U.S - Frank Sinatra

Position : The Atlantic - 38 19 N / 072 07W

 

The last few days were hectic as hell. We were discharging at three ports inside New york , and what with all the inspections and going out and doing stuff, I was plum out of time to post something here. But in all that I did manage to get my foot into the door of the probably the smallest post office in USA. I got a total of three stamps and one sheet out of the trip, which only means that I am going to have to shift to bigger post offices. 

 

The stamp above is of the USPS, an organisation that I'm afraid  will feature more often  here as my ship spendfs a lot more time in this part of the world. So as I was saying, this stamp features Frank Sinatra. Though I never did like the guys music, he was an and remains fabulously liked by a lot of people. Several of his recordings - including 'In the wee small hours' and 'Come fly with me' - are considered classics.

 

I think the only song I liked of his was "Strangers in the night". But honestly if I want to listen to music of that time, I would rather listen to Kid ory or Louis Jordan's Jazz. I'll probably post something on that tomorrow.

 

 

New Links

As I mentioned, I haven't been online much and it seems that a lot more blogs have linked over to me & it is my pleaseure to introduce them here & put up their links as well.

The first blog is called Rainbow Stamp club and other then the name, which I think is a little lame (sorry Ajay & jeevan :) ) , the blog is amazing. The amount of effort these guys put into every post is simply amazing and disconcerting in the way that there really can't be much for a person of the Indian forest office to do! Plus they even publish an Philatelic magazine. Please do check out their blog on the link above and also added to the right with all the other great blogs.

The next to come up is Gulfmann. He has ofcourse been a regular contributor to this blog, but due to an oversight his blogs haven't been here. Sorry for that George. Gulfman has three blogs running on Philatelic issues so I'm only putting up his stamps blog, Gulfmann Stamp Collection . Plus it has some snaps of Post boxes, so I couldn't resist. Keep up the good work George, and oh yes.. put up my link in your blog!

Lastly, though its not a link, I just want to show you all the nice site of europe-stamps, where the author was kind enough to write something nice about me. So thank you for that.

Italy - The winter games

Location : New York - 40 38 N / 074 02 W

Am in new york now and am waiting for the berthing to take place so that I can see what the USPS is up to these days.

Since was busy the last couple of days, am just here to put up a miniature I picked up in Italy about the winter "olimpici" games.

Of all the above games, my personal favourite would have to be the top centre - Figure skating. Simply because all all the beauty, the poise, the elegance ... and of course the short skirts.

Answer to comments

I logged on to the internet after a long time today. Till now I have been blogging only by email so I really didn't keep track of the comments coming in. So let me say thanks to you all for writing in. To questions raised,:
Eric From Jura : Yes buddy. I did indeed get your miniatures. Thanks for them. Sorry for not sending across a card your way from this ship. I'll send something nice from Venezuela.

Yukikoh : Thanks for the comments. Missed you out too. I se you are back in Germany. Double treat your way too.

Lefung : Yes got your stamps. Thanks. Hope you got the cards from Algeria and Gibralter by now.

Thanks to the all the rest who were kind enough to comment.

Australia - Fantasy

Location : The Atlantic - 37 10 N / 049 18 W

To get away from my Geographical location, let us look at a strange stamp
from a land possible the farthest from me at present. The Australian stamp
was give to me by very good friends Rajat & Radhika. I simply can't make out
what this stamp is all about, but it was released back in 2002 and is most
likely about some fantasy characters from an artist or writer. Let me know
if you can shed some light on it. But I like looking at stamps like this and
its an great addition to the collection. So thanks Radhika.

Italy - Thailand joint issue

Location - The Atlantic

Close to the heels of the Thai joint issue with turkey, is this one with
Italy. Though both the pictures have the famous landmarks, the theme doesn't
match. In the last joint issue, at least both the pictures were of places of
worship. I think in this issue, due to the colloseum, the Thais should have
sent a picture of their Kickboxing arena. :)

Turkey - Thani Joint release

Location - The Atlantic

 

I know that some people like Eric from France like to collect joint issues. So today I wanted to show you the set of joint issue released by the turks and the Thais. Featured are soem of the most popular sights of the countries. If you look a few posts back on my regular blog, you can see pictures of the Mosque at Istanbul. The last I had seen the temple in Thailand was when we went there in 2006.

 

I suppose they must have released a miniature sheet on the occasion, but sadly I only got my hands on these individual stamps.

 

 

Turkish Fort

Location : The Atlantic

 

Today since I put up a picture of a turkish fort on my regular blog, I though that I might as well put up a few of my Turkish stamps. I don't think that I have put up any TUrkish stamps here in a little while. This stamp I picked up when I passed through Turkey last time somewhere in Late June.

 

The turks are serious about their flags. Every vantage point is adorned with their huge flags. And this stamp is another good example of that.

