A Couple of New Places in the Collection

Yes I have two new additions to my country collection. They are numbers 220 and 221. In the last two days I have received a number of postcards , eleven in fact, from quite an assortment of places around the globe. First up is a card from my home province of Newfoundland & Labrador , an island off the east coast of Canada. The card was sent from Cape Spear, the most easterly point in Newfoundland, Canada and North America. When you stand at Cape Spear there is nothing between you and Europe but a lot of water. The Cape Spear Lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and is located at 47 31 N and 52 37 W.The first lighthouse here was built in 1836 and the site has been designated a Canadian National Historic Site. The card shows various Newfoundland scenes. The top left corner shows Hawthorne Cottage in Brigus. It was the home of Captain Bob Bartlett, a world famous navigator and Arctic explorer. Bartlett accompanied Robert Perry on his voyages to the North Pole. In the top middle is Cabot Tower , on Signal Hill where Marconi received the first wireless message. The top right corner shows Point Rich lighthouse , located on the Great Northern Peninsula of the island. The lower left shows L'anse Aux Meadows, the site of Viking settlement on the island , dating from around the year 1000. Hawthorne Cottage, Cabot Tower and L'anse Aux Meadows are all Canadian National Historic Sites. L'anse Aux Meadows is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The card was sent by Jerry and Bev, friends of my wife and I for more than 35 years. The card was sent with a 2008 permanent polar bear stamp and you can see from the postmark that it was cancelled at Cape Spear. For all the lighthouse lovers out there, I have included a picture of Cape Spear Lighthouse. Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

Now for a new country to my collection. Country #220 is The Gambia. Located in West Africa, it is the smallest country on mainland Africa . It is bordered to the north, east, and south by Senegal. It has a small coastline on the Atlantic ocean in the west. This card was sent by PCV Katie C . She has a blog called Katie's Totally, Super, Awesome, Gambian Adventure!!! Katie used a number of butterfly definitives on the card. Thanks Katie, it was great to get a card from The Gambia.

The next card is from Norfolk Island. This is a small island in the South Pacific located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Population is around 2,140. Jillian a Postcrosser sent the card. The card shows the island , looking south from Mt Pitt.Jillian saw on this blog that I collect airline/aircraft related stamps and used 2 wonderful stamps. They will certainly add to my collection. The stamp on the left is from 2003 and shows a Qantas aircraft and celebrates 100 years of powered flight. It is single from a set of 3, a just beautiful set of stamps. The other impressive stamp shows a F/A-18 Hornet of the Royal Australian Air Force. It is from a set of 4 and was issued in 1996 on the 75th Anniversary of the Air Force. Thank you Jillian for this card and the 2 great stamps that you so thoughtfully used.

Two more cards and we'll call it a day. Next up is a card from Republika Srpska and is country or entity #221. Republika Srpska is one of two political - territorial divisions of the Sate of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's capital is Banja Luka , from where this card was posted. The card shows Greetings from Banja Luka, home of the 2009 World Rafting Champs. The card is from Bob Lamb, who has sent me a number of cards the past few years. He is a former Executive Director of The American Philatelic Society. Bob is the reason I started to collect a postcard from every country and stamp issuing entity in the world. I read an article about him in Linn's Stamp News a few years ago in which he said he was attempting to collect a stamped postcard from every country. The big difference is that he wants to travel to every one of those countries and mail himself the postcard. I certainly hope he succeeds. Bob used a very striking stamp from a 2008 set of 2 issued for Nature Conservation featuring birds of prey.

Before I go on to the final card , let me say this about Bosnia and Herzegovina. As I understand it, there are three equally right postal operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are 1, JP PTT BiH- operated by the Sarajevo government. 2, HP Hrvatska Posta- operated by Mostar (Croatian) government and 3, Srpske Poste- operated by Banja Luka (Serbian) government. I now have a postcard from Bosnia and Herzegovina , with a Sarajevo stamp and a postcard from Republika Sspska with a Banja Luka stamp .Now if only I can get one from Hrvatska Posta , I would have the complete set of 3. Anyone reading, who lives in the Mostar region, under the Mostar Croatian postal service, please feel free to drop a postcard in the mail for me.

Now the final card for today is from Montenegro. It also was sent by Bob Lamb. It shows a 2000 year old olive tree located in the city of Bar. It was posted from Podgorica. It has a 2008 stamp, but which I could not find any info. Thanks Bob for both of these great cards.

With 221 now in the collection, I now have 45 more to go. I never really thought 3 years ago when I started this collection, that I would ever have such luck. Some of the places I have received a card from , I never thought it possible. Now I just keep going, knowing that there are still a lot of difficult collecting days ahead.

Take care.

May 2009 Postcard Stats

No new postcards arrived in today's mail. Hopefully something will show up tomorrow. I guess all I have for today is the monthly report for my postcards. In the month of May I received a total of 45 postcards and of these, 23 were from fellow Postcrossers . During the month I mailed out 33 cards and 28 of them were to Postcrossers. And , finally I received cards from 4 new countries during May . Those countries were Lesotho, Mali, Ethiopia and Palestine. And let's not forget a card from Hell.

