The Golden Eagle

Postcard US-2711124 to the Netherlands shows a golden eagle soaring over the Mount  Charleston near Las Vegas in Nevada.

One of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Although considered hawk-like, these dark brown birds have a stance and bearing much like that of an eagle, with a soaring wingspan of 76-92", eyes with an "eagle look", and a "golden" nap. They build their nests with a large mass of sticks on a crag, ledge or in a tree, with a pair alternating between several nests in different years.

Photo by Alan & Sandy Carey.

Ojai Valley Inn, Ojai, California

Postcard US-3971375 to the Netherlands shows towering mountains and the scenic beauty of a valley of enchantment form the background of the 18-hole golf course at Ojai Valley Inn, a Spanish hacienda-style inn and spa dated to 1934. It is located 3 miles or 5 kilometers from the border of Los Padres National Forest and 18 miles or 29 kilometers from Ventura, northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara, California.

White Ibis

Postcard US-3612556 to the Netherlands shows a flock of white ibis probes the grassflat to unearth a meal of crustaceans. These birds gather together at dusk in showy, spectacular roosts in the Everglades, Florida. The 39 cent matching stamp was one of the South Florida Wetland stamps issued by USPS in 2005.

Obama Delivers Earth Day Messages in Florida

President Obama traveled to the Everglades in South Florida earlier today to highlight the impact of climate change on the American economy. The irony is that in Florida, where rising sea levels pose an imminent threat to 30% of the state's beaches in the next 85 years, state officials have taken an Ostrich Policy on climate change by banning the terms “climate change”, “global warming” and "sustainability" in any official state communications, emails, or reports.

Obama took a tour on the Anhinga Trail in the park on wooden boardwalk over vast 1.5 million-acre wetlands that are served as habitats to diverse species such as alligators and whooping cranes. Shown on the outgoing postcard US-3263777 to the Netherlands, a whooping crane can be more than 4 feet or 1.2 meters tall when standing erect. Indigenous to Florida but rare, whooping cranes were re-introduced in the mid-1990s to stimulate population recovery. These species are threaten as their habitats are impacted by salt water seeping inland caused by rising sea levels, which offers a vivid illustration over the relationship between theoretical arguments about carbon emissions and real-life implications. Studies also reveal that rising sea levels are threatening an $82 billion state tourism economy, and drinking water for more than 7 million Florida residents — more than a third of Florida's population.

President Obama is using his trip, timed to coincide with Earth Day, to push for an environment agenda that will cut carbon emissions by 28% by 2025 in an attempt to alleviate the impacts of climate change.

Shoeshining in Lisbon

Postcard NL-2904282 from the Netherlands was bought in Lisbon during a trip to Portugal. The photo, taken by Christian Auscher in 1987, features a shoeshiner in an ordinary day in Lisbon.

Danut Ivanescu from Romania has received a copy of the same card through a private swap. In his blog, he made some interesting observations on shoeshiner as a profession. In Las Vegas, many casinos, hotels, convention centers, shopping malls and the airport have hosted shoeshining stands.

Grand Canyon National Park Turns 96

Ninety Six years ago on February 26, 1919, Grand Canyon was designated a National Park under President Woodrow Wilson's Administration. The creation of the Grand Canyon National Park was seen as an early success of the conservation movement. Home to more than 1,500 plant species and more than 500 animal species, it has become a top tourist destination that attracted 4.5 million visitors every year. 

Postcard US-1700612 to the Netherlands shows Toroweap Overlook, a viewpoint in a remote area on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. It is the only place in the National Park where you can see the Colorado River from vertically above, 3,000 feet or 915 meters over the river.

USPS issued a 60-cent Grand Canyon stamp in 2000 but it came out wrong, twice. The most recent stamp featuring Grand Canyon by USPS was one of four in the set of Hudson River School Forever Stamps, based on the 19th century artist Thomas Moran's 1912 painting. 

Hedgehog Cactus, on the California Desert

Postcard US-3142509 to the Netherlands took 50 days to reach its destination. It was a vintage card showing the Hedgehog Cactus (Cereus Engelmannii), one of the most showy of all the cactus blossom with red and purple flowers. The species can be found in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico; and in Arizona, California and Nevada, USA at elevations ranging from near sea level to 2,400 meters or 7,874 feet. April is the usual time for it to blossom.

Spanish Style Building at the Western Horseman HQ

Postcard US-2869219 to the Netherlands shows the January 1955 Western Horseman magazine cover, featuring the historic Spanish-style building in Colorado Springs that was the home of Western Horseman for nearly 62 years. According to the description on the back of the postcard, employees often rode their horses to work and stabled them in the barn located on the property, back in those good old days. The price for each copy was 35 cents in 1955.

