POSTCARD N.36 -  Russia

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 18th September; received on the 29th September
Postcar dimage: A stork
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Storks....some say they are responsible for delivering babies, all over the world. Well, I'm not so sure about it! I still remember the running to and fro the hospital both my daughters caused the days when their delivery was nearing and neither I nor mum remember seeing any stork in the delivery ward...

This time though, the stork, instead of delivering,was delivered. Thank you Mr. Postman for the delivery, and thank you so much Elena, for your nice card and stamps.

I like storks, Cegonhas, we call them, with their elegant silhouette darting across the skies, the same silhouette that adorned the side of the SPAD aircraft of World War I aces like Guynemer, Fonk, or Garros. A common sight here where I live, so common that it is not impossible to see more than ten nests - and in extraordinary cases, close to double that number - in high tension poles. Also it seems that Portugal is the only place where storks nest on rock cliffs, for the pleasure of birdwatchers and photographers, something that I believe only happens at Cabo Sardão, in the South coast, where I took this photograph.

Elena used two stamps to send the stork my way:

The 55 ruble stamp is a very recent issue - 18AUG2021- commemorating the 550th anniversary of  Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India.

Having no idea of who Afanasy Nitkin was, I, as usual, sought the help of Wikipedia, to learn that Afanasy was a Russian merchant from Tver that travelled to India between 1466 and 1469, returning to his homeland in 1472, only to die before arriving back at Tver. He was made famous by the fact that he chronicled his journey in a book called "A Journey Beyond the Three Seas".  

The image on the stamp is that of Nitkin's statue and monument in Tver, while on the background three landmarks from his journey are superimposed on a map of India. Of them I could only positively identify the one located further North on the map as the The great mosque at Gulbarga fort.

The self-adhesive 3 ruble stamp is part of the 7th definitive issue of the Russian Federation, started in 2019. It exhibits the State Postal Administration Emblem and was issued on 07AUG2019.

Unfortunatley, I cannot understand what I presume are names of localities in the very large and clear postmark.

Image credit: La Poste

On my recent trip to the Pyrenees I profited from the occasion to post to my own self covers with postmarks from both the Spanish and the French Andorran postal services, thus adding two more postal administrations to my cover collection.

When sorting out on the internet  what stamps to buy to this end on the eve of my descent into Andorra-La-Vella, I noticed the French Andorran  Post had issued this year a stamp that, the moment I noticed it, I knew I had to buy it, even though it is far from being a stamp that would fall into my “what makes a stamp great” criteria.

What caught my attention were the words on it: “Estany de Cabana Sorda”. This evoked in me the memory of what began as a gorgeous day I spent in Andorra, in 2015, that would end not in disaster, but in a fair bit of discomfort to put it mildly J.

My wife and I, we were looking forward to a not so difficult walk in the mountains and so we took on the suggestion of a pamphlet issued probably by the Andorran Tourist office that  proposed 4 or 5 hiking routes to explore in the Vall d’Incles, a most  wonderful and peaceful location, that I love and recommend to all.

So we decided to follow what was, If I remember correctly, the green path, that would take us from  the parking lot at the entrance to the Valley, up to a lake at 2290 metres high, in what was presented as an easy walk, fit for families with children and all.

So we started our hiking. I have to say, it was not that difficult in what regards the path and the type of soil on it, but it had a lot of steep  passages that made it harder than I was expecting for a path classified as easy.

On the way up, I remember passing by a family with a 8-10 year old child that was crying and saying he was tired and wanted to go back, but the parents kept pushing him forward…

Anyway, step after step we reached our goal: this beautiful little lake, enshrined by the mountains with a shelter on one side of it: Estany de Cabana Sorda, it was.

We stayed for a while to eat our sandwiches and enjoy the gorgeous views, but all of a sudden, clouds began to muster  and what were fluffy white rolls of cotton candy in the sky began to turn into menacing grey stacks of smoke.

