Moorea, French Polynesia

Moorea is one of the Society Islands, near Tahiti, and is part of French Polynesia. Frommer's travel guide once proclaimed Moorea the most beautiful island in the world. The sender of the postcard lives on Tahiti, but said she likes to go to Moorea for holidays or weekends. Thank you Magali!

The stamp, issued in 2010, is one of a set of 3 commemorating the 100th anniversary of phosphate mining in Makatea, one of the Tuamotu Archipelago portion of French Polynesia.

Sheep Greetings from Germany

"Schäfchengrüsse" by Axel Scheffler.
Scheffler is a German artist who has lived in England since the 1980s, where he is a well-known illustrator of children's books.

The bottom stamp we've seen before. I went to look for the one on the top on Deutsche Post website, and I can find a picture of the stamp, but only in the section for buying "a variety of stamps" all worth 55 eurocent, and with no info about the stamp. Thank you, Deutsche Post website, for being of no use whatsoever.

Yunnan, China

Shangri-La: the prairie in autumn.

Shangri-La County is in southwest China. Originally Zhongdian County, it was renamed in 2001 with the name from James Hilton's famous novel Lost Horizon. I tried to watch Frank Capra's movie adaptation of that book, but it was boring... and I couldn't figure out why, in this paradise valley in the middle of nowhere in China, there were only white people. Anyway, the movie was in black and white, nothing like this card! The card is big, more than 8 inches across, and it's one of the most gorgeous cards I've ever received. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much info about the place pictured.

Far right is Happy New Year. Middle stamp is from a set issued in 2009, featuring Zhangzhou Woodprint New Year Pictures. Apparently this one is called "Goddess Sending Children." On the left is another stamp from the set "protecting the common homeland of mankind," this one symbolizing mining resource utilization and management.

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...

Bucharest, Romania

RO-10684, my first card from Romania, showing the old part of Bucharest. I love this card mainly because it has an accordion player on it. :) Apparently this area of Bucharest serves many purposes - it's the financial center of the city, like Wall Street; the Patriarchal Palace of the Romanian Orthodox Church is also located here, along with a "quaint" covered shopping street frequented by locals and tourists. I couldn't find much more information about it than that, though.

The Danubian Falcon (Falco cherrug), from a set of 5 stamps issued in 2009 on "Birds of the Danube Delta."

Cappadocia, Turkey

From Pinar for the June 2010 RR. This card shows the rock formations of Cappadocia, a UNESCO world heritage site. The formations are called "fairy chimneys" or "hoodoos," created from volcanic eruption followed by water and wind erosion. Early Christians sheltered here from persecution by the Roman Empire, building entire underground cities complete with ventilation chimneys, toilets, food storage rooms, and churches!

The stamp is from May 2010, one of a set of four celebrating Labor and Solidarity Day.

My Offers: Oregon Coast

I spent last weekend at a music festival in a tiny town called Yachats on the Oregon coast. It's a gorgeous place and naturally they have lovely viewcards of the scenery. Naturally, I bought a ton of them. You can see all my offers in my Flickr album. Here are a few of my favorites:


This is only one of several sunset views.


This is a map of the state of Oregon, and the card is actually cut in the shape of the state.


This one is from the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. I got a whole set from there: jellyfish, sea lions, leopard shark, sea otter, beach landscape, and beach sunset with kites.


I have loads of other lighthouse cards, too.

If you're interested, take a look at my album, and shoot me a comment if you want to trade.