Sunday Stamps - (G) Grey Reef Shark from Australia

For the letter G - Grey Reef Shark

2018 - Australia - Reef Safari

Photographer: Jurgen Freund

The stamp was issued on 1 August 2018, along with four other designs. According to Australia Post: The inquisitive Grey Reef Shark is most often seen in shallow water near the drop-offs of coral reefs. The Grey Reef Shark is bronze to grey in colour on top and a paler shade on its under-side, with a black outline on its tail fin. The species looks similar to the Galapagos Shark, save for the colouration of the tail.

For more information about this issue, please visit this page.

For more stamps with the letter "G" - visit See It On A Postcard

Postcards for the weekend 78: Spring

Private swap, sent from Timaru, New Zealand
Sent 15 Oct 2013, Traveled 8,290 km

The label at the back of this postcard says: This lamb is one of the millions of lambs born each spring in New Zealand. According to the sender when he wrote on this postcard, "the daffodils have been blooming, the lamb bleating, the weather changing so it must be springtime!"

Private swap, Sent from Amsterdam
Sent 12 Mar 2012, Traveled 10,385 km

The sender of this postcard also spoke of spring, "Here in Amsterdam, where spring has begun so more and more flowering tulips. Enjoy!"

I've never been in a real field of tulips and I wish I will one day. 

Happy weekend everyone! 

~maria

Sunday Stamps: New Year

2018 is the year of the Earth Dog, the previous one being in 1958. Wow, that's 60 years ago! 

I just realized that my mother has an Earth Dog zodiac sign. She's turning 60, two days from now.

Now onto the stamps: (1) The Singapore stamp was released on 5 Jan 2018. It was designed by Mr. Leo Teck Chong, who has been designing Singapore's Chinese zodiac series of stamps since 2009 up to present. (2) The Taiwanese stamp was issued on 1 Dec 2017. It features a paper cutting of a dog surrounded by peonies. 

For Sunday Stamps hosted at See it on a Postcard.

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Roosters or Chickens

The year 2017 according to the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Rooster. This stamp was released by the Japan Post on 1 November 2016. The central design is a Kurashiki Hariko rooster. Kurashiki Hariko is a papier mache, traditional craft from Okayama Prefecture. It is special for being all parts of the papier mache are handmade by craftsmen. There is a shorter version of this stamp, which can be found here.

To view other stamps featuring roosters and chickens, check out the page See it on a Postcard.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 25: Gratitude

Searching for postcards to share for this weekend's theme reminded me of the interconnectivity of these four themes I've chosen for this month of February. Please forgive me if the cards might seem redundant with the emotions they convey ...

NL-2055263, sent from Den Haag, The Netherlands
Traveled 10,451 km in 15 days

...gratitude for receiving attention

UA-1478123, sent from Kharkov, Ukraine
Traveled 8,316 km in 17 days

...gratitude for being outside in nature under the warmth of the sun

Direct Swap, sent from Munich, Germany

...gratitude for having food and drinks on the table 

NL-3556071, sent from Volendam, The Netherlands
Traveled 10,517 km in 17 days

...gratitude for seeing and receiving a present from a good friend.

Happy weekend everyone and looking forward into seeing your postcards,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 24: Love

Private Swap, Sent from JM Aalten, The Netherlands
Sent 21 Sep 2011, Traveled 10,374 km 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

I don't have the words to describe these gestures of love and affection ...

Lovely weekend everyone,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Southern hemisphere

The four themes for this month of February for Sunday Stamps hosted by Sanna @ See It On A Postcard challenge my geographical recall ... pretty exciting! The first theme is southern hemisphere. According to wiki, the entire mainland of Australia is in the southern hemisphere. 

One of the iconic Australian animals is the platypus (Ornithorhynchus atatinus). On the 2016 issue above, it's shown against a background of its native foliage. 

Integral to the Australian identity, too is surfing. The 2013 stamp is one of four domestic base-rate (60 cents) commemorative issued for the 50th Anniversary of Surfing Australia.

Again, according to wiki, Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups of overseas Chinese people and largest in Oceania as of 2011. For Chinese people around the world, the Lunar New Year begins on 28 January for 2017. Australia Post issued two Christmas Island Year of the Fire Rooster stamps this year. The $1 stamp is above and the other one, $3 stamp can be seen here. 

Head over to Sanna's page for more stamps from the southern hemisphere.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 16: December holidays

As a Christian, one of the most awaited holiday for me during the year is Christmas. It's when the weather is cooler and the environment is merry almost everywhere.

For these two weekends with the December holidays theme, I will split my postcards between real-life photos postcards and illustrated postcards. For the first set:

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Dr. Arnold
Sent: 5 June 2016 from Greenland, Traveled 11,538 km

This postcard makes me miss hearing children's choir during the mass. The youngest choir I had the pleasure to listen to recently are teenagers. There's just that mesmerizing sweetness and innocence in the voice of children that I long to hear live again.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Terry
Sent: 9 July 2015, Traveled 16,656 km

This postcard is from a set from Garvan Woodland Gardens at the University of Arkansas. Annually, around 1.7 million sparkling lights are arranged throughout the gardens for the holiday feature. By the look of the postcard, it must be enchanting when the lights shine bright against the dark.

US-4376395, Sender: Nancy
Sent: 1 Dec 2016, Traveled 15,145 km in 14 days

This card is among the most recent Christmas cards that I've received. It came this week. According to the postcard, each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the Country Club Plaza for the spectacular Christmas lights. The installations last from Thanksgiving night until the end of the holiday season. The fireworks on this postcard makes it look like even more radiant!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Tuija
Sent: Dec 2013, Traveled 8,726 km

This last card for this weekend is half real life and half illustration postcard. The dog on this postcard is Vilma, pet and companion of my penfriend Tuija, Vilma is a litter reject Mittelspitz but my sweet friend took her and they've been with each other for many years now. I always love reading news about Vilma on each and every letter Tuija sends to me. 

Until next weekend for more Christmas postcards!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 5: Cats & Dogs

FI-1276051, Sender: Merja from Finland
Sent: 10 Dec 2011, Traveled 8,927 km in 23 days

Growing up at my grandparents who owned a small farm, I was surrounded by animals. Cats and dogs, most specially the cats are allowed inside the house. I'm not particularly fond of cats though. There's a horrible biting accident when I was 3 years old. Regardless, cats are still adorable creatures in my book. I have a scan of this postcard in my hard drive but the original card was left at home, back in the Philippines. If my memory serves me right, this cat is the pet of the Merja, the sender of the card. I love how it seems to be staring straight right back at the camera.

RU-647117, Sender: Olga from Russia
Sent: 25 Nov 2011, Traveled 5,560 km in 13 days

Given the proper circumstances, I'll have a pet dog. I want a large one with short hairs and standing ears. I haven't really decided on the color but caramel like the one on the right. 

From this weekend's theme, I learned that there are 3 types of domesticated animals: commensals, prey animals for food, and targeted animals for draft & nonfood resource. So I'm sure my cats & dogs here are both commensals. I'm excited to blog hop and see if we have postcards of domesticated animals falling to the next 2 categories. Happy sharing!

~maria