COVER N. 580 - ALGERIA 

Postmark: no postmark

Posted on ?; Received on the 21st April 2025

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For some unfortunate reason, This beautifully laid out cover, as it is the norm with Hocine's covers, did not get a postmark.

Thank you all the same, Hocine, it has happened to covers of mine more than once also 😔

Celebrated for the first time in 1997, La journée nationale de l'Artiste (National Artist's Day) takes place every year in Algeria on the 8th June, in remembrance of the execution of Algerian independentist musician and singer  Ali Maâchi, in 1958.

To celebrate the occasion Algeria Post issued the 2 x 25 dinar stamp set on the cover illustrated with the portrait of two Algerian musicians: Athmane Bali, (1953 - 2005)  a Touareg musician who was a singer and oud player, judging by the image on the stamp,  and singer  Mohamed Tahar El Fergani,  (1928 - 2016) a violinist and singer  who was known as the Nightingale of Constantine, due to his outstanding vocal abilities. 

Postage was completed with a 15 dinar stamp of the Roses definitive issue of  20OCT2004, comprising 4 stamps illustrated with images of different coloured roses (Rosa Odorata).

 

COVER N. 579 - SRI LANKA 
POSTCARD N. 180 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 16.04.2025

Postcard Image: 18 Sanni Masks

Posted on the 16th April; Received on the 30th April 2025

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As I type Ravindra is set to fly off from Portugal, after a short visit in which we had the opportunity of meeting and spending some time together,

During one of our meet ups I could ask him about the amazing stamp issue that he used on a cover and a postcard that he recently sent me which I really found interesting. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, my friend.

Sanni Yakuma is a traditional healing ritual of Sri Lanka performed by dancers wearing the masks that are reproduced  in the stamps, each of them corresponding to a certain demon that needs to be exorcised so that the ill person can be cured. 

There are 18 demons, each corresponding to a certain type of ailment, hence the 18 stamps on the issue (although there's one demon missing in my postcard.... maybe there's also a demon for missing stamps disease....😂)

The 18 x 15 Rupee stamp issue began to circulate on 08AUG2018 al, the stamps being included in a mini-sheet, as is very usual for Sri Lanka's very interesting issues.

To send me the stamps that could not be glued onto the cover, Ravi used a postcard  illustrated with another set of the 18 demon masks featured in the stamp issue.

 

A usual, the postmark  was applied at Colombo's main Post Office.

COVER N. 578 - SRI LANKA 

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 08.04.2025 (?)

Posted on the  8th April; Received on the 21st April 2025

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A while ago I got these nice covers (#484  and #518) from Ravindra with stamps dedicate to the Scouts movement, that fueled back some rather old memories for me.

Ravi now sent me another cover with another 3 stamps of the same issue. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravindra, 

This time, though, I will have the opportunity to thank him in person, since Ravi is in Lisbon and we'll be meeting soon. Welcome to my country, friend.

The three stamps on the cover are part of a ten x 50 Rupee stamp set dedicated to the Scouting Movement in Sri Lanka, issued on 21FEB2024.  The stamps have been issued both as a single mini-sheet with the 10 stamps or as 2 x 5 stamp souvenir sheets, one dedicated to Boy Scouts and the other to Girl Guides, the sheets being shape cut in the format of both organisations emblems. 

POSTCARD N.179 - CAMBODIA

Postcard sent on the 2nd April, received on the 18th April 2025.

Postcard image: Banteay Srey Temple

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The restless traveller, the Ghost who Walks, the Phantom, ventured into the depths of the Asiatic jungles till he found temples forgotten by time and men... well not so much so, but this could be the first line for another epic adventure of the character created by Lee Falk in 1936...

and yet, it does apply to the latest postcard I got from my Phantom friend, from the depths of Cambodia. Danke sehr Alex!

Angkor needs no presentation. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is one of the world's most  famous landmarks, and Cambodia's most important ambassador.

The historic site of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire that was at its prime from the 9th till the 15th centuries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, occupies an area of approximately 400 square kilometres, on which several temples were constructed, the most famous of them all being of course the majestic Ankor Wat.

Banteay Srey temple,  the subject of the postcard photo, also located on this historic site,  was built in the 10th century and was dedicated to Shiva, the supreme God and Parvati, the Godess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood.

Built in red sandstone the temple is remarkable for the quality of the carvings on its walls and also for its small stature when compared to the other famous temples in the region.

 

The Phantom used a quite adequate stamp on this postcard since it is one that is part of a set issued on 13MAR2019 dedicated to "Mystical Angkor". 

The issue comprises 5 stamps (500; 900; 1400; 3000 and 4000 Riel) all illustrated with images of Ankor Wat images and all carrying the legend Kingdom of Wander; Save our Culture, it's our History in Khmer and English.

The nice bicolour postmark was applied at Siem Riep, the gateway to the Angkor region.

COVER N. 577 - INDIA 

Postmark: Thrissur Namkulam 16.04.2025 (?)

Posted on the  16th April; Received on the 23rd April 2025

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A cover from India with three rather interesting stamps. Thanks a lot Jahfer.

The stamps on e cover are three quarters of a the first souvenir sheet of a series dedicated to Indian Fashion through the ages, (2 x 5 + 2 x 15 Rupees) issued on 30DEC2019.

The rather colourful stamps depict, lef to right, 

- Ghazi-ud-Din, the last Haidar of Houd and one of his concubines in the backgroud, probably;

- a Priest king of the  Harapa civilization of Moejo Daro (16th century BC); members of the  maMrya and Sunga civilizations ;

- Nobles of the Indian Princely States.

