Lovely surprises and Christmas cards!

A very kind Italian lady sent me all this letter paper as a surprise 

as she is clearing out her collection! I am so happy with it all and

even used some of it already. 

One of my sweet pen-friends from Japan included

these little bags of Furikake, I had never heard of 

it before, but I am open to try new things. 

We already sprinkled some of the spices on our rice!

These are Christmas card 6 & 7 already, both from the U.S.A. 

The one on the left is from a pen-friend, 

the right one is from Mooshi the cat! 

It's been a while, I still get mail though!

I have been neglecting this blog, shame on me! 

Now lets update

The first card you see comes from Besançon, France

left:

portrait of Victor Hugo

middle:

La porte noire : a Gallo-Roman triumphal arch 

it is a "monument historique"

The place of birth from Victor Hugo and the brothers Lumière

right:

Astronomical clock

The French Indian joint issue celebrates 50 years of spatial cooperation between both countries. Each country released two identical stamps devoted to space exploration. (2015)

Another chunk o' cardboard

from South Africa! The scanner doesn't 

do the glitter justice, it looks really good! 

left:

Seventh Definitive set

of 27, 2000

right:

Tsonga neckpiece

2010

Lucky me! A new language swap from Spain! 

Two languages this time, as the sender also included 

some Catalan 

Europa 2015

"Old fashioned Toys"

a Scot Pine scented self adhesive stamp featuring a wooden toy train.

Stamps sent from Indonesia

The tea was an extra, I gave it to my mom to try.

Made my very first pocket letter!

My very first pocket letter! 

I also recycled several old Christmas cards to make it.

What do you think? 

This is the back, still have to fill it of course

Collecting Christmas stamps

My fiancé did it again!

This is the very first Christmas stamp ever issued! 

Canada

1898!

For almost sixty years no one in the world thought to issue a Christmas stamp until December 7, 1898, when Canada issued what is known by philatelists (stamp collectors) as the"Map Stamp". Designed by William Mulock, the Postmaster General of Canada, the stamp shows the earth as if it were flat. The countries that were dependencies of Great Britain were printed in red. 20,000,000 stamps were issued; half with blue oceans and the other half with a green ocean look. Why, is not known. Along the bottom of the stamp was the slogan,"WE HOLD A VASTER EMPIRE THAN HAS BEEN". At that time Britain held the largest empire on earth.

The only clue that this is a Christmas stamp is the word XMAS1898 near the bottom centre of the stamp. No Santa, reindeer, or wreathes.

Collecting Christmas stamps

My fiancé always manages to surprise me!

I just received this wonderful addition to my

Christmas stamps collection. 

The British Army had had a resident presence in Egypt since 1882. From 1932 to 1936 special seals were attached to the rear of letters to show that the letter was covered by special forces postal services. The two issues of interest to GB Overprint collectors are those issued in 1935 for King George V's Silver Jubilee and later in the same year for Christmas. It is arguable whether these stamps count as "GB Overprints". The argument in favour is that they are stamps issued by the British Government, supplied by them for use by British people, and are therefore "British stamps".

For a time these stamps were regarded as "cinderella" items, as they were treated by the Army not as postage stamps but as a receipt showing that the serviceman/woman had paid the special reduced rate postage and was permitted to post this letter, but only in the special forces postboxes. At this point the distinction from a "postage stamp" gets rather philosophical. They were stuck on the rear of the letter, not on the front, and inscribed "Letter stamp", "Postal seal", "Xmas seal", or "Letter seal", so as not to confuse Egyptian postal staff.

Stamps, what else?

Yes! After a very long time, finally a stamp post again!

Slovenia

"Coats of arms of the nobility"

(2014, set of 5) 

Several noble families of the highest rank lived and worked in the lands that

 make up present-day Slovenia and played an important role not only locally 

but also at the imperial level. The coat of arms was one of the most important attributes 

of every noble family; it was the badge by which the family was identified. 

Coats of arms frequently reflected the name of the family and its history.

Germany

Top:

stamp commemorating German Unity Day

(2015)

Bottom right:

The Ishtar Gate was the Eighth Gate to the Inner City of Babylon

Bottom left:

Issued to commemorate the 100-year 

Anniversary of the discovery of the Nefertiti Bust

(both 2013)

Poland

Minisheet about Witkacy

(2015)

Horses

(1989, set of 6)

That was all for this one! What do you think? 

Happy mailbox, happy me

I did several swaps again and here are the results.

I got so many nice cards and stamps that I put the latter in 

a separate post. 

So lets get started!

The first two postcards you see here 

I received from Slovenia for the 

"your language" swap. 

This card came from Poland with a nice view on

Czartoryski Palace in Pulawy 

This card came from a German swapper but,

as you can see, this is a beautiful view on Hohensalzburg Castle

and Nonnberg Abbey, Salzburg, Austria

And to end with, this card from Midland, Texas, U.S.A.

Not from a swap but from my kind pen-friend who lives there.

From the back:

In 1880, the Texas Pacific Railroad began to lay tracks 

westward from Fort Worth at about the same time that 

the Soutern Pacific began building east from El Paso.

The place where the tracks met bacame known as Midway. 

Later, the name was changed to Midland when it was discovered 

that there was another Texas town by the same name. 

The Parmian Basin, of which Midland is the geographic center, 

is said to contain 25% of the nation's reserves. 

Lots of cards!

This postcard came from a sweet friend of mine in the US

The card shows a two year old Pawnee - Otoe Indian dancer 

Yes! I participated in the "chunk o' cardboard" swap

from Swap-bot again. This chunk came from the US,

I "met" the sender a few times already, and I am sure

we'll meet again. 

Some of the stickers, tape and stamps he used at the back

Lots of stamps! 

This lovely letter came from my pen-friend 

Kasia, here in Belgium.

She wrote part of her letter on the cat cards! 

More mail from Russia

My Russian swap partner let me know he sent two envelopes.

I was a bit surprised, because I simply agreed to swap and expected "one for one", 

but I like the content of this envelope even more than the first one!

More languages

For my language collection

this time mail from the Czech Republic

I should check from where I received mail and how many languages 

I got so far!

Mail from Russia

I don't have much to show on my blog these days,

simply because I am still working on the mail I received

during my vacation. 

But I received this fun envelope today from Russia

It is part of my "your language" swap

Back from vacation, time to show my incoming mail!

Hello all! I am back from the States 

and was lucky to come home to a nice pile of mail! 

I am sorry for the quality of the pics, I am still really tired 

and my hands are far from steady.

Postcards from the Netherlands and the one bottom right 

comes from Romania! 

A letter from Tessa from the Netherlands!

Look at the nice envelope and pretty paper

A card from the USA via Sendsomething

Three letters from Japan! 

Spoiled by all my sweet pen-friends

Swap from Indonesia, for the "my language" collection

And last but not least, a letter I got today from 

my pen-friend in Canada

Pucca love! 

Mail from Portugal and the Netherlands

Mail is slow these days, sending and receiving,

it is summer after all and yes, I am lazy. 

But! I got some nice cards and other things I should blog about asap!

I received this card form Portugal

with a view on Cascais

This card came from a Postcrossing meeting in the Netherlands

It was a "bake meeting" so the cake is really on topic.

Lots of happy mail!

Just look at this amazing cat card I got from Finland!

The art is by Annika Hiltunen

and look at the back of the card, so pretty

Synchronized skating

(2015)

With a matching priortiry sticker, the Fins are so good at

 This great package arrived from Japan for 

my "your language" swap.

It makes the manga/anime fan in me drool!

I never understood why the Japanese threw away manga 

when they didn't like it, but several of the little booklets

in this package are real manga. So basically it's like throwing

away a magazine you finished. Before I knew this,

I saw piles and piles of soft covers, costing at least 7 euro here,

ending up in the bin.

Last but not least, pen-friend mail! 

A nice letter from the Netherlands

(My mom already drank the tea)

Even more spoiled with mail from Taiwan

And to end, a letter from a new pen-friend from the USA

The stickers made me giggle, pink glittery skulls! 

I've been really lucky this week!

Mail from the Netherlands, Canada and the UK

I got two postcrossing meeting cards from the Netherlands

this week, the first is this great Jetoy

the second a wonderful and so out of season 

Keep calm card (Belgium is melting right now).

Look at this cute priority sticker! 

Can you believe this is a Kleenex box? 

I received it as part of the "Chunk o Cardboard" June swap

from Swap-bot. I received two of the chunks now. 

Stamps

from Canada

top:

stamp to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic 

(2012)

right:

Canadian locomotives (1925-1945)

(1986)

left:

"Beneficial insects"

(2009)

from the UK

Commemorative stamp Magna Carta

(2015)