Mr Moose from Coley Point, A Refreshing Cool-down and Santa Barbara

Blog # 1520

Well hello again. Welcome back. I have 3 cards for today. One from Belarus, one from the USA and one from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Let`s start with that last one. It`s a look at Mr Moose having a drink . The moose, a non-indigenous species was first introduced to the Island of Newfoundland in 1878. Today the population numbers about 120,000 animals. 

My brother Mel mailed this card from Coley`s Point South. This is a settlement in Newfoundland , part of the town of Bay Roberts. Its location is on the north shore of Conception Bay on the northeastern Avalon Peninsula. This card is the latest in my Collection of Newfoundland and Labrador Towns from which I have received a postcard. Coley`s Point South is #39 of that collection. Guess I have a long way to go yet. One card at a time - I`ll get there sometime.  

Mel used 1 stamp from the From Far and Wide definitive set of 9 issued in 2020. It shows Carajou Falls in the Northwest Territories. 

Too bad the stamp met up with The Great Stamp Defacer and his black marker. 

Again , if I had you near, I`d break your marker.

Today`s second card arrived from Santa Barbara, a city on the Central California coast, with the Santa Ynez Mountains forming  a backdrop to the city. With its beautiful landscape and great climate for living, playing and working, Santa Barbara is often branded as the American Riviera. The city has a big sand beach around two miles long that strangely runs east to west, not north to south. 

Catherine used 3 Forever stamps, 2 Flower stamps from 2021 and a Thank You stamp from 2020.

Card 3 , from Minsk, Belarus, shows a young lady cooling off during a hot summer day. 

 Victor used a 2017 stamp , 1 of 4 in a set, commemorating the 125th Anniversary of the Minsk Horse Railway. 

Now that was quick. Three cards in no time flat. Big thanks for the cards today go out to Victor, Catherine and my brother Mel. 

Today is just another day in this Covid world so wash your hands, wear a mask, keep your distance and take the first vaccine that is offered to you. 

Cheers !

Old B737s, a Dressed up Elephant and Luneburg

BLOG # 1519 

Hello once again. Well today is another good day for postcards. Yesterday it was sunny and 19 C. Today it`s -4 C , windy with snow flurries. With the wind it feels like -13 . So like I said , a good day to be in blogging about postcards. 

I have 4 cards for this time. They arrived from the USA, France, Czech Rep and Germany. I`ll start with the USA card. It shows the artwork of Keith Harrop. It`s called Animorphia # 4( Elephant ). This pencil illustration is in the style of a vintage Edwardian or Victorian photograph. After Harrop draws his illustration, it is treated with various dyes to resemble an old dusty antique photograph. The Elephant is just one in Harrop`s Animorphia Collection. 

Allison from Houston sent this card . She used a Forever Flower stamp from this year. It is 1 of 10 in the set. 

Nice to see a good Earth Day cancel on the stamp. Very timely. Since today is Earth Day - Happy Earth Day to all. Do Your Part .

My next card is a nice view of the Stintmarkt in Luneburg in northern Germany. The city has about 70,000 people. Uta sent this card, she lives in a suburb of the city with around 11,000. 

 

Uta used the Pied Piper of Hamelin  stamp from 2020. 

Nice Corona cancel on this one. 

Cards 3 and 4 are two new additions to my Airlines & Aircraft Postcard Collection. First up is the card from France showing an Air Toulouse B737-200, with registration F-GLXH. Air Toulouse was founded in 1990 and then ceased operations in late 2003. The airline operated 6 B737-200s and 1 B737-300. This particular aircraft saw service with Air Algerie, Air Mali, Aerolineas Argentinas, Britannia Airways and Europe Aero Service before flying for Air Toulouse in 1992.  In March of 2004 F-GLXH was scrapped in Toulouse. 

On a personal note, the airline that I started my airline career with, Eastern Provincial Airways,  had 10 B737-200 aircraft. I can surely say that I am quite familiar with this aircraft type  and had many, many flights courtesy of CF-EPO, CF-EPL, C-GEPA, CF-EPR, and the six others. 

Jean Pierre used 2 stamps, on the left is a recent Marianne stamp and on the right, a stamp issued in 2020 showcasing the Castle of the Dukes of Bourbon. 

Normally I just mention Marianne stamps and move on. Today though, I have a little to say about this one. It was issued in 2018 and is a design chosen by President Macron from this one and seven others.  This one shows Marianne in profile, with ringlets of hair streaming behind her as she wears the traditional Phrygian cap of liberty and a rosette. This Marianne was the 30th depiction of Marianne to appear on a French stamp.

This second B737 card is my last card for today. It`s Czech Airlines B737 , registered as OK-DGM landing at London LHR in 2008. Czech Airlines is the Flag Carrier of the Czech Republic and serves 22 destinations as of 2021. It is the 5th oldest airline in the world. It was founded on 6 Oct 1923. 

The particular aircraft on the card , OK-DGM is 23 years old. It was delivered to Czech Airlines in 1998 and was part of their fleet until 2010. It then saw service with Russian airline UTair, where it remains. 

Rob used 3 stamps even though it looks like 4, but 1 is a label, I believe. The top left stamp , issued in 2015, is 1 of 2 in a set of 2 Historical Vehicles. The top right stamp , issued ion 2017, commemorates the 80th Anniversary of Prague Airport. The third stamp shows an Aero Albatros jet and was issued last year. The camper van looks like a label to me. 

There you have it. Four cards from four people. Thanks to Jean Pierre, Rob, Uta and Allison. 

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. Wear your mask, keep your distance, wash your hands and get vaccinated as soon as you can. 

One more thing  - if you haven`t yet answered my postcard challenge, here`s another chance. Go back and look at my blog for Tues, March 23rd. All you need to know is right there. 

Cheers !

 

Goalie Art, Folies Bergere , AOM DC-10 and St Michaels Church

BLOG # 1518

Today`s a good day to blog. The weather sucks. Yesterday the temperature was 20 and the three previous days 18, 15, and 13. With not a bit of snow anywhere in sight. Yesterday it was shorts and sandals weather, today not. Today it`s winter all over again. The temperature is -2 and snowing , we expect 10 -15 cm of snow. So no shorts today.  Now it`s on to postcards. 

I have 4 cards for today. They arrived from Czech Rep, Germany and 2 from France.  Czech Rep is up first. 

I really like this card. Maybe  it`s because I live in Canada and like hockey. It is our national pastime after all. The art on this card is great. It`s from the TakeTakeTake Publishing House in Prague, run by Nikola Klimova and Jindrich Janicek. One is a graphic designer and the other an illustrator. So it`s a fair guess the card was designed by them and the artwork is by them. The subject of the card is Corey Crawford, a Canadian goaltender who played his entire career of ten years with the Chicago Black Hawkes. He played in 488 games  and won 260 of them, 26 of which were shutouts. 

Rob, who I`ve just recently starting swapping with sent this card along. In addition to the stamps used, I am also showing art work on the reverse of the card. It is by Rob himself. It`s pretty good too. It`s a drawing of former Calgary Flames ( he just got traded ) goaltender David Rittich stopping a puck shot by Jason Spezza of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Big Save Dave as he was known was a favourite of mine on the Flames. And now for the stamps. The top three are sports related and the smaller one is a definitive. The top left stamp was issued in 2015 for the IIHF Championship. The middle stamp, from 1998, was issued for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games. The top right stamp is a personalized  stamp issued  in 2014 showing Karel Kozeluh, a Czech Rep tennis player, footballer and hockey player. The Orange Tip Butterfly definitive is from 2021. 

My second card is an advertisement for the Folies Bergere, a cabaret music hall in Paris. It opened on 2 May 1869. The card advertises a show by Helene Martini, a Polish born French striptease artist. She had a number of nicknames including `The Countess ` and the  `Empress of the Night `.

At some point she ended up owning the Folies Bergere and only sold it in 2011. She died in 2017. 

Lots of famous performers entertained at the Folies Bergere including Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf and Ginger Rogers. 

A Postcrosser named Dominique sent this card along. It`s not the Dominique that contributes most often to this blog, but another. This Dominique used a 2021 stamp commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Charlie Chaplin`s Movie `The Kid `.

Card # 3 - A lovely AOM DC-10 aircraft. AOM French Airlines was the second largest airline in France from 1990 until 2001. AOM was the result of a merger of Air Outre Mer and Air Minerve. Then on 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Lib.

 The DC-10 on the card was registered as F-GNEM and first flew with Air Afrique, then Thai Airways, and Cubana. Its first service with AOM French Airlines was in 1992. From  2001 to 2004  it flew for Air Lib . Then it was stored and finally scrapped in 2008. 

Jean Pierre used a recent Marianne definitive and a 2020 stamp commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the French Tennis Association.

The last card for this time is from Germany and it was sent by a 10 year old Postcrosser named Alexander. His card shows St Michaels Church in Oberjosbach, which is part of Niedernhausen. 

 

Alexander used a Flower definitive along with a stamp from 2019, showing an Emoji. 

And so it goes. another update complete. Thanks for reading . For these cards I send thanks out to Rob, Dominique, Jean Pierre and Alexander. 

Final words for today :

Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance and get a vaccine when you can. 

 

Just For You Jobbo

 BLOG # 1517

Hey . Well today`s blog is a short one, just a single card. As the title above indicates , this one is for Jobbo as I`ve been told he likes just a single card blog. So here it is, but don`t get too use to it Jobbo. It won`t happen too often. Today`s card is from Singapore and it`s a look at the Singapore downtown central business district skyline. On the left you can see Marina Bay Sands and Skypark. On the right is the Singapore Flyer. 

Jobbo used a number of stamps, all from 2020. The top stamp and the bottom stamp are 2 of 5 in a set of Singapore Mascots. The middle stamp, 1 of 4 in a minisheet , is from a set called We Care. 

Well there it is. Thanks Jobbo for this card. 

Covid is still among us so....... Wash your hands, wear a mask, keep you distance and get a vaccine if you can. 

Monaco Grand Prix, Aeropostale, a Pin-up and ``I Miss You ``

BLOG # 1516

Hello once again .  It's postcard time , so let's get right to it. 

My cards today are from Monaco, Canada, Czech Rep and France. Monaco you're up first. 

Monaco - 17 April 1932 . What is this date ?  The 1932 Monaco Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Circuit de Monaco on 17 April 1932. Tazio Nuvolari , driving for the Alfa Romeo team, won the race by just 2.8 seconds over Rudolf Caracciola, also driving an Alfa Romeo. Third place went to Luigi Fagioli driving a Maserati. The fastest lap of the race was the 19th lap by Achille Varzi driving a Bugatti. His lap time was 2.02 minutes. Compare that time with the fastest lap in 2019. It was 1.14 minutes on lap 72 by Pierre Gasly in a Red Bull Honda. 

 

Jean Pierre used 2 stamps on his card and they received a great, clear, circular cancel. Something we all hope for our cards. The left stamp was issued in 2017 and is 1 of 2 showing Legendary Race Cars. The right stamp, is the 2015 Christmas stamp.

Card 2 is another of the free postpaid cards sent out by Canada Post to all Canadians to send to anyone in Canada. This one is from my sister Nina in St. John's , Newfoundland. It is the I Miss You theme card. 

They all had the same postage paid Canadian Flag stamp.

My next card , from the Czech Rep, is a bit of a pin-up card by,  who many say is the best Czech comic illustrator , Kaja Saudek. The picture is from 1966. 

Rob used a nice assortment of stamps on this card. this is a first swap with Rob, hopefully there will be others.  The large stamp on the left  is 1 of 2 issued in 2017 showing Paintings as Works of Art on Stamps. The large stamp on the right is from 2019 and features a sculptor by Ladislav Saloun called " Touch of Fate II " . The A rate Flowers in Wine stamp was issued in 2014. Those are labels on both sides of this last stamp.

The last card for today is from France and a Aircraft themed stamp, so that's a good way to end. It shows a small plane flying over a part of a map showing a route from France to South America via Dakar, in Africa. Aeropostale was a pioneering aviation company which operated from 1918 to 1933. It was founded in Toulouse, France. Its first route was between Toulouse and Barcelona. Later service was extended to Casablanca, Rio and Natal, Paraguay, Santiago and Tierra del Fuego. 

This is a postage prepaid card from La Poste and the postage shown is an exact picture of the card . Very nice  !

  

Now the end has come and I have to send thanks out to Jean Pierre, my sister Nina, Rob and Dominique. Wonderful cards for sure. 

We are well into the 3rd wave of covid here in Alberta and in Canada so ......

Wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance. I have my first vaccine but of course I still have to do and take these precautions. 

Dassault Mercure, a Digital Stamp and Minerve

 BLOG # 1515  -- In The Time Of Covid

Hey folks, today I have three cards to show. Two from France and one from Germany.

 I'll start with a card from France. It's an Airlines / Aircraft card so that's a great way to start. Here we have an Air Inter Dassault Mercure 100, registered as F-BTTJ.  Air Inter was a French domestic airline. It was founded in Nov 1954 and merged with Air France in Apr 1997. Air Inter was the launch customer for the Dassault Mercure. The aircraft entered airline service with Air Inter on June 4, 1974. The Mercure was a twin engined narrow body jet airliner. It had its first flight on 28 May 1971 and its last on 29 April 1995. Only 12 of these aircraft were built. 

F-BTTJ was preserved at the Musee Delta in Athis-Mons, near Paris-Orly Airport. It was cut up during 2018, the forward fuselage is now at Piet Smedts in Baarlo, the Netherlands, while a major portion of the  upper fuselage is in use as a tunnel at a paintball center near Uden, the Netherlands. 

Here she is in her heyday.

 Now here she is as is today.

and here as a tunnel

Such a sad ending to a once glorious machine !

Jean Pierre used a Marianne definitive along with a stamp from last year. It is 1 of 12 in a booklet labelled My Spectacular Stamps.

Next up is the German card. A lovely stamp themed card. It's like a veritable stamp collection on one card. I see stamps from the Netherlands, Indonesia, Egypt, Russia, Canada, U.S.A. ,Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Australia , Hong Kong and Uruguay. Who needs a big heavy album.

Isa used two stamps on her card. On the left an often seen Flower definitive. The other stamp, on the right , is an interesting stamp. It was issued in Feb to showcase a Digital change in German stamps. It has a QR style tracking code which will allow the sender to track the card or letter as it travels to its destination. Not sure if it will work internationally, probably not.  These codes will be featured on all German stamps in 2022. 

Time now for the final card for this time. It's a look at Minerve, a commune in southern France. As of Jan 2018 , its population was 112. The history of the village goes back a long way. In 1210 it was the site of a ten week siege by Simon de Montfort during the Cathar Crusades. The surrender after led to 180 Cathars getting burned at the stake. 

The village is now the capital of the Minervois wine region and has been known as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France. 

  

Dominique used a semi-postal stamp from 1972. It was 1 of 2 issued to support the Red Cross. 

With that, I'm done for today. Thanks for today's card go to Jean Pierre , Isa and Dominique.  

Take care all and stay safe.

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

Ghana and Air Inter

 BLOG # 1514

Well it's April, it's Easter Sunday , so Happy Easter to all that celebrate and if you don't, have a great day anyway. Who would have thought last Easter  that this Easter we'd still be in the midst of the pandemic ? Not me, I kind of thought we'd be free and clear by now. A lot of life is passing us by it seems. 

I only have two cards for this time. The last mail here in Canada was back on Thursday and the next mail won't be until Tuesday. So two cards it is. They arrived from France and Ghana. I'll do the France card first. It is the latest addition to my Airlines / Aircraft postcard collection. Jean Pierre's card shows an Air Inter Airbus A321. A321s first flew in Feb of 1993 and entered service with Lufthansa in Jan of 1994. The one on the card, F-GMZA is 26.8 years old. It  flew with Air Inter from Jun 1994 until Sep 1997. It then saw service with Air France from Sep 1997 until Oct 2020. It has been stored since then. 

Jean Pierre used two stamps on his card. On the left, from 2020, a stamp issued to highlight Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, a commune in Manche department. On the right, a Marianne definitive from 2018.

 Now for the card from Ghana.  Josep & Assumpta from Catalonia in Spain  arranged this through Prince and Princess Academy in Ghana.  Damba Festival is celebrated by the tribal groups of Muslim origin in Northern Ghana. It's celebrated by the chiefs and people of Dagbon, Gonjas, Mamprusi, Nanumbas and the Walas. It is a festival to remember the birthday of the Holy Prophet Mohammed. There is a lot of singing, dancing, drumming and merry making on the day. 

The Academy staff used 2 different stamps on this card. The left stamp was issued in 2010. It's part of a set of 4 issued for the National U-20 Football Team - the Black Satellites. The smaller stamps are part of a set of 10 issued in 2012 showing Fruits and Vegetables. 

That's all she wrote for today. Thank you to Jean Pierre and Josep & Assumpta for their cards. 

It'll be a couple of days before I'm back here again as these were the last two cards on my desk. I'll see you again in a couple of days.  

Be sure and take part in my postcard challenge. Read about it in my Blog # 1509 back on March 23rd. I took part, Sara and Gerda are taking part and My Lovely Teena took part. You can too, it only takes a postcard and a stamp. It you take part, leave a comment and let me know. 

You know what's next --- wear a mask, wash you hands and keep your distance.