Barbados

In honour of this blog's sixth birthday, a blast from the past! This card from the archives was sent to me by my Mum when my postcard collection was really in its infancy, just a handful of cards tacked up to my bedroom wall. My Mum, well-travelled lady that she is, has contributed considerably to my collection, and I can never thank her enough for taking time out of her holidays to track down stamps, cards and errant post offices to indulge my postcard folly. Merci bien, maman!

Card shows Harrismith Beach on the southeast coast of Barbados.

Stamp on the left commemorates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Barbados Museum in 1933. Stamp on the right from the 1989 definitive set of 16 features Centrosema virginianum, or wild pea, a common vine throughout most of the Americas.

Nicaragua II

Postcard of the Granada, one of the oldest cities founded by the Spanish in the New World and, ostensibly, the first European city founded on the American mainland. It was founded in 1524 and was one of Spain's major colonial cities in the region. It is on Nicaragua's Tentative List for World Heritage as a mixed site: City of Granada and its natural environment. Muchas gracia to friend Bobby for sending this card while on a Spanish language course.

I couldn't find any information about these stamps that say they were issued in 1994. They feature famous international football players.

Cayman Islands

Postcard from Hell. This town in the Cayman Islands is thought to be named after the barren limestone rock formations that elicited the reaction, "This is what Hell must look like", when the area was first settled. The area is now a popular tourist spot with Hell-themed souvenirs.

Although the Caribbean is a fairly common winter holiday destination for Canadians, I've actually had quite a difficult time getting Caribbean countries crossed off my list. My many thanks, in this case, to friend Neil for sending this card while in the Cayman Islands for a work project.

Stamp from a 2001 set of three featuring Cayman Brac, the second-largest of the Cayman Islands three main islands. While the other two islands are mostly flat, Cayman Brac features a large limestone escarpment that runs the length of the island that has a number of caves, including Peter's Cave, pictured in this stamp. Also featuring a postmark from Hell.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Postcard of a beach on Providenciales, the most populated island in the British territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, though not the capital, which is diminutive Cockburn Town with just 8,000 residents. The beaches in the Turks and Caicos are regularly voted among the best in the world, and are a popular winter holiday destination for North Americans. Turks and Caicos are also notable in that there has been, over the years, discussions of the territory becoming a part of Canada. When Britain began decolonising the Caribbean, the locals were not in favour of joining an independent Bahamas, which had been Britain's original intention. The islands not feeling they could become independent themselves, idea was therefore floated of giving them to Canada. The Canadian government was not interested in becoming a new colonial power, but the idea still pops up in the media from time to time. – No doubt the notion of owning a slice of palm tree paradise appeals to many in the Great White North!

The island group is on Britain's Tentative List for World Heritage. Many thanks to friend Scott who fled the Canadian cold for the turquoise shores of T&C!

Stamp shows Astraea brevispina, a species of sea snail found in the Caribbean, from a 2007 set of 15 featuring shells and sea snails. 

Canada – Newfoundland and Labrador II

Postcard of Gros Morne National Park, a world heritage site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. The park was established as a reserve in 1973 and made a national park in 2005. As an outlying range of the Appalachian Mountains, the park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed. It is also notable for its glacier-carved fjords, one of which is pictured here.

Definitive, self-adhesive stamp of blue-flag irises from a 2004 series on flowers.

Belize

Postcard from the Belizean island of Ambergris Caye, located in the northeast of the country. The island is largely undeveloped, the main attraction being the Belize Barrier Reef and its beaches. The Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Many thanks to friend Rob who was visiting friends in Belize.

Both stamps are from the 2005 definitive series of twelve stamps featuring ecological and heritage sites around the country. Stamp on the left shows the House of Culture Museum, housed in the former British governor-general's residence built in 1812. On the right is Nohoch Che'en Archaeological Reserve, a Mayan site in a system of underground rivers and caves.

Greenland IV

Postcard from Greenland showing a man in a kayak. Kayaks were originally developed by the Inuit people of the Arctic, and the word itself is indeed Inuktitut, qajaq (ᖃᔭᖅ), meaning "man's boat" or "hunter's boat". The first kayaks were constructed from stitched animal skins stretched over a wood or whalebone frame – Inuit in the western Arctic used wood whereas those in the east used whalebone due to the lack of available trees in the tundra. They are most commonly made of modern materials nowadays, but continue to be used in traditional fishing and hunting practices.

Stamp on the left is from the 2012 definitive series featuring Queen Margrethe II. Stamp on the right is from a multiyear series on Greenlandic herbs featuring Fucus vesiculosus, or bladderwrack, issued in 2013. Bladderwrack is a common seaweed in the North Atlantic Ocean and was the original source of iodine, used to treat a variety of ailments.

Canada – Nova Scotia

Postcard from the East Coast fishing town of Lunenburg. The town is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America and, as such, is a World Heritage site, Old Town Lunenburg. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, with preserved wooden architecture dating, in some cases, from the eighteenth century. The town is also known for its flat-bottomed wooden boats, seen here in the foreground.

 Previously featured definitive stamp series featuring baby animal.

A not often seen Canadian air mail label.

United States of America – California II

A postcard of loggers and a California redwood tree; must be a rather old photo too as redwood have been protected species for a long time. Giant redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, are very tall, long-lived trees that can grow more than a hundred metres high and live more than 1,000 years. In the past they were distributed across most of coastal California, although they were heavily logged (as seen in the postcard photo) from the 1850s with the arrival of European goldminers and pioneers. It's estimated that as little as 5% of the original old-growth redwood forest remains, almost half of which is protected in Redwood National and State Parks, a UNESCO World Heritage site and part of the California Coastal Ranges Biosphere Reserve.

Thanks to friends David and Cormac who were on a road trip holiday!

This is the first American international rate "Forever" stamp in my collection. It's pretty dull, if you ask me. Everyone is probably already bored to death of it and I won't go to the bother of uploading any future copies I receive. 

Canada – British Colombia VI

Postcard of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park with an X-marks-the-spot showing the ultimate destination of my stepmother and family on their recent hiking trip. Many thanks to her for sending the card.

Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park as established in 1922 and, despite the fact that there is no road access to the park at all, is home to the first ski lodge established in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Mount Assiniboine Lodge. Mount Assiniboine is named after the teepees of the Assiniboine native people of the Prairies whose shape resembles the mountain's peak. Part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage site.

Stamp is previously featured definitive of baby moose with unlovely laser cancellation.

Greenland III

Postcard showing mail delivery by dog sled, which are still routinely used during the winter in Greenland.

Two stamps from a 2012 set of three on aviation in Greenland. On the left, an S-61 Sikorsky helicopter, the most widely-used civilian transport helicopter. On the right, a DC-6 plane, which was actually featured in a previous post's stamp about air transport in the Antarctic!

Canada – Alberta VII

Postcard of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a World Heritage site in the Rocky Mountains straddling the Canadian–American border. The transnational park is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and is the first transboundary site in my collection of World Heritage sites. The union of Waterton (Canadian) and Glacier (American) National Parks was achieved in 1932, although the parks had been established earlier, in 1895 and 1910 respectively.

The Prince of Wales Hotel has a rather interesting history as well. Constructed between 1926 and 1927, the hotel was built by the American Great Northern Railway to lure American tourists north of the border during the prohibition era. The hotel was named after the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), in an attempt to entice him to stay in the hotel during his 1927 Canadian tour, but the Prince stayed at a nearby ranch instead! It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada by the Canadian government in 1995.

Previously featured baby Arctic hare definitive stamps used.

Canada – Alberta VI

Postcard from Canada's third World Heritage site, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, inscribed on the List in 1981. The site is a buffalo jump, used by the indigenous people of the prairies for more than 5,000 years to drive bison over cliffs in large numbers for food, leather, and hides. The name of the site come from a Blackfoot legend, whereby a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the bison plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling bison. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in.

Many thanks to friend Paul for send this card during his holiday.

Previously featured self-adhesive, permanent rate, definitive stamp from a series on baby animals. Seen here, the Arctic hare, Lepus arcticus, with a rare-for-Canada hand cancellation.

United States of America – Louisiana

Postcard from New Orleans, showing a "second line" jazz band. The "main line" or "first line" is the main section of the parade; those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the "second line". It's a New Orleans tradition that is thought to have its origins in West African circle dances, where children formed a periphery circle outside the main circle of adult dancers. The dance was brought by slaves to New Orleans, where it became incorporated into processions, such as funerals, forcing the ring to straighten into a line.

