The Last Of and For January

Today's update is the 6th one this month, and also the shortest. I have just one card for today. It is an official PostCrossing card from Taiwan. It's a look at Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan. That's a cool name. The lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan, and the area around Sun Moon Lake is home to the Thao tribe, one of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan. It is said that the east side of the  lake resembles a sun while the west  side resembles a moon. Hence the name.

The stamp is from 2012, 1 of 4 in a Plants and Fruits set.

There you have it, short and sweet. Thanks for dropping by, be sure to do so again. My next blog will be longer that this one. I will be doing Cruising Thru Postcards # 8, my journey thru SE Asia via the postcards I sent home.  Take care.

Still January

Hello again, I'm back with a few more cards . Let's start with this multi view of Luxembourg Airport. Luxembourg Findel Airport is the only airport in the country with a paved runway. It has about 85,000 aircraft movements per year and in 2015 it handled 2.6 million passengers. Luxair and Cargolux have their head offices on the aircraft property. On the card we can see a Loftleider Icelandic jet , an Air Bahama jet and a LX-LGE , a Luxair Caravelle dating from the 1970s.

Meelis used a fine selection of stamps on this card. On the far left is a 2010 definitive of H.R.H. Grand Duke Henri. The 2 stamps at the top were issued in 2009 to celebrate 100 Years of Luxembourg Aviation. Lastly, the stamp at bottom center was issued in 2015 and is 1 of 3 in a Vegetables set.

My next card is from Germany and showcases the water tower in Neverin, a small town of about 1,100 in NE Germany.

 This is an official PostCrossing card and the sender used a new 2017 stamp about the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum. The stamp is from a set of two and shows Johannes Vermeer's " Das Madchen mit dem Weinglas ",  the most famous exhibit in the museum.

Now I have a card from Jakarta, Indonesia. On it we see an old time resident of Bali. I would think she has seen a lot in her time.

Tiki used 3 nice Butterfly stamps from 2016. They are half of a set of 6.

It's movie time next. A movie poster postcard from 1951. It's for director Luis Bunuel's Susana, starring Rosita Quintana as Susana. I haven't seen Susana but I have read that it was a really good film and said by many to be " one of the greatest films of all time " . I guess you'll only be able to verify that by seeing the movie.

Liz from Brooklyn, NYC sent this card and used 3 of the recent 2016 Forever,  Classic Era stamps. They were issued in a set of 6 different.

 Now we have a 1992 picture of Orenburg Tsentralny Airport, located 25 km east of Orenburg.
Orenburg is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast and lies on the River Ural, approximately 1,500 km southeast of Moscow. Its geographical location is in the boundary of Europe and Asia.

Yuliya used a couple of the 2009 Kremlin Building stamps, which I have showed many times before.


Today`s last card arrived from Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the U.S. As the card indicates, apparently Helen ran out of funds. Enough said.

This is a card used for a PostCrossing Meetup Event held at Lake Forest , Illinois , USA on January 1st, 2017. Sadly, I hear the attendance was very poor ! Now the stamps - on the left is a Penguin Additional Ounce , self adhesive Forever stamp. In the middle is a 2016 Love , Forever stamp. On the right, a 2014 Harvey Milk stamp.

There you have it. Another update put to rest. Thanks for cards today go out to Meelis, Titi, Liz, Yuliya.

Now before I sign off , I have some good news. If anyone out there read my rant in my Jan 7 update, here`s a follow-up. Today I received some of those long lost or missing postcards. Arriving today were 3 cards from Thailand and 6 from Viet Nam. That was good. Now I have some faith that the others will arrive soon.
If you look closely, you might even see a big smile on my face.

Continuing With January 2017

Hey there, what's happening ? Looks like another week has come and gone. Now it's time to look at the cards that arrived this past week. Let's start with another one from Swaziland. Again it's the Reed Dance Ceremony as mentioned in my last update.