 

Algerian football

Location - The Atlantic - 35 47 N /  023 34 W

 

During my last visit to Algeria, along with the FDC of the Algerian national anthem, I also managed to get my hands on this nice miniature. I like it firstly because the stamp is based on football and is thus round. Such things give me inexplicable pleasure. A fact I'm wary of investigating too deeply incase the pleasure stops.

 

Also the black & white picture and the green tint gives it a very nice flavor. The stamp seems to be commemorating the fifty years of the creation of the Football team of Algeria. I don't follow the game much, so am not too sure how good their team is now, but they sure did seem a happy bunch back in 1958. :)

 

Is it only me or are most of the Algerian stamps of a nationalistic theme?

Gibralter - Bonelli's Eagle

Location - Atlantic Ocean   

 

The day before I was refueling at Gibralter. Gibralter has an amazing collection of miniature sheets if you look it up on the net. But as I reached late at night on a midnigh, the only stamp I could source out there through the agent was this one of the Eagle. Stamp is obviously from a series of stamps "The birds of the rock". The adjoining literature says the following about these birds:

 

" Bonelli's Eagle ( Hieraaetus fasciatus) - Formerly resident in Gibralter, it still breeds in Spain and young birds are sometimes seen on the rock. It bred here untill the early 20th century, its disappearance probably a result of the disturbance caused during the construction of the runway. A lack of hunting ground in Gibralter and nearby Spain makes the return of this species unlikely. Bonelli's Eagles are a charecteristic species of the rugged country such as the cliffs and crags around the Mediterranean. It also breeds in Africa and across asia all the way to Indonesia. "

 

About the stamp itself, the painting is beautiful, except that the Eagle seems to be dozing off to sleep. In the background we can see the Rock of Gibralter as seen from the south and on the top right corner, you can see the Spanish coast behind the rock.

 

For a better view of the rock, please check out my regular bog (link on the right) where pictures of the area are posted.

 

Cheers all !!  Post cards & covers sent out to the same bunh of people as from Algeria, so not posting your names again. Let me know once you get them.

 

 

Algeria - Anthem

Location - Approaches to Gibralter / 36 09 N / 004 33 W

We left Algeria the day before and now are on the way to the US via the
Gibralter straits. Sadly Algeria doesn't allow seamen shore leave so
couldn't set foot on the land. But the trip wasn't a total waste because
atleast the agent was able to get me some post cards and miniatures.

As a bonus, I even got one first day cover. This one pictured above is the
FDC comemorating the national anthem of Algeria, I don't suppose you can
make out the stamp in much detail, but this stamp, released in 2008, has the
Algerian flag and the whole of the national Anthem (Hymne - as it calls it)
written across it. I'm not sure what 1er Jour D'Emission, but maybe Eric or
some other kind soul can explain that to us.

But all said, this is a beautiful piece to add to my collection.

Cheers all!

covers sent to the following from Algeria :
France - Eric
Russia - Alexander

Cards sent to the following from Algeria :
France - Mr Cotard
Portugal - Mr Almeida
Canada - Glenn (sent two your way)
Thailand - Charlie
Malaysia - Lefung
Taiwan - Wu
China - Mr Zhou fan
UK - Brett
Germany - Kalpana
Czech Rep - Lenka

Hope you all get them and sorry for all the others I missed out. Do put in a
comment if you want to be added to the mailing list.

Rats from Canada

Location - Algeria

In sequence to the rat stamps sent out to me by Eric, is this sheet sent to
by Glenn Moores from Canada. Glenn has a great blog running at
gemsworldpostcards.blogspot.com where he is trying to have a collection of
postcards from all corners of the world.

This miniature is an amazing piece of art. There are etchings in the stamps
that don't come out on the scan, but the thing is breathtaking. Which is why
this senseless cancellation is all the more befuddling. The fact that a
postal worker would put his rubber stamp on something like this is sad.

But all the same, thanks for this sheet glenn. Have sent across a couple of
cards youtr way from Algeria. Hopr you get them.

Cheers all!

French Rats

Location - At Anchor, Algeria

Since I showed a stamps I recieved, I might as well show you a few more I
got. This one is from a great guy in France , Eric Bruth. His link is on the
Left, and you can get to him at my-philately.blogspot.com . This is one of
the stamps released by France on the occasion of the year of the rat. Please
also note the cancellation done here, which I find more beautiful then the
stamp itself. :)

Thanks Eric. Once more for all the stamps. Have sent you something from here
in Algeria. Hope you get it.

The bridge from China

Location : Off the Sardegna Island, Mediterranean

Since I put up a post about the bridges at Istanbul on my regular blog, I
wanted to put up a stamp with a bridge here. So I am showing you a beautiful
stamp sent by Mr Zhou fan from China. A person who keeps sending me stamps
inspite of my irregular replies.

To him and my other friends all over the world, I am deeply grateful and
apologetic.

The stamp in question is undoubtably beautiful and is of a set of six stamps
issued by the Chinese govt featuring the Summer palace, in much the same
style. The set includes three bridges, two buildings and a boat house (which
as I understand is the "clear and peaceful boat").

Thanks again Mr Zhou.