We looked at each other and without needing to say a word, picked up our walking sticks and started the descent in haste. Just a couple of minutes into it and a big cold drop of water hit my bald head… we donned our waterproof jackets and accelerated our march.

BOOOOOOOOOOM ! the first thunder echoed in the valley. With it came the heavy downpour and thunder, more thunder. The biggest thunderstorm we had ever witnessed was taking place and we had no place to shelter, so we had to go as fast as we could down the path to the valley. Luckily the storm stayed  up high in the mountain, but the sheer noise of the thunders echoing in the valley is something I’ll never forget.

We  reached the safety of the road in the valley completely drenched  and were desperately yearning for a warm drink. There was a little café bar on the way, but we were so wet that we didn’t want to leave a pool of water under our feet in the bar, so we went on to the car and drove to Pas de la Casa, where we were staying, and where we finally had our invigorating cup of coffee at home, after a nice warm shower to get the blood running again.

This was a day to remember.  

And looking at the image on the stamp made me remember it all again.

So on par with being  tools to ensure a letter journeys form one point to another, stamps can also be the trigger to (now) pleasant memories, so much so, that the day after buying that Estany da Cabana Sorda Stamp, I was again on the parking lot at the beginning of the road at Vall d’Incles to start another hike with my wife… this time, though, we chose the Camí de l’Obac (the path of the shadow) so we would be sure the sky would not fall upon us….

POSTCARD N.35 -  Ireland

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 8th September; received on the 23rd September
Postcard image: The General Post Office Building - Dublin
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Today, Mr. Postman dropped a mammoth postcard into my mailbox (a full A5 size), that flew in from Guinness land, Dublin, a beautiful city which I had already the pleasure of visiting a couple of times. Thank you so much Alvean!

The postcard is curious in that it depicts a stamp, which was issued on 11JAN2018 on the occasion of the Bicentenary of the official opening of the General Post Office in Dublin.

This building, to this day still housing the headquarters of the Irish Post Office, is probably more famous for the part it played in the Easter uprising of Easter week 1916, when it served as the rallying point for Irish independentists that rebelled against British domination of the island. It was also outside this building, that still shows the scars of the impact of bullets on its walls and columns, that the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was made public, having been read by Patrick Pearse.

The uprising would be defeated, hundreds would be wounded or killed on both sides of the barricades, 16 independentists would be executed in its aftermath (including Pearse), but the seeds had been sown and Eire would become an independent state in 1922.

Stamps, left to right:

Alvean used two ATM labels to mail the postcard. 

The first label was issued on 23JUL2020, replicating the design of a regular stamp issued on 21FEB2019. Dedicated to the theme "A stamp for Ireland" it highlights that most common feature of Irish weather - rain - through clever use of written typical Irish sentences related to it, displayed in a way that they too graphically evoke rain traces.

The second label was issued on 02AUG2018 as part of the series Irish Life and Culture and it depicts the  Rock of Cashel in Tipperary County, which, according to Wikipedia, was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. It was also the place where St. Patrick converted the then ruling King of Munster, in the 5th century. The design had also already been previously used on a regular stamp issued on 20APR2017.

No postmark was used on the postcard, but Alvean tells me it was posted directly at the GPO Building.

COVER N.40 - Andorra - French Post

Postmark:  - Principat d'Andorra - Andorra-La-Vella 30AUG21
Posted on the 30th August; received on the 4th September. (Fom 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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The second letter I mailled myself during my short stay in Andorra was sent through the French Andorran Post service.

As per my Spanish Andorran letter, I used the Europa series stamp, a 1,5€ stamp issued on 15MAY21, illustrated with a nice drawing of a Trumpeter Rat (Galemys pyrenaicus)  a species with a "Vulnerable" global conservation status, due to habitat destruction.

This small insectivore and semi-aquatic mammal, which I had never hear of, can be found in the Pyrenees and in the North of Spain and... Portugal, my own country.

