A Happy Halloween!

Postcard US-6314090 from Maryland shows a vintage Halloween image from the early 20th century of a boy with his dog, checking out three funny pumpkins.

The US Postal Service issued four Forever stamps at the Milford Pumpkin Festival in Milford, NH on October 11,2019 for Halloween. The Spooky Silhouettes stamps feature a cat, two ghosts, a spider, and three bats rendered as black silhouettes against eerily backlit windows.

Disney Adds Signs Warning of Alligators and Snakes

A private swap to Pennsylvania shows a card produced by SFWMD. It reads on the back: "The broad-snouted American alligator navigates freely through rivers and lakes in southern Florida. Remnants of a prehistoric ear, alligators are a protected species that continues to flourish." The number of alligators living in Florida is estimated at 1.3 million. Central to state's identity, it was featured on  a 32-cent commemorative stamp, issued in Tallahassee, Florida on March 3, 1995, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Florida Statehood.

Although alligator attacks are rare, properties at Walt Disney World are adding signs warning "Alligators and snakes in area" at their beaches after an alligator dragged a 2-year-old boy from Nebraska to his death in a lagoon near the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on June 14, 2016. At the time of incident, only "No Swimming" signs were posted without any specific reference to alligators.

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Water Lily vs. Lotus

Postcard US-4015954 to Canada shows a maxi card with a Water Lilies first-class forever stamp issued by USPS in Cleveland, OH on March 20, 2015, and a first-day-of-issue postmark.

The card was produced by SFWMD. It reads on the back: "Lovely fragrant white water lilies are abundant throughout much of southern Florida's ecosystem. The floating aquatic plant provides fish habitat and aquatic wildlife food and cover, and stabilizes sediments.

The Water Lilies stamps, priced at 49 cents at the time of issuance and valued at 47 cents now, have four designs based on existing photos taken by Cindy Dyer of Alexandria, VA in midsummer at the Kenil­worth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC.

Cindy Dyer is also the photographer of a Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) image, taken at the Kenil­worth Park and Aquatic Gardens, that was used to produce the 11th of 16 stamps in the National Park Service’s Centennial stamp series. Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), with its blooming period from late June to early September, can grow a bloom in the size of a basketball.

I used to have some confusions between water lily and lotus. The Pond Plant Girl has an excellent article to describe their difference.

Meanwhile, Duanwu Festival 2016 happens today. Eating Zongzi, rice balls wrapped in reed leaves or lotus leaves, is one of the traditions during the festival.

One of the most popular ancient Chinese poems about lotus was Ode to the Lotus Flower (爱莲说) by Dunyi Zhou (周敦頤) (1017-1073). Duanyi wrote: "I just love lotus because she grows in mud, yet never contaminates with it. She floats on waving water, yet never dances with it." (出淤泥而不染 濯清涟而不妖)  In this metaphor, the lotus flower represents someone who remains ethical and noble in spite of general corruptions.

The Milky Way - New Zealand

Postcard NZ-146406 from New Zealand shows a view of the Milky Way from Down Under. According to an article from the Photography Roundtable, for people living in the Southern Hemisphere, the best time period to see and photograph the Milky Way is from February to October, as the galactic center of the Milky Way will not be visible from November to January.

For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is between March and October with the galactic center in full view.

On a separate note, USPS released the Pluto—Explored! and Views of Our Planets Forever stamps during the first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 on May 31, 2016. I was excited to purchase two sheets of the Views of Our Planets Forever stamps yesterday. However, to my disappointment, our local post offices had not ordered the Pluto—Explored! souvenir sheets. I will have to order them on-line.

Cacti and Desert Flora of the Great Southwest

Again, May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity. Postcard US-3971360 to Japan shows various cacti and desert flora of the Great Southwest.

USPS issued the Sonoran Desert sheet in Tucson, Arizona on April 6, 1999 that contained ten 33¢ stamps. It was the first of twelve self-adhesive stamp sheets Nature of America that USPS released annually between 1999 and 2010.

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.

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The Fittest City in the U.S.

The American Fitness Index (AFI) recently released the ACSM American Fitness Index Data Report, offering a scientific snapshot of the health and fitness level for the major metropolitan areas in the US. Washington D.C., for the 3rd year in a row, ranks as the fittest city.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation have considered such factors as what percentage of the city's population reporting exercising within the past 30 days and accessibility to parks and green spaces, in order to determine how fit a city is. The top 10 cities are:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Denver, CO
4. Portland, OR
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Seattle, WA
7. Boston, MA
8. Salt Lake City, UT
9. Hartford, CT
10. San Diego, CA

Las Vegas ranks 41st among the bottom 10 cities.

