Banff National Park, Canada

A card that was waiting for me in the mailbox when i came back home.....and its one of those cards that make me go jump of joy!

You know how much i just love trains but these old steam locomotives have a special touch...they are just so stylish and beautiful....i mean, nowadays you have all those modern fast trains...but they dont come even close to these old-fashioned ones...
Funny thing about this card is that for a couple of days i was convinced it was called "The Tempest" and i was wondering if it was some Shakespeare etimology....then when i read better, it said "The Tempress"....until i finally figured out it was "The Empress"....i really need to see my optician...
The CP 2816 is a class H1b Hudson type locomotive built by Montreal Locomotive Works in December 1930. Initially the locomotive ran westward out of Winnipeg to Calgary and eastward to Fort William, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay). Locomotive 2816 then moved into service on the Windsor-to-Quebec City corridor. Its last assignment was at the front of a Montreal-Rigaud commuter train, making its final revenue run on May 26, 1960. Having logged more than two million miles in active service, 2816's fires were extinguished.

Today, after a complete three-year rebuild, 2816 is restored to the original specifications with external details from the 1940/50s.

I dedicate this post to my dad, who is in hospital right now...i dont know if he had seen this card, but im 100% convinced he would love it...I also got him a train calendar and 3 railway-related DVD's from Germany...i hope once he comes home and has the chance to watch them, he would like them as well.

And I just wanna say the greatest thanks to Glenn for this splendid surprise....from both my dad and myself...its one card which makes two people VERY happy...

wohohohh, and a bunch of lovely stamps...you've already seen the ladybug one, issued in 2007.
Then, the stamp in the top right corner is of a very recent issue, October 19th to be more precise, called Lest We Forget, and i take the freedom to steal Glenn's post about this...being Canadian, i think you cant have a more appropriate person to steal information from. Great stamp!
The one next to it dates from September this year, and its called Mental Health. I wonder what kind of an image they would get if they happen to screen my brain some day....this stamp was issued in order to make the mental illness less of a taboo and something people should speak more freely about. The stamp, which features natural scenery flowing through the outline of a human figure, was designed by Vancouver’s Signals Design Group. A tree was chosen as the stamp’s central element because it symbolizes health, growth and maturity, all attainable for people affected by mental illness. The shape of the tree refers subtly to the human brain, while the path progresses towards better health and a fulfilled life.....amazing what kind of a story a stamp can bear.
The stamp next to it, the one with the egg, is one more of the Road Attraction series, issued in July this year, while the small stamp next to the lady bug...well, im not sure about this one...if i could read right, it is said to be issued in 1999...but then again, you know i can read things wrongly...and i couldnt really find some information about it, so i dont feel competent to give any further info...

Glenn, THANK YOU!!