The Sounds of AHH

Postcard US-2205897 to the Netherlands was one of the several shaped cards that I bought at the "Everything Coca-Cola" specialty store in Las Vegas. Today I came cross a 2014 Coca-Cola "The Sounds of AHH" commercial by Kurt Schneider, Max Schneider, Zendaya, and Kina Grannis, singing the cover of Capital Cities' "Safe and Sound" and using the coke bottles and glasses as instruments.

I could lift you up
I could show you what you wanna see
And take you where you wanna be
You could be my luck
Even if the sky is falling down
I know that we'll be safe and sound

4 ∞

Postcard NL-2693844 from the Netherlands shows the main building Academiegebouw of the University of Groningen. Located in the City of Groningen and founded in 1614, it is not only one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands but also one of the largest. The university is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year with a festive program RUG400 from May 15 to June 15, 2014, under the theme "For Infinity" (4 ∞).

Today, the U.S. Postal Service issued the limited edition Batman Forever stamps at New York Comic Con 2014 at the Javits Center on October 9, 2014, in honor of Batman’s 75th anniversary as the protector of Gotham City.

Four versions of stamps feature Batman in four very distinct eras over the comic book history: the Golden Age (bottom row: 1939 - 1956), the Silver Age (third row: 1956 - 1969), the Bronze Age (second row: 1970 - 1985), and the Modern Era (top row: 1985 to the present). There are four incarnations of the famed Bat-Signal, the spotlight that Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon beamed into the night sky to summon Batman.

According to USPS, Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Forever Batman Stamps
Special Events Coordinator
380 West 33rd St. Room 4032
New York, NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by Dec. 8, 2014.

In 2006, the USPS issued a series of stamps featuring various DC Comics superheroes, including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Last year, Canada Post issued five Superman stamps on September 10, 2013 to commemorate Superman’s 75th birthday and his Canadian roots.

Outgoing postcard US-3017764 to the Netherlands shows a DC Comics book cover with Batman and Robin, purchased at DC Comics' Batman store at Zazzle.

Sailing along Rotterdam

Postcard NL-2675928 from the Netherlands shows Euromast, an observation tower in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Designed by Hugh Maaskant and constructed between 1958 and 1960, it was specially built for the 1960 Floriade. It has a "crow's nest" observation platform and a restaurant at 96 meters or 315 feet above-ground. Euromast was originally 101 meters or 331 feet in height. When the Space Tower was added on top of the building in 1970, it added an additional 85 meters or 279 feet in height. At 186 meters or 610 feet, Euromast is the tallest building in Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 350.2 meters or 1,149 feet. Euromast became a listed monument in 2010.

Berkeley Pit Panorama

Postcard US-2967625 to the Netherlands was a vintage card showing a panorama of the Berkeley Pit, an open pit copper mine in Butte, Montana. Ektachromes by Clifford B. Ellis.

The mine, once the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States, was opened in 1955 and operated by Anaconda Copper. The Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) bought the mine in 1977, and it was closed in 1982. Approximately 320 million tons of ore and over 700 million tons of waste rock were mined from the Butte Hill.

Measured one mile long (1.6 km) by half a mile (0,8 km) wide with an approximate depth of 1,780 feet (540 m), the pit began to collect groundwater from the surrounding aquifers once it was closed as the water pumps in the nearby shaft were turned off. Pyrite and sulfide minerals in the ore and wall rocks met dissolved oxygen in the water, releasing heavy metals and chemicals including copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid. According to PitWatch, with the bottom elevation at 4,263 feet above the sea level and the water level at 5,318.49 feet above sea level as of July 30, 2014, the pit had filled a depth of 1,055 feet (321.6 m) with water that was highly acidic (2.5 pH level) since 1982. Current projections estimate that the Critical Level at 5,410 feet above the sea level, which is close to the natural water table, will be reached around 2023 when the pit water may reverse flow back into groundwater, polluting Silver Bow Creek and rivers downstream.

The Berkeley Pit has since become one of the largest Superfund sites. Clean up plans have been in place since the 1990s.

Cadzand, the Netherlands

Postcard DE-3445237 from Germany shows Cadzand, a town by the North Sea with 804 residents as of 2007 in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Sluis, about 8 kilometers or 5 miles northwest of Oostburg. The nearby beach at Cadzand-Bad, a nature reserve and bird sanctuary, is very popular for the European visitors in the summer. It is only 1.6 kilometers or 1 mile from the Netherlands and Belgium border. Visitors can walk across to the beach at Knokke-Heist on the Belgium side.  The town is cyclist and pedestrian friendly.

I also got my first German Football World Champions 2014 stamp. On July 17, four days after Germany lifted their fourth World Cup, a special , Designed by Lutz Menze from Wuppertal, the 60 cent stamp commemorates the 1:0 victory over Argentina in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The scores from the title games in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014 are printed on the side of the stamp.

