Tuesday, July 29, 2014

More Choice cards

Here we go with another update. A few more good, choice cards. Let's start with a new addition to my Aircraft / Airline Postcard Collection. This one is a new airplane type to me. I never heard of them before this card arrived. It is a Martin JRM Mars.The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined cargo transport  seaplane originally designed and built in limited numbers for the U.S. Navy during the World war II era. It was the largest Allied flying boat to enter production, although only seven were built. The surviving aircraft were later converted for civilian use to firefighting water bombers.  One example of the aircraft still remains in active service.And that one is Mars Hawaii, the one on my card. Mars Hawaii is based and maintained at Sproat Lake  near Port Alberni, B.C.
.My Lovely Teena sent this card, while on our recent trip to Vancouver Island. She even posted it in Coombs where the goats live on the roof. The card arrived with a UNESCO World Heritage Site stamp on it , from the March 31, 2014 set. It shows Miguasha National Park in Quebec. Thanks Teena, I always appreciate your cards.



Glud Museum is the focus of my next card.  Glud Museum is a fascinating open-air museum with many historic buildings from Jutland. Included is Rasmus Thomesons farm from 1662, Denmark's oldest peasant cottage ,  and Hjarno House from 1811 along with  a 250 year old smithy . Glud Museum tells the story of country life in Eastern Jutland over the last 350 years.



This is my second card from Hans Jorgen and he used a great stamp again. It is a souvenir sheet from 2013 showing and celebrating 100 years of the Little Mermaid. 



My next card is a great look at Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville, British Columbia.  Located  at the east end of the town, the 347-hectare park features a two-kilometre long stretch of sandy beach, a stand of old-growth Douglas Fir trees . Popular year-round, the sandy beach is the main attraction. At low tide, it stretches nearly a kilometre out into the Strait of Georgia. Parksville is a city of just over 12,000.

Speaking of Parksville, I will have Major news with regard to this city in a week or so. Stay tuned. It's Big !




This card arrived with the a William & Kate Wedding stamp. It is actually 1 of 2 stamps in a 2011 souverir sheet. 



Gnomes are up next. I don't know any of these guys' names but wonder if they know any of the Travelocity Roaming Gnomes. 

 
This is another card from Fati , from Germany. She used 1 of 2 stamps in the 2013 Joint Issue with South Korea. 




Well, that's the update for this time. Hope you enjoyed the cards and stamps. Thanks going out to Fati, Hans, and My Lovely Teena. Take care , drop by again.  

Friday, July 25, 2014

A Dreay Day Post

Good day for a blog update, cloudy, cool and light showers off and on. So on to the cards. My first card for today was mailed from Union Bay, British Columbia, Canada. It's a Union Bay Historical Society picture of the Union Bay Post Office. Built is 1913 it is one of only two remaining wooden post offices in Canada. Union Bay , founded in 1887, is a small community of around 1200 people located in the Comox Valley of Vancouver Island.



This one arrived with a 2012 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee stamp. Also visible is a great cancellation showing the Union Bay Post Office and alluding to its 100 years of operation 1913-2013 .




Next up is a card from an infrequently seen country- San Marino. It's only my  second card from there, so it was nice to find this one in the mailbox. San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino and also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, is an enclaved microstate surrounded by Italy, situated on the Italian Peninsula on the north-eastern side of the Apennine Mountains.  San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, dating back to 3 September 301.










Johan used a couple of the new 2014 stamp celebrating the fine play of the Juventus Football Club.










Don't forget to check out Johan's postcard blog right here .


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This 3rd card is from My Lovely Teena, sent on our recent trip to Vancouver Island. It is a card of Cathedral Grove, a most wonderful place. Located in MacMillan Provincial Park, here you will find massive Douglas Firs, some of them up to 800 years old. It is a perfect place to walk and experience the beauty of nature. The largest Douglas fir in the park  – one measuring more than 9 metres in circumference can be found. Walking through the area was just awesome.



 Teena posted this card in the small community of Coombs, B.C. located quite near Cathedral Grove. She used one of the new UNESCO World Heritage Site stamp issued back in March. This one is the Joggins Fossil Cliffs located in Nova Scotia , in eastern Canada.


Too bad, looks like the Coombs Post Office could have used a little more ink  in their cancellation.


Coombs is home to approximately 1,327 people and is renowned for its Old Country Market (which features a family of goats living on the roof). Have a look here in this picture. You can see 3 of them. 



Here's my last card for today. It's an aerial view of Vezelay, France - a village in Burgundy in north-central France. It is a hill town famous for Vezelay Abbey . The town and the famous 11th century Romanesque Basilica of St. Magdelene are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.



This card is compliments of Fabienne, who operates  a fine World  Heritage postcard site called Postcards,  Stamps and World Heritage .    