COVER N.39 - Andorra - Spanish Post

Postmark:  - Andorra La Vella 30AUG21
Posted on the 30th August; received on the 4th September. (Fom 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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On my recent summer holiday trip to the Pyrenees I spent a couple of days in the small state  of Andorra, as I made may way from the Spanish side of the mountains to the French side.

Andorra, although very tiny as a state has a complex administration in that it is a diarchy with two princes: the Archbishop of Urgel (Catalonia, Spain) and the French President.

That is why this microstate has two postal services providers: Correos de España and La Poste Française.

I could not let go the opportunity of adding covers cancelled by these two postal administrations to my growing collection so although I was staying further to the east because I wanted to do some hiking in the Vall d'Incles region, I went to the capital, Andorra la Vella and visited both post offices to mail me two letters, something that did not take much time, since they are very close to each other.

I decided I would use this year's Europa stamp on both covers, because i) I really liked the chosen theme ii) it made sense to use a common emission for covers sent from the same place,  and also iii) because both are very nice stamps, according to my own definition.

The 1,50 € stamp that constitutes the EUROPA stamp of the Spanish Post of Andorra, issued on 30APR21, depicts the Trencalós (in Catalan) or Quebrantahuessos (in Castellan) or Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

This species of vulture with Near Threatened global conservation status is well known for its characteristic feeding behaviour that gave it his Spanish designation in that it flies up carrying bones only to drop them on hard rocks from an height of up to 150 metres so that they break and it can then eat the precious marrow.

POSTCARD N.34 -  United States of America

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 27th August; received on the 9th September
Postcard image: The Castle, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, 1947 by Ansel Adams
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Scanning an Ansel Adams photograph..even if in a postcard... I know it is pure sacrilege, but I only did it for the purpose of maintaining a record of all the covers and postcards I receive - such is the nature of my blog, anyway - and as such I believe this to be fair usage (like it also happens with all the other postcards and stamps whose image I publish here)

Mr. Adams is my all time favourite photographer and all I could say of him would be either redundant and mundane, because it has been said by others millions of times before,  or self-evident, obvious, because words are unnecessary when trying to describe the carrousel of emotions that a picture like "the Grand Tetons and the snake river " or Moonrise over Hernandez,  New Mexico", to name but two of his most well known masterpieces, can evoque in one's brain.

Once, quite a few years ago I was in Spain, in Galicia, to be more precise, and I passed by this building of a foundation in the centre of A Coruña. Huge posters announced an anthological exihibiton of Ansel Adams works, organised by the George Eastman International Museum of New York. That day I knew I needn't bet on the lottery anymore because all my luck had just been used up. I hastily found a parking place for my car and ran to the venue to visit the exhibition,  which, on top of it all, If I remember correctly, had free admission.

150 first generation prints of Ansel Adams works, with all the great classics that I das seen in books, now in front of my eyes, as full size magnificent prints.... I'll never forget the day!

Thank you so much for your card, Matt. I loved it!

Stamps, left to right:

The small stamp on the left was issued on 24JAN21 as part of a 4 self-adhesive stamp set available in coils of se-tenant strips of the 4 designs or panes with 5 sets of the 4 designs. With no face value, it carries the mention "Postcard" what leads me to think that it could be used to mail a postcard domestically....am I right?

the Bicentenary of the birth of  the poet Walt Withman, the famed author of Leaves of Grass, is the subject of the second stamp, also with no face value but with the inscription "Three ounce" so again I'd presume that such a stamp could be used to mail a up to 3 ounce letter in the domestic service, but I really am speculating here....

The machine applied cancelation reads S SUBURBAN IL 604 what indicates that the card was posted in one of the towns served by the mail processing centre of Bedford Park, Illinois. 

COVER N.38 - Japan

Postmark:  - Shinjuku Tokyo 24AUG21
Posted on the 24th August; received on the 9th September. 
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On the last 24th August, the beautiful hydrogen fuelled cauldron at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo was set alight by three paralympic athletes - wheelchair tennis player Yui Kamiji, boccia player Shunsuke Uchida and powerlifter Karin Morisaki -  in what was the closing act of the inauguration of the 16th Paralympic Games, an event that since 1960 (with a few interruptions) has been running alongside the summer Olympics, proving that Citius, Altius, Fortius is a truly inclusive motto and that achievement is a question of character and will, no matter what hurdles one has to overcome.

Officially designated Tokyo 2020, the games were held in 2021, from 24 August to 5 September, sadly on empty venues, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To celebrate the Summer Olympic and Paralympic games, and especially the torch relays of both, Japan Post issued two 84 Yen stamps in se-tenant format on 10MAR2020. These stamps as far as I could investigate are only available as part of a minisheet with 5 pairs of the two stamps.

Ban-no kindly sent me a super cover graced with a special card also issued by the Japanese Post to celebrate the inauguration of the games. Thank you so much Ban-no

The card, also highlighting the paralympic torch relay, contains the paralympic stamp as well as  a special cancellation mark (first day of issue, I presume) illustrated with an image of  Someity, the games mascot.

The stamp contains an image of the elegant torch used in the relays that were organised in several locations in Japan and was also set alight in England in the village of  Stoke Mandeville on 19 August, birthplace of the games that were to be later called the paralympic games.

The regular cancellation mark tells us that the cover was sent from Shinjuku - Tokyo.

POSTCARD N.33 -  Mexico

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 27th August from Albuquerque, NM, USA; received on the 9th September
Postcard image: The Map, Flag and Coat of arms of the United States of Mexico
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Receiving this postcard was moving. Postcrosser Jany, whom I could not thank more for her gesture relied on the help of a friend in the US in order to send the postcard, because, due to the pandemic, Post offices where she lives have been closed and she was not allowed to travel at will. 

Te pandemic brought great distress to all peoples and communities around the world and I feel so lucky to  have  already received my 2 Pfizer jabs while some people in the world are still waiting for their first....

Mexico is an enormous country and one I would love to get to know it better. I have been to the Yucatan peninsula and I will never forget the beautiful and serene iguanas that could be seen in the Tulum temple as well as the very interesting historic and archaeological sites, like Tulum and Chichén Iza, to name but two. 

Stamps:

Jany's friend used 2 stamps of the 4 stamp "Forever" self-adhesive set issued on 16AUG2017, dedicated to  "Flowers from the Garden" that showcased 4 paintings by Elizabeth Brandon of white peonies and pink tree peonies in a clear vase;  white hydrangeas, blue hydrangeas in a blue pot (these two being the ones on my card) red camellias and yellow forsythia in a yellow pitcher;  white and pink roses, green hypericum berries, and purple lisianthus in a white vase.

To complete the tariff, a 10 cent self-adhesive stamp issued on 17JAN2016 was also used, depicting a red pear.

Two cancellation marks were applied on the stamps. One manual, I presume, the red one, which unfortunately I cannot read, and one machine applied , that tells us that the postcard was sent from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

COVER N.37 - Canada

Postmark:  - CANOE BC 27AUG21
Posted on the 27th August; received on the 8th September. 
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A lovely full set of stamps and a speacial local cancellation mark, adorn the cover I received from Canada, for which I thank Edward. I really appreciated it!

Snow dwelling mammals from the higher (or lower) latitudes are usually equipped to deal with the change in scenery from the colourful summer to the long white winter, in that they change their furs according to the season, thus camouflaging themselves against predators or, if they are the predator themselves, as a way of obtaining some advantage in what concerns hunting their preys.

Canada Post has issues recently (16FEB21) a set of 5  P tariff (permanent domestic up to 20g) stamps dedicated to Canadian snow mammals, that was issued both as a souvenir sheet of normal gummed stamps and as self-adhesive sets of 10 stamps (2 per individual stamp), the latter being those that  were used on my cover.

The animals depicted in the nice photographs that were used are an ermine; a snowshoe hare; an Arctic fox; a Peary caribou and a northern collared lemming.

Edward went through the trouble of requesting a special local cancelation for me, from the nearby town of Canoe, what adds even more interest to the nice cover. Unfortunately I could not find any information regarding what event the cancellation was connected with, Help, anyone?

COVER N.36 - Germany

Postmark:  - Dachau 12 04SET21
Posted on the 4th September; received on the 8th September. 
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The day of the stamp... Since 1935 many countries celebrate the day of the stamp, originated in Germany through the efforts of a group of Philatelists. 

This year the stamp issued in Germany to celebrate the Tag der Briefmarke (0,80+0,40 €) included in the souvenir sheet that Alexander so kindly used on the cover he sent me and for which I thank him, highlights the "Bordeaux cover", a philatelic piece that had the distinction of holding the record for the priciest philatelic item until 2014. 

The letter was sent from Mauritius to Bordeaux in 1847 and what is curious is that both the domestic (1 penny red) and the international (2 pence blue) were affixed on it, even though, being meant for international circulation it should have only have the international service stamp.

The 40€ surcharge on the commemorative stamp is  destined to support the  Stiftung für Philatelie und Postgeschichte (Foundation for Philately and Postal History).

two stamps from the "flowers" series initiated in 2005 were also used on the cover:  0,20€ (Common bluebell - Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and 0,10€ (Winter Aconite - Eranthis hyemalis), both issued on 08JUN2017.

The cover was posted in te Bavarian city of Dachau, as per the manually applied cancelation 

POSTCARD N.32 -  Finland

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 30th August; received on the 8th September
Postcard image: Andjust,- Long Audio Play Movie, by Mox Mäkelän countryside of Sauerland
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Thank you Sandhra, for your postcard  of  Andjust, a film by Finnish conceptual artist Mox Mäkelän. 

in the words of its author this film is the sacred satire of the "stand art" host and great stuff before they become dust. 

Stamps, left to right:

The 0,10€ stamp is part of a 4 set stamp issued on 09MAY2017, dedicated to artic birds. The 4 stamps were also issued included in a souvenir sheet. 

The birds depicted were: 0,10€ - Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis): 0,20€ - Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca); domestic (no facial value) - Brent goose (Branta bernicla); domestic (no facial value) - Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis).

The Stamp with no face value (1,75€ on the date of issue) is part of a set of six, issued on 28APR21, included in a booklet pane, celebrating the 150 years of postal cards in Finland.

The manually applied cancellation tells us that the postcard was mailed from Oulu, in the North of Finland

POSTCARD N.31 -  Germany

Postcrossing postcard posted inside cover #36, on the 31st August; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: The countryside of Sauerland
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Tina, whom I thank for this nice card, writes me from Attendorn, and tells me that sprue trees that constitute 59% of the many forests of Sauerland have been greatly affected by climate change what led to many former forested hills being now bare. I read elsewhere that climate change effects translate not only in prolonged draught, but also in infestation by the bark beetle, a coleopter that decimates trees by eating the phloem and thus hidering the capacity of the plant to nurish itself.

Hopefully the reforestation efforts that Tina tells me are being put together will, in time, see the hills of Sauerland full of healthy sprues and other trees again. Much the same happens in my own country, not with bark beetles (even though we have problems with the pine nematode and processionary moths) but with forest fires. Though most of them have their causes in human action, draught and high temperatures (and also the exaggerated use of intensive monoculture of exotic species like the eucalyptus) create the perfect conditions for the horrors that have left a dark mark on many of our summers....

Climate change is to be taken seriously and we're loosing so much time....

