POSTCARD N.84 - FINLAND

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 20h June; received on the 30th June

Postcard image: sunset over Rimouski bay, Quèbec, Canada 

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Sunsets have the unique quality of singleness. There is never a sunset equal to any other, and most times they are one of mother nature's beautiful spectacles, with the added bonus of always coming with free admission,..

Of course, there are sunsets and there are sunsets... summer in the northern hemisphere,  is an awful season: the days are too long. too hot, too crowded, too expensive   and  most of the times framed by a too dull, cloudless, sky, that is not even blue but a "whither shade of pale". As such, one can hardly expect to be surprised by the always enrapturing vision of  a kaleidoscope of  reddish, purplish, yellowish, blankets of clouds reflecting on the calm waters of an inviting bay, 

And yet, that's what happened to me. Not that the current and forthcoming summer days (oh hell, there's no escaping it, and  there's always the promise of those nice cloudy autumnal skies in 3 months time....) are any different than those I generalised about above, but upon opening my letterbox, I was greeted by this nice view of a sunset over a bay, with the Postcrossing logo imprinted on.

Beautiful place, beautiful sunset! Thanks a lot Andrèa, ou bien, Merci bien Andrèa, ton coucher de soleil m'a illuminé la journée.

Postcrossers around the world organise Postcrossing meet ups, so that names can be put to faces, histories be shared and, most importantly, postcards can be collectively written and sent.

That is what happened on the last 18th June, in the coastal town of Rimouski, in the province of Quèbec, Canada, and I was one of the lucky few contemplated with a postcard  signed by the participants in the meeting, which Andrèa told me was the first Postcrossing meeting held  there since 2019, for the nasty reasons we all are familiar with.

On the back of the postcard I count 19 signatures, most of them in the form of  personal stamps (rubber stamp markings, I mean) , what to my eye indicates a quite dedicated postcrossing .community (me,  I'm the type who signs a card by scribbling nothing more than a personal hieroglyph (that's how bad my handwriting is...).

Anyway, I was very pleased to be a tributary of this meeting of postcrossers at a place that I would love to visit. 

Andrèa used a 2.71 CAD stamp issued on 13JAN2022 integrated in the year's "From Far and Wide"

emission,  a multi annual series that promotes Canada's natural scenic beauties. The set comprises 9 stamps (five P Tariff plus 1.07; 1.30;1.94 and 2.71 CAD denominations)  in minisheet form. The stamp on my card  is illustrated with a view of the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Island.

The stamp is cancelled by a nice postmark that has the image of what I believe is the lighthouse on my card and the legend "Site Historique Maritime de la Pointe-au-père", a museum complex of all things sea located in Rimouski, at the mouth of the Saint Laurent,  but I could not find any information about in on the pictorial cancels page of the Canada Post website.