note , My Lovely Teena and I have enjoyed a stay at The Empress , but we passed on the Afternoon Tea .

This is another card that My Lovely Teena wrote and sent to me, as she always does when ever we travel somewhere. We recently went down to Victoria for the day. Teena used 5 of the Beneficial Insects definitives and 1 of the set of 5 Photography self adhesive stamps from 2010.

Nice to see that Canada Post in Victoria used a special  cancel showing Fisgard Lighthouse. It was built in 1860 and was the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada.

This next card is for all you sailors out there. It's two fine sailing ships, the Altair and the Thendara. The Altair was built in 1931 and is 40.78 m in length. The Thendara is a little smaller at 36.5 m and was built in 1936. Both fine racing schooners are for sale at 6 million Euros and 4.7 million  Euros respectively. Go for it.

Jenny from Oregon sent this card and used just a multitude of stamps on it. Some are definitives, some are Forever stamps and one is a commemorative. From left to right we have : the 2007 Silver Coffeepot, the 2004 Chippendale Chair, the 2003 American Clock, 1 of 2 in the Project Mercury issue of 2011 - featuring Alan Shepard- First American In Space, then it's 1 of 7 from the 2014 set of 7 Flag & Fireworks issue, a $1.00 Patriotic Waves stamp from 2015, another American Clock and finally the 2007 American Toleware stamp.

This next card may have arrived from Taiwan but the picture is all American. It's a Time Life picture from 1950 by Alfred Eisenstaedt called Pied Piper of Ann Arbor. On it we see a uniformed drum major for the University of Michigan marching band practicing his high-kicking prance as he leads a line of seven admiring children who all are trying to imitate his flamboyant technique while marching across the campus lawn.

Gina , who got this card from a Life Magazine exhibition in Taipei, used 2 Berries and Flowers stamps. The stamp on the left is from a set of 4 Berries definitives and the right stamp is from a set of 4 Flowers definitives issued in 2009.

I haven't received many cards from Kazakhstan so when one arrives I have to show it. This is just my 3rd  card from that country in over 9 years of collecting. Nadin's card shows the Radisson Hotel and some other skyline along the Ishim River in Astan, the capital of the country.

Nadin used 3 copies of a Famous Person stamp from the 2014 set of 3. This stamp celebrates poet Ilyas Zhansugurov. He was the first president of the Writers' Union of Kazakhstan. He was seen as a threat to Russia and as fuel for Kazakh Nationalism and was shot on February 26, 1938.

 

Here's a Finland card . I'm really just showing this one so I can show the really nice stamp that arrived on it. Here's the card.

Now the stamp . Eija used a 2015 Golden Swan stamp.

Just a beautiful stamp, no ?

Last card for this time. It's Mill Creek Bridge , a 1907 covered bridge over Wabash Mill Creek southwest of Tangier, Indiana, U.S.A.  The bridge is also known as Tow Path Bridge or Earl Ray Bridge.

Faith used a 2015 Forever stamp on her card. It is from the set of 2 Civil War - Battle of Five Forks issue.

Now I'm not one to talk as many of you know, and no offense to Faith who sent the Mill Creek card , but I'm partial to the Hartland Covered Bridge, in Hartland , New Brunswick, Canada. It is the world's longest covered bridge , at 1,282 feet long. It opened on July 4, 1901 and crosses the Saint John River from Hartland to Somerville, New Brunswick. The bridge was declared a National Historic Site in 1980. A Canadian stamp was issued in 1995 honouring the Hartland Bridge.

Here's the bridge and the stamp.

 

So there you go. A rather long update, so long in fact , I started it yesterday. But it has ended well. Hope I didn't lose anyone because it was so long. Thanks for cards go out to Snowyalberta, Ana times 2, My Lovely Teena, Jenny, Gina, Nadin, Eija and Faith.  Thanks for reading, don't be shy - leave a comment and tell me what you think about this blog or anything else on your mind.
Take care, drop back again soon.