Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, Tristan da Cunha

after a tiring day (or if we are to be more precise, after tiring several weeks), one of the coziest ways to rest is write cards....in real and post some here...plus, today, was a big day for me, coz I managed to survive a press conference...and I survived it pretty well...I dread the media...esp. when the majority of participants will rely on what YOU tell them (or in other words depend on your interpretation)...plus, it was the National Translators' Day today...so it really fit in well....and due to that, ive decided to give myself a treat here, and show you my second (out of the four) Tristan da Cunha cards i received last year...In case you want to recall the first one, here it is

Im really honoured to have such a rarity of cards..and such beautiful ones indeed! If the previous one showed Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, this one shows a lovely Yellow-nosed Albatross....or as the back of the card says: "known on Tristan as "Molly", this albatross is endemic to the Tristan group. Isnt he adorable????

The IUCN list this species as Endangered, with an occurrence range of 16,800,000 km2, and a breeding range of 80 km2. Efforts to help conserve this bird are underway. The largest threat is from longline fishing, as harvesting of chicks and adults has been outlawed. The Tristan da Cunha population is being remotely tracked and counted, and the South East Atlantic Fisheries Commission has passed a resolution that all fishing vessels use a tori line and drop lines at night

I truly hope the efforts will be efficient and this wont become one of the many extinct species in the world.

two lovely stamps on the card....with two great cancellations! The right one is from a set of four folklore stamps issued in 2009, while the other one is from a set of 12 birds issued in 2005, and it represents the Antarctic Tern.

Happy Translators' Day to everyone concerned by it!!! :)

Alki Point Lighthouse, USA

this lovely lighthouse came as a surprise from dear Maggie, coz she saw it in my favourites!

Apart from being a lighthouse, i just love the whole picture here; the snowy mountain in the background and the sun reflection against it, compared to the white as snow lighthouse and the light glowing inside....I just LOVE the comparison here!!!

the back of the card says: "the Alki Lighthouse portrays the beauty of the Pacific Northwest"....I wonder how many lighthouses are actually there in the US and how is it possible to determine which one of them EXACTLY portrays the beauty of this or that coast....to me, they are all just outstanding!!!

Maggie used a se-tennant issue from 2010, representing the set of Negro Leagues Baseball, which pays tribute to the all–black professional baseball leagues that operated from 1920 to about 1960.

Thank you so much again Maggie!!

Orlík nad Vltavou, Czech Republic

a card I received back in 2008...huh, what a long time ago..

the card shows the Orlík Castle, near the Orlík nad Vltavou village (meaning, Orlík upon the river Vltava). The castle is surrounded by a huge castle park and a game preserve. It belongs to the house of Schwarzenberg, but normally during the summer it is open to public.

looks like a really lovely scene, and probably one of the most perfect views to greet you in the morning when you open your eyes and look out the window...

Traditional Zulu Kraal, South Africa

well, just one more card for today (coz im dead beat)

this great card shows a typical village in the rural KwaZulu-Natal countryside where dancers rehearse for a tribal ceremony. KwaZulu-Natal prior to 1994



The Zulu term is umuzi and consists of two concentric palisades of thorn trunks. The huts are located inside the outer palisade and the cattle in the inner circle with a smaller enclosure there for the calves.

The kraal is usually built on a slight slope with the main entrance at the lower end. This enables rainwater to clean the cattle kraal, the ground dries quickly and any foe has to fight uphill. Small huts on poles act as storage huts or watchtowers.

The largest hut, opposite the entrance, is that of the chief's mother. The chief's hut is to the right, the first wife is to the right of the chief's mother, the second wife is to the left of the chief's hut, the third wife to the right of the first wife and so on. The unmarried girls live on the left of the entrance, the unmarried boys, to the right. The two elder sons also vet any visitors and man the entrance around the clock. Visitors are either rejected, expected to wait for an appropriate length of time or ushered in immediately depending on their relation to the family. Those that are allowed in experience the siyakuleka ikhaya display where the gatekeeper sings the praises of the chief. The function of gatekeeper is also very useful in another way in that he will assume the role of chief on his father's death and will be familiar with all those who visited his father and their treatment.

to be honest, i couldnt help but laugh at this kind of division...now i just need to memorize it :)

well, wishing you all a great weekend...and more relaxed than mine :)

till next time...

Australian Antarctic Territory

it is just unfair how quickly weekends go by....I just dread at the THOUGHT of Monday =/
Plus for some reason(s) I have this surge of negative thoughts....so I thought it might help if i come here and get distracted for a while from all that.....