 She used a bunch of stamps on the card. To the left are 3 copies of a 2013 Marianne definitive. In the middle is the 2014 Year of the Horse stamp. Lastly on the right is a 1964 Aviation stamp celebrating the 25th Year of  Postal flights at night.



So ends another blog. Thanks go to Fabienne, My Lovely Teena, and Johan for cards. Take care, drop back again.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Good Cards Day

Hello again, time for a few new cards. I have received some great cards this past week or so. So, let's have a look at a few of them.

First up is a card from Marrakesh, Morocco, giving us a look at some sort of market or storefront. Here we see bags of fine foods, nuts, beans, peas, corn and spices.



Thanks to David and his recent trip to Morocco for this card. David used a couple of stamps including the definitive on the left featuring King Mohammed. It was issued in 2011 as part of a set of 3. The larger stamp on the right commemorates Arab Postal Day and was issued in 2012.




Now here's a aviation related card from Kate in Portland, OR, U.S.A. It shows a North American P-51D Mustang, a World War II fighter. This card is from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum , an aviation museum which displays a number of military and civilian aircraft and spacecraft, most notably, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose". it is located in McMinnville, Oregon.

 


Kate used nice stamps, too, some of which are new to my collection. On the top are 2 of 4 Cycling stamps issued in 2012. The lower stamp is from the set of 4 American Inventors issued in 1983.


Kate has a fine postcard blog called "deltiolog a journal of collected postcards". You can have a look at it here .

My 3rd card for this time arrived from France. On it we can see Liberation Square and the Palace of Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon, France. Dijon is a city in eastern France, capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region. The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period.

 


Dominique used a recent 2014 stamp featuring French Politician Alexandre Glais-Bizoin 1800-1877.



Hey it's another card from David's trip to Morocco. This time it's from Essaouira,  a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, on the Atlantic coast.  The Medina  of Essaouira is a UNESCO World Heritage listed city, an example of a late 18th-century fortified town, as transferred to North Africa by European colonists.



David used a different definitive of King Mohammed this time, one issued in 2013. 



My last card for this time is another one from Kate in Portland. This one shows the flight deck of Howard Hughes' Flying Boat -- the Spruce Goose in the Evergreen Aviation Museum. The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"; registration NX37602) is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company  Intended as a transatlantic transport for use during World War II, it was not completed in time to be of use. The aircraft made only one brief flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood , its critics nicknamed it the "Spruce Goose", despite it being made almost entirely of birch rather than spruce.  The Hercules is the largest flying boat  ever built and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.



On this one,  Kate used the remaining 2 Cycling stamps from the 2012 set, along with another of the 4 American Inventors set from 1983.



Well there you have it, another 5 postcards added to the blog. Thanks to David, Kate and Dominique for their cards. Hope you enjoyed your reading and that you will come back again. 

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Head-Smashed-In

I'm back, it's been a while , 11 days in fact. I was away for a week , so that takes care of most of it. I have cards from Finland, Taiwan, Portugal, and Canada for this time. Let's start with the Canada card. It's of  a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Alberta, Canada.  Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie 18 km northwest of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada. It is one of the world's oldest, largest, and best preserved buffalo jumps . The Jump bears witness to a method of hunting practiced by native people of the North American plains for nearly 6,000 years. In 1981, the United Nations Educational Scientific  and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump as a World Heritage Site.



This card is from My Lovely Teena. We were lucky enough to visit Head-Smashed-In a couple of weeks ago. Teena always manages to send me a postcard from wherever we visit. She used one of the new UNESCO WHS definitive stamps issued by Canada post on March 31, 2014. There were 5 in the set and the one you see here shows Nahanni National Park in the Northwest Territories. Thanks Teena.



Now here's a card from Finland showing the Finlayson Factory area. James Finlayson, a Scottish Quaker is thought responsible for bringing the industrial revolution to the Tampere area.  The first factory was completed in 1823.



Paivi , who lives in northern Finland posted this card in Oulu. She used a sunflower shaped self adhesive from 2012. It is 1 of 2 in the set.



Next I have a train card for all you train enthusiasts out there. It's from Taiwan and shows an electric train on the left and an old steam train on the right.



Tobey used a recent Fruit definitive , 1 of 4 in the 2012 set.



This card from Espinho, Portugal is next. Espinho , a city of about 32,000 is a beach resort area with a casino located in the north east of the country.  On the card we see a nice fresh fruit market.



 

One of four Lavadas stamps from 2012 was used . The "Levadas" are a remarkable  irrigation system that was developed in the 16th century by the first settlers to distribute water from the high mountain springs to the slopes and valleys.



Well, that's the update for this time. Hope you enjoyed reading and hope you will come back again. Thanks for cards to My Lovely Teena, Tobey, and Paivi. 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

More July

Here we go again. A few more cards to have a look at.