Take care.

Eureka, Diomede and Eureka

Just a couple of cards to show today and they are all from the North. First is a card from Eureka, Nunavut, Canada. Eureka is the second most northerly permanently inhabited settlement on Earth. Located on Ellesmere Island it serves as a research base and weather station. It is 1100 km from the north pole and was founded in 1947. Eureka sees the midnight sun between April 10 and August 29, with No sunlight at all between mid-October and late February. Eureka has the lowest average annual temperature and least precipitation of any weather station in Canada. Winters are frigid but summers are slightly warmer than at other places in the Canadian Arctic. However, the temperature has never exceeded 20.7 degrees C. The postcard shows the flora and fauna of Arctic life. It was sent by Dean , the Eureka Postmaster. Dean used a 2007 Permanent stamp. The very nice postmark commemorates Eureka as Canada's Most Northern post Office and also commemorates Eureka Weather Station. A very nice addition to my postcard collection.

The next card is from Diomede, Alaska, U.S.A. The Diomede Islands consist of the U.S. island of Little Diomede and the Russian island of Big Diomede. They are located in the middle of the Bering Strait. The islands are separated by an international border and The International Dateline. At their closest distance the two islands are only 4 km apart. The village of Diomede , from where this postcard was mailed, is located on the west side of Little Diomede. It's 2007 population was 147 people. Mail to the island is delivered by helicopter and then only weekly. The postal contract is the only one that uses helicopters for delivering mail. The card is from The Geophysical Institute of The University of Alaska. It shows an auroral corona as seen from Fairbanks, Alaska. The card was sent by Willis F , a teacher at Diomede School. Willis wrote that at the time of sending the card, May 9th, Little Diomede was still connected to Russian Big Diomede by slushy ice. The stamp that Willis used is a 2007 first Class Forever stamp featuring the Liberty Bell.

The final card is another card from the Postmaster at Eureka. It shows our great flag, The Maple Leaf. The 2 stamps are from the 2009 issue , for Preserving the Poles and were issued on April 09. The stamps feature an Arctic Tern and a Polar Bear. This issue is part of an international stamp campaign to raise awareness about global warming under the theme '' Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers''.Two quite appropriate stamps coming on a card from Eureka, in the high Arctic.

A nice and very interesting update this time.
Take care and leave a comment if you wish.

Palestine # 219 in Collection

Another one postcard day at the mailbox. But it is a good one , a new addition to my collection. The card is from Palestine # 219 in my collection. The card shows The Grotto of the Nativity. This Grotto enshrines the site where Jesus is said to have been born. The silver star in the center , marks what actually is thought to be the exact location of the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The card was sent by Husam , who lives in Bir Zeit , from where the card was posted. Bir Zeit is a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Ramallah in the central West Bank. Husam used a 2003 commemorative stamp featuring Al-Azhar University in Gaza. It was 1 of a set of 3 featuring universities. Thanks to Husam. He sent a couple of cards earlier, but they never arrived. I certainly owe him a big thank you for keeping at it until one got through.

It's certainly great to add a new country or stamp issuing entity to my collection. With 219 in hand , that leaves just 47 more. I rank Palestine up there with DPRK North Korea in difficulty in adding to a collection. I never thought that I would have a card mailed to me from either of these places, so I figure that the most difficult one now will be from Somalia. Rumor has it that there are a few other African countries that have limited or no Postal Service. So far though I have done pretty good with Africa.

A Long Lost Card

Well, today didn't bring any new cards in the mail. But all is not lost. It seems there is always a card to show and write about. Today's card was given to me , sadly not posted , by my wife Teena way back in 1993. Of course that was a long time before I collected postcards. Then it got misplaced and didn't surface again until yesterday, some 16 years later. It's actually a pretty nice postcard. It shows King penguins marching past a little boy sitting on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. Where my wife came by a South Georgia postcard has long since been forgotten. South Georgia is a British overseas territory. The territory is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. With no native or permanent population, other than scientists and support staff, one can only wonder who this little fellow is. But I guess that he's the lucky one, he has had his picture taken in a place , very , very few of us will ever set foot on.
That's it, another short post again today.
Take care.

The Grand Place, Hotel de Ville

As many of you may know from the title of this update, my one and only card for today is from Brussels, Belgium. It is a card showing The Grand Place and the Town Hall. Grand Place is the central market square of Brussels. The square is one of the most memorable landmarks in Brussels. The Town Hall , shown on the card was started in 1402 and completed in 1420. Grand Place was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1998. This card was sent by Johan O of Vlaanderen, Belgium. He is a frequent reader of this blog and took it upon himself to send a postcard.Thanks Johan. Johan used a nice stamp from 2009. It is one from a multi-sheet of 6 featuring World Cultural Heritage.
A short update for today. take care .