COVER N.36 - Germany

Postmark:  - Briefzentrum 57 (Siegen) 31AUG21
Posted on the 31th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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One cannot argue against a map being the perfect type of paper to turn into an envelope. If maps are by nature way pointers for travellers then why shouldn't they be for stamps and addresses...? Thank you so much Tina, for the beautiful map/envelope you used/made(?) to send me an equally nice postcard (#31). On top of it, the map is also of a region I've been to a long time ago, but which I truly loved... Brittany in France. If only I could go now and follow the  roads on the envelope :-).... (I can't complain much though.., It's been only a week since I returned from hollidays that also included a bit of France...)

Stamps, left to right:

A really recent stamp: issued on 01APR2021, this 0,80€ stamp draws our attention to the Bundesgartenschau, (the federal garden Expo), a biennial event dedicated to horticulture, which, in 2021, was held in the capital city of the Free State of Thuringia, Erfurt, as can be read in large letters on the stamp image, which also includes some insects as well as stylised images of a flower and a vegetable of some sort.

Lighthouses... is there anyone who doesn't like them? For me, lighthouses is the quintessential philatelic theme, even if I don't have them on the list of my collecting themes:-)). The 0,70€ stamp was issued on 06JUN2019 as the year's emission of the annual lighthouse series of Deutsche Post. 

Built on the same year as the Eiffel Tower, to which it bears some structural resemblance, the Campen Lighthouse sits on the mouth of the Ems river close to the city of Emden, guiding the way in and out of the Northern sea. 65.3 metres tall, its light can be seen 55 km away from it.

The machine applied cancellation lets us know that the cover was sent from Siegen,  a German city in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

POSTCARD N.30 - Germany

Postcrossing postcard posted on the 29th August; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: a view of  the city of Jena
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Mona, who sent me the card, says she works in one of the high-rise buldings in the photo of the city of Jena. Thanks Mona, you must have a good view from your office....

Jena, the city of ....Zeiss. You might not know that Jena is a city integrated in the Free State of  Thuringia, located in the centre of Germany, which was part of what used to be Eastern Germany untill that beautifull day in 89 when the wall came down (sadly we live in counterflow times nowadays and walls seem to have a tendency to go up again in lots of places in the same western world that was claiming "Tear it down" just three decades ago... sic transit gloria mundi....) famous for being an important education and  investigation centre with its  Friedrich Schiller University and several institutions dedicated to  Research and Development, but the association with Zeiss immediatly rings a bell in anyone with an interest in either photography or in....soccer...or in both.... (not my case, though since I side with the former and care not about the latter....)

And all for the same reason. Jena was the place where Carl Zeiss in 1846 founded the optical company that would bear his name and would become one of the most important manufacturers and developers of optical products and solutions, even if the post war spliting up of Germany meant that the company was also split into East and West counterparts (the quality of the glass didn't seem to suffer from this division though....)

Soccer lover workers of the original company would form in 1903 a Soccer Club which they appropriately designated Fußballclub Carl Zeiss Jena, and which survives to this day, even though its former glory days as one of the main Soccer clubs of the then DDR are long gone.

The importance and dimension of the Zeiss factory can be ascertained in the area occupied by the buildings in the postcard,  built around what used to be the original factory,  of which some still remain afoot, it seems, in spite of the city having suffered heavy bombing raids during the war.

Stamps:

To post the postcard, Mona used a very nice se-tenant 2 stamp (0,45€ each) issued on 12JUL2018 with a panorama photo of the Dessau Wörlitz Garden Realm, a World Heritage Site located not that far from Jena (about 110 km to the northeast, as the crow flies). The site is "one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe. It was created in the late 18th century under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817)" according to my good friend, the Wikipedia.

The 5 cent stamp with a photo of a Phlox is part of the definitive "flowers" series, started in 2005, and it was issued on 13APR2017.

POSTCARD N.29-  Austria

Postcrossing postcard posted inside cover #35, on the 30th August; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: several views of Vienna and Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss"
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I loved Vienna and I'm glad to say I visited or saw almost all of the sights included in the nice postcard Chris sent me, and for which I truly thank her.