Postmark from Thrissur, a city in the State of Kerala.  Namkulam is the name of a temple, dedicated to Shasta,  also in Thrissur.

COVER N. 576 - FRANCE 

Postmark: Pavillon France Expo 2025 Osaka La Poste 1er jour 11.04.2025

Posted on the 11the April; Received on the 21st April 2025

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Stamps often invoke memories, at least in me, as I'm sure it is perceivable from some of my posts of this blog...

I got this nice FDC from France and, as usual, my first look was at the rather striking stamp... Expo 2025 Osaka says the legend on the stamps top sheet margin....

1970, the year I landed, on its very first day, in the island of Santa Maria, Azores, for an almost 4 year stay that would in many ways mark me for the rest of my life.

My family, like most airport worker's family, lived in one of the tin houses that had been left there by the American military who built the airport during the second world war. It was a  nice house (once you got used to the sound of the rain on the tin roof,  and emptying the rat traps from the pantry) and for the first time I had my own room, my private universe, filled with comics books, books from the Gulbenkian itinerating library (with its beloved Citroën H van) and my first model aircraft kits.

My house was geminated with a symmetrical one, wherein lived the family of one of my father's colleagues.

This gentleman collected stamps. Once he showed me his collection and how he would carefully file his stamps in an album using black hawid mounts.

I had to have one such album for myself.... I was already collecting stamps, I had a few in a binder but nothing comparable to the outstanding album my neighbour had shown me, which he had rather filled up with Portuguese stamps from way behind up to the day.....

So I asked my father if I could have one such album, and if I could also start collecting Portuguese stamps. I got a yes on both accounts, but the album would have to wait, for it could only be bought on the mainland, but I do remember that the vey first issue that my father ever bought me was the one dedicated to the Osaka Expo of 1970.

Incidentally, the album would come a couple of years later for Xmas, as well as a couple of packs of Hawid mounts.

My original album is long gone, lost in the bends of a rather twisty growing up road and I really only started to look at stamps again with interested eyes a few years ago, when I started this blog as a way to fill the available free time that the horrific Covid pandemic suddenly imparted us all with. 

But looking at the beautiful stamp on Roland’s cover, made me go back in time, to a time and place that I particularly hold dear and that is worth much more than the face value on the stamp... Un grand Merci, cher ami!

The 36th world expo will be taking place at Osaka, Japan, from the 13th April to the 13 October 2025.

France being a participant, la Poste, on 21APR2025,  issued the 2,10 celebratory stamp on the cover, illustrated with a view of the French Pavilion, which is designed around the concept of "A Hymn to Love", and aims at making people question themselves about their relation with the world at large: themselves, the others and the environment.

Guiding people on their journey is the red thread of fate, (a promenade stairway that takes visitors through the pavilion's different levels) an eastern Asiatic tradition centred around an invisible thread that guides people to meet and connect.

The First day cancellation is illustrated with the logo of the French Participation in the Expo.

COVER N. 575 - SPAIN

Postmark: Far de Calella Oficina Postal de Calella Correos 07.02.2025

Posted on the 7th February; Received on the 21st April 2025

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I don't know why but lately it seems there have been quite a few delays both in my inbound and outbound mail. 

Some days ago I got notice that a letter that I had sent to France in  December last year had finally arrived, now I get a cover that my friend, the restless Phantom, sent me from Spain, (which is right next door...) in the beginning of February..... I am still waiting for mail I sent myself and others in mid March....

Waiting for better days, I try to deal with the backlog of letters and postcards I have to add to my blog only to find that I cannot take my eyes out of the pot on the cover Alex so kindly sent me.... Cocido... all over the Iberian Peninsula this is a magic word..,

Literally Cocido, in Spanish, or Cozido, in Portuguese, means boiled. And it is the designation for a plethora of dishes that share the fact that they are result of boiling or stewing vegetables or legumes together with meat and or sausages, a department in which Iberia also excels, with hundreds of different types to choose from.

Typically, the Cantabrian Cocido Montanez, from what I see and read, is not that different from the version of its next door neighbour, the Fabada Asturiana: Large white beans, cabbage, bacon, chorizo, pork ribs...

This is mountain food, food for hard working people, food  for those who have to brave bad weather since there are a lot of calories in those pots, but hey, provided you don't eat it every other day... and yes, all cozidos or cocidos are simply outstandingly delicious! Let me just recommemd that if ever you come to my neck of the woods, do try the Cozido à Portuguesa in one of its many declinations, from North to South, to the Azores, where you can even try it slow cooked in a hole on the ground by volcanic heat…. 

Did you try it, Mr. Ghost who walks?

Funnily enough, I just heard from Alex, while I was typing that this cover went  from Spain to Indonesia first, by mistake of the local post office, and was then returned to Spain and resent to its final destination.... mystery explained... probably my delayed letters are mid way between here and jupiter, who knows... 

. 😀

The series Spain in 19 plates began in 2020, it will be composed by 19 single stamp souvenir sheets, illustrated (judging by the number) with a dish of one of the country's 17 autonomous communities plus 2 autonomous cities.

The sheet with the Cantabrian Cocido stamp was issued on 24JUL2023. Of note is the fact that on the same years two other sheets from the series were issued but each on its own date.

The nice pictorial postmark was applied at the post office of Calella, in Catalonia, and it depicts the local Lighthouse.