A Wooden Postcard, Lake Minnewanka and a I Miss You Card

 BLOG # 1513

Yes it's me, getting one last update in before March fades away. I have three cards to start, all sent to me by My Lovely Teena. The first one is one of those wooden cards and it's made responsibly with sustainable birch. It's a look at Chateau Lake Louise as seen from out on Lake Louise. I haven't yet canoed Lake Louise but I have skated on it in winter. 

Teena used 1 of 12 stamps issued Jan 15 of this year for the Lunar New Year Cycle. 

The second card is a look at Lake Minnewanka , in the Rockies , dated around the late 1880s. Lake Minnewanka is a glacial lake located about 5 km northeast of Banff. The lake is the largest body of water in Banff National Park. It is 21 km long and 142m deep. Minnewanka means " Water of the Spirits " in the Nakoda language of the First Nations. Boat tours of the lake are available and I had that pleasure a number of years ago. 

Teena used a beautiful stamp from the recent Snow Mammals set. It shows a Peary Caribou. 

Teena's third card is one of those free cards I mentioned in Blog # 1511. Every postal address in Canada received at least one free postpaid postcard to keep in contact with someone during this pandemic. Teena decided to send hers to me. 

Here's the prepaid postage.

That's all for today and for March. Thank you Teena for all 3 cards. 

Take care all and wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance.

Card # 6000

 BLOG # 1512

Hello again. I have just one card for this time. And, as you can see by the above title , it's a special one. It is card # 6000 of my collection. 6000 cards - I would never have believed that , back in 2006 when I first started this gig. 6000 cards in 15 years, that works out to 400 cards per year. Unbelievable. 2966 cards are from participation in Postcrossing and 3044 from other sources - many of them from you readers. 

Now if you find that unbelievable , you're going to find the sender of this card unbelievable too. It is from My Lovely Teena. It really is true. I know, I know what you're thinking , but all I can say is think again. Teena mailed this card to me on March 19th and it arrived today, March 30th. 

This is a beautiful 3D card of a majestic bison in the snow in the Canadian Rockies. Bison have recently been reintroduced in Banff Park after an absence of over a century. Best of all, they seem to be thriving. 

  As I mentioned Teena posted this card on the 19th of this month at the East Airdrie RPO. It received a great postmark / cancellation. She used the Arctic Fox stamp from the new Snow Mammals set of 5 issued on February 16th of this year. 

  Wow, that was fast, one card and I'm done. 

Thank you Teena for this card, I'm sure you didn't know when you sent it , that it was going to be # 6000 .

Take care everyone, before I go though, just wanted to remind my readers of the Postcard Challenge that I issued in my blog on March 23rd. I just wonder how many decided to take part. I know I have and I know Sara has, she left a comment for me. Go back and check it out , it's for a good cause. You'll be helping out a bunch of 6th grade students learn about the world. 

Don't forget now - wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your distance.  W will get over this - when is the only question. 

  

Will's Hugs , Sarlat and Marilyn

 BLOG 1511

Hey there, I'm back with another few cards. Three this time, from France, Finland and Canada. The first card from France shows a couple of the wonderful hotels of old Sarlat, the most famous town in The Dordogne region. The town square  has a beautiful old marketplace and as you can see at the bottom of the card, a small bronze statue of three geese. The area is famous for Foie gras, a luxury food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. Little did those geese know ! .

Dominique used a nice looking semi-postal stamp from 1972. It was issued for Stamp Day and features a Rural Mailman from 1894. 

Today's second card arrived from Kuopio, in eastern Finland. Here we see a beautiful Marilyn Monroe posing as usual. I don't really need to say anything about Marilyn, much has already been written. 

 

Paula used a couple of stamps here. On the left is 1 of 4 Bird stamps in a Mini-sheet from 2017. On the right is 1 of 3 stamps issued in 2006 showing Paintings by A. Gallen-Kallela.

Paula also decorated the card with a sticker of Marilyn blowing a bubble .

My last card for today arrived from Calgary, just down the road. It is from my grandson Will. 