This is another card from Jean Pierre, sent while on his recent trip down that way. It arrived with a nice selection of  3 stamps. On the left is a Tourism stamp from 1 set of 4 issued in 2008. In the middle is a stamp , also from 2008, highlighting the First Lilangeni Currency. Over on the right is a 2013 stamp showing the new Sikhuphe International Airport. It is 1 of 6 in a set entitled Toward 2022.

Today's second card is also from down that way, South Africa this time. Africa shaped by its animals.

Bruce used a nice Geology themed stamp from 2016. It is 1 of 10 in the set called South African Geology. The one on the card shows Table Mountain World Heritage Site. I think I'll have to look around for this set and pick it up for my son Parker as he is both a stamp collector and a geologist.

A nice aviation themed card is next. A rather different view of a large jet aircraft over a city skyline.

This card is from Anna, a Postcrosser living in Moscow. She used 2 of the often seen definitives from 2009, all featuring Kremlin buildings

Today's last card is a little pin-up number,  again from Russia. A little lady out walking her Cocker Spaniels.

The card is from Natalya, not sure if that's her on the card or not. She lives in Puskin, near Saint Petersburg and she used a couple of nice stamps.  The large bridge stamp was issued in 2010, 1 of a set of 4. This one is the Jubilee Bridge over the river Volga in Yaroslavl. The airplane stamp was issued in 2016, in a set of 4, all commemorating the History of World War I Military Equipment.

There you have it, another update complete. Thanks for today's cards go out to Jean Pierre, Bruce, Anna and Natalya. Remember, I always love to read your comments, not that I get that many though. So , if you got anything to say, here's your chance.
Take care.

More From 2017

I'm sure it's time for another update here. It's been over a week now and I just have to ask myself " where does the time go ? " Anyway here are some recently arrived postcards from here and there.

First up is this card from Myanmar. A nice view of a few temples and ruins. Not to mention the wagon train in the foreground. Looking much like the old west there.

Three nice stamps on this one. On the left is a 2002 stamp celebrating the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons. In the middle is a 1997 stamp celebrating ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Then over on the right is that mystery stamp that I have received a number of times now. Still can't locate any info on it.

My next card is an interesting one. It's a map card and a Postcrossing card all in one. It shows the city of Trstena located right in the center of the card. This card was designed by a student from a Trstena primary school , especially for Postcrossing.

Tatiana, an eleven year old PostCrosser sent this card to me. Sadly she didn't use a stamp but a postage meter from Bratislava.

Today's 3rd card is also from a Postcrosser. This time it's Imane who lives near Paris, but she was vacation in Morocco, so her card arrived from there. That's a nice blue gate in a blue courtyard.

Imane used 2 copies of a 2016 definitive showing King Mohammed VI.

Now here's a card showing the pilgrim house, all decorated for Christmas, in Colmar, France. You'll find lots of great decorations along the streets here. It's also the sight of a beautiful Christmas market.

Dominique used a 2015 stamp here, highlighting St Martial de Lestards Church, the only one in France with a lush thatched roof.

Next up is a card from the Kingdom of Swaziland, showing the Reed Dance Ceremony. This is Swaziland's best known cultural event. In the eight day ceremony, young girls cut reeds, present them to the Queen Mother and then dance in celebration. Up to 40,000 girls take part.

Bruce, who hails from South Africa , was visiting Swaziland and sent this card. On the left is a 2013 stamp showing Sikhuphe International Airport. In the center is a stamp showcasing the First Lilangeni Currency. Over on the right is a Butterfly stamp from 1991.

Time for an Airline/Aircraft card I think. This time it's a Lufthansa Cityliner British Aerospace Avro RJ85. The aircraft , D-AVRM had its first flight on 18 May 1996. It is now operated by Aero Flite as N366AC.

Ravindra used 3 fine stamps on his card. On the top left is one issued in 2014 for the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. On the right is a 2016 stamp celebrating the National Milad-Un-Nabi Festival.
The bottom stamp is a definitive overprint from 2016.

I know you've been waiting , so here's the last card for this time. It arrived from South Africa. It's the Durban beachfront at sunrise.