Groningen, the Netherlands

Postcard NL-2213389 from the Netherlands shows a city view of Groningen, the capital city of Groningen Province and the largest city in the northern Netherlands with a population of 198,108 in 2014. As a college town, students account for one-fourth of the total population with 28,000 from the University of Groningen and 25,000 from Hanze University of Applied Sciences.

Groningen was noted as the "World Cycling City" in 2007 because 57% of trips within the city were made by bicycle. A large network of bike paths make it convenient to cycle to various destinations. Groningen was named as Fietsstad 2002, the top BikeCity in the Netherlands for 2002.

The local football club, FC Groningen, founded in 1971, is playing in the Dutch highest football league the Eredivisie.

Today, the Netherlands National Football Team claimed third place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a 3:0 victory Over Brazil.

Maxi Card with a 2014 Love Stamp and a Digital Color Postmark

Postcard US-2813946 to the Netherlands features a sketch of a heart-shaped sculpture in San Francisco, with a 2014 USPS limited-edition Love Stamp and a first-day-of-issue digital color postmark. The sketch was made out of a photo I took on June 24, 2012. The Cut Paper Heart Forever Stamp, according to a USPS news release, "depicts a large white heart enclosing a smaller pink heart with a saw-toothed edge along its left-hand side. Surrounding the central hearts are pink swirls with smaller hearts imbedded in the design, and a ragged-edge motif that echoes the edging on the small pink heart. The hearts and swirls are contained within a red square that has "pinked" edges, as if cut with pinking shears. A white border frames the entire design."

Only select stamp issues offer a digital color postmark. To order a digital color postmark, customers will have to use envelopes or postcards made of “laser safe” paper, with no glue on the flap of envelops and no coating on the postcards. The maximum size of all digital color postmarks is 2" high x 4" long. Allow sufficient space on the envelope to accommodate the postmark. Do not use self-adhesive labels for addresses on the envelope or postcard. Two extra items must be included for testing. A minimum of 10 envelopes or postcards at 50 cents per digital color postmark is required, paid by a check, money order, or credit card.

USPS may reject hand-painted and other cachet envelopes that are not compatible with their digital color postmark equipment, and substitute traditional black rubber postmarks if use of non-specified envelopes or postcards results in poor image quality or damage to equipment.

The rest of procedure is similar to requesting traditional black rubber postmarks: "customers should affix the stamps to the envelopes and address them to themselves or others for return through the mail. Or, they may include an additional self-addressed return envelope, large enough to accommodate their canceled items, with sufficient postage affixed for return of their postmarked items. Mail the request for a first-day-of-issue digital color postmark to the corresponding city of issuance. Post Offices will then forward all customer requests for digital color postmarks to Cancellation Services, Stamp Fulfillment Services, PO Box 449992, Kansas City, MO 64144-9992. After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes to the customer by U.S. Mail."

Alkmaar, the Netherlands

Postcard NL-2528251 from the Netherlands shows the city views from Alkmaar, the Netherlands. It is famous for its traditional cheese market, as shown on the bottom right. The North Holland Canal, as seen on the left, was dug through Alkmaar and opened in 1824.

Alkmaar is home to the professional football team AZ (Alkmaar Zaanstreek) with a 17,000-seat stadium, the AFAS Stadion, where the Dutch national football team trained in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In today's Group B match, the Netherlands beats Australia with a score of 3:2.

Open Training Session at the AFAS Stadion on June 3, 2014
(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

De Alde Feanen National Park

Postcard NL-2466145 from the Netherlands shows the Alde Feanen National Park, located in Friesland Province, the Netherlands. It is part of the Natura 2000, an ecological network of protected areas in the European Union. There are at least 450 plant species and 100 bird species in the morass, lake, forest, peatland and meadow ecosystems.

Windmill Shaped Card from Holland

Windmill shaped postcard NL-2427110 from the Netherlands is perfect for marking the end of April as the spring season is on its full swing.  Locally, flowers are in full bloom at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas. You can find Mr. & Ms. Green Thumb there for gardening tips daily in the morning from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. The Spring Celebration will continue through May 11, 2014 with live musical performances from 5 pm to 6 pm.

From Los Angeles to Chicago

Postcard US-2738798 to the Netherlands shows a map of Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago. Also known as the Will Rogers Highway or the Main Street of America, U.S. Route 66 was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926 with road signs up the following year, originally ran from Santa Monica, California, through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, to Chicago in a distance of 2,448 miles or 3,940 kilometers.

According to Wikipedia, Route 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985 after it had been entirely replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66". Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into the state road network as State Route 66.

The map was originally created in 1956 with inserts showing such famous scenes along the route as Joshua Tree Forest, Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, Indian War Dance, Will Rogers Monument and the Mississippi River. The postcard is available for purchase at Zazzle.