Will's postcard is a Sending Hugs card . It is 1 of 6 different designed  cards that Canada Post has sent to all postal addresses in the country. In all 13.5 million cards were sent freely to Canadians to fill out and send to whoever they want. The 6 designs are From Me to You, I Miss You, Wishing I Were There, Sending Smiles, I've Been Meaning to Write and of course Sending Hugs. 

All the cards were free and post paid for mailing anywhere in Canada.    While we keep our distance to fight the spread of COVID-19, staying connected with friends and loved ones is harder than ever. There are six versions of the postcard, each one offering a simple message of love, appreciation or thanks. Every household will receive one randomly selected postcard. Recipients can send their postcard to anyone they want, anywhere in Canada, for free. No stamps are needed. “Meaningful connection is vital for our emotional health, sense of community and overall well-being,” says Doug Ettinger, President and CEO of Canada Post. “Canada Post wants everyone to stay safe, but also stay in touch with the people who matter to them.” 

It's an effort to encourage Canadians to keep in touch during the pandemic.  "I think that everyone has missed weddings and funerals and birthday celebrations, and we've all missed people and loved ones across the country," said Sylvie Lapointe, a spokesperson with Canada Post in Ottawa. A postcard is one way to tell people they're on your mind, she said.

My Lovely Teena and I were overjoyed to find Will's card in our mailbox. His card is quite apropos as we miss his hugs and those of all our grandkids. Hopefully we will be hugging soon. We were fortunate to receive our Covid immunization yesterday. 

Here's Will's card. 

 The prepaid stamp on these cards is the often seen Canadian Flag .

That's today's update. I want to thank Dominique , Paula and especially Will for his kind gesture. We love you Will. Stay safe.

For quite some time now , my updates have ended the same way and today is no exception . Wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance. 

Cards from Russia, Russia and Russia

BLOG # 1510

Hello again. Today I have three cards to highlight and they all arrived from Russia. This first one gives us a look at the interior of a large library , perhaps in Moscow. Unfortunately the card doesn't identify the city where these stacks of books are located. 

Sveta used 2 stamps on her card, both of which are definitives. On the left, from 2019 is 1 of 12 Eagle definitives. On the right , from 2020  is 1 of 2 Coat of Arms definitives. I know they look quite alike, I don't see the eagle on the left stamp, both look like the coat of arms. Maybe my catalogue has mislabelled one. 

Here's my second card and it's from Katy in Moscow. Her card is a look at 3 different views of Marilyn Monroe, reading. There are many , many pictures of Marilyn reading or posing in front of books . She owned and had in her personal library at least 430 books . She loved reading James Joyce, Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg. Her books included American and French Literature, Anthologies and Biographies, Books about Art, Gardening & Pets, Freud, Politics and quite a few other topics. 

Sveta used 3 of the 2019 definitives. 

Time now for the last card for today. Here we see Emperor Nicholas I . The card shows the likeness of a portrait by Georg von Bothmann. Nicholas I reigned from Dec 1825 until Mar 1855. He held the titles of Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. Many historians have frequently concluded that " the reign of Nicholas I was a catastrophic failure in both domestic and foreign policy." 

  

Ksenia used 2 of the 2019 definities on her card. 

Well that's the cards for today. Thanks go out to Sveta, Katy and Ksenia. 

This is my 7th blog in March, I did 6 in February and 5 in January. Guess I'll have to shoot for 8 in April. I'm pretty sure I'll still get another one or two in this month though. 

Wear a Mask, wash your Hands and Keep your Distance. 

Take care everyone. 

A Postcard Challenge - A Newfoundland Town Postmark and More

BLOG # 1509  --- In The Time Of Covid

Welcome back. It's been not long. I have four cards for our time today. They are from France, Canada, Germany and Korea. 

The French card shows an evening view of the main beach of Saint-Cast, a commune in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a port city on the English Channel, with a population of just over 3,300. There are a number of great beaches in the area including the one shown on the card. 

  Dominique used a semi-postal  stamp from 1972 on this card. It features French Physician Francois Broussais. It is 1 of 2 stamps issued with the extra cost going to the Red Cross. 1972 was the 200th Anniversary of Broussais's Birth. 