Postcard US-3971221 to Germany shows a black and white map drawing of the D.C. area with a matching diamond shaped 37¢ commemorative stamp issued by USPS on September 23, 2003.

Diesel Train in the Royal Gorge

Postcard US-3689818 to Russia shows a diesel train in the Royal Gorge, on the Arkansas River, passing underneath the Suspension Bridge - "The World's Highest Bridge", near Cañon City, Colorado, Cañon City, with a population of 16,400 as of 2010 and known as the "Corrections Capital of the World for having nine state and four federal prisons and penitentiaries, is one of the few U.S. cities that have an eñe in its official name.

Two train stamps, among others, were affixed to the card. One was a 33-cent "The Congressional of the Pennsylvania Railroad" from a set of five 1999 stamps entitled All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains. The other “Untitled (Trains on Inclined Tracks),” showing a gouache, colored pencil, and graphite drawing on pieced paper from circa 1960–1963, was one of the five Forever stamps, issued on March 26, 2015, featuring the work of Mexican artist Martín Ramírez who had been confined to psychiatric hospitals for more than 30 years.

I had the sender's address since November 6, 2015. However, the card didn't get posted until December 4, 2015 due to delay from my training for my first half marathon and my encounter of a failed armed robbery. The card had since expired after 60 days, and it was automatically registered by Postcrossing on May 11, 2016 when the account of the receiver was closed.

1000th Card Sent

Postcard US-3972061 to Germany was the 1000th card sent from my PostCrossing account twimbk. It shows a pair of swans forming a heart symbol with love. Swans (天鵝) are birds of the family Anatidae (鴨科) within the genus Cygnus. The geese and ducks are swans' friends close relatives. A previous copy was sent to Russia as US-3284982 under another account.

USPS issued the Quilled Paper Heart Forever stamp at Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Texas on January 12, 2016, as the 44th stamp in its Love stamp series. The heart on the stamp was created using the ancient art of quilling by rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper, laying them on their edges, and gluing them in place to form intricate designs.

Pluto and Its Moon Charon

Postcard DE-4851768 from Germany shows Pluto and its moon Charon.

USPS announces that it will issue the Pluto – Explored! Forever stamps at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, New York on May 31, 2016 during the World Stamp Show – NY 2016, in order to recognize the NASA's history-making first reconnaissance of Pluto: New Horizons mission in 2015.

The souvenir sheet contains four stamps in two designs. The first design shows an illustration of the New Horizons spacecraft, while the second design shows a striking image of Pluto taken by the spacecraft near its closest approach. The image is a composite of four photos from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, combined with data from the sensor Ralph.

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.

Battle of Shiloh Ends

The stamped card with a 20¢ postage, depicting the Battle of Shiloh that ended on April 7, 1862, is one of the twenty cards corresponding to the twenty 32¢ American Civil War stamps issued at Gettysburg, PA on June 29, 1995.

The stamp set has 16 individual portraits and four battle scenes, chosen from a master list of 50 subjects including Presidents, generals, major battles, rank-and-file soldiers, women, African and Native Americans, and abolitionists. With those stamps, USPS intended to show the wide variety of people who participated in the Civil War.

Battle of Shiloh, named after a church on the battlefield, was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Ironically Shiloh means “place of peace.” Confederates surprised General Ulysses S. Grant at Pittsburg Landing, TN, but lost General A. S. Johnston. Union counterattack at Shiloh Church forced the Southerners to withdraw. After this pivotal battle, it left Union armies in control of the central Mississippi River and large areas of western territories.

Casualties: 13,050 Union, 10,700 Confederate.

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.

Cherry Blossom in DC Signaling the Start of Spring

The National Park Service announced last Friday that the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC were officially at peak bloom on March 25, 2016 with 75% of the trees in full bloom. It was peaked more than two weeks earlier this year than last year.

Postcard US-3373353 to Czech Republic shows the cherry blossoms around the Lincoln Memorial with a matching USPS Gifts of Friendship stamp.

