A Birthday Post

No, it's not GemsWorldPostcards birthday, it's not PostCrossing's birthday, but it is my birthday. Yes, on this date, June 20th  , a number of years ago I happened along. That's one way of putting it, I guess. So  I try to get this post written before my family arrives to help me celebrate.

My first card today is from France. It shows cave art from Lascaux.  Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac. The art is over 17,000 years old and in 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

 Jean Pierre wrote that Lascaux II was a wonder of nature and history. His stamp is one issued for the 100th Anniversary of the First World War .

My second card arrived from Belgium, and is postmarked Charleroi. Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By January 1, 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593 . Johan's card is a bird's eye view of Antwerp, the second most populous city in Belgium, after the capital  Brussels. I do believe that is the Cathedral of Our lady, in the center of the picture. This is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site added in 1999 under the official name of "Belfries of Belgium and France ".

 Johan used a couple of the new Belgian stamp celebrating the World Cup now taking place in Brazil. Take note of the special soccer ball cancellation. Pretty cool.

A Book of Trains , the 1951 book by W.J.Bassett-Lowke and F.E.Courtney is up next. It arrived from the Netherlands. The book explains to young people early forms of human transport, railways, types of locomotives and signalling, streamlining, and other railway matters. That is  Stephenson's Rocket  in yellow, alongside Coronation 6220  in red.

Lotte  used 2 Netherlands stamps, the left one was issued in 2012 and the other in 2013. The left stamp commemorates 60 Years of the Madurodam in the Scheveningen district of The Hague. It is 1 of 10 in a m/sheet. The second stamp , also 1 of 10 in a m/sheet shows Windmills.

That brings to a close this update. Thanks for cards going out  to Jean Pierre, Johan and Lotte. Take care and come back again soon.

Five Cards

Hello again, postcard people. It's time for another look at  a few postcards. Today's cards are from Germany, France, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands. Let's start with the Netherlands. I like receiving postcards showing postboxes so Heidi decided to send just that. Here's a posttbox in Holland. It looks a little high for the young lady using it, but it appears  she manages.

Heidi used 3 stamps, 1 postage and 2 semi-postals. The stamp on the left was issued in 1983 with the surtax going to the Red Cross. It is 1 of 4 in the set. The center stamp, also from 1983 , and also from a set of 4 had its surtax going to cultural and welfare institutions. The final stamp, on the right was issued in 1985 , 1 of 3 in a set.

My next card is from Helsinki, Finland. It shows one of the trams in the city. Seija wrote that there are about 125 trams , 10 tramlines and around 400 tram drivers , and she has been one  for 34 years.

Seija used a 2012 self adhesive stamp showing Bottenhavets National Park.

A TAP Portugal A320 is flying in next. This aircraft  CS-TNK is 14 years old, having its first flight on 24Mar 2000. Long gone are the days I flew on Tap back in the 1970s on a B707.  Another fine card for my Airlines and Aircraft Postcard Collection.

Ana's  stamp is from a set of 3 issued in 2011 featuring Children's Paintings.

Just two more cards to go, so stay with me.

Johan sent this next card from Godewaersvelde, in the north of France.  Godewaersvelde is located in northern France along the Belgian border and is in the heart of  Flanders, less than half an hour from Lille, and Dunkirk. The population is quite small with around 1900 people in 2006. On Johan's card is Het Blauwershof, a tavern of which the building dates back to the 19th century. At one time a blacksmith shop operated here.

Johan's choice of stamp is from 2013. It commemorates the 50th Anniversary of France's biggest International Agricultural Event, held in Paris. Traditionally there is just one mascot for the show, but for the 50th there were 7 mascots as shown on the stamp. It is usually just the cow, but this time they added a donkey, dog, goat, ram, pig and a horse, all riding on the back of the cow.

 

I guess we've all heard the expression, "road to nowhere " , well this next card maybe shows the" tracks to nowhere ". The card arrived from Germany, so I guess the track is really going somewhere in that country. Jasmin wrote that she finds parallel tracks quite hypnotizing. I can go along with that.

Jasmin used a couple of regular Flower definitives , which we're all familiar with by now.

Well that's it for this time. Thanks to Heidi, Seija, Ana, Johan and Jasmin for there cards. It really is wonderful receiving all these cards in the mail. It sure makes going to the mailbox interesting. Take care, drop me a comment is anything strikes your fancy.

Friday the 13th and a Full Moon

Well it's Friday the 13th and with a full moon tonight, be careful out there.  Could be a good night to stay in and look at, sort or send postcards.
My first card today arrived from Germany, however it is a multi-view  card of Tunisia. Fati sent the card just to let me know the many countries she will be visiting in the next 6 months and to tell me to watch my mailbox. It's great that she still remembered me as we haven't had contact for a number of months. I want to thank her and yes, I'll certainly be watching my mailbox.

Here's the stamp that brought the card. It was issued in 2013 and is 1 of 2 in a Joint Issue with South Korea.

Card # 2 arrived from Portage, Michigan, U.S.A. It's a card from the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 
The Air Zoo is a highly charged, multi-sensory atmosphere that goes beyond anything you've ever seen. It's like no place else on Earth!
Voted the "Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners" and "Best Place to Spend a Day with Your Family" three years in a row, the Air Zoo features more than 50 rare and historic aircraft, amusement park-style rides, Full-Motion Flight Simulators, RealD 3D/4D Missions Theater, as well as historical exhibits and educational activities. This one-of-a-kind aviation attraction brings to life the story of flight, from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong.
The Air Zoo holds many historical and rare aircraft, including the world's fastest air-breathing aircraft, the SR-71B Blackbird. Many of its antique planes are airworthy. Among its other attractions are a 180-degree theater that projects a 4-D simulation of a B-17 bombing mission during World War II; and a flight simulator  of a rocket trip to Mars, U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets, a stunt biplane, a hot air balloon. Sounds like a really great place to spend a day.

 Even though this card arrived from the States, it is actually from Leslie in Ankara, Turkey. She arranged for it to be sent from Michigan. Three definitives were used, one from 2003, one from 2007 and the $1.00 Wisdom stamp from the American Culture series.

The next card arrived from Spain and highlights Hondarribia, a town situated on the west shore of Bidasoa river's mouth, in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. The town has an ancient old quarter with walls and a castle. There are two sections of town that are of special interest to the traveler , One - the Old City- With its medieval walls still intact, the historic part of town is home to the castle of Charles V, Zuloaga Palace, and Casadevante Palace. Two-  La Marina - full of multicolored houses and their resident fishermen, along San Pedro and Santiago Streets.

On the left Dominique used a 2011 stamp from a set of 4 highlighting Civic Duties. The other stamp, from 2013 celebrates Equal Salaries for Men and Women.  Both are self adhesives.

An update without an aircraft or airline just wouldn't seem right, so here's a KLM  Royal Dutch Airlines , Douglas DC-10. My regular readers might remember , or might not, that I wrote about the end of the DC-10 era back on Feb 25,2014. Check out that update if you want to know more. This DC-10 arrived from Prague, Czech Rep.

 


This is another card compliments of Meelis. This card arrived with a nice 2013 Helicopter stamp. It is half the set with the other stamp showing a ship. We also have a couple of definitives.

Now the final card for this time. It comes from Novosbirsk, in western Siberia, Russia.  The city is  is the third most populous  in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg and the most populous city in Asian Russia , with a population of 1,523,801 (2013 est ). The city is located in the southwestern part of Siberia on the banks of the Ob River and is informally known as the "Capital of Siberia." Novosibirsk,is a relatively young city,  founded in 1893. On the card is a Russian train.

Uliana used a 2012 definitive and a 2013 Flora stamp, a self adhesive.

That is my update for this time. Hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks go out to Uliana, Meelis, Dominique, Leslie and Fati. Take care, see you all next time. 

Switzerland, A Viscount, Germany, a B737-500, Wulingyuan, Royal Scot, a Basque Cross and a Dutch Postbox

Hello again postcard people. It certainly time for another blog update. As you can see from the title of this update, it's a real mixed bag.
Let's start with the Swiss card. It comes from Richterswil, a small town of just over 13,000 people. It is located on the shore of Lake Zurich, about 25 km from Zurich.

Gustav , a Postcrosser , who lives in Richterswil contacted me sometime ago for a postcard swap. This is the result. He used a couple of nice stamps on his card. On the left is a stamp from 1975. It features the dirigible airship the Ville de Lucern. On the right is a 2014 stamp celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Pilatus Railway.

Here's a real oldie, an Air Zimbabwe Viscount.   The Vickers Viscount   was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 , the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. Iit used a new form of propulsion, the turboprop engine, replacing the conventional piston engine.  It became one of the most  successful and profitable of the first post-war transport aircraft with  445 Viscounts built for a range of international customers.  This air to air picture of VP-YNC was taken around 1980 from an Air Zimbabwe B707. This Vickers Viscount was scrapped in Harare in 1984.

This card didn't travel through the mail as such, at least not on its own steam. It arrived in an envelope, but the card does have a stamp on it. Bruce used an aviation stamp, one of the last Rhodesian stamps issued. It has a Vickers Vimy airplane on it, 1 of 6 in the 1978 set., celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Powered Flight.     

Now we're off to Tubingen, Germany. Tubingen is a town in central Baden-Wurttemberg, 30 km south of Stuttgart. On Melanie's card we see one of the historic buildings along Ammergasse in the centre of Tubingen.

Melanie used 2 of the common Flower definitives along with a 2014 Easter stamp. If is 1 of 2 in a set.

A Lufthansa Boeing 737-500 , aircraft D-ABIH is flying in next, from Helsinki, Finland . This airplane had its first flight on 28 January 1991 . Still a great looking aircraft. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, commonly known as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany and also the largest airline in Europe, both in terms of overall passengers carried and fleet size. It operates services to 18 domestic destinations and 197 international destinations in 78 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe using a fleet of more than 280 aircraft.