Many thanks to friend Paul who was in New Orleans for a conference.

Fairly commonplace American flag "Forever" stamps, sans postmark, but plus a Mardi Gras logo.

Canada – Yukon II

Postcard shows a man panning for Klondike gold. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1898 was the last and most renowned of the world’s great nineteenth century gold rushes when upwards of 100,000 prospectors rushed to this inaccessible and very remote part of Canada. The rush was centred on Dawson City, which grew from a Native moose-hunting camp to a city of 40,000 people in the space of a few years. Plots of land cost millions of today's dollars, and one visitor likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants to the Strand in London! Part of The Klondike site on Canada's Tentative World Heritage list.

Previously featured baby black bear stamp with a Dawson City postmark, though not the same one as on this card.

Canada – Northwest Territories II

Another card from my Mum's travels in the Canadian Arctic, this time from the small community of Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Tuktoyaktuk is certainly one of the more iconic place names in Canada, and I learned  it was the first community in northern Canada to revert to its traditional Native name, having been known as "Fort Brabant" prior to 1950. 

Mum dipped her toe in the Arctic Ocean and reports that it wasn't really as cold as one would expect, probably because of record-breaking summer temperatures. My many thanks to her for sending me this card from the most northerly place in my collection, 69° 27′.

Previously featured baby black bear stamp featuring a Tuktoyaktuk postmark!

Canada – Yukon

Love this postcard; it goes straight to the top as one of my favs! Another card from my Mum on her trip in the Canadian Far North. Seen here are caribou, Rangifer tarandus, on the move during their autumn migration. The herd that typically crosses the Dempster Highway is one of the world's largest, numbering more than 100,000 animals. 

The Dempster Highway connects the Klondike gold rush town of Dawson with Inuvik, north of the Arctic Circle – the furthest place north one can drive in Canada. The highway was built in fits and starts from 1959 to 1979. It was recently announced that the road would be extended, as intended, a further 194 km to reach the community of Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

Previously featured stamp of baby black bear, with a rather remarkable postmark quite unlike any other I've seen from Canada, which usually have black ink and are round (that is, when Canada Post uses a postmark at all, and not its typical, unlovely dot matrix laser scan).

Canada – Northwest Territories

Postcard sent by my Mum during her holiday in the Canadian Far North. Inuvik is a planned community that was designed to replace the regional centre of Aklavik, which was prone to flooding and lacked room to grow. Inuvik "opened for business" in 1960 and is now the most northerly place in Canada to which you can drive. Postcard is of the prairie crocus, Pulsatilla patens, said to be the first sign that summer has arrived when it blooms. Many thanks to Mum for this first postcard from the Northwest Territories in my collection!

Stamp from a set on baby animals, featured here the black bear, Ursus americanus. Also featured, a lovely, rare-for-Canada,  non-laser postmark. Always happy to get one of those! :-)

Canada – Ontario V

Postcard of Sandbanks Provincial Park, near my hometown of Belleville, Ontario. It is the world's largest freshwater sand dune system. There are dunes much higher than the ones pictured here that are perfect for "sandbogganing" down straight into the lake. Lots of fun on a summer's day.

Previously featured stamp of a moose from a self-adhesive definitive set on baby animals.

Canada – Ontario IV

A groovy retro postcard of Toronto City Hall. The iconic building was designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell following an international design competition. The design was nearly eliminated from the short list when it was saved by one of the competition judges, superstarchitect Eero Saarinen (coincidentally also a Finn), who insisted the unique design was the most innovative and deserving to win. It was open in 1965 following four years of construction and is now a designated heritage monument.

Previously featured stamp on the left from the 2012 Christmas series on Christmas cookies. Stamp on the right commemorates Tommy Douglas. He was premier of Saskatchewan and went on to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party. While leader of Saskatchewan, he introduced the continent's first single-payer, universal health care programme, which went on to be the model for Canada's national universal health care programme. In 2004, CBC, Canada's national broadcaster named him "The Greatest Canadian," based on a viewer-supported survey for his role as father of medicare.