Alcatraz is Spanish for Pelican

Forty five years ago on June 11, 1971, the U.S. Government forcibly removed the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz that lasted 19 months.

This Alcatraz Island postcard shows the weathered and deteriorating laundry facility used when Alcatraz was a Federal Penitentiary. It was sent in for a pictorial postmark dated on August 8, 2015 at Alcatraz Island Station in San Francisco, CA that commemorated the 81st anniversary of the opening of the infamous penitentiary in August, 1934.

A unique Alcatraz Alumni reunion was held at Alcatraz  between former prison guards and former "residents" on Sunday August 9, 2015.

Taiwan Inaugurates First Female President

Today's featured postcard was a private swap from Taiwan showing the Office of the President, Republic of China in Taipei with a ROCUPEX '13 TAIPEI commemorative postage label from the 2013 National Stamp Exhibition of R.O.C. and International Invitational Stamp Exhibition, and a matching pictorial postmark on August 23, 2013. The Office of the President is the site of the inauguration ceremony this Friday, May 20, 2016 where Tsai Ing-wen took oath of office to become the first female president of Taiwan.

Tsai Ing Wen (R) replaces former President Ma Ying Jeou (L) after a landslide election victory on January 16, 2016. She faces immediate challenges to revitalize the economy, and to balance the demands of the her electorate for greater independence and the pressure of One-Country from China.

Embed from Getty Images

Wright Brothers' First Controlled Flight

Outgoing postcard US-3772207 to Brazil has a 37-cent First Flight commemorative stamp in the front, issued by USPS on May 22, 2003 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first controlled, powered, and sustained flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. At Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903, Wright Brothers tested Flyer I with a four-cylinder engine for the first flight that lasted 12 seconds and 120 feet or 37 meters, followed by three even more successful flights later that day.

The miniature souvenir sheet has ten pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) stamps. The card has address, messages and additional postage on the back. It was sent to the Post Office in Kitty Hawk, NC for the 2015 edition first flight pictorial postmark in a package with several other postcards. Tracking shows the package left Las Vegas on January 16, 2016 and was delivered in January 19, 2016.

I did an inquiry on February 22, 2016 for the service update via USPS.COM, and got a prompt call back the next day asking me for more information, and another call the day after informing me that the cards were mailed out on Monday, February 22, 2016. Sure enough, I received the one addressed to myself today on February 26, 2016.

However, the SURPRISE was that they used the 111th anniversary edition rubber stamp from 2014 with a date of "DEC 17 2014", rather than the 112th anniversary edition on Dec 17, 2015 !!! Interesting.

Winnie Mae: Lockheed 5C Vega

Outgoing postcard US-3755619 to Canada shows "Winnie Mae", a seven-seat monoplane Vega 5C, on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. It was made by Lockheed in 1930 with modified tail surfaces for higher gross weight operations. Flew by famed aviator Wiley Post, it set many records, including around the world flight in eight days by Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty in 1931; the first solo flight around the world in 1933; the world's first flight using pressure suit in 1935 that reached the stratosphere at 547 km/hr or 340 m/hr. The "Winnie Mae" was named for the daughter of F. C. Hall, the original owner and a close friend of Wiley Post.

Today it is the 112th anniversary of Wright brothers' first powered flights. According to USPS Postal Bulletin 22430 published on December 10, 2015, Kitty Hawk, NC Post Office is offering a pictorial postmark to commemorate the occasion. I am sending the card, along with several others, to get this special postmark. Such requests must be postmarked no later than 30 days following the requested pictorial postmark date.

Year of the Ram is Coming

My first the Year of the Ram postcard arrived from Taiwan today. It's a maxi card featuring a colorful sheep in paper cut art.  The NT$3.5 stamp, with the image of a sheep stepping gentle pace over plum blossoms against a pink background, is part of a two-stamp set issued by Chunghwa Post in Taiwan on December 1, 2014 to welcome the spring and bring good fortune. The Year of the Ram begins on February 19, 2015, and ends on February 7, 2016. USPS will also issue the Year of the Ram stamp as a Forever stamp in self-adhesive souvenir sheets of 12 in San Francisco, CA on February 7, 2015.

Ho Ho Ho

It is the time of the year again to join more than 10,000 Santa lookalikes to run 5K or walk 1 mile in the annual Great Santa Run in Las Vegas, Nevada, and get a special postmark on your mail from Santa Claus Station, Santa Claus, Indiana.

In its 10th anniversary at downtown Las Vegas, the Great Santa Run, is a fundraiser event for Opportunity Village, a nonprofit organization founded 60 years ago in 1954 that serves almost 3,000 people with intellectual disabilities with vocational training, employment opportunities, enrichment services and other supports. (Update: the number of runners in 2014 was tallied as 8725)

The Great Santa Run in Las Vegas, 2014

In Santa Claus, Indiana, the famous small-town post office Santa Claus Station, the only one in the world bearing the Santa Claus name, is offering a special pictorial postmark on holiday mail again this year, continuing a tradition since 1983. Every year, the holiday postmark is designed by a local high school art student during an annual contest. Shyann Smith, a 2014 senior at Heritage Hills High School from Fulda, Indiana won the 2014 competition. The postmark is available from December 1 to December 24.

Postmaster Marian Balbach asks anyone who requests the special cancellation to follow the guidelines:

• Allow at least a 2-inch by 4-inch space in the stamp area for the picture postmark;
• Apply postage to cards or letters before bringing or mailing them to the post office;
• If you wish to mail Christmas cards to the post office, package them—with postage stamps already on them—in a sturdy envelope or box, and mail to: Postmaster, Santa Claus Station, Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998;
• The picture postmark is available on working days between December 1 and 24;
• The picture postmark must be requested by the postal customer;
• To ensure a good postmark imprint, do not enclose large or bulky items in your holiday mail (Ex: reindeer food, snowflakes, glitter, stickers, etc.);
• There is no charge for postmarking; however, there is a limit of 50 picture postmarks (hand cancellations) per person per day.

Postcard US-2452330 to Taiwan was sent in to the Santa Claus Station for its 2013 edition of the special cancellation, replacing a prior Flying Jenny card presumably lost in the mail.

USS Constitution

In this Veterans Day, I present this maxi card showing the USS Constitution with a matching stamp and a first-day-of-issue cancellation. It was sent around October 14, 2013 as US-2452560, but went missing along with more than a dozen other cards mentioned in my blog on November 18, 2013. It was kindly registered by the recipient as received when a replacement arrived.

The inception of the card was also storied. When the USPS issued War of 1812: USS Constitution stamps on August 18, 2012, I decided to request the first-day-of-issue postmark for the first time. I sent out 20 stamped covers and postcards, along with a self-addressed return envelop with Priority Mail Flat Rate postage, in another larger envelop by Priority Mail addressed to: The War of 1812: USS Constitution Stamp, Postmaster, 25 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02205-9998. The tracking record shows that it was received on September 17, 2012.

However, when I received my self-addressed Priority Mail envelop from Kansas City, I was surprised to find 30 First Day Covers that was not mine, along with a letter and a return mailing label saying that two of my items were damaged, I could use the free mailing label to resent two pieces of artworks without stamps to get replacements.

Someone else's FDCs sent to me in error.

So, I returned those FDCs with a letter saying those were not mine, and I was due 20 covers and postcards. So I enclosed 20 un-stamped for them to apply stamps and postmarks. Those postcards were returned after a couple of weeks. The enclosed letter said they wouldn't issue replacement arbitrarily, and I had to sent back damaged cards to get replacement. Hello? did I just send back 30 FDCs that were not mine? Then I realized that if something mixed up at Boston, Kansas people might not have any idea what I had sent in. So I wrote another letter detailing what I sent and when. Only after another round of back and forth, I received all my FDCs and maxi cards after almost six months.

The lesson learned from this experience:

• before you send in your covers or postcards, make a list of inventory and take a picture of them;
• attach a note with diagrams to show your preferred postmark placement;
• include your email and phone number on the note in case you need to be contacted;
• using track service to send in your covers and postcards;
• be patient,

The postcard was purchased at Zazzle.

Unbought and Unbossed

Postcard US-2692593 to the United Kingdom shows an inverted image of a cactus grown in Las Vegas, Nevada. I pass this location often when I go to a gym in the evening. I have been fascinated by the ever changing impressions of the cactus against the evening skies.

The postcard had a Shirley Chisholm Black Heritage Forever stamp and was sent to Brooklyn, NY along with several items for a first-day-of-issue postmark on April 1, 2014. However, it took a detour to Trenton, and Bellmawr, NJ after it already reached Brooklyn, NY on April 3, 2014. It was finally delivered at Brooklyn, NY on April 10, 2014. I am curious what happened between April 3 and April 10, 2014. 

