19th May 2023: Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa is the third largest city in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located on the Black Sea. In 1794 a decree of the Russian empress Catherine II was issued to establish a navy harbor and trading place in Odesa. During the 19th century, Odesa was the fourth largest city of the Russian Empire, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture is more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist. Since 2023 is the Historic Centre of Odesa on the UNESCO World Heritage List and it was immediately added to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.

A wonderful stamp was used on the card. It celebrates Kalush Orchestra, who have won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with their song Stefania. The stamp was issued on 10th April 2023.

Thank You very much Hanna!

24th November 2022: Côte d'Opale, France

Thank You very much William!

4th November 2022: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, USA

A wonderful stamp about Ursula K. Le Guin (issued 27-07-2021) was used on this card. Le Guin was an American authoress of speculative fiction. Her most famous works are part of her cycles of Earthsea (Fantasy) and Hainish (Science Fiction). Shown on the stamp is a scene from The Left Hand of Darkness. 

Thank You very much Anna!

31st May 2022: cover from San Marino

The cover was sent from the Veronaphil stamp exhibition, but later also got a second pictorial cancellation in San Marino itself. Used is one of this year's two EUROPA stamps (issued 05-04-2022). It depicts the legend of Saint Marinus who founded a monastery and chapel in 301 from which the state of San Marino later grew. According to the legend a bear once ate Marinus' donkey and the saint convinced him to take the donkey's place and help him in the field.

In the cover was this Mafalda stamp (issued 29-09-2021) for which I was looking for for a while. Mafalda is an Argentine comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth, is concerned about humanity and world peace, and has an innocent but serious attitude toward problems. Quino lived in Milan for a few years after the 1976 coup d'état in Argentina. 

Thank You very much Davide!

China: Solar System and Mars Mission

On 31st March I got two postcards: one from China and one from Germany.

The card from China shows an illustration of the Solar System. 

Used on the right is a stamp I had been looking for for a while. It celebrates the Launching of the Tianwen-1 Mission to Mars (issued 26-09-2020). Tianwen-1 is China's second Mars probe and consists of an orbiter, two deployable cameras, lander, remote camera and a rover. Its scientific objectives include the investigation of Martian surface geology and internal structure, the search for indications of current and past presence of water and the characterization of the space environment and the atmosphere of Mars. With this mission China became the third country to achieve a soft landing on the Mars and the second country to deploy a rover. The mission was one of three Mars missions launched in July 2020 following the United Arab Emirates and preceding the USA. The United Nations Postal Administration recently issued a set showing those three Mars Missions. You can see it here on my stamp blog. The stamp in the middle is from a set of five about Innovation in Science and Technology (issued 24-11-2021) and shows the Deep-sea Manned Submersible Fendouzhe. The third stamp was issued in conjunction with the Centenary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, but I could not find more information about it.

Thank You very much Ruinan!

Sun Science, TV Early Memories and UNESCO in Mexico

Well, once again I am three months behind with uploading my mail. I hope to get back on track at least a bit, but I do not think it will happen soon. After finishing my studies last year, I have moved and started a job that keeps me busy, so I have basically stopped everything connected to postcards and stamps. But to post at least once (or hopefully a bit more soon) this month after a hiatus since January, let's look at this set of five covers from the USA. The first four arrived on the last two days of 2021 and the last took until the 12th January. Two complete stamp sets are used here and they all got hand cancelled. The first is the brilliant set called Sun Science (issued 18-06-2021). These stamps were created in cooperation with NASA and show images of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the sun from geosynchronous orbit above Earth. They are printed with a foil treatment to make them glimmer. A wonderful stamp set to look at! The other set is called TV Early Memories (issued 11-08-2009) and shows some of the most famous TV shows of all time. Many of these still have a big impact on popular culture although they first screened decades ago. 

In the covers was this complete set of cards with of Mexico's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Yes, you read right, ALL of them. Just by looking at them you can get an impression about what a diverse country Mexico is. You can see cultural remnants of multiple centuries as well as striking nature. 

Thank You very much Sam-Quito!