Seeing the Kiss in real life was also one of the highlights of my visit, but  of all the Gustav Klimt's works I've seen, the Beethoven Frieze in the Secession Building is really something out of this world (well, if on a scale of 1-10, the kiss is nothing short of a full 10, the Frieze is an 11 (or a 12 :-)).

Schloss Schönbrunn and the historic centre of Vienna are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so I can add the tag WHS to this postcard too.

 COVER N.35 - Austria

Postmark:  - Wien 30AUG21
Posted on the 30th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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Cover #35 was the second letter originated in Austria that I found on returning from my hollidays  inside my letterbox. Again a Postcrossing postcard (#29) sent inside a very clean and tidy envelope with a very interesting stamp. Thank you so much Chris for your care!

The 1€ stamp was issued as a stand alone stamp on 10-07-21 dedicated to rare livestock breeds (could this be a new annual series?) and the breed represented is the Jochberger Hummel, a cow whose main distinctive feature is the absence of horns. As far as I could investigate on the internet, this breed derives from the Pinzgauer breed and the first hornless calf was born in 1834 in Aurach in the tyrol region. Currently The breed is present not only in Austria, but also in Germany and Switzerland.

I have to say I love this stamp. The cow drawing is beautifully detailed and the fact that Chris chose to also include the part of the minisheet adjacent to the side of the stamp (there must be a name for this... anyone?) with its beautiful white line drawing of the cow, only adds to this.

POSTCARD N.28 -  Finland

Postcrossing postcard posted inside cover #34, on the 30th August; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: The Northern Lights at Äkäsmylly
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The Northern Lights... stuff of dream and desire for us who live below the uppermost parallels....I truly want to go and see them one day...and then there's the luck factor because you can't control the weather and one never knows if, once in place, fog or rain or snow or just clouds will get in our way, as per the lovely Joni Mitchell song...

Speaking of songs... the Northern lights are in my mind, they guide me back to you.....

 COVER N.34 - Finland

Postmark:  - 30AUG21 Helsinki Helsingfors 
Posted on the 30th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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Another postcrossing postcard (postcard #28) carefully sent inside a nice envelope with a nice stamp, this time hailing from the capital of the land of the thousand lakes, Finland. Thanks a lot Alisa.

The Domestic rate stamp (even though the letter was sent abroad Alisa used a domestic rate stamp, so I suspect that the "economy" mark on the left side of the cancellation might have something to do with this..) was issued on 03JUN2020, as part of a 6 auto-adhesive stamp booklet, honouring Finnish Industry: Made in Finland.

The innovation highlighted in this particular stamp is the winter tire, something that doesn't come a a great surprise if one thinks about the huge plethora of first class rally car racing drivers Finland has produced over the years.... 

The other five Finnish innovations highlighted in the set, according to the Finnish post website are the heart rate monitor, xylitol, the Rapala wobbler lure, the Abloy lock, and the pedestrian safety reflector.

POSTCARD N.27-  Austria

Postcrossing postcard posted inside cover #33, on the 26th August; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: The Prinz Eugen Monument in front of the Hofburg, Vienna
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An image I've seen in the flesh as I wrested my weary legs seating on the steps of the outer castle gate, listening to the essential information given by the free walking tour guide.

Behind the Prinz Eugen statue, just outside of the photo, stands the balcony where the demon issued his annexation speech in March 38... 

Vienna of the music; Vienna of the arts; Vienna of the Beethoven Frize;  Vienna of the museum quarter just across that same Heldenplatz that appears in the infamous photographs... how cleaner and nicer it now looks, even though memories should not be forgoten, lest the same mistakes be made again....

POSTCARD N.26 - China
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 25th July; received on the 4th September (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
Postcard image: Guilin Lijiang River in Guangxi
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Another postcard from China and, as usual, containing lots of nice stamps. Thanks Vikihoo.

The photo on the card is another quintessential image of the famous fishing tradition using cormorants that made this region famous amongst the National Geographic oriented blokes, like the one writing this words....