My second card is from my home province of Newfoundland, Canada. It's the latest addition to my Collection of cards with Newfoundland Town Postmarks. This new one is from New Harbour, Trinity Bay. This small community on the East shore of Trinity Bay has a population of around 500. New Harbour was a major shipbuilding center going back as far as 1800. 

The card shows a picture from 1929. A major tidal wave struck Newfoundland's south coast that year ,  resulting in extensive property damage and the loss of more than twenty lives. Many of the lost houses ended up getting towed by schooner to a new and dry location.

This card from Deb & Bill was posted at New Harbour, even though the on the scan it may be difficult to see it. Deb used a 2020 stamp showing Carcajou Falls in the North West Territories.

 

Card # 3 is from Germany even though it originated at the Postal Museum in Tampere, Finland. I guess that's one way for the museum to receive it displays of postcards and letters - boxes of airmail floating down from an overhead plane. 

Isa used a stamp from this year on her card. It celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Friedrich Ebert, German politician and first President of Germany.

Now here's the last card for today. It arrived from South Korea, but shows a map of Kent, England. Is this a new trend - cards arriving from one place but showing another ? Kent is a county in southeast England. Leeds Castle, Dover Castle and Canterbury Cathedral are all located in Kent county.

A new reader of my blog in Sejong City sent this card. Saf Juan found my blog and thought to send a postcard. How good is that ?  From the card I take it that Saf Juan is a Brit located in Korea for a brief amount of time. I can't make out the post date on the card, but it came with a Happy New Year wish. I wonder if it's been on the go that long. Hope you stay a reader of my blog. 

The Korea Flag stamps were issued in 2019. 

That about does it for this time. Thanks for today's cards go out to Dominique, Deb & Bill, Isa and Saf Juan. I appreciate all your cards.  

But before I go I have just another little piece of business that requires your ( my readers ) attention. 

 I recently received a card from Amy, a 6th grade teacher in Hartland, Wisconsin, USA. She says the class is learning about culture, geography, history and economics of each region of the world. Their mission is to be empathetic critical thinkers who are exposed to all different cultures in the world and appreciate the beauty and importance of diversity of culture and people. Amy says they love hearing about local stories, traditions and interesting facts . They love hearing what everyday life is like all around the world. 

So I thought what an opportunity to help these students. I have two cards filled out and ready to send. 

I would like to challenge all readers of my blog, all my postcard buddies around the world to help Amy's class by sending a postcard to them. 

The address is " 

Ms Forecki's 6th Graders

NSMS

800 E. North Shore Drive

Hartland, WI

53029

USA

So come on you guys and gals in Germany, Spain, Belgium, Albania, Italy, Netherlands, Philippines, Macedonia, Sri Lanka , Ireland , France , Canada and South Africa. Help out this class of 6th graders. Let's fill the school's mailbox with postcards. Feel free to copy and pass this challenge along anywhere you want, like Facebook. I am not a Facebook member so I can't. I'm counting on you all to participate , so let's get it going. 

Thanks for reading.

One more time - wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance. 

Airlines and Airplanes

BLOG # 1508 In The Time Of Covid

Hey there again. I have four cards for this time and they are all Airline & Aircraft themed, not that there is anything wrong with that. I know, they may not be every ones cup of tea but hey, you got to have an open mind. I may not always get excited about the cards I receive but I appreciate each and everyone of them. In my humble opinion  there is no bad card. 

So here we go with the first card. It arrived from France and is an AirFrance card. It says on the card - France is in the Air. That may be true but surely not as much as France or AirFrance would like.  It can not come fast enough ! There is no plane on this card but it there is a red dress and it must be difficult finding your way through a maze with that tail. 

Jean Pierre used a 2021 Year of the Ox stamp. There were 4 issued for this Lunar New Year. 