The first card for today comes from Gourock, Scotland, a small town on the west coast . Gourock sits on the south bank of the Firth of Clyde, 28 miles west of Glasgow..  Its principal function today,  is as a popular residential area,  with a railway terminus and ferry services across the Clyde. Gourock has one of the two remaining public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland, having been built in 1909. Alan's card gives us a look at the Forth Rail Bridge. It is widely acknowledged as one of the most iconic feats of engineering in Great Britain. It was completed in 1889 and was the first major structure to be built of steel in the country. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles west of central Edinburgh. It was opened on 4 March 1890 and spans a total length of 8,296 feet.



 Alan used 2 Machin definitives on his card . The one on the left was issued in 2010 and the one on the right in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee.



  Before we leave Scotland, one wonders whether Scotland will be the latest "new country " for us collectors. I guess we'll all be watching how the Scottish Independence referendum  goes on September 18th.


My second card arrived  from Ireland. It 's a card showing Mater, the Pixar character in the 2006 animated  film Cars. Sir Tow mater or simply Mater's  design is based on a 1951 International Harvester boom truck. Mater's driving skills include a claim to be "the world's best backwards driver." Anyone remember Mater saying "My name's Mater... Yeah, like tuh-mater, but without the tuh" , or "Git-R-Done", or "I don't care who you are; that's funny right there".


 Gleb who lives in Cork sent this card. He used a small 2013 self adhesive stamp featuring a Beadlet Anemone.




The Grand Haven South Pier Lights and lighted catwalk in Michigan is the subject of this next card. It is the focal point of Grand Haven's waterfront.  Grand Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and  is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River.
The Grand Haven Lighthouses were first built in 1839 on the south pier marking the channel into the river. The current lighthouses, painted red, were built in 1875 (outer light) and 1905 (inner).



Sara used 2 stamps from 2013. On the left is a self adhesive Butterfly and on the right is the Hello, I'm Johnny Cash stamp.



Okay, here's the final card for today, and it's from the Czech Republic. It shows the old train station in Beroun, a town in the Central Bohemian district of the country. It is located about 30 kilometers southwest of Prague. It has about 19,000 residents. The card shows the railway station as it was back in the 1920s. It was replaced in the 1960s with a more modern building.

    



Gabi's stamp is from 2012, 1 of 2 issued showing paintings of the Czech painter Alfons Mucha.


 There you have it, a rather large stamp when compared to the small one from Ireland I showed earlier.

That does it for this update. Thanks to Gabi, Sara, Gleb and Alan for their contributions.  I wouldn't be here without people like them.. Thanks for reading, and as I always say, leave a comment if you have one , and even if you don't.  Take care.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Another July Post

Hello again, I think it's time for another blog update. I haven't received many cards lately, they have slowed to a trickle actually. Not to fear, I have lots on hand from the past that still haven't made it online. Until now that is. My first card arrived from the Netherlands, but is of Borkum. Borkum is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is the largest and westernmost of the East Frisian Islands  in the North Sea. Located around 30 kilometres from the mainland, the island of Borkum is Germany's most north-westerly point.



Alma used a couple of older Netherlands stamps on her card.  The top stamp was issued in 1983 to show the Symbolic Separation of Church. The middle stamp,  from 1984, is 1 of 2 issued that year in the Europa series. The bottom stamp , also from 1983, commemorates the Royal Dutch Touring Club's Centenary.



My second card today is from Canton, China, and is entitled "Hey, I'm Swimming To You ". All I see are two birds in a tree. Guess I'm not the romantic type after all.

 

I really have no idea who sent this card but the stamp is from 2002. It is 1 of 2 definitives issued that year showing Birds.




Here's a card showing a busy market in Ghana. It didn't arrive from Ghana of course, it arrived from Taiwan. Apparently Taiwan's university does volunteer work down in Ghana.



Anjan used a Bird stamp and a Flower stamp on this card. The bird stamp was issued this year and is from a set of 4 showing Pheasants. The Flower stamp if from a set of 8 issued in 2999.




This next card arrived from Beijing, China. It shows a rather impressive gate, but of what , I know not. If you recognize it, leave a comment .



Xiao used 2 stamps. On the left is a 2009 stamp marking 10 Years of the Return of Macau. There were 3 in the set. The stamp on the right was issued in 2013 and is 1 of a set of 12 Flower stamps.




Next up is a card issued in 1980 showing a painting from 1911. It is the work of Ilya Ivanovich Mashkow ( 1881-1944 ) . It is titled "Portrait of a Lady With Pheasants ".

This card is from Estonia and  Kipsi used a wonderful 2013 Year of The Snake stamp.



I think that about does it for this time. Thanks for cards go to Alma, Anjan, Xiao and Kipsi.
Hope you enjoyed your time here and that you will come back again. Enjoy your cards.