Congrats to the owner and team for Mystik Dan, the winner of the 150th Kentucky Derby, by a nose.
Tuesday/ stamps with tulips 🇧🇪
Hey, and the envelope with my latest order of stamps (from a seller in Belgium) has stamps with tulips on.
Windmills
Issued 2002, Jul. 15
Perf. 11½ Photolithogr.
1925 A824 0.42€ Multi-colored Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek windmill, Azores
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Belgian Castles
Issued 2002, Jun. 10
Perf. 11 ½ Photolithogr. Mini-sheet of 10
1918a A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Ecaussinnes-Lalaing
1918c A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Corroy-le-Chateau
1918d A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Alden Biesen
1918e A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Modave
1918f A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Horst
1918j A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Wissekerke
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Issued 2023, Jan.23
Perf. Die Cut 11½ Litho. Self-adhesive
Registered Mail Multi-colored Red-Knot Sandpiper
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Tuesday/ mail from Spain 🇪🇸
Cancellation mark:
POSTAL EXPRESS
Siempre a tiempo (Always on time)
Mailed on Apr. 3 in Sant Cugat del Vallès— a town and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, located north of Barcelona.
Let’s see what the stamps tell us about España.
Tuesday/ I got royal mail 🫅🏻
There was mail from the Royal Mail in Great Britain for me today— with South African stamps inside, of course.
I looked up the details of the stamps used on the envelopes.
Sunday/ the black sun is coming ☀️
Anticipation of the total eclipse of the sun that is about to be visible in a large swath of North America, is at a fever pitch.
The eclipse will be visible starting at 12:06 p.m. CDT near Eagle Pass, Texas, before progressing to totality by about 1:27 p.m. CDT.
It will progress along its path to the northeast over the next few hours and the last of the eclipse in North America will be seen from Caribou, Maine at 4:40 p.m. EDT.
It does look like there will be cloud cover in several places along the way.
Here in the Pacific Northwest we will only see some 20% of the sun being obscured by the moon, and that is if the clouds allow it.
Monday/ crypto stamps? 🔗
I scrolled through a bunch of crypto stamps listed on my regular online stamp marketplaces last night.
Should I buy some? Just one, for fun?
They go for $15 to $50— or more, each.
They may be worth a lot more 5 to 10 years from now.
Hmm. No, I decided. Not yet, anyway. (I don’t own any cryptocurrency, either).
Crypto stamps are valid for postage, but they are really aimed at collectors— collectors of digital works of art, or of the collector’s interests (digital comics, video clips, tweets, emails).
The buyer gets a physical stamp, as well as a digital version of it, that has a non-fungible token (NFT) associated with it. (NFT: a unique cryptographic token that exists on a blockchain, and that cannot be replicated.)
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 🍀
Friday 🥊
Happy Friday.
Wednesday/ package from Denmark 🇩🇰
My package with blank stamp album pages, from a supplier based in the town of Otterup in Denmark, arrived today.
They stock Leuchtturm products (the best) and get it to me within a week via DHL.
Good stuff.
Tuesday/ lore and legends 🦁
A batch of South African stamps that I had ordered from a seller in Germany arrived yesterday.
This set is one of my favorites.
Sunday/ a U-district run 🚉
It was time for a U-district/ bookstore run this afternoon, and off I went to Capitol Hill light rail station.
Wednesday/ for Valentine’s Day 😘
Happy Valentine’s Day— for those that indulge in it.
Here is a cute cartoon from Stern magazine, and from the latest— and 40th— Asterix cartoon book series.
The series first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comic magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959.
Saturday/ Happy Lunar New Year 🐲
Happy Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dragon.
Thursday/ stamps from Great Britain ✉️
I have by now (inadