Wonders of America, USA

Been a long while since I've posted anything here, or since I've joined the Sunday Stamps...number of reasons I won't get into...but here comes a chance to break the silence...on this terribly hot day of like 40°C ..and being in the city, surrounded with concrete, and humidity of like 26%, makes it some really deadly combination...if I were at the lake or the sea right now, I wouldn't have minded these 40°C...but Im not that lucky :) Anyways, as I said, it is Sunday Stamps today, with 'anything you wish' as a theme, so here I find the occasion to post this fantastic cover I received recently (or, ok, to actually brag a bit :P). I had some trouble scanning it properly though, so please excuse me for that...still, I hope you'd be able to enjoy the beauties of it :)
It is an amazing set of 40 stamps issued May 27, 2006, representing all kinds of American wonders (natural and man-made). I'll try to be brief on each stamp...otherwise I'm pretty sure you'll click the 'x' button somewhere in the middle of your reading :) Or you can just skim the post and maybe hold on to something that catches your interest.

So starting from top row, from left to right we have:

- The American alligator, America's largest reptile: 11 feet long and weighing 450 to 600 pounds. The largest one on record however measured 19 feet in length.
- The highest sea cliffs, Molokaʻi: The sea cliffs along the northeastern coast of Moloka`i, one of eight major islands in the state of Hawaii, are the highest in the world
- The tallest cactus: The saguaro cactus, symbol of the American Southwest, can grow taller than a five-story building. One record-breaking specimen in Arizona reached a height of nearly 60 feet
- The largest glacier: Bering Glacier, near Cordova, Alaska, is the nation’s largest glacier. It is about 126 miles long and about 30 miles wide near its terminus.
- The tallest dunes: The Great Sand Dunes rise more than 750 feet above the floor of the San Luis Valley, at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado
- The largest estuary: the Chesapeake Bay cuts across Maryland and Virginia; it is almost 200 miles long and from 3 to roughly 30 miles wide
- The largest cliff dwelling: The multistory pueblo known today as Cliff Palace, in Colorado, was a large complex containing many rooms. This mysterious archaeological wonder, built centuries ago in the shelter of a canyon wall, was constructed primarily of sandstone, mortar, and wooden beams.
- The deepest lake: At its deepest, the bottom of Crater Lake, in Oregon, is 1,943 feet below the water’s surface.
- The largest land mammal: the American bison typically reach 7 to 11 feet in length and weigh 900 to 2,200 pounds.
- The longest reef: The Florida Keys, a chain of islands approximately 220 miles long, curve south and west of mainland Florida. Stretching along beside them, about six miles seaward, is a long barrier reef (I have some lovely postcards featuring these!)

moving onto the second row:
- The longest hiking trail: The Pacific Crest Trail is the nation’s longest continuous designated hiking trail, running for 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, through California, Oregon, and Washington (this is something I would love to give it a hike!)
- The tallest man-made monument: The Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, memorializes the national expansion that took place under President Thomas Jefferson. Completed in 1965, the arch spans 630 feet and rises to the same height.
- The oldest mountains: The Appalachian Mountains stretch along the East Coast in a southwesterly direction from Canada to Alabama. Many geologists estimate that the birth of this mountain chain took place nearly half a billion years ago, when tectonic plates collided
- The largest flower: the American lotus flower may reach 10 inches in diameter; its single round leaf can reach more than 2 feet in diameter
- The largest lake: The largest of the five Great Lakes, Superior shares waters with Canada and covers a surface area of about 31,700 square miles. Lake Superior is approximately 350 miles long; its maximum depth is 1,333 feet
- The fastest land animal: The pronghorn (?!) can reach speeds around 60 miles per hour and can maintain a pace of 45 miles per hour for several minutes. The only faster land animal is the cheetah, reaching speeds of 70 miles per hour for short distances
- The oldest trees: The oldest bristlecone pines, so named for the long, hooked spines on the scales of their cones, are more than 4,500 years old.
- The tallest waterfall: the Yosemite Falls, in the Yosemite National Park in California, is actually in three sections with a total drop of 2,425 feet. An upper waterfall (1,430 feet) and a lower one (320 feet) are separated by small plunges and rapids (675 feet)
- The largest desert: The Great Basin covers an area of roughly 190,000 square miles, mostly in Nevada.
- The longest span: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island, is named after Giovanni da Verrazano, a European explorer who sailed into the area in 1524. Two towers, each 693 feet tall, stand 4,260 feet apart; the bridge’s total length is 13,700 feet.

third row:
- The windiest place: The summit of Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, holds the official record for the maximum wind gust ever recorded on land-and not associated with a tornado or hurricane. On April 12, 1934, an anemometer recorded a wind gust of 231 mph (that is a cool feature to hold a record of :))
- The largest canyon: The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. At its widest point, it is more than 15 miles across; at its deepest, it reaches down more than a mile
- The largest frog (yuck!): the American bullfrogs can reach more than six inches in length; males weigh up to one pound and their calls can be heard from a quarter mile away
- The tallest dam: The Oroville Dam, on the Feather River in northern California, stands 770 feet tall and is 6,920 feet long at its crest
- The fastest bird: When diving after prey, the peregrine falcon is the world’s fastest bird, reaching speeds of 200 miles an hour or more
- The largest delta: The Mississippi River delta, where the mouth of the river meets the Gulf of Mexico, covers approximately 11,000 square miles, roughly a quarter of the state of Louisiana
- The tallest geyser: Steamboat, a popular attraction in Yellowstone National Park, is the world’s tallest active geyser. At unscheduled intervals, it sends rockets of water soaring as high as 300 feet or more, though minor eruptions of 10 to 40 feet are more common
- The largest natural bridge: The world’s largest natural bridge, Rainbow Bridge, is in southern Utah; it is 275 feet across and 290 feet tall.
- The largest freshwater fish: The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America. One record-setting specimen, from the Snake River in Idaho in the 19th century, reportedly weighed 1,500 pounds. The white sturgeon typically reaches about 12 feet in length.
- The longest mountain chain: The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 2,000 miles through several western states.

still alive? coz we are finally at row 4 :)
- The tallest trees: the Coast redwoods, the tallest trees in the world today, range from central California to southern Oregon. Most of these giants stand between 200 and 300 feet tall, though they can reach more than 350 feet
- The largest rodent: The average adult beaver weighs between 35 and 40 pounds; the largest can weigh more than 60 pounds and be three feet tall when standing on its hind legs.
- The longest river system: From the headwaters of the Missouri River, in the Rocky Mountains, to the great delta where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi-Missouri river system stretches more than 3,700 miles
- The rainiest spot: Mount Wai`ale`ale, on the island of Kaua`i in Hawaii, has an average annual rainfall of about 400 inches. (the name is somewhat hilarious I must note :P)
- The most active volcano: Kilauea in Hawaii, has had 55 eruptive episodes since 1983; it typically produces more than 10 million cubic feet of lava every day
- The longest cave: More than 365 miles of passages have been explored and mapped in Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. This is the longest known cave in the world.
- The loudest animal: Blue whales, found in all the world’s oceans, including U.S. waters, are the biggest and loudest animals on Earth. They can emit sounds at a volume greater than 180 decibels in water, but pitched too low for humans to detect without sensitive equipment.
- The hottest spot: In Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, summer temperatures average more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A record high of 134 degrees was measured there in July 1913. The valley floor is even hotter than the surrounding air (I guess there are worse places than here where I live).
- The longest covered bridge: This landmark bridge accommodating two-way vehicular traffic between the towns of Cornish, New Hampshire, and Windsor, Vermont, is about 450 feet long.
- The largest plant: The root system of a quaking aspen tree can produce a clone that appears to be an entire grove. A clone in Utah named Pando (Latin for “I spread”) weighs an estimated 6,600 tons, making it one of the most massive living organisms known.

thanks a lot to the Bryon fairy for taking his time to attach each of these 40 beauties..it certainly aint an easy task :)

to see how others have been inspired today, visit the Viridian's blog :)

Lighthouses of the Adriatic Sea and of the Danube, Yugoslavia

I have quite a lot of lighthouses stamps, but wanted to pick something where the odds of someone else posting the same would be really low....lets see if I had succeeded :)

this splendid set of lighthouses was issued in 1991 in the beautiful, but unfortunately, no more existent land of Yugoslavia...still, memories and stamps remain :)
I love the theme...I have a fascination for lighthouses and all the stories they know...there is just something magical about them, and what do they actually experience throughout their lifetime...at calm and rough seas...how many secrets are they actually hiding?
The booklet says: Although today's time is full of modern installations for ships orientation and regulation of their navigation, there are still faithful friends of sailors - nautical and fluvial lighthouses.
These proved helpers of ships and their captains, lead and direct sailors through stormy seas and rivers and enable them a safe and sure way and return to their homes and families.

