Men's Gymnastics

This original artwork by Robert Peak was used for the design of the men's gymnastics stamp from the 40¢ international airmail block of four honoring the 1984 Summer Olympics. This stamp was issued at Los Angeles, California 33 years ago on April 8, 1983.

Update: the card was later sent to Belarus as US-3975285.

Cobb Hall at the University of Chicago

On January 23, 1992, USPS issued a stamped postal card with a 19-cent pre-printed stamp to commemorate the Centennial of the University of Chicago. The card features the first building completed on campus in 1892 - Cobb Hall, named after benefactor Silas Cobb. Designed by Henry Ives Cobb (not related to Silas Cobb), the building was modeled after the Gothic style featured prominently on the Oxford University campus in England. It currently hosts the humanities and social sciences, as well as the Center for the Study of Languages, and the Renaissance Society Contemporary Art Museum.

The first-day-of-issue postmark, cancelled from the city of Chicago, IL, also features an outline of Cobb Hall.

Update: the card was later sent to Belarus as US-3841631.

Любимая Аленка

Postcard DE-4268170 from Germany shows a candy wrapper for sweets glazed with chocolate "My Favorite Alenka" popular in Belarus. "My Favorite Alenka" is a brand related to "Alenka," a milk chocolate first produced in the Soviet Union in 1965 that has a distinctive creamy, rich taste.

Woman in a Fur Hat

Outgoing postcard US-3224039 to Belarus was sent on February 8,2015 and had expired since. The card shows an oil on canvas Woman in a Fur Hat, circa 1915, by Gretchen Woodman Rogers (1881 - 1967), an American painter associated with the Boston School.

The painting was said to be reminiscent of Girl with a Pearl Earring, circa 1665, by Johannes Vermeer. By referring to the Dutch artist’s most mesmerizing painting in her image of a contemporary woman, "Rogers links past and present, projecting an exquisite and timeless impression of strength and confidence."

The postcard was purchased at the gift shop of Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art during the annual Bellagio Museum Day in 2014, when the exhibition “Painting Women: Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” was on display.

Designer of the Las Vegas Welcome Sign Passed Away

Betty Willis,  an American graphic designer and a Las Vegas native best known for having designed the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign,  died at the age of 91 at her home in Overton, Nevada on April 19, 2015

Betty was the daughter of Stephen R, Whitehead, the first assessor of Clark County, Nevada. She went to an art school at Los Angeles in 1942, and returned to Las Vegas for she first job at the courthouse. She designed the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign in 1959 when she worked for the Western Neon sign company. She considered the sign "my gift to the city," and never trademarked the sign, which made many derived arts possible and thrived.

Postcard US-2995494 to Belarus shows the iconic sign among the various landmarks in Las Vegas. It has become one of the most photographed signs in the world. The word “fabulous” reflects what Betty always used to describe Las Vegas: "We really thought Las Vegas was a fabulous place." The sign was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 2009.

The Wheel of Time: Valerian K. Zholtok (1919-2000)

Postcard BY-1563582 from Belarus shows a still-life painting from a past exhibition the Wheel of Time. Valerian K. Zholtok (1919-2000) at the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

Valerian K. Zholtok was born December 13, 1919 in Zhlobin Gomel region in Belarus from a family of railroad employee. She graduated from the Vitebsk Art School in 1939, and had received many awards throughout her career. Many of her works are in collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian Union of Artists, Museum of Modern Art in Minsk, Belarus, and other institutes and individuals in UK, USA, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Japan.

Many of the plants in her paintings were grown by her own hands.

Try to be a Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud

USPS unveiled the Dr. Maya Angelou Forever Stamp image today on March 4, 2015, and announced that the stamp's First-Day-of-Issue as April 7, 2015 with the dedication ceremony at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC.

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, singer, and champion of civil rights. One of the most dynamic voices in 20th-century American literature, she was known for her series of autobiographies. The first of the seven in the series, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” published in 1969, gave a vivid account for her childhood against the African-American life in the South as the background.

Postcard BY-892970 from Belarus shows a rainbow over the National Library in Minsk. Although unrelated, it does remind me a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou: "Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud." In "the Letter to My Daughter" in 2009, She said "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." Dr. Maya Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. I can't wait to see the stamp.

SuperGraphic: Blue Cats by Rina Z

Postcard BY-1535613 from Belarus shows a painting of Blue Cats by artist Rina Z from Minsk, Belarus, who is specialized in watercolor, raster (digital) graphics, and mixed technique. Her cats are blue only in color, not in their mood, as they are always positive, energetic and adventurous. 

Coincidentally, the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas is hosting a "Lucky Cat" exhibition, showcasing a 9-foot or 2.75-meter chrome-finished Japanese style maneki-neko (招財貓), the fortunate beckoning cat said to bring good luck and money to business establishments. Therefore, you would often see a Lucky Cat at the entrance of Asian jewel shops and restaurants beckoning and greeting customers by waving it's paw. The Cosmopolitan Lucky Cat extends this concept further by sharing its good fortune with its guests: guests over 21 years old can touch the Lucky Cat's paw once a day to receive a Cosmopolitan promotion.

Belarusian Cat

Postcard BY-1460654 from Belarus shows an illustrated Belarusian Cat by artist Ekaterina Shmirina, dressing like Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost), a fictional character who in some Slavic cultures plays a similar role as Santa Claus does.