Shipment Activity	Location	Date & Time
Delivered	BROOKLYN, NY 11256	April 10, 2014 9:54 am
Arrival at Post Office	BROOKLYN, NY 11256	April 10, 2014 9:47 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility	BROOKLYN, NY 11256	April 10, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility	BROOKLYN, NY 11256	April 10, 2014 4:33 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility	BELLMAWR, NJ 08031	April 5, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility	BELLMAWR, NJ 08031	April 5, 2014 5:38 pm
Depart USPS Sort Facility	TRENTON, NJ 08650	April 5, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility	TRENTON, NJ 08650	April 5, 2014 3:41 am
Arrive USPS Sort Facility	BROOKLYN, NY 11256	April 3, 2014 7:14 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility	FLUSHING, NY 11351	April 3, 2014 6:22 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility	FLUSHING, NY 11351	April 3, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility	FLUSHING, NY 11351	April 3, 2014 2:45 am
Electronic Shipping Info Received		April 2, 2014
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility	LAS VEGAS, NV 89120	April 2, 2014 12:15 am
Dispatched to Sort Facility	LAS VEGAS, NV 89199	April 1, 2014 6:15 pm
Acceptance	LAS VEGAS, NV 89199	April 1, 2014 5:32 pm

San Francisco Celebrates Harvey Milk Stamp

Following the First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony for the Harvey Milk Stamp at the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 22, 2014, City of San Francisco hosted a ceremony to celebrate the forever stamp at the City Hall on May 28, 2014.

The San Francisco event features a pictorial postmark with an outline of the state of California and the text “San Francisco, City Hall.” To obtain this pictorial postmark, send requests within 30 days of the event to the following address:

• HARVEY MILK, SAN FRANCISCO CITY HALL Station, Box 7838, San Francisco, CA 94120-7838

The Palace of Fine Arts postcard, one of those postcards that I am going to send out for this special cancellation, shows the remaining structures left from the Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915. It is now the home of the Exploratorium. In addition to hosting art exhibitions, it is a popular tourist attraction as well as a favorite weddings photograph location. Photo by Andrew Mckinney.

Christmasland in New Taipei City

Christmas may be over, but Christmas cards are still pouring in. The latest addition was postcard TW-1107953 from the Christmasland (新北市歡樂聖誕城) in New Taipei City, Taiwan. In addition to usual Christmas trees, decorations and concerts, there was a Christmas Post Office with a special pictorial stamp! The profit from the postcard sale benefited public charities.

Las Vegas Great Santa Run

More than 11,000 Santas descended to downtown Las Vegas this morning for the Great Santa Run, the 9th annual fund raise event for the Opportunity Village that provides vocational training and employment services for people with intellectual disabilities. The Great Run features a 5K run and a one-mile walk and there are similar Santa run events in Japan, England and Australia to compete the best turnout count.

With the estimated cut-off dates for holiday mail approaching, today I sent off several postcards, including postcard US-2540431 to Belgium, to Santa Claus, Indiana for the special Santa Claus postmark. This small town is the only one in the world with the Santa Claus name and its post office receives more than 400,000 pieces of mail in December every year. You can follow the instructions mentioned here, and send your stamped cards and envelops to: Postmaster, Santa Claus Station, Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998.

Today in History: The first American in space

Space Shuttle Challenger on Mission STS-8

On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the first American to travel into space on the Freedom 7 space capsule.

On this 52nd anniversary, I found a NASA postcard among my early postcard collections, sent from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December, 19, 1999. We sent the card to ourselves when we went to see the Space Shuttle Discovery launch for the 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission STS-103. It was launched from Pad: 39B on December 19, 1999, 7:50 p.m. EST. It was a night time launch since the sunset that day was 5:32 PM. It was our second attempt to drive 300 miles round trip from West Palm Beach to see the Discovery launch in two days. The previous day launch attempt on December 18 was scrubbed due to the weather. There were two more canceled launch attemps on December 6 and December 16, 1999 for technical reasons. We were debating whether to go again on December 19 as the forecast had 40% chance for bad weather. However, our determination paid off for an once-in-a-life-time experience.

Interestingly, the Challenger mission, STS-8 shown on the card, was the first night launch of the space shuttle. The nose of the shuttle was positioned away from the sun in order to test the flight deck's performance in extreme cold temperature. Night time launches were banned after the Shuttle Columbia accident in order to better monitor the foam falling off.

Pictorial Postmark at the Kennedy Space Center

The pictorial postmark had a space shuttle image with the text "Benefits on Earth". The stamp was a non-denominated 'H' stamps issued at the 'birthplace' of Uncle Sam in Troy, New York on November 9, 1988. The "H-series" stamp features Uncle Sam's Top Hat with stars and stripes on a white background. The stamp was valued at 33 cents for the First-Class, 1 ounce, letter rate effective January 10, 1999. 

 Where the postcard was bought: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex gift shop