The set shows lighthouses found along the shores of the Adriatic Sea and the Danube river, and ironically enough, only Macedonia doesnt fall in either category...the rest of the former Yugoslav republics either have the Adriatic Sea or Danube...or both, like Croatia.

the front page of this booklet shows the Prišnjak lighthouse at the Adriatic sea in Croatia, erected in 1886 not far away from the island of Murter (hello Agi!! :))))

and here inside the booklet we have the rest of the lighthouses, where the first ten stamps 'talk' about lighthouses found at the Adriatic Sea, while the last two are at the Danube river. I will briefly represent each of them below.

first comes the 29 m Savudrija lighthouse, the northernmost in Croatia and reputed to be the oldest on the Adriatic Sea, erected in 1818.
Next to it is Sveti Ivan na Pučini (or, St. Ivan at the open sea). It was built in 1853 and it is located on the most distant islet of the small archipelago in front of Rovinj, Croatia.
Third comes the Porer lighthouse,built in 1833, on the Porer island in Croatia.
Next to it is the Stončica lighthouse, built in 1865 at the northeastern cape of the Vis island in Croatia.
The Olipa lighthouse is the 5th stamp in the row, believed to be built in 1842. The lighthouse is on the uninhabited Olipa islet in Croatia.
The last in this row is the Croatian lighthouse of Glavat, built in 1884 on the Glavat island in the Lastovo channel.
the bottom row starts with the Veli Rat lighthouse, built in 1849, on the southwestern cape of the island of Dugi otok, 35 km west of the city of Zadar, Croatia.
Next to it is Vir, built in 1881, at the western coast of the Vir island.
Then comes a lighthouse with a probably complicated name for non-English speakers, called Tajerske sestrice, (or the Tajer sisters) built in 1876 on the Sestrica Vela island (or Sister Vela).
The last of the Adriatic lighthouses is the lighthouse of Ražanj, in Croatia again, built in 1874, at the western cape of the Brač island.
As I said previously, the last two lighthouses are at the Danube river, the first one being Đerdap (a beautiful National Park in Serbia that stretches along the right bank of the Danube river). The other Danube lighthouse is Tamiš, a 359km long river, originating from Țarcu Mountains in Romania, and flowing into the Danube in the northern of Serbia.

well lets see what others had to share for today....click on the button below, and enjoy your Sunday...it is a beautiful sunny one here!

Garden flowers, Poland

well, today is what they call, Women's Day...or Mother's Day...well, both refer to women of course, but when I think about it it gets a bit confusing...at school they give you tasks to draw/paint/write something for your mum for Mother's Day..but then you also need to bring flowers or buy a present for your teacher as well, and you may have teachers which may not be mum's...but if you exempt them from that gift-thing, they will get offended...so you really don't know in the end what you are actually celebrating...and unlike in many other parts of the world, here we do not pay even 1% of the attention to Father's Day compared to the craze today...the bars and restaurants are cramped with women, we have travelling tours organized for Women's Day, women leave work early coz of the holiday, stores are crowded with men and children...but Im sure that MANY people even have no idea that something like Father's Day exist...but that's why on 8 March they all do something for Women's Day...some because they do want to, but some in order their girlfriend/fiancee/wife/mother not to get bothered...and I must say I really hate such things done just for the kicks, but oh well :)

anyways, I've realized that for quite some time I've been posting here on Sundays only, and that I should actually pay the right attention to this blog at all other times as well.
So here it comes as a nice occasion to show these beautiful garden flowers' stamps from Poland...and, I mean, they are appropriate for today's day :)

this beautiful set of 12 stamps was issued back in 1964, all representing different garden flowers (and Im happy to have the whole set though im not quite sure if these could be considered CTO or used)

the order of the stamps is as follows:

20gr - Cyclamen,persian violet (Cyclamen persicum) - has fragrant bluish to dark lavender flowers
30gr - Freesia (Freesia hybrida)- has fragrant funnel-shaped flowers. Some of these are grown as ornamental plants.
40gr - Rose (Rosa hybrida)
50gr - Fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia)- they can live really long and one hundred year old peonies are not uncommon!
60gr - Regal lily (Lilium regale)- another long-lived plant, a trumpet flowered lily, native to western Sichuan in China which was introduced to England in 1903 by Ernest Henry Wilson.
90gr - Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) - it is native to the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran and they throw up a mound of finely cut, hairy foliage in spring.
1,35zl - Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana) - probably one of my favourite flowers...they are just so delicate! And well, you dont have to relate them to the Netherlands only. It is said that like many tulips that came from the Ottoman Empire, it could have originated in Turkey and has now become naturalised to south-west Europe
1,50zl - Daffodil (Narcissus incomparabilis) - frequently linked to the Greek myth of Narcissus, who became so obsessed with his own reflection that as he knelt and gazed into a pool of water, he fell into the water and drowned. In some variations, he died of starvation and thirst. In both versions, the narcissus plant sprang from where he died.
1,55zl - Tuberous begonia (Begonia tuberhybrida)- frost-tender plants that thrive where they receive bright light but little or no direct sun. My mum plants some begonias in spring (among other flowers), when you see all the pots on our terrace, you get this beautiful colourful pattern of flowers :)
2,50zl - Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) - probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years
3,10zl - Iris (Iris barbata) - takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species.
5,60zl - Camellia (Camellia japonica) - one of the best known species of the genus Camellia. Sometimes called the Rose of winter, it is is the official state flower of Alabama.

Im anything but a flower expert, so for the information regarding the flowers on the stamps I had to rely mainly on what google said to be right :)

And Happy Women's Day to all the women who feel like today it is their day....though Im the kind who'd rather be surprised with a present, a sign of love and affection any day of the year, not only when it is somewhat imposed :)

Moonlanding, Paraguay

I almost skipped today's Sunday Stamps...but having in mind today's subject, I felt I would regret if I don't post these stamps, so I'll try to squeeze in a short post here :)

these Paraguay stamps were issued in 1970 and come in a set of nine (so as usual, I must miss a stamp or two with such awesome issues!) On one of the stamps Im missing, you can also see President Kennedy, next to Wernher von Braun, who is also featured on the first stamp at the top.
Von Braun was German–American rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and, subsequently, in the United States and they call him the "Father of Rocket Science".
He was the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon (which is also portrayed on the first stamp).

The following (second row) stamp shows the first astronauts' landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969 (done by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin). And I think it is worth to mention the name of Michael Collins, who was the command module pilot for Apollo 11 and while Armstrong and Aldrin were having a walk on the Moon, Michael was orbiting the Moon.
The stamp next to it also shows the first men on the Moon, taking soil samples and the Apollo 11, while the third stamp in the second row shows the departure of Apollo 11 from the Moon.
The first stamp from the third row shows the landing of the Module, the one in the middle shows the  Lunar Module extraction, while the last  stamp of the ones I have is called Command/Service Module / Lunar Module.

Well, space has always fascinated me, and I wonder if one day we'd all be able to get on a spaceship and have coffee on some other planet...or whatever their specialty may be :)

For more space travels and natural phenomena, click on the button below...and Ill try later to visit everyone, including the pending ones from last Sunday...sorry, but life sometimes interferes

Year of the Tiger, Serbia

morning/afternoon/evening to all! Here comes another "issue" of the Sunday Stamps post. The theme being Lunar Year and Chinese stamps, I was not quite sure what to post...not that I do not have Chinese stamps...have a lot of those, but was somewhat indecisive...and then I realized I have this lovely FDC my dear Ana sent me some time ago, and it fits perfect into today's subject...I know it is the Year of the Snake now, but I must tell you that Im not really a snake lover...ok, im not at ALL a snake lover, I shudder at the thought of a snake, though the stamps Ive seen issued on the subject are really fascinating :) However, ill still go with the tigers this time :)

I must say that the Serbian postal service is issuing really fantastic stamps, and the Lunar Horoscope ones are not an exception....on the other hand, the Macedonian postal service has not yet issued anything related to this subject, EVER =/ Speaking of that, the philately lady should be back to work the following week, at a different post office though....the one that has undergone the fire is still far from offering normal working conditions...but well, I hope id be able to get some new stamps coz ive been really struggling with it..

bit off-topic..recently I watched "The Life of Pi" - a really nice movie...and if you've seen it, you are familiar with Richard Parker, the tiger appearing in the movie (whether he was a real character or part of Pi's imagination, that is for another discussion). Anyways, Richard Parker in soooooo many ways reminded me of my cat Foxy ...I know it may be crazy, but that look in his eyes, the way he was yawning, or stretching out his paws to fight....as if I have a miniature version of him at home....so since then, Ive started calling my cat Richard Parker too...they are both just adorable :)  Off to give him a pet :)  And you can see what others have picked for today...just click on the button below

Insects, China

I was ready to go with some butterflies for today's theme of insects, but somehow, the idea didnt really fulfill me, if i could express myself like that...despite butterflies being insects as well, I wanted something that gives that general association of insects...and I was almost to give up, when my eyes spotted this beautiful set of Chinese stamps...and voilà! :) So ill reserve my butterfly stamps for some butterfly theme :)

this set was issued June 28, 1992, where on the first one you can see The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) which looks like a long and slender praying mantis, with different shades of brown, and it is typically larger than most other mantises. This species is often erroneously given the taxonomic name of Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, as it is on the stamp featured here.
The second stamp shows the Seven-dots ladybird (Coccinella Septempunctata)which is famous in China, because it preys on pests. There are about 5000 species in the ladybird family and most of them are beneficial insects. They are the natural enemy of aphids on the wheat, earthnut, and cotton.
The third stamp shows the Sympetrum Croceolum that belongs to the dragonfly family. There are about 4000 species in the world and in China they only can be found in the provinces of Fujian, Guangxi, and Jiangxi.
The last, fourth stamp, shows the lacewing fly (Chrysopa septempunctata), that is considered an important, common predator of several insects in China, Japan, Russia, and many parts of Europe. There are about 5000 species of lacewings in the world.

for more cute or not-so-cute insects, click on the button below

250 years since the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Macedonia

So here comes another Sunday...and time for another visit to the Viridian's blog...where the theme this week is 'anything you wish'. The most tricky one for me I must say :)
Usually, id go for trains in such cases, sparing myself too much thinking...but I wanted to somewhat break that habit and post something different...and while wondering what could that be...something suitable came into the horizon...so here I am with this nice FDC issued by the Macedonian postal service in 2006, commemorating the 250 years since the birth of the child prodigy called Mozart....and why did my choice fall on this one? well, coz Mozart was actually born on January 27, so if he was still alive, today he would have been blowing 257 candles on his cake...boy, that would have been one very special cake....i hope it would have been cheesecake :)))
But unfortunately, this great man didnt manage to see many candles on his cake, since he died at the early age of only 35. But even this way, he has left great works behind him, having composed over 600 works.

well, im sure you all know who Mozart was, and more or less know the general things about him, so I wont bore you with that. ill just tell you that Ive never been to Salzburg, where he was born, but id REALLY love to go there one day...theyve told me that it is even more beautiful than Vienna...so me, who is absolutely in love with Vienna, must verify this on-spot one day :)
I love Mozart's works...I cant tell if i have a favourite, coz often it depends on how i feel, and to be quite honest, im terrible at remembering pieces entitled like "Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550" (though that is a really good one by Mozart) but titles like that just dont work for me.
At least the operas bear somewhat normal titles..
Unfortunately, Tom and Jerry seem not to have been into Mozart that much...there is an episode where Bart Simpson plays the Turkish Rondo, (which is a part of the Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331, and is probably one of his most popular piano pieces) but honestly i dont think that im impressed much of it...I still prefer the good old Tom and Jerry making a great concert out of some beautiful classical masterpiece :)

so if you know a cartoon where Mozart's music has been used, please share :)

and on a side note, since we are at the Macedonian postal service here...wanted to share something (not so nice) with you...already did it at my postcards' blog, bur for those who do not read that one, or have missed it:
10 days ago, there was a huge fire at the main post office in Skopje...and unfortunately, that is the post office where the Philatelic Bureau is also situated...or should I say, 'was'...there were no deaths fortunately, but the damage is huge..and the post office is not working at the moment...all the employees there have been reallocated to other post offices...however, I cant find out where the philately lady is and if she is working at all or she is taking a break...I dont know if and how many stamps have suffered the fire but practically, right now, i cant get any nice new stamps....I have to be satisfied with the general (boring) ones that are sold at the post offices..and i feel sort of handicapped this way...she was my only source for all the old and new issues, and always very kind and helpful...i mean, the postal clerks are also really nice people, but they just struggle with providing me nice stamps, and it is not their fault either...so my only source is right now...i dont know where. It is also a pity, coz that building was of unusual architecture, and also, very valuable murals have suffered, which used to be in the hall of the post office..quite a tragedy =/

you can read more about it here in case you are interested (lack of websites covering the event in English...sorry)

wishing you all a great Sunday, and before you get on with your Sunday chores, click on the button below and see what other interesting stories you may find today: