COVER N. 696 / POSTCARD 696 - KENYA

Postmark: (?) Kenya 28.10.2024

Posted on the 28 October 2024;  Received on the 17th March 2026

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Talk about snail mail.... in our age of fast and furious these two postal pieces are really exemplary of what written communication used to be when distances had to be braved by other means than the flow of electrons along an optical fibre cable....

Thank you so much, Ravi. I was really pleased to get these, for I don't get that much Kenyan mail in my letterbox and also because the duration of their journey (since it took so long, who knows what they have been through) somehow bestows on them an aura of accomplishment that  fast international priority mail certainly lacks.

And then there's the image on the postcard, that balloon, against  the quintessential stereotype of the African sunset... I almost expect Mery Streep posing as Karen Blixen to wave Hello, from the gondola..😀

According to the date on the postmark, both the letter and the card were posted the same day.

Five hundred and six days, or sixteen months and twenty-one days, that is how long it took for the roughly six thousand, five hundred kilometres, as the bird flies, between Nairobi and Lisboa to be conquered... if only paper could talk.....I am sure that there has to be an interesting story lying there somewhere.....

Several postal administrations celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Birth of Mahatma Gandhi,  who was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, in what was then the Porbandar princely state, now part of the Gujarat State, one of the 28 such administrative divisions of the Republic of India.

The Postal Corporation of Kenya was one such case, having issued, on 02OCT2020. the two stamp set (30 and 110 Kenyan Shillings) Ravi used on the cover 

Of note is the fact that stamps are illustrated  with the same iconic image of Gandhi dressed in his usual very humble clothes - nothing more than a dhoti (a loincloth) and a shawl, which he is holding in his right hand while the left holds a walking stick, known as a lathi.

On the 100 shilling stamp the image is wither superimposed or simply colourised on an original black and white photography of Gandhi leading a crowd, while his figure was isolated for the 20 Shilling stamp.

On the card Ravi also used a stamp from a 3 x 50 Shilling set issued on 10May2018 illustrated with photographs of the last existing three northern white rhinos - Sudan, a male, and Najin and Fatu, females.

At the time of issue though, Sudan had already died, having been euthanized in March 2018,  but the two female rhinos still persist at Ol Pejeta Conservancy  where they are under surveillance 24/7 and it is hoped that a new calf may be born in 2028, following artificial insemination with sperm collected from Sudan.

COVER N. 695 - FRANCE

Postmark: Fête du Timbre Street Art et peintres de rue 69 Oullins-Pierre-Bénite 06.03.2026

Posted on the 6th March;  Received on the 12th March 2026

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Street Art... the street as inspiration, model, atelier, canvas, gallery, arts forum, for the joy of the city and its dwellers and visitors.

Graffiti, murals, tags, video projections...

What started as a sidelined movement form the peripheries has now become fully integrated into the mainstream circuit, with some authors becoming well acknowledged and respected names in the selective world of visual arts.

What better example of this than my own President, who left office just a couple of days ago, having chosen a street artist to do his official portrait for the Gallery of the Presidents of the Portuguese Republic... (and what a great portrait it is... and what a nice gesture Vilhs, the artist, had, refusing to be paid and asking that the money be directed to the acquisition of works by other Portuguese emerging artists....)

Cities have fully realised the potential of street art as promotional vehicle and so street art festivals take place in cities all over the planet. 

And so did stamps: street art has become collectible in philatelic terms, with some postal administrations issuing sets thus themed in the recent past. But the best is yet to come, for I suppose that next year, 2027, the theme will get a fair share of new followers, given that it will be the conceptual basis for the EUROPA issues.

Meanwhile, La Poste, it seems,  chose to be one step ahead and elected street art and street painters  as the theme for this year's Fête du Timbre.

Occurring yearly since 1937, La Fête du Timbre simply aims at promoting Philately in its many guises, making it known to the public at large.

The event is organised by the Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques, in association with Phil@poste (the La Poste body responsible for stamp printing and issuing) and ADPhile (an association whose objective is to foster knowledge dissemination through stamps and philately).

For the occasion, following up on the Arts de Rue general fête du Timbre theme inaugurated last year with two stamps dedicated to street circus, La Poste issued, on 06MAR2026 the single 3,10 € souvenir sheet and 1,52 € stamp on the cover, the former honouring Street art, and the latter paying homage to street painters.

And, once again, Eric suprised me with a beautiful FDC featuring both issues. Un grand Merci, mon ami.

I was rather pleased to learn that the work chosen to illustrate the souvenir sheet was that of an artist with a strong connection with my own country, since he is of Portuguese descent.

In fact Alexandre Monteiro, or Hopare, as he is known, is,  the son of Portuguese parents and at 36 he is already one of the most recognised names of street art in France.

I have to confess I was not familiar with his production, but upon researching his name on the internet, I realised he has at least two works on display in Lisbon: a sculpture and a mural.

From what I could see on the internet, the portrait of a lady on the stamp is quite illustrative of his style and work. 

Also I happened to go to Lisbon today and his sculpture entitled  “Pareidolie”  was very close to where I was going so I made a small detour:

 

The stamp honouring the street painters and urban sketchers bears a nice polychromatic in-taglio printed view of  a pedestrian zone of a city in France, occupied with several painters, going about their business...

The author of this stamp is André Lavergne who was also responsible for the creation of the First Day Postmark, featuring a grafitted "Street Art", a paint spray can and a brush.

  

POSTCARD N.214 - USA

Postcrossing Postcard sent on ?; received on the 10th March 2026

Postcard image: Ryan NYP "Spirit Of Saint Louis"

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A postcard issued by The Smithsonian Institution with a photograph of one of the most illustrious aircraft in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: the Ryan NYP (New York to Paris) "Spirit of Saint Louis", in which Charles Lindbergh completed, in 1927, the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, Between Roosevelt field, Long island, New York,  and Le Bourget, Paris, France. 

The flight took 33 hours and the pilot had to struggle to stay awake during much of it for he had not slept the previous night, so much so that at some point he  barely escaped crashing into the sea due to having fallen momentarily asleep and losing control of the aircraft..

I can't imagine what it would be like to fly in a noisy rattling aircraft without any forward vision other than that provided by a periscope, over the sea, in a cockpit probably not that impervious to exhaust fumes for 33.5 hours, in such animic conditions, but the truth is that Charles Lindbergh did it and with his feat won a irrevocable place in the history of aviation.

Incidentally, the Billy Wilder “Spirit of Saint Louis” film, featuring James Stewart as Lindbergh, gives quite a detailed  account of the flight and the challenges it raised for the pilot. 

Thanks a lot Kira! Unfortunately  the card got a bit wet inside my letterbox, and my attempt at drying it off with a clothes iron only did worse....

The "two ounce USA" stamp illustrated with  several flowers was issued on 22MAR2024 as part of a two stamp set ( the companion stamp is a "Forever USA ") themed on "Floral Greetings"

The blue Forever stamp is part of the two stamp set issued on 114AUG2025 in celebration of the Boston 2026 World Philatelic Exhibition. I wrote about these stamps a propos cover #646.

The card circulated without having been postmarked, so I have no clue as to its place of origin.

COVER N. 694 - FRANCE

Postmark: 1926 Paul Bocuse 2018 Premier Jour 69 06.02.2026

Posted on ?;  Received on the 10th March 2026

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Art Déco... quoi dire? .. J'adore!

Un grand merci, Eric!

Indeed I love it.

Modernism, in its many forms of expression and supports, has got to be one of the most interesting periods in the history of all the arts. Within the confines of the early expressionism of Van Gogh masterpieces and the clean cut lines of Oscar Niemeyer's architecture, a world of immensely diverse esthetical experimentation continuously swirls, ejecting as if by centrifugal force, a truly prolific shower of beauty that encompasses all the earth continents.

Art Deco is one of modernism’s multi expressions, mostly associated with the inter-wars period, the fabled roaring 20's, which would impact the visual arts, design and architecture alike.

On a very personal basis, I (whose appreciation for the arts is mostly based on personal fruition and self derived conjectures, rather than on education and study)  think one could look at Art Déco almost as a consequential transition from Art Noveau, although in the end, both manifestations of art would strongly diverge in character and aspect. 

In fact, for some reason I cannot express, the evolution of one seems, to me, to lead on to the other, as if pushing the natural flowing and yet sometimes extremely complex surfaces of the former to their inherent limits would make them morph into the angular and geometric shapes of the latter.

Of course the beautiful feminine images of Mucha are quite different from the equally outstanding images of Tamara de Lempika, or even those of our own Almada Negreiros wherefrom cubism and futurism perspire, but art is just that: evolution, revolution, transgression.... and yet, always, a window into the past and a door into the future.

In the light of this simple fact it is of course hard to establish a founding moment for a given artistic movement, but art historians have established the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels moderns, held in Paris in 1925, as the birth of Art Déco.

Celebrating the centenary of this important occurrence in the history of art, and its evocation through a celebratory exhibition held at the Musée des Artes Decoratives in Paris, La Poste issued on 20OCT2025 the very beautiful 1,39 € stamp on the cover.

The stamp is the result of a partnership between la Poste, the Musée and the École Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, who entrusted  Lisa Derocle Ho-Leong,  one of its graduates, with the task of conceiving the stamp, which presumably reflects the artist's interpretation of items  from the museum collection in the stamps illustration.

Postage for the cover was completed with another quite interesting stamp: a 2028-2024 surcharged “Lettre Verte” Marianne, of the “Marianne L'engagée”series, issued in 2024.

The stamps are cancelled with a First Day Postmark issued for the recent stamp honouring Paul Bocuse, one of the seminal names behind what come to be known as Nouvelle Cuisine. Bocuse, (1926-2018). Being a distinguished Lyonnais it is only natural that La Poste chose to also honour him with a postmark issued on his city, which was a also the  place from where the cover was sent.

This and the fact that the conceptual and esthetical complexities of  Art Déco go perfectly hand in hand with Haute Cuisine,  brings the cover full circle and I am very happy to have it in my collection.

 COVER N. 693  / POSTCARDS 212-213 - SPAIN

Postmark: Illegible

Posted on the 2nd March;  Received on the 5th March 2026

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A letter  can be a window... better yet, all letters are windows.

More often then not, they reach you closed. And it is easy to understand why, for as such the draught of  unrelated gazes or minds is kept outside, protecting the words within from intent disturbance and privacy violation.

It is then up to you, the name called for on the face of the envelope, to open it, to let the free flowing breeze of words out of its temporary confinement, to finally allow content and intent to self-regenerate themselves through the sheer magic of reading, that most fundamental of all fundamental skills. 

But not all letters are created equal, so not all letters receive the same attention or treatment.

A letter might sit for days on the desk, unopened. In some extreme cases, it might even end up in the bin in the same condition, a sad waste of paper and intent...

These, though, are letters that lack the warmth of pure and simple conversation; these are the letters that are opened by brutally tearing apart the side of the envelope with an unceremonial finger inserted through the flap on their back; these are letters that in lieu of an attractive stamp on the corner of the paper rectangle that imprisons them, exhibit a cold printed legend: "Postage Paid"; these are impersonal letters; these are letters that herald "utilities", "financial statements" or other just as unpleasant but nonetheless essential consequences of the interactions between the individual and the state.

And then, there are the other:

The letters that generate a surge of dopamine and curiosity; that exhibit on the envelope the grace of a functional tiny piece of art applied on it as a laissez-passer; the letters that are slowly, pleasurably and carefully opened up with a small knife running along the top fold of the envelope so as to minimize as much as possible damage to the envelope; in short, the letters that say "Hi, good to see you"!

Well, Today I got one of these from Spain. Muchíssimas Gracias, Eva!

Eva used a 2€ stamp issued on 04NOV2014 as part of a 2 x 2€ stamp set themed on numismatics.  The stamp is illustrated with the image of the back of a 1 Peseta (the pre-Euro Spanish currency) banknote of 1953 issue. The companion stamp in the set bears the image of a 1 Peseta coin, of 1944 issue.

The stamp has some augmented reality capability embedded in it but unfortunately it seems that the app used to access it is no longer available to download (at least I could not find trace of it over the internet),  so I can not report on what's on hiding in it.

If letters are windows to a secret world only accessible to the addressee, then Postcards are obvious windows into the regular world, and by nature much more unconductive to privacy unless upgraded in treatment to letter support status.

That's what happened to the two curious postcards Eva included in her letter.

Postcards. There once was a time when every little town, or even village, no matter how small or hidden, would have a little shop or kiosk with a postcard stand. 

The chosen images were sometimes not the most interesting, compositions amateurish, printing deficient, BUT there was always at least a few to chose from those on offer, neatly ranked on the stand whith some exhibiting a curvature and some washing out of the colours due to the continuous exposure to the inclemency of the sun.

Sending out postcards to family, loved ones and friends was an axiom of life back then, especially on holidays....sadly, though, as George Harrison so aptly put it once, all things must pass, and today, baring the larger, more touristy places, finding the little 10x15 rectangles with a local image to slap a few words and a stamp on it is getting ever more difficult (while, in inverse ratio, finding hidden Pokémons has become a more productive routine for some, it seems).

Eva is one of those Postcard hunters that will not yield to Pokémon. And she managed to trace two interesting examples of 80s vintage postcards from the city of Alcañiz, province of Teruel, in the Autonomous Community of Aragon in the Northeast of Spain which she kindly included in her letter.

The Plaza de España (just as Eva wondered in the letter, who would care to include so much empty featureless street in the foreground on a picture ..😃)

The Monument to the Drum and the drummer, authored by José Gonzalvo and inaugurated in 1968.

As I understand it, drummers are very much a part of the processions of Semana Santa in this region of Spain and the statue represents one such drummer wearing the traditional vests of the Holly Week.

  

COVER N. 692 - SWITZERLAND

Postmark: 3000 Bern 6 Kirchenfeld 20.02.2026

Posted on the 20th February;  Received on the 26th February 2026

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Vielen Dank Vural, for another nice clean cover , this time with a humourous touch.... I'd say it's a GOAL!

Stamps:

1981 was proclaimed by the  General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year of Disabled Persons.

Calling on the attention of the general public to this fact, many postal administrations across the globe issued commemorative stamps for this occasion. Swiss Post was one of them, having issued on  09MAR1981 the 0.40 Swiss Frank stamp on the cover.

Swiss Sport Aid, or better yet Schweizer Sporthilfe is a foundation established in 1970 with a view to financially support talented  athletes with or without disabilities throughout their sporting career.

The 0.30 Swiss Frank  stamp illustrated with what I presume to be the logo of the foundation was issued on  issued on 19SEP1974.

The 14th UEFA Women’s European Football Championship took place in Switzerland  from 2 to 27 July 2025.

The tournament was won by the British team who defeated the Spanish squad in the final game. 

To celebrate the event, Swiss Post issued on 08MAY2025 a rather funny self-adhesive 1.20 SWF stamp, illustrated with  a match scene on which a goalkeeper fails to stop the ball from hitting the inside of the goal's net... the funny part ifs that the ball is printed as a cutout, and so it can be placed outside of the stamp itself, just as Vural did on this cover.

The postmark was applied at Kirchenfeld, an historic district in the South of the city of Bern, the Swiss capital.

COVER N. 691 - CANADA

Postmark: Canada Post / Postes Canada Canoe B.C. 12.02.2026

Posted on the 12th February;  Received on the 23rd February 2026

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Hip-hop. I have to confess: not my cup of tea, the same as a long list of other genres before (and I'm sure after). 

Still it is undeniable that this musical movement, which goes beyond the constraints of a genre for one cannot untie it from other art expressions such as break dancing or street art, for instance, has found a solid space in the arts panorama, having already made the transition from the margins to the mainstream, with all the highs and lows that are always associated with this inevitable fact of the life of the arts.

The recognition comes in many forms and Canada Post chose to do it i the way we here are mostly concerned with: Philately.

So,  a great thanks goes out to Eduard, for having sent me this quite nice cover.

Canada Post issued the three "P" tariff stamp set on 28JAN2026, withing the backdrop of it customary philatelic celebration of Canada's  Black History Month, which has been celebrated for the past 30 years and which, in 2026, upholds "Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations – From Nation Builders to Tomorrow’s Visionaries" as motto.

The three stamps feature distinguished MC's from the Canadian Hip-hop scene, which Wikipedia informs me was established in the 80s. 

Quoting directly from Canada Post's  website  and following the stamps clockwise from the top left, "Maestro Fresh Wes propelled Canadian hip-hop into the mainstream with groundbreaking hits that set new industry milestones. Michie Mee combined rap with dancehall and reggae to create an iconic sound that captivated fans. Montréal-based group Muzion layered French, English and Haitian Creole into their music, injecting the ever-evolving genre with a fresh new vibe".

The Postmark is the nicely illustrated one from the city of Canoe, in British Columbia, which bears the image of two people holding a... canoe, over their heads. Nice!

I said above that Hip Hop has made its transition to mainstream and when I was writing that I remembered a production of Rameau's “Les Indes Galantes” of some years ago that totally blew my fuses off when I was lucky to watch it on TV.

Not that Zima and Adario thake to sing Hip-hop style, but the ambience of the full production is totally Hip-hop in conception. A feast for the eyes and the ears... and the soul.

Here's a clip from it (there is at least another one with a solo by a dancer accompanying Sabine also soloing, which is so movingly beautiful that it is hard to put it in words... check it, you won't regret it)