Interestingly, this card is from Bruce and Jean Pierre, who was visiting. Two nice stamps, on the left is 1 of 5 celebrating Puppetry in South Africa. On the right is , again 1 of 5, showing a Half Collared Kingfisher.

That's it for this time. Good cards from Good people. Thanks to all - Jobbo, Tatiana, Imane, Dominique, Bruce, Ravindra and Bruce & Jean Pierre.

Drop by again , I'll be here.

The First Cards of 2017 and Other Stuff

Hello again. Hope everyone is doing well and keeping any resolutions made. I don't make so I don't break any. Works great for me. It has been  2017 for a week now so it's time to have a look at cards that have arrived this year. So far only three have found their way to my mailbox.
The first one for the year is from France, and it shows the Moulin Rouge in Paris. This famous cabaret dates back to 1889.

This fine card was sent by Dominique and he used a 2015 stamp celebrating Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a town of approximately 2,500 in the south of France.

The second card arrived from the Netherlands and brought Christmas and New Year's greetings from Barbara. I'm not sure if that's Mrs Claus or not on the card. I never pictured her looking quite like that. But she does have a sack of toys over her shoulder , so who knows ? I do think that's Rudolph with her though.

Barbara used a number of different stamps and maybe even a 2015 Christmas Seal. The lower left stamp was issued as a personal Christmas stamp in 2004, or so my catalogue tells me. The top right stamp is a semi-postal Christmas stamp from 2005.  The small one in the top left is the one I believe to be the Christmas seal. If anyone knows for sure, maybe you can leave a comment to that effect.

The third card received so far this year is from Yangon, Myanmar. It's a picture of a historical heritage building, which housed the Yangon Division Courts at one time, I'm not sure if this is still the case or not.

This card was sent by Jobbo. He used a couple of stamps, on the  left is a 2007 stamp from a set of 3 celebrating Myanmar's Constitution. On the right is another mystery stamp. This is the second stamp from this set I have received. Had no information on that one either. I do like the cancellation though " FOREIGN AIR MAIL OUT 12 Dec 2016 " . There's no excuse for mistaking where this card should go.

There it is, that's the 3 new cards for the first week of 2017. Thanks to Dominique, Barbara and Jobbo.

Now as a bonus, I have 2 Maximum cards from Transkei. They celebrate 10 Years of Transkei Airways. For those of you out there that do not know  - Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei, was a Bantustan- an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity - and nominal parliamentary democracy in southwestern South Africa. It operated from 1976 to 1994.

Thanks for these 2 cards go out to Bruce.

Now I guess most of you thought that was the end. Sorry, but I have to vent or rant a little here. To say I'm pissed would be an understatement. Back in late November / early December My Lovely Teena and I partook of a cruise in SE Asia. As always I make a point of sending postcards from the many ports to my postcard friends around the world and also to myself in Canada. To make sure this all went off without a hitch, I even ordered and received stamps for each country we would be visiting. So I brought with me beautiful , large and interesting stamps for Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam.   I even had a supply of Singapore stamps , but unfortunately I never got to use them. I sent a total of 82 cards while on the cruise. Many , many of them have arrived in France, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Turkey, Belgium, Ireland, South Africa and Macedonia. And I'm very happy that they have. Even a few, a small few though, have arrived in Canada. Here now is the problem. Sixteen cards have not arrived in Canada and I have been home over a month. Four cards from Thailand, four from Cambodia and eight from Viet Nam are still missing. I could understand if it was just 1 or 2 cards - cards go missing all the time, although I don't know why. Considering it's only cards to Canada missing, it doesn't take a genius to see the problem lies on this end. Were the cards too beautiful, were the stamps too beautiful for Canada Post to deliver ?   Are they being held for a ransom, maybe , but I haven't yet received any demands ? Even My Lovely Teena is mad at the post office for me. I'm not one to talk as you all know, but this is so disappointing. For weeks now I walk down to my mailbox and return empty handed. Teena asks " anything today ? " My reply for weeks has been " maybe tomorrow or next week . "
Who am I kidding?  Guess I should take off my rose colored  glasses. This is just another example of wonderful Canada Post service. Let's not forget their wonderful marker or pen stroke cancels, or their many times not having new stamps on their actual first day issue. Frustrating for sure. I'd like to see the results of a postal service satisfaction survey, for post offices around the world, if one actually exists. I'm pretty sure where I'd look for Canada Post. Did someone say near the bottom, sounds about right. Anyway, to those of you who received cards from me, consider yourselves lucky , me not so much. That's it, I'm all in .