I would really love to go and see it by myself, even though I think that the tradition is now maintained mostly for the sake of tourism, because other than the fishermen, the river and the scenery most be really worth enjoying...

Stamps, left to right:

20 fen stamp, part of a 2 stamp set issued on 01JUN1996, (20 and 30 fen) themed on Helping People.

60 fen stamp, part of a 4 stamp set (60 fen;80 fen - 2 stamps; 3 yuan) issued on 08AUG2006, announcing the 2008 Olympic games of Beijing in both regular and self-adhesive variants. The basketball player image on the stamp is textured.

1,20 and 3 Yuan Stamps - a full set issued on 24MAR2008, celebrating the 2008 Beijing Olympiad torch relay.

COVER N.33 - Austria

Postmark:  - No postmark
Posted possibly on the 26th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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Another cover from Austria with a postcrossing postcard (postcard #27) inside. Thank you so much Birgit.

This is the third circulated envelope I receive without any sort of cancellation on the stamps or the envelope itself. It's much better than a pencil or pen cancellation but without the postmark, the envelope  looks rather... naked.

Anyway, it's of course not Birgits' fault, and she did use some nice stamps, that I still hadn't received in any mail from Austria. 👍

The 0,80€ stamp was issued as a standalone piece on 19-10-201 and it depicts the T_Centre, a contemporary office building, located in the Sankt Marx section of the Landstraße, in Vienna. It was built between 2002 and 2004, and was conceived by Austrian architect Günther Domenig (Wikipedia to the recue).

The stamp is part of an annual series started in 2011, dedicated to Modern Architecture.

The two 0,12€ stamps are part of a definitive issue of 14 stamps, (0,10; 0,12; 0,80 - 4 different stamps; 0,90 - 2 different stamps; 1,35 - 2 different stamps; 1,80; 2,70 - 2 different stamps;4,20€) issued on 01JUL2018, with details of the coats of arms of  Austrian States and Cities. The 12 cent stamp depicts the Lion on the coat of arms of the Salzburg State.

COVER N.32 - China

Postmark:  - 06AGO21 Tianjin(?)
Posted on the  the  6th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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Upon returning from a fortnight of communion with nature in the Pyrenees, in Spain, Andorra and France, I eagerly opened my letterbox to find this nice cover full of stamps, sent from China. Thanks a lot Zhang.

Judging from the mail I've received from China since I've started my blog, it seems that Chinese collectors do always their best to include lots of stamps on their covers and postcards, and this was no exception, with no fewer than 5 large stamps adorning the nice airmail envelope. 

Stamps, left to right:

Honouring 2017 Journalist’s day, the 1,20 Yuan stamp was issued on 01NOV2017 as a single stamp set. With a fountain pen – the writer’s  master tool – taking centre stage,  other media and communication symbols  associated with journalism fill its background.

The next two 1,20 Yuan stamps were issued on 15MAY2020,as part of a 6 even priced stamp set, dedicated to Ancient Asian civilisations. The first one shows a jade artefact from the Liangzhu culture, that once occupied the Yuhang county in East China’s Zhejiang province. Quoting from Chinadaly “The Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Taihu Basin of the Yangtze river delta. The culture dates back 4,300 to 5,300 years, roughly contemporaneous with the old kingdom period in ancient Egypt and the Summer civilization in Mesopotamia”.

Mohenjo-Darno, (mound of the dead men), an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, is the subject of the second stamp. Wikipedia tells me that  this site was “built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico”.

The last 2 1,20 Yuan stamps were issued on 05NOV2018, as part of a  2 even priced set commemorating the 2018 International Import Exposition, organised by the China International Import Expo Bureau ans the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (shanghai) Co. Ltd.,held in the National Exhibition and Convention Centre of Shanghai, from 5-10 November, 2018. The 2 stamps of this issue were also issued included in a 8 stamp (4 of each) minisheet.