Im rather stunned at the maxi-cards that are circulating around from the AAT! They are just amazing and so breathtaking most of the times! On a side note, i dont know if ive told you, but ive grown really fond of collecting maxi-cards...they just feel so beautiful...too bad i cant respond by sending them as well =(
AAT is the largest territory of Antarctica, claimed by any nation....in this case, Australia, of course.

Regarding the postage stamps...it is Australia that has issued postage stamps for the AAT since 1957. All have been Antarctic themed, and are also valid for postage in Australia, so in practice they are just Australian stamps with a different inscription. So this in a way explains why these are commonly seen among the Australian traders. I was sort of in doubt if I should post this maxi-card, since just last time I posted an Australian one....but i decided to go for it, since it does fall as a separate item in the philatelic catalogues and this one in particular is from a set of 4 stamps issued this year, called Icebergs. The mini-sheets of all the AAT stamps are just jaw-dropping!

Taal Volcano and Lake, Philippines

a lovely card from the Philippines!

the Taal Volcano is a complex volcano (a volcano with more than one feature) located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
Permanent settlement in the island has been prohibited by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology or PHIVOLCS, declaring the whole Volcano Island as a high-risk area and a Permanent Danger Zone. But despite the warnings, poor families have settled on the island, risking their lives, earning a living by fishing and farming crops from the rich volcanic soil.
There have been 33 recorded eruptions at Taal since 1572.

Really ironic....such a beautiful place, yet so dangerous....

the bottom stamp is from a set of 9 definitives issued this year, showing marine life...while the one above is from 2010 from a set of 12, another 'marine life' definitive

Graubünden, Switzerland

A card which came as a great surprise from dear Caroline, since it is an official card!! Always so excited to receive officials from people I know :)

CH-87339

And she has chosen such a beautiful and perfect card for me! Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland and this is Matterhorn-Gothard-Bahn which is said to be an Alpine adventure railway par excellence. The line is 144 km long and leads from Zermatt to Disentis and from Andermatt to Göschenen, covering a difference in altitude of 3300 m, passing through 33 tunnels and galleries and crossing 126 bridges and viaducts en route. The lowest point of the journey is Visp, at 625 m above sea level, and the highest the Oberalppass at 2033 m above sea level. 

I think it is pretty obvious that id love to go on this one too....

you are quite familiar with the cereals' stamps....the third one, at the top right corner is from 2009, from a set of 3 'wedding' stamps.

Thanks a lot again Caroline!!!

Surin Beach, Thailand

A fantastic surprise from JP! The postcard fairy all over the postcard-sphere :)

He sent this card from the Phuket island, and this card in particular shows the Surin Beach. A few more words about Phuket, in an older post I have here.

Surin is on the west coast of Phuket, known as 'Millionaires Row' due the the top-end celebrity haunts as well as the many US$ 1 million+ houses that sit proudly on top of the hills overlooking the Andaman Sea. Although popular with tourists it's not a busy resort town but more like a coastal village.
As it is usual with these kind of beaches, it has crystal-clear waters and white sandy beaches...just lovely, no?

And JP definitely has his way of finding great stamps as well...all the stamps were issued in 2010...the middle one is from a set of 10 definitives portraying H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX), while the two long stamps are from a set of 4 representing the 50th Anniversary of Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Sanibel - Captiva, USA

and another fantastic surprise from JP....this time from Florida

Sanibel is located on the Gulf coast of Florida and with Captiva they formed as one island over 6,000 years ago.
It is said to be a shell-collectors' paradise. One of the reasons for the accumulations of shells is the fact that Sanibel is a barrier island which has an "east-west orientation when most islands are north-south. Hence, the island is gifted with great sandy beaches and an abundance of shells. It is also due to the fact that Sanibel is "part of a large plateau that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico for miles. It is this plateau that acts like a shelf for seashells to gather.
To be honest, im quite lost with the explanations....but well, hopefully, you know what it wants to say.

3 lovely stamps on the card....2 from the 'adopt a shelter pet' issue from 2010 and one from the "Sunday Funnies" issue of 5.

Thanks a lot JP!! For everything!!

