Autumn In Québec

After a long hot summer the autumn is finally here, literally arrived to the date...Where I live it sadly doesn't display all these wonderful colours, but instead a strong chilly wind is the main 'culprit'. Canada seems awesome during this time of year. Still on to-visit list...

On a side-note: don't you just 'love' it when there are such great stamps on the postcard, but no proper cancellation? Instead crossed out with a black marker...groar.

Côte d'Azur Sand Postcard

Nine years may not seem that long ago in postal time, but to me it's like a different age...just starting to discover forums, FB groups...It was a time of no special swaps and no special postcard series...one of my first swap buddies was Deborah from France whom I've 'met' on FB. Sadly this was the last card she sent me before 'retiring' from postcrossing due to increase of postage rates. It is the only postcard I have to this day with actual sand in it - I wonder if its really taken from the beaches of Côte d'Azur..! And such a cute stamp, with the little cows also saying 'what a cute stamp' lol. And yes the hand cancellation, can't find them so easily these days in some 'mechanised' countries.

Here's to you Deborah, I hope you're fine & happy wherever you are! :-*

Mali Losinj, Losinj Island

Mali Losinj is a well-known resort town on the south side of Losinj Island, connected to Zadar by a ferry line. Even though its a popular tourist spot, when I hear of it I think of my dad and his stories how he served the army there and walked the whole island. This was of course at the time of former Yugoslavia, and it makes me wonder how much things have changed since then. 

I also wonder how this postcard reached me without any stamps..!

Beli, Cres Island

Wow I didn't realise I have this little place on a postcard...the reason I wow about it is, I planned to go there last week, but sadly all my plans failed because of a series of unfortunate events. Beli is a small town on the NE part of Croatia's largest island Cres. Coming from Rijeka via ferry I would have had to walk for about 15 km to reach it from the ferry port, as there is no public transport available. And why, one might ask? Beli homes a rescue centre for Griffon Vultures, as one of the few colonies left in this part of Europe is in that area. I've been wanting to see these unique birds for ages now...I guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer.

The thing is, Cres is not as overridden with tourists as some of the other (more accessible) islands. It is actually close to land on the northern side but very long, and it continues to the island of Losinj. I planned to walk the whole length. It still makes me sad to think of it, sniff. I think I have a postcard of the end point too...Coming next.

Punta Arenas, Chile

Here you can see the largest city south of the 46th parallel, Punta Arenas. It is the capital of Chile's southernmost region Magellanas and Antarctica Chileana, and one of only two free ports in the country. As the kind sender Ramon mentioned, there are also Croatian landmarks in the city, as many have migrated there between the two wars.

There is not only Chile on these stamps, but also a popular comic book character Condorito, read throughout the whole of the South America - I am not entirely sure where I first 'met' him, but I think it might have been Ecuador, although he was 'born and raised' in a fictional Chilean town of Pellotilehue (and he is as old as my mum :)). I even bought one of the comic books as a souvenir, hmm now I wonder where i put it...And this is the third and the last entry for this week's Sunday Stamps, letter C! I guess I either skip it or overdo it *grin*

Titan Arum Flower, Indonesia

Amorphophallus Titanium or the Titan Arum is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. Due to its odour, which is like the smell of a rotting corpse, it is characterised as a carrion flower and also goes by the name of corpse plant. I must say I am very intrigued by this and would love to see/smell it myself...once in a lifetime would be enough I'm guessing..!

The stamp shows a creature I have never heard of before, or rather I thought so far Cuscus is only something you eat heh. But here it is, or more precisely a Black-Spotted Cuscus, which is sadly critically endangered...and difficult to spot in the wild, which resulted in this very stamp being the only image of it on Wikipedia. And that's a second C for this week's Sunday Stamps' A-Z challenge :)

Pink Anemone, Great Barrier Reef

It is actually because I came across Sunday Stamps that I thought to myself - it would be nice to post something again..! This sunday it is letter C's turn in the A-Z challenge, and I have managed to find quite a few fitting stamps on (some older) postcards; here from 2011 a beautiful underwater theme from dear Heather, who attached three Cocos (Keeling) Islands stamps; from the set of no less than 20, issued also in 2011 and titled (very aptly I might add) Colours of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These show 1) a Giant Clam and a Soft Coral 2) Spotfin Lionfish 3) Pink Anemonefish - the latter also known as Pink Skunk Clownfish, and is matching the postcard perfectly :)

A few words also on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands...it is an Australian external territory in the Indian ocean, comprising a small archipelago halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka, closer to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The islanders do have a degree of self-government through the local shire council, while many public services (health, education, policing, etc) are provided by the state of Western Australia. The overall population is just over 600, mainly ethnic Malays. As the territory consists of two atolls made up of 27 coral islands, no wonder they need 20 stamps to show off what they've got..!

Blackie Says Hi

Once upon a time I've received this cute official postcard from Merag...I must admit I always thought that Highland cattle was strictly orange *blush*. 

Another lengthy break on my side...I also haven't sent any cards for a while. Now that the high season at work is over maybe I should get back to it slowly...after all I have so many blank cards and a stack of stamps to use. It's time!