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.

Sri Lanka

Postcard of Asian elephant in Yala National Park in southeastern Sri Lanka. Established in 1900, it is the second-largest protected area in Sri Lanka and is an important wildlife habitat for the Sri Lankan subspecies of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus maximus), as well as large numbers of leopards and wetland birds.

Although I lived in Sri Lanka when I was young, I only have one other, rather unlovely, Sri Lanka card in the archives of my collection. Many thank to friend Lindsey, who was on holiday in Sri Lanka, for adding to the mix!

Stamp from the 2007 definitive series on constellations of the Zodiac. Depicted is Pisces (♓), the twelfth astrological sign in the Zodiac. Pisceans are thought to be reasonable, artistic, and quiet.

Réunion

Multiview postcard from Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Card shows a popular beach, Le Boucan, a tree fern, a white-tailed tropicbird, and a shot of an eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the world's most active. Piton de la Fournaise is located in the "Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island" World Heritage site which covers almost the entire central part of the island.

Many thanks and a merci to Shamia for helping me add a card from Réunion to my collection.

Réunion is an integral part of France in the same vein as Hawaiʻi and Alaska are a part of the United States of America. As such, it uses standard French stamps. Stamp on the left commemorates the Apprentis d'Auteuil, a Catholic charity founded by a French priest in 1866, originally to help orphans, but now working with at-risk young people. Stamp on the right depicts the Jacques Chaban-Delmas Drawbridge in Bordeaux, which opened this year and is one of the largest such bridges in Europe.

Fiji

Postcard of Levuka, the first colonial capital of Fiji, settled in 1820 and formally ceded to the British in 1874. The historical beachfront buildings sit amongst coconut and mango trees and form a rare, well-preserved example of nineteenth century European Pacific port settlements. Preservation was possible because the capital was moved to Suva on the main island of Viti Levu in 1882 as Levuku's townsite is ringed by cliffs, making growth difficult. Levuka Historical Port Town was added to the World Heritage List at this year's World Heritage Committee meeting in Phnom Penh, Fiji's first site to be inscribed.

Many thanks to Ben for helping me get my first card from Fiji! Vinaka vaka levu!

Stamp from a 1995 definitive set of eight on Fijian land birds showing a mangrove heron (Butorides striata), a common wetland bird across the Old World. Mangrove herons sit still for very long periods waiting for its prey to approach and then striking quickly. Stamp was overprinted with a new rate in 2006 (I think).

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.