Take care now . Thanks for reading.  See you again soon. COMMENTS anyone ? How about some explanations for the missing cards - all reasons welcome - no matter how far fetched or out there ?

Cards From Last Summer's Montana Road Trip

                                   
                                   Happy New Year

This is the first blog update for year 2017.


With no new cards on hand, the post office is still closed here in Canada, it reopens tomorrow, I think a few cards from last summer's road trip to Montana, USA might be in order.

First let's look at a card of the Weeping Wall. This is a geological formation found along Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, in Montana. It is a natural waterfall that seeps out from the side of the Garden Wall , and is fed by runoff from snowmelt.

On this one you can see 3 of 4 Classic Pickup stamps issued in 2016. It was posted in West Glacier , population 227 as of 2010. The town is at the west entrance to Glacier National Park.

Here's a second card from West Glacier. This one is for the Railway, Train postcard collectors out there. It's the Great Northern Railway's Streamlined Empire Builder, along the border of Glacier National Park, possibly in the 1940s.

Bit of a mix of stamps on this one. On the left is the 2015 Elvis Stamp. In the middle is the 2016 New Horizons Spacecraft stamp. Over on the right is the 4th Classic Pickup Truck stamp.
Interesting fact related to the New Horizons stamp - when the New Horizons spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral , Florida in 2006, a 1991 " Pluto Not Yet Explored " stamp was affixed to the ship. As a result Guinness World Records recognizes the the stamp as the one that has traveled the farthest distance, having gone more than 5.4 billion kilometers to Pluto and beyond. And of course that record is being broken every second, as it heads away from Pluto.

The next card is a great look at Saint Mary Lake, the second largest lake in Glacier National Park. The lake is 15.9 km long and 91 m deep. Water from Saint Mary flows neither to the Atlantic nor the Pacific , but crosses Canada to enter the Arctic Ocean at Hudson Bay.

This card is from My Lovely Teena and she used 3 of the afore mentioned Classic Pickup Trucks issue. Posted at Babb, Montana, is a small community on the Blackfoot Indian reservation with a population of 174 in 2010.

Now I have 3 cards , all of which show old photos of American Indians. They were all posted in East Glacier Park , a small town with a population of 363 in 2010.
First is a 1874 photo by O.S.Goff of Long Soldier, a well known Sioux Chief at Standing Rock Agency. His beaver top hat was quite in vogue during the Civil War days.

On this card we can see 2 of the Classic Era stamp set of 6, issued in 2016, along with the 1965 Ford F-150 stamp from the 2016 set.

The second of these 3 cards is a 1877 photo by Orlando S. Goff, showing Chief Joseph. Joseph was forced from his native homeland in 1877, leading 750 of his people on a three month, 1300 mile journey, defeating the U.S. Army in seven major battles before being captured within 40 miles of the Canadian border and sanctuary . Upon his surrender, Joseph said " I will fight no more forever " .

On this one, we have 2 stamps from the 2016 set of 8 Views of Our Planets, and an Elvis stamp. All Heavenly bodies no doubt.

Rounding out these three is Little Bird,an Ojibwa woman in a 1908 photo by Roland Reed, showing her proud heritage. . 

It's another appearance by Elvis , along with 2 more of the Classic Era stamps from 2016. 

There are still a few more cards from this road trip, but that's all for today. The other 4 or 5 will make an appearance in the not too distance future. 

That's it for this time, the new year has indeed started. 

Take care.