My next card arrived from Santa Barbara, California, but is in fact a card from the Strategic Air Command Museum in Bellevue, Nebraska. Shown in the center of the card is a Convair B-58A Hustler. It was delivered to the SAC Museum from the 305th Bombardment Wing at Bunker Hill AFB ( later Grissom AFB ) on December 29, 1969. This delta winged supersonic strategic bomber was the first bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s and entered service in March 1960. A total of 116 were built. The B-58A pictured made a world record flight of 8,028 miles from Tokyo to London in 8 hours 35 minutes on October 16, 1963.

 

Michelle used 3 stamps on her card. The Pear stamp was issued in 2017. The T Rex stamp is one of four Dinosaurs stamps issued in 2019. The Moon stamp was also issued in 2019, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon.

Vanilla Air . That's certainly a new addition to my Airlines Postcard Collection. Vanilla Air was a low-cost airline in Japan wholly owned by All Nippon Airways. The airline operated from Dec 2013 to Oct 2019 when it merged with Peach Aviation. The Airbus A320 shown is 7.4 years old. It flew for Vanilla for the life of the airline and now sees service with All Nippon Airways. 

 

Jean Pierre used a recent stamp from Jan of this year. It Commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Death of Madeleine Bres, or as I like to say, the 179th Anniversary of the Birth of Medical Doctor Madeleine Bres, the first French woman to obtain a medical degree in France in 1875. 

 

It's time now for the final card for today. It's from Switzerland and shows an old time aircraft boarding at Swissair. The card says it's 1953 so no loading bridges back then. Swissair was the national airline of Switzerland from its founding in 1931 to its bankruptcy in 2002. 

Jean Pierre used 2 stamps on this card , both of which were issued in 2019. The left stamp celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Alfred Escher, Swiss Politician and Railways Pioneer. Th
e right stamp is 1 of 2  highlighting the Art of Brewing Beer. 

Here we are at the end of another update. Thanks for todays cards go out to Jean Pierre and Michelle. Hope you enjoyed reading this one, just remember there'll be another soon. 

Covid is still among us so wash your hands , wear a mask and keep your distance. On a personal note I  think I mentioned in a previous blog that I was booked to receive my Covid vaccine on Mar 24th. Well unfortunately that date was cancelled and now I am booked  for April 1st. Hope that doesn't turn out to be an April Fool's joke.  

A Bridge, a Church and Nico's Muse

 BLOG # 1507  -- Still in the Time of Covid

Hello folks . I'm back with a few cards to showcase. I don't know how many I'll get to today, guess we'll have to wait and see. First up is this card from Minsk, Belarus. It's a look at the Memorial Church of All Saints. The church was built between 1991 and 2008, in memory of innocent victims. It is 74 meters high. 

A Postcrosser named Lubov sent this card. She used a stamp from 2017. It is 1 of 2 stamps issued that showcase the Minsk Metro Station. 

Today's second card arrived from the Netherlands. It's a painting by Dutch artist Nico Vrielink. It shows one of the many thousands of paintings of his muse, his wife Jeane. He has painted over 4000 portraits of the lady he met in Singapore.  

This is another card from Barbara. We have traded a number of times over the past couple of years. She collects Marilyn Monroe cards among others. Barbara used the 2021 version of the Netherlands Lunar New Year stamp, this year showing an Ox.

 

Next is a card from Daugavpils, Latvia. This city of 82,000 is about 230 km from Riga, in the southeast part of the country. Alisha's card gives us a look at a fine stone bridge somewhere in the country, possibly Riga.

 

Alisha used 3 copies of a Flower definitive issued last year, 2020. The other stamp from a minisheet issued in 2016 commemorates the 25th Baltic Assembly. It was a Joint Issue with Estonia and Lithuania. 

I think that is my limit for today. Thanks to Alisha, Barbara and Lubov for the cards this time. It's great to go to my mailbox everyday and find a card or two or three inside. That happens almost every day of the week. Life is Good, but it'll be even better when I get my covid vaccination on the 24th. Yes , My Lovely Teena and I both get our jab on the 24th. 

So don't forget - wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance. And of course - get a vaccination when you can. 