The Muppets Tour the Globe

Postcard US-2921174 to Belarus shows the Muppets Tour the Globe, a Disney themed card purchased at Zazzle. It was sent in for a first-day-of-issue postmark on the Hot Rods forever stamps on August 5, 2014, and reached the destination on October 9, 2014 after 65 days.

The order was apparently held up together with my other first-day-of-issue requests. I received part of the Hot Rods order on September 23, 2014, along with the Harvey Milk order that was requested on July 21, 2014. A separate Nevada Statehood order, requested on July 26, 2014, arrived days earlier on September 20, 2014. A check for the digital-color-postmark fee in the Harvey Milk order was not cashed until October 1, 2014.

Therefore, as the Muppets Tour the Globe, the actual traveling time for the postcard from U.S. to Belarus was about 16 days.

Innocence, So Fleeting, So Fragile

Outgoing postcard US-2529931 to Belarus was another postcard from Zumanity, the Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil at New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The scene on the postcard, with a tag line "Innocence, so fleeting, so fragile", reveals elegance and passion of women. The show is scheduled to undergo an overhaul early next year. The postcard was purchased at the show's gift shop. It was sent on November 28, 2013 and had since expired.

Tonight, the giant Viva Vision LED display canopy at the Fremont Street Experience lit up again for the 16th annual Las Vegas Pride Parade in downtown Las Vegas. A blog from Las Vegas Weekly explains why Las Vegas Pride matters for a largely dis-unified LGBT community. The pride festival will be held at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater tomorrow from noon to 10:00 p.m. on September 6, 2014. As concluded in that blog, we will be there "not because we want to see more people impersonating Britney Spears, but because we want to see us."

Memories

Postcard BY-1337780 from Belarus features an oil painting on canvas made with a palette knife by artist Leonid Afremov, born in the city of Vitebsk, Belarus in 1955. Leonid Afremov graduated from the famous Vitebsk Art School in 1978. The school was founded by Marc Chagall (July 6, 1887 – March 28, 1985), a Belarussian-Russian-French artist, in 1921. Leonid Afremov moved to Israel in 1990, and became known as a Israeli modern painter of landscapes, cityscapes and figures. "The scorching southern sun filled with colors and brightness made Leonid's paintings positive and joyous."

Do More of What Makes You HAPPY

Postcard BY-1247706 from Belarus was one of the Boo and Stu Stories cartoon collections featuring a girl, a bear and a cat. The card was sent on April 7, 2014. It took 128 days to reach me, although the actual mailing time could be shorter.

Happy Postcrossing from Belarus

I am really fond of heart-shaped themed postcards. So, postcard BY-1267018 from Belarus really struck a chord with me.

With an excessive heat warning issued for this week and the temperature hit 41°C or 106°F today, I found some cherry smoothie photos and recipes on Pinterest refreshing. There are some tips on where to go and what to do to keep cool during hot summer months in Las Vegas. For the less fortunate, the City of Las Vegas has opened several cooling shelters.

Monuments Go Green

Postcard US-1770581 to Belarus shows the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign with other famous Las Vegas landmarks. In honor of Irish heritage, the famous sign had gone green from March 13 to March 18 as the Las Vegas Convention Center and Visitors Authority, teaming up with Tourism Ireland for its annual "Global Greening" initiative, changed the sign's yellow bulbs to green.

Other landmarks that went green include the Castle at Disneyland, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Sydney Opera House.

High Roller Ferris Wheel at LINQ on March 17, 2014

Bright Summer Night on Braslav

Postcard BY-1162713 from Belarus shows "Bright Summer Night on Braslav", by Minsk photographer and astronomer Viktor Malyschits known for his many beautiful night views of Belarus on the background of sparkling stars. You can learn more about Viktor and his photos from an interview Love the Stars and their Country in Russian at Onliner.

Least Chipmunk

Postcard US-2205864 to Belarus was one of the several wildlife cards that I bought at the Mount Charleston Visitor Center. The description on the card says "the Least Chipmunk climbs swiftly and nimbly, often ascending tress to sun itself or build a summer nest. The winter nest is less sheltered and constructed of grass and other fibrous or downy material. It will use its large cheek pouches to carry food back to its nest. It feeds on seeds, fruit, insects and reptiles."

Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk

Postcard BY-1136358 from Belarus shows the Holy Spirit Cathedral, the central cathedral of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, in Minsk, Belarus. The Cathedral dates back to 1633-1642 when the city was in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It suffered fire damages in 1741 and was reconstructed afterwards.

Among the various images of saints inside the Cathedral, the Theotokos icon of Virgin Mary, "Mother of God", has been believed as miraculous with tears of diamonds to help people in poverty.

Countdown to New Year

The countdown to 2014 has begun! In Las Vegas, the biggest party of the year is tonight that include concerts, celebrity-hosted parties. Fireworks will be shot from casino rooftops of Stratosphere Tower, Treasure Island, The Venetian, Caesars Palace, Aria, Planet Hollywood, and MGM Grant. New to this year: a special "count up" to midnight, on the side of the Stratosphere Tower, will start 10 seconds before midnight.

Postcard US-2025670 to Belarus shows the fireworks from Stratosphere on January 1, 2013.

2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk, Belarus

Postcard BY-1073799 from Belarus was one of the earliest Christmas themed cards that I received. It arrived in the mid November with Santa Claus playing ice hockey. It turns out that Minsk, the capital of Belarus, will host the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship from May 9 to May 25, 2014. Good luck and Congratulations!