Survival against the Odds

Postcard GB-749952 from the United Kingdom shows an illustration of St Paul's Cathedral by Dave Thompson,

St Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral, sits on the highest point of Ludgate Hill in London., originally founded in AD 604. The present English Baroque style church from the late 17th century, is one of the most famous and most recognizable landmarks in London. At a height of 365 feet  or 111 meters, it was once the tallest building in London between 1710 and 1962. It held peace services for the ending of World War I and World War II.

The card came with one of the eight stamps from Great Britain’s Royal Mail, honoring Ernest Shackleton’s survival story against the odds during his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition from 1914 to 1916.  The stamp depicts the crew Striving to Free Endurance from the ice in February, 1915,

The cathedral itself was also a survivor of the Blitz, a period of strategic bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany during World War II between October 1940 and April 1941.

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.

Horologium

Postcard HK-398848 from Hong Kong features Horologium, a faint constellation in the southern sky with only one star, Alpha Horologii, an orange giant, brighter than apparent magnitude 4. The constellation was first described by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752 as l'Horloge à pendule & à secondes (clock with pendulum and seconds hand.) It is one of the 88 modern constellations.

The card came with one of the Year of the Monkey stamps issued by Hong Kong Post.

New Moon Stamp by USPS is Out

Postcard UA-1386362 from Ukraine shows a full moon over the horizon. Today, USPS put out the new Moon Global Forever international rate stamp today. It continues to be a round stamp as other Global Forever stamps, featuring a detailed surface photograph of the moon. It sells for USD 1.20, which is good for mailing a 1-ounce letter or postcard to any country where the First-Class Mail International service is available.

Update: As of April 10, 2016, the new Global Forever international rate is decreased to USD 1.15.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Postcard US-3429537 to France shows a northbound San Diegan train, in the form of two Budd-built Rail Diesel Cars (RDC's), pulls out of Santa Ana, California. The photo was taken by Thomas H. Gildersleeve on July 3, 1952. Those cars were brand new and were placed in service on May 21, 1952.

According to Thomas H. Gildersleeve, "the first San Diegan was inaugurated as a diesel powered streamlined train on March 27, 1938, and it soon evolved into an entire fleet of Los Angeles - San Diego trains encompassing three sets of equipment, each of which made two daily round trips. After the RDC was introduced, Santa Fee purchased this one pair to replace one of the conventional streamliner sets in San Diegan service."

"The RDC San Diegans lasted until January of 1956, at which time they were reassigned to train No's 311 and 312 between Newton and Dodge City, Kansas, as it was felt they lacked sufficient seating capacity for continued service on the popular San Diego line. In their new assignment, the cars displayed a more conventional Santa Fe paint scheme with the usual red and yellow front end, and one of the cars sported a baggage section, making it similar in appearance to an RDC-2. The cars climaxed their career on the Santa Fe by operating out of Carlsbad, New Mexico."

The card features two of the five 1999 33-cent USPS commemorative stamps titled "All Aboard!" The original water color illustrations used on the stamps depict art deco-style passenger trains of the 1930s and 1940s. On the far left was the Super Chief, famous for carrying motion picture people between Chicago and Los Angeles, also known as the "Train of the Stars." On the second left was the Congressional which followed a route between New York and Washington, D.C. Its slogan was "Every Mile Electrified."

The stamp on the far right shows one of the five 2015 Forever USPS commemorative stamps with Mexican artist Martín Ramírez's drawings from circa 1960–1963, a gouache, colored pencil, and graphite drawing on pieced paper “Untitled (Trains on Inclined Tracks).”

Japantown

Outgoing postcard US-3263841 to Philippines shows a photo taken on September 21, 2004, of a crocodile-shaped bench and sculpture at Japantown (日本町) in San Francisco, California, the largest and oldest such enclave in the United States with six street blocks. The card features one of the Gifts of the Friendship stamps that depicts the clock tower outside the National Diet Building in Tokyo, rising behind a foreground of white dogwood flowers.

The area is home to Japanese cuisine restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, banks, bookstores and other shops, with a focal point at the Japan Center, opened in 1968 as part of urban renewal efforts. It is the site of the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, a two-weekend festival in April, and the Nihonmachi Street Fair in August every year.

The Peace Pagoda, shown in a recent photo on May 30, 2015, is a five-tiered concrete Buddhist stupa that promotes World peace. Designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi, it was presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka, Japan.