 

My Fifteen Years of Postcrossing

 BLOG # 1506   --   In The Time Of Covid

Hey there . Thanks for dropping by again. All my cards for today I received through my participation in Postcrossing. Today March 9, 2021 marks 15 years I have been a member of Postcrossing. In those 15 years I have received 2958 postcards as a result. That's an average of 197 a year - not too shabby at all. 

My first card for today arrived from Visakhapatnam or Vizag for short, on the east coast of India. It shows a sunrise over Vanjangi, a small village about 120 km from Vizag. 

Postcrosser Harsha used 3 of 5 stamps from a 2018 minisheet on this card. They all showcased Handicrafts of India. 

My second card arrived from Moscow. It's the latest addition to my Aircraft / Airlines collection of postcards. This one shows a Yakutia Airlines aircraft landing. Yakutia Airlines is based in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia. The airline was founded in 2002. Here's a little tidbit about Yakutsk--- It is often referred to as the coldest city in the world. The lowest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the city on Feb 5, 1891. The temperature fell to -64.4 C . That is bitter !

Postcrosser Olga a couple of stamps here. The left stamp is from 2008 and is a Europa stamp with the theme of Writing Letters. The right stamp, from 2019, commemorates the 300th Anniversary of Mining and Industrial Supervision of Russia. 

That's all for this time. Thanks for today's card go to Postcrossers Harsha and Olga. 

Wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask !! 

The Foucault Pendulum, Roger Raveel, Lunar New Year Stamps and More

 BLOG # 1505  -- Still in The Time of Covid

Here we go with update # 2 for March. My first card today is from Lithuania and it shows an old locomotive, that has reached the end of the line according to the track. 

 Rita used 3 stamps on her card. The top left stamp is 1 of 3 Historic Banknotes stamps issued in 2020. The bottom left stamp is 1 of 3 in a set showing Lithuanian State Symbols issued in 2019. The stamp on the right is 1 of 2 Europa stamps issued in 2016 showcasing the theme Think Green. 

My second card arrived from France. It shows a famous house in Collonges-la-Rouge, a red stone house, similar in color and material to other structures in town. Built in the 16th century the house featured on the card owes its name to a decorative detail in its stonework - a mermaid holding a comb in one hand and mirror in the other.  

I know it's difficult to see the decorative detail in my scan, but it is located just to the top right of that steel door, partly behind the leaves. 

Dominique used a stamp from 1970 which showcased the W.H.O.'s Fight Cancer Day. 

Now for a bit of art. This card , from Belgium, shows a  color lithograph from 1990 by Belgian artist Roger Raveel titled ' Zelfportret in tegenlicht ' .  Raveel's work is often associated with pop art. 

Johan sent this card and secured a First Day of Issue cancellation on the stamp. The stamp Commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Roger Raveel.  A minisheet was issued with 5 different stamps.

Johan has a great postcard blog called ' johan postcards ' and you can view it  right here .

Now here's today's last card.    It's a card from the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.  It shows a Foucault Pendulum, a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault and conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. The pendulum was introduced in 1851 and was the first experiment to give simple, direct evidence of the Earth's rotation.

Eve used a Oct , 2020 stamp on her card. The Drug Free USA Forever stamp was unveiled by the USPS with help from the DEA. 

That just about does it for this update . Thanks for today's card go to Rita, Dominique, Johan and Eve.

 Now before I sign off I just want to add a little something that I left off my last rant in the March 2nd update. I mentioned that I had sent out a bunch of postcards . These cards I adorned with some of the latest stamps from Canada Post. I wanted my postcard friends to see the 2021 Lunar New Year issues from Canada. This year Canada brought together the designs of all 12 Lunar New Year International rate stamps issued from 2009 to 2020. The 12 stamps issued this January,  with the International rate design, are only domestic rate stamps. To use them on international mail as I did required multiple stamps.  So even though they may look exactly like some stamp you may have received over the last 12 years, they are indeed a brand new stamp issue. 

Here's a group shot of the 12 Lunar New Year stamps issued this year. 

Now I'm done. Take care and stay safe. Vaccines are on the way, but until you get one, wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance.