Out With The OLD

  Blog # 1634--- Day 1041 ( One Thousand and Forty One ) of the Current  ( Second ) Russian Invasion of                                                                                       Ukraine   

                                                                      GLORY TO UKRAINE

Well the new year is just a few hours away now, here in Airdrie, Canada. It`s time for the last update of The Blog for 2024. It has not been a banner year for The Blog. Very low production , the lowest since 2007. I will do better in 2025, that is a promise. 

Now here are a few cards to end the old year. My first is this well travelled card from Bath, England. I will get to the well travelled part later. Barbara`s card shows the Roman Baths at the heart of the World Heritage Site in Bath. These Roman Baths are one of the finest historic sites in all of northern Europe. 

Barbara used a 2024 large King Charles definitive, along with a ! st Class , up tp 100g , Post and Go label.

Now here`s the thing I mentioned earlier about this card. It is well travelled. When I found it in my mailbox , originally on Oct 11th , it had no postmark, or cancellation of any kind. I said to myself, that`s not good enough. So I wrote a note to the Bath Post Office and stuck the card in an envelope and sent it back. I finally received it back on Dec 23rd, with the postmarks, as you can see . Now by my rough calculation, it is approximately 6,917 km from Bath to Airdrie. Then 6,917 km back to Bath and another 6,917 km back to Airdrie . That`s  3 trips across The Pond, for a total of 20,751 km. 

Card  2  --  Charles may be King of Canada and many other countries but this card shows us the King of the African Bush. 

 Lions are the only cats that live in families known as prides. The average pride consists of 15 or more lions, most of which are females. In the pride, the male lion`s mail responsibility is to provide protection to the pride. The lion`s roar is the loudest of any big cat and can be heard up to 8 km away. Lions face many threats including habitat loss, trophy hunting, poaching, disease and climate change. 

Ravindra sent this card from a recent African holiday. The stamps include 2 copies of a Bird definitive issued in 1993 and a 2019 stamp celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

That`s all for this day, and this year from me. Thanks to Barbara and Ravindra for the last two cards for 2024. 

As I write this , we still have four hours to go before 2024 ends and 2025 begins.  I want to wish all reading this a very  Happy New Year and I hope it goes good for everyone. Take care .  

I`m sure wherever you are tonight you will most likely hear this old tune :

"Auld Lang Syne"

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stoup!
and surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak' a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

With that I`m signing off for 2024.  Cheers !!

Merry Christmas 2024

 MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL

Once again as Christmas Day is upon us, I want to take this opportunity to wish all my fellow postcard collectors , cover and stamp collectors and bloggers , along with all my readers a very Merry Christmas. My Christmas wishes for all of you are again summed up in the 3 Christmas stamps issued by Canada Post in 2007. Hope , Joy, and Peace.

Strange Place Names Indeed

 Blog # 1632--- Day 1032 ( One Thousand and Thirty Two ) of the Current  ( Second ) Russian Invasion of                                                                                       Ukraine   

                                                                      GLORY TO UKRAINE

Howdy folks. I imagine most of you are busy with Christmas preparations, at least those of you who celebrate .  If Christmas is not your thing , well Happy Today to you. 

I have two cards from two places with strange place names to begin. First is Intercourse, Penn, U.S.A. The card shows an Amish carriage tied to a hitching post. Horse and buggy traffic sometimes outnumber motor vehicles in the town.  There are a number of theories  as to how the town ended up called Intercourse and I leave that to you to check out .

Two nice stamps arrived on this card. The left stamp was issued in 2018 showing a Statue of Freedom stamp. The other stamp from 2019 celebrated 50 Years of the First Moon Landing. 

The other strange named town today is Dildo, in Newfoundland, Canada. Here we see the Dildo Marina. Dildo has become quite popular with tourists since 2019 when American Talk Show Host Jimmy Kimmel did live broadcasts with members of the community. 

The Dildo Post Office used a 2020 stamp featuring Canadian War Hero Leo Major, the one eyed ghost. On April 13, 1945, Major and his friend Corporal Welly Arsenault volunteered for a night patrol of German-occupied Zwolle, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Arsenault was killed early in the mission. Major, enraged at the loss, took up his comrade’s weapon and charged the town alone. To make the occupying German soldiers believe they were under full attack, Major fired his machine gun through the streets, tossed grenades, and set fire to the local Gestapo headquarters. With the help of local resistance fighters, he took dozens of German prisoners, while the rest fled. For his bravery in liberating Zwolle, Major received the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

That's the two strange place names for this time, but there are many more out there. Blow Me Down, Jerry's Nose, Cow Head, Climax, Big Beaver, and Finger just to name a few. All I know is that I'd love to have a postcard from all of them. 

So ends another update of The Blog. Thanks to the Intercourse Post Office and the Dildo Post Office for these cards. 

Excited Animals, Road Safety and an Old Church.

Blog # 1631--- Day 1023 ( One Thousand and Twenty Three ) of the Current  ( Second ) Russian Invasion of                                                                                       Ukraine   

                                                                      GLORY TO UKRAINE

Hello again. Well the postal strike in Canada continues. Today is day 28, so that makes 4 weeks today. No mail coming, no mail going and no postcards moving in or out of Canada. But I still have postcards on my desk that have not yet made it on The Blog, this blog. 

My first card for this time arrived from Nairobi, Kenya. Titled , Fun In The Sun , as the old saying implies , these pictures do indeed tell a thousand words.  

Ravindra used 2 copies of the same stamp on this card. Issued in 1993, it is 1 of 13 in a set of definitives featuring Birds. This stamp shows the African Fish Eagle. 

Next up is this card from  Andorra.  It shows one side of the Church of Sant Marti de Nagol, located along a path from the village of Nagol in sant Julia de Loria. It was originally built in the 11th century. It was restored in the 20th century , preserving the side walls and the apse. The apse is the semicircular feature extending from the exterior , at the end of the church. 

 Josep and Assumpta used a nice large Spanish Andorra stamp from 2021 on this card. 

 

Even though I live in a bi-lingual country, sadly I am not bi-lingual.  So my comprehension of this next card from France most likely leaves a lot to be desired. I think it is advertising an awareness campaign against road risks , or a campaign for road safety, however you want to think.  I hope I got that right.

Dominique used a stamp from 1970. It was issued to highlight the National Police. 

 

Well there you have it, the end of another update. Thanks for todays cards go to Ravindra, Josep and Assumpta , and Dominique. Thanks guys.