Sirpa, who lives in Hameelinna in the southern part of Finland used a 2012 stamp on her card. It is 1 of 6 self adhesives in a m/s of Spring Blossoms.

My next card gives a fine look at the Imperial Brush Peaks in Wulingyuan, China.

Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hunan Province, China designated in 1992. It's noted for more than 3,000 quartzite sandstone  pillars and peaks across most of the site, many over 200 metres (660 ft) in height.  

The exact same view on the card is the subject of the prepaid postage stamp on this card. Then, to make up the international rate, Gao used a 1999 stamp. It is from a set of 6 featuring the Putuo Mountains. You can see both here.

The Royal Scot is up next and right on time.
The Royal Scot was a British named express passenger train that ran between London and Glasgow, the length of the West Coast Main Line (WCML). For many years it departed from both ends at 10:00 . It first ran in 1862. The locomotive shown on the card is called the City of Lancaster ( Duchess Class ). The image on the card is 1 of 5 stamps issued in 1985 featuring Famous Trains and commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Great Western Railway.

 Dan used a Machin definitive and a 2013 stamp featuring the works of Jane Austen.  The set of 6 was released on the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice.

Now I have a card featuring a Basque Cross. The lauburu or Basque Cross has four comma-shaped heads. It's a very old symbol used by a lot of cultures from the far east to the pacific and by a big part of Europe.

 

Dominique used a 2011 Biodiversity in the Oceans stamp on this card. 

 

I think that's about enough for this time. I had one more card but I'll leave if for next time. Thanks for cards going out to Gustav, Bruce, Melanie, Sirpa, Gao, Dan and Dominique. Take care and drop a comment if you have one.

A Day After Moncton

Today is June 5th, a day after June 4th, the day Moncton, New Brunswick became known around the world. I know you all arrived here to look at postcards, and you will. But bear with me a moment. Yesterday, three members of Canada's national police force, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police,  were shot and killed in the line of duty. Two other officers were shot and are recovering in hospital. This update is dedicated to those five officers. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the murdered officers and to the officers and families of the wounded. The motto in Boston a short time ago was Boston Strong, well now we say Moncton Strong.  In Honour of those officers and all Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers , we salute you and your service. My first card for today is a card from my stock , not one I have received . It is appropriate for this occasion. A Mountie in his scarlet tunic sitting atop his horse, what's more Canadian than that.

Now the regular cards.

First is a British Airways Boeing 747. This aircraft G-BNLO was delivered to British  Airways way back on 25 Oct 1990 and still flies for them. Still a fine looking airplane. This isn't a recent card, it was mailed from Paris on March 16, 1998 to South Africa. Bruce thought it would be a great addition to my Airline/Aircraft Collection. And it is.

On this one we can see a nice 1997 Philexfrance 99 World Stamp Exposition stamp along with a definitive.

Next we have a map card of Finland. I haven't really shown many map cards. Lots of people collect them , but I think I'll stick to my world atlas. There's not much to say about map cards other than , there's Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Joensuu, and Turku. Turku is the hometown of the great N.H.L. goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, now retired.

Aimo  was visiting the Finnish Parliament Visitor Center in Helsinki on September 17, 2013 and realized that a stamp was to be released that day commemorating 150 Years of the Finnish parliament. Of course he took advantage of that fact and received the special First Day Cancellation on the stamp as you can see here.

Susan who lives in Sosnowiec, Poland dropped this next card in the mail. The city of 220,000 is located in southern Poland. Her card shows a statue of Jan Wiktor Kiepura ( 1902-1966 ). He was an acclaimed Polish singer and actor. He was born in Sosnowiec.

Susan used 2 larges stamps, the one on the left was issued in 2008, while the other was issued in 2007. Both stamps are from sets of 5 celebrating European Capital Cities. Copenhagen and London are the 2 shown.

My last card for today is compliments of  Johan and comes from Brussels. It's an old picture of the Agora Cinema , dated 1958. This was the biggest first run movie theatre in Brussels, located near the Grand Place. . It opened in 1920 as Forum Palace Cinema and soon became the Agora Cinema. First run films to play here include; “The Third Man” in 1949, “An American in Paris”, Charlie Chaplin’s “Limelight” , “From Here to Eternity”, “To Catch a Thief”, Stanley Donen’s “Funny Face”, and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". In 1959 it was destroyed by a fire and it was demolished.

Johan posted this card  on March 10, 2013- International Women's Day. He secured a First Day Cancellation on the stamp. This stamp sets a world record. It has achieved a Guinness world record for the most words on a stamp.
The most words on a postage stamp is 606 words in four languages taken from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The stamp depicts the face of a woman made exclusively from words. Only full words counted towards the total.
The stamp is nondenominated. The numeral “1” in a circle and the word “world” indicate that it pays the international rate for letters weighing up to 50 grams.

 

That brings to a close another update. Thanks for cards going to Aimo, Bruce, Susan, and Johan. All cards were great  and I'm a lucky guy to receive them. Take care and remember  "MONCTON STRONG '.