Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Park

Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC, more than 10% larger than New York's Central Park, is ranked 6th best park in North America (and 16th best in the world!)*. Historically, the area of the park was the territory of the Squamish First Nations tribe. The British took it for a military installation in the 1860s, but agreed to let the Vancouver city council turn it into a park in 1888. It was named for Governor General of Canada Lord Stanley, who visited the park to dedicate it "to the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time," notwithstanding the First Nations people who were still living there.

These totem poles now stand at Brockton Point, a site of a former First Nations settlement.


*Read the list of the world's best and worst parks here.

I sent this card to myself when I was in Vancouver in 2011 for the folk festival, so I made sure to get some nice stamps. :)

These are both commemoratives from 2011. The left one features the Year of the Rabbit, and the right one is on Canadian national parks.

Christian de Lanbodère

CA-189591
The sender of this card states that she found it at a French art show in Shanghai, China. As such, I'm not sure how to classify the nationality of the card!

However, it was mailed from Canada.

The stamp is from February 2011. It's a painting by Canadian Aboriginal artist Daphne Odjig entitled "Spiritual Renewal."

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

This came as an official from Carole in Ontario. According to the back of the card, "Hamilton, Ontario has over 100 local waterfalls, making it the undisputed waterfall capital of the world." I was skeptical at first, but a preliminary Google search indicates that this honor is indeed undisputed.

The particular falls pictured on this card is Sherman Falls, which, also according to the back of the card, "is named after the family of Clifton Sherman, who established the Dominion Foundries and Steel Co. in 1912. Located on the Bruce Trail near Old Dundas Road, this beautiful waterfall is also known as Angel Falls and Fairy Falls." Should you want to visit Sherman Falls for yourself, driving directions are available here.

Two stamps that escaped cancellation, both from 2008. The one on the top is from a set of two on Anne of Green Gables, and the one on the bottom is a peony, also from a set of 2.

Victoria, Canada

This big guy lives at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. I sent this card to myself while spending a weekend in Victoria last January. Victoria in January is rather grim. It poured rain and was freezing cold the whole time I was there. The main reason I went was that my favorite band was playing there, and the show was by far the best part of the weekend, so that was okay. Other than that, I think I did every indoor tourist attraction there was near downtown Victoria, and the museum was the best. And I bought a lot of postcards. There were hardly any people staying in the hostel, although it was quite a nice hostel, and I spent a lot of the weekend napping. That was okay too, since I like sleep. :)

It was a bit surreal reading what I had written to myself on the back of the card, though... part of a saga I wonder if I'd be better off not remembering at all. If I eventually post every card related to that saga, will I forget it more easily? Other parts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. (Some of those it's the cards themselves, some of them it's just what I was thinking about as I posted them.) There are at least 2 other cards to go.

Anyway.
2011 definitive on "baby wildlife," this one being the red fox, in the denomination for sending to the U.S.

Jasper, Alberta

I found this cool map card at a thrift store. Jasper is a Canadian national park, the largest in the Canadian Rockies, in the province of Alberta, west of Edmonton and north of Banff. It is home to glaciers, mountains, hot springs, and waterfalls, along with grizzly bears, moose, elk, mountain goats, pumas, wolves, and pika, some of which you can see on the card. The park was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 as part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. This is definitely a place I would like to visit!

Canada

This is from Rose for the June 2010 RR. She took a normal flag card and decorated it with stamps and stickers. Soooo awesome.

From the back of the card: "The newly designed Canadian flag was flown for the first time on February 15, 1965." The sticker in the middle is an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But where is his horse?? ;)

OK, let's see if I can get all of these. The stamps in the top corners celebrate the centennial of the Canadian Navy in 2010. "For the past century, the men and women of Canada’s naval forces have stood their guard at sea, protecting our country from threats as diverse as terrorism, illegal resource exploitation, pollution violation, narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration. As the warships of Canada’s navy continue to defend our nation’s interests in home waters and around the world, Canada Post celebrates their 100th anniversary with two commemorative stamps."

The bottom corners and left and right sides middle stamps are all from Canadian Geographic's Wildlife Photography of the year 2010, featuring (clockwise from bottom left corner): katydid, rufous hummingbird, tree swallow, and great blue heron.

The insects are low value definitives in 1¢ (convergent ladybird beetle), 2¢ (monarch caterpillar), and 3¢ (goldeneyed lacewing).

The 25¢ and 4¢ stamps at the bottom are from 1999, featuring leatherworking and oyster farming.

As for the stamps on the back of the card...

Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2010

A few weekends ago I had the great pleasure to volunteer at VFMF 2010. Vancouver is only about a four to five hour drive north of my hometown and I've been there a few times, mainly to see my favorite band in concert. (Paperboys!! Woohoo!) I went to VFMF last year primarily to see the Paperboys and had so much fun I wanted to go again this year even though they weren't playing. I had a fantastic time, and this card pretty much explains why.



The artwork is by Tony Bosley, and shows basically what the festival is all about: dancing to all kinds of lovely music, surrounded by other people doing the same thing and beautiful scenery. In addition to listening to a ton of music (none of it by artists I'd ever heard before), I also volunteered at the festival booth selling t-shirts and other festival merchandise. As far as I'm concerned, volunteering is an integral part of the festival. I got to meet people, which was key since I didn't already know anyone who was going to be there; they feed their volunteers two meals a day, as well as giving us free weekend passes, which more than halved the cost of the trip for me; plus, I just got to be a tiny part of what makes the festival happen.

Naturally, I perused Canada Post's website before I left, and decided exactly which commemorative stamps I was going to use to send myself a card. I chose this Marine Life joint issue between Canada and Sweden, featuring two marine mammals. On the left you have the harbour porpoise, one of the smallest oceanic cetaceans. On the right is my personal favorite animal (and the reason I chose this set of stamps :), the sea otter, the heaviest of the weasels, making its home in the waters of the North American Pacific coast.


The post office was my first stop out of the bus station in Vancouver, and when I asked the clerk for the sea otter stamps, he had no idea what I was talking about. I had to take him over to the display on the wall and show him, and then he told me you could only buy these stamps in a book of 8, they're the wrong denomination for postcards to the U.S., and so on and so forth. Mister, I don't care about any of that. I want these stamps for my collection and I don't give a damn about overpaying for postage.

Vancouver, Canada

I was in Vancouver last weekend for the folk music festival which was AWESOME. I didn't want to leave and I'm not happy to be back at work, so I'll pretend I'm not and post this card from Vancouver.

CA-112067
Canada Harbor Place, Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver's World Trade and Convention Centre, looking out over Burrard Inlet, Stanley Park, and North Vancouver. Apparently this place was awarded "World's Best Convention Centre" twice. I personally don't think it's as pretty as the view from Jericho Beach over English Bay and the mountains... but it's still a nice card. :P

The Flowers definitive for the US rate, showing giant helleborine, a Canadian orchid.