Right Back At It

Time for another look at some fine postcards. That's what this blog is all about, right ? Today I am starting with a couple of cards from Family.
My son Stephen and his wife Sara recently visited Montreal  and  took the time to send a postcard my way. It's an interior look at Notre Dame Basilica. Completed in 1829, it was built in Gothic Revival style. The towers were added in 1841 and 1843. When completed it was the largest church in North America and remained so for over fifty years. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989.

The stamp on this one is 1 of 9 issued this year . They show many of the must see places in Canada. These definitives are a Tourism set called From Far and Wide. The stamp on the card pictures rock formations in Ile-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Perce National Park.

Now that you've seen the Basilica's interior, here's what it looks like outside, at least back in 1929 when this old postcard was issued.

My second card is another from My Lovely Teena. We recently visited Dinosaur Provincial Park and she sent this card to me. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the 21st that we have visited. Still got a few to go though !
Teena's card shows a Hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur, and we did indeed see a full skeleton of a Hadrosaur that has been left in the ground as a permanent display. 

Teena used a Weather Wonders stamp from the set of 5 issued July 26th. It shows Light Pillars, ethereal bands of light that appear when tiny ice crystals in the air reflect light from artificial sources.

The card was posted in the Village of Duchess, The Village With A Future. Duchess is one of the closest towns to Dinosaur Park, located just 35 km away and has a population of around 1,100.



Here's another card from Dinosaur Provincial Park, showing the terrain of much of the park.

Another Weather Wonder stamp - this time a Moon Halo, produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

Now here's something a little different. A card from Russia showing an oil on canvas by Gaston Bussier from 1911. It's called Isolde. In medieval Arthurian legend Isolde was an Irish Princess betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall. After accidentally drinking a love potion, she became the lover of the King's knight Tristan, which led to their tragic deaths.

 Ksenia , from Nizhny Novgorod,  a large city on the Volga sent this card. The city was formerly known as Gorky. Two really nice stamps on this one. The top stamp was issued thus year and is a  Europa Stamp from a Bridge Series.  Looks more like a tourist attraction than an actual bridge. Reminds me of Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Lets you walk out over the valley, 918 ft straight down.
The bottom stamp is 1 of 4 in a set of Bridges issued in 2010. This is the bridge over Kola Bay, Murmansk. 

Just 2 cards left for today. Both are from Papua New Guinea. It's a rare day when you get a card from there , but how lucky are you when you get to show two. This first one is a look at Hanuabada Village in Port Moresby, the capital .  With a population of roughly 365,000 the city is set to host the APEC summit in November 2018.

The stamp on the left is from 2012 and shows us a Hiri Lagatoi - a traditional double-hulled watercraft of Papua New Guinea. The stamp on the right is 1 of 6 issued in 2017 to showcase the country's Chairmanship of APEC - the Asia Pacific Economic Conference.

That card was from David and here's his second one . This one is from Kokopo, the new capital of New Britain province, about 12 km from Rabaul, the former capital. Rabaul was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash from a volcanic eruption. 80% of the buildings in Rabaul collapsed under the weight. David's card shows the Mask Festival, and a rare sight - tubuan dancing off-shore on canoes. The Mask Festival is a cultural tribute to the people of East New Britain- the Tolai, Baining, Pomio and Sulka. The first day of the festival will include the " Kinavai " - the arrival of the Tolai Tubuans at dawn. The festival has been held annually since 1995.

David used a 2017 Year of the Rooster stamp from a set of 4.

So ends another update. All great cards I think. Thanks for cards this time go out to Stephen & Sara, My lovely Teena, Ksenia and David.  I should be back in a day or two, drop by for more of the same.