Moonlight Iceberg, Greenland

Hello to all my dear readers...I had planned to post earlier, but last week was just so chaotic, in every single aspect, that I couldnt possibly manage to make any updates...sorry for that...but now with the rain outside (and the tonz of work backlog) feels like a perfect time to show some cards here...

as I already mentioned, we are having rain here....after the constant heat (even though it is late September already) we finally were treated with some refreshment! Well, on one side it feels perfect....but on the other, it quite interferes with my everyday schedule...you know, im a person who calls the bicycle a best friend...so now im pretty annoyed coz i need the daily dosage of a physical activity and coz the public transport is worse than a turtle....really, today i more felt like the bus was on some sightseeing tour, moving sloowly and slooowly in order you dont miss something from left and right....ugh...it took 50 minutes till I got home...by bike it takes 30...so do the math now why im so frustrated!

anyways, this aint a rain card, but it certainly is a chilly one :) And it is just so lovely!! It shows a moonlight iceberg in Greenland where the ice is said to be polished by the wind...and if you take a better look, this all feels like some small piece of art!! Amazing!!

this fantastic card was sent to me by dear Johanna who had seen this card in my favourites and decided to share it with m...and yeah, she went to Greenland actually, where she had stocked herself with cards....lucky her...Greenland is one of those places on earth id really LOVE to see!! After Norway of course :)

Kiitos Johanna!!!

Nova Gorica, Slovenia

A great card from Slovenia showing Nova Gorica and the Solkanski Bridge...

I love these type of bridges, high over rivers or crevasses or canyons, esp, when trains are also able to pass...this is a 220-metre long stone bridge over the river Soča in Western Slovenia. With an arch span of 85 metres it is the second longest stone arch in the world and the longest stone arch among train bridges. It was built in the time of the Secession, between 1900 and 1906 Solkan also represents the last stone bridge constructed in the world, because the first large concrete bridges were already on the horizon.

Of course, it had had its sufferings and reconstructions during the wars....but nowadays, it offers a simply fantastic view to bee seen!

a flower stamp from 2007 from a set of 17, showing the Saw-wort.

thanks a lot to Ivana for this fantastic card!

Kuranda Train, Australia

A fantastic card from dear Heather! Not only coz it is a train...but just look at those amazing surroundings! And the panoramic size really fits in here, capturing such a great length of the train!

Here is what the back of the card says: The classic scene of the Kuranda Train at Stony Creek Falls as it makes its way up to Kuranda. On its way the train will pass waterfalls, travel through tunnels and pass many dramatic views to finally arrive in the rainforest town of Kuranda; settled in the mountains behind Cairns".

The Barron Gorge National Park is a part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, so I think this card is eligible to be labeled as UNESCO as well, no?

This brings the issue of why is it so hard for me to collect and keep track of my UNESCO received cards....coz in the UNESCO list you have one item called: Wet tropics of Queensland...but that item consists of a bunch of places....so i just dont know how it is possible to collect ALL the UNESCO sites in the world...I mean, same is with Macedonia...you have Ohrid and its region on the list, meaning the Lake, the city and the entire historical and cultural area belong to this list...and do you actually know how many such places Ohrid has?? A LOT!! So seems that now I have to disappoint some of the UNESCO collectors out there, but maybe you dont actually have the complete UNESCO regarding Macedonia....sorry =/

and as usual Heather uses lovely stamps!!! all the stamps were issued in 2010....the left one is a self-adhesive from a set of 4 representing the 150th Melbourne cup - Carbine 1890. The middle stamp portrays the Canonisation of Mary MacKillop while the third one is from a set of 4 self-adhesive stamps showing Australian Kingfishers and this is the Red-backed Kingfisher...so cute :) Thank you so much Heather!!!

Delft, The Netherlands

this is an official card i received back in 2010

NL-307113

The card gives us a view of the city of Delft, which I must say looks like a very cosy, tipically Dutch place :)

Aunt wiki says that Delft is primarily known for its typically Dutch town centre (with canals); also for the painter Vermeer, Delft Blue pottery (Delftware), the Delft University of Technology, and its association with the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau

uhmm, except that I had somewhere, sometime heard about the University, I dont think I could relate Delft to any of the other things....shame shame on me.....

well...you know it...

Louisiana, USA

my last card for today is another official one, showing a map of the state of Louisiana

US-680226

well, I would like to use this card in order to dedicate this post to a guy called Lester Bo McCalleb, as well as to the entire Macedonian basketball team. Those who have followed the European Basketball Championship, already know why.

Personally, ive never really followed basketball...Im a racing and tennis kind of person...also gymnastics, ice-skating and such...but never really been into the '-ball' sports, unless given a good reason....and here I was given that good reason. Considered an outsider by almost everyone (neither WE had any high hopes), Macedonia managed to reach the semi-finals and end in the fourth place....along with the greatest basketball names of Spain, Russia, France....the day we beat Lithuania, on their turf, with 100 Macedonian supporters against the 14.000 Lithuanian ones, was one of the days the entire country will remember...I could never truly describe you the atmosphere here, but it was proved that the way sports can genuinely unite people (in the most spontaneous way) politics and political parties can NEVER do....so i would really wholeheartedly want to thank the Macedonian basketball team along with the fantastic coach for giving our country such a thing....something we had needed for a long long while....

And why I chose Louisiana? Coz Bo was actually born there....and Bo has the fantastic contribution to our team....Bo who in the end was ranked among the 5 top players of the All Tournament Team...and who had the Macedonian flag on his shoulders when accepting the award....Bo who grew to the hearts of many....

we lost to Russia in the semi-finals in another tense match, but our players simply had no more strength...yet, we are more than happy and grateful for what they had achieved.....

here are the highlights and the key moment of the match against the host Lithuania....i still shiver, each time i watch it....

Bo with the Macedonian flag over the shoulders..

If you fulfill the hearts of the Macedonians, this is how they're gonna welcome you when you decide to go back home :) (I was among there....somewhere....)

Cyprus

I was really astonished when i realized that it's been like two weeks since my last post....dont know how I managed to lose track of time....I mean, I knew that my last post didnt happen two days ago, but this was rather shocking.....but life has just given its own reasons...so postcards had to come second or third...

so without further ado....

here is a lovely but undefined card from Cyprus..I have absolutely no idea where this is, and it could be just anywhere in the country...yet the combination of white, blue and purple is beautiful.
recently ive found myself digging into the older boxes of cards, so i somewhat have decided to focus on them more...so today again, all the cards you will see are ones I had received back in 2009....ive realized that among those older cards, i have some rather rare countries as well, and it is really a pity to keep them all hidden..,,

the big stamp is from a set of eight 2008 stamps, named Cyprus through the ages, while the smaller one is the Refugee fund tax stamp...the one that seems to be commonly used on the Cypriot mail

Sanbō-in, Japan

next is a UNESCO card showing the Sanbō-in temple in Japan

as the sender said:
- Sanbō-in is a Buddhist temple in southern Kyoto, known today primarily for the quality of its garden.
Sanbō-in was established in 1582 - 1615. It was a sub-temple of Daigo-ji, which is a Heian period temple founded in 902. The temple complex had fallen into disrepair during the Sengoku period. The garden is designed as a stroll garden with a large pond and several paths and bridges.

definitely looks like a nice retreat from the daily chaos im facing...

and of course, the Japanese stamps are always a challenge for some who doesnt understand a bit of it....surprising how many HK stamps Japan has...this one is from 2008 from a set of ten stamps...the other is that definitive ive shown before, from a set of 3 stamps, issued in 2007

Virgin Komi Forests, Russia

and another lovely UNESCO card here, this one sent by my dear Nastya.

you will have to agree that the nature here is just so tranquil and beautiful....

some terminology clearing up first: virgin forest stands for a forest in its natural state, before being explored or exploited by man. Yeah, sorry for spoiling the fun and if you find the term rather boring, but it DOESN'T mean something else :)

The forests are located in the Northern Ural mountains of the Komi Republic, covering 3.28 million ha of tundra and mountain tundra. This vast area of conifers, aspens, birches, peat bogs, rivers and natural lakes provides valuable evidence of the natural processes affecting biodiversity in the taiga. Dominant tree species include Siberian Spruce, Siberian Fir and Siberian Larch, while the most prominent mammals are the reindeer, the sable, the mink and the hare. The site corresponds to Russia's Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve and Yugyd Va National Park. Its World Heritage Site status was recognised in 1995, making it the first natural World Heritage site in the country

however, people wouldnt be people, if they didnt attempt to ruin everything...

Nastya used two lovely EUROPA stamps (the ones which make me dread when it comes to Macedonia).
The left one is from the 2008 issue related to letters, while the right one (and absolutely delicious) is from the 2005 issue dedicated to gastronomy...yummie!

thank you dear Nastya!!!

Dolphins, Portugal

Ill close the update today with this lovely lovely dolphin card...ive always loved these animals, but having the chance to see them live recently, they absolutely captured my heart for good!

I won this card in a lottery hosted by Joana and this lovely creature here is supposed to be swimming somewhere around the shores of Azores.
Have you ever swum with dolphins? I havent, but i think that it must be one of the most calming things one could do, when you just forget about all the stress and all the problems, and you just let yourself be charmed by one of the most intelligent and friendliest of animals....i wish i lived somewhere near the ocean, and everyday i could go and play with them, feed them, take care of them....but where i live, im stuck with my cats only :)

a city-transport stamp, issued in a set of 3 in 2008.

thank you Joana for the lovely card...and to everyone else who's guilty for making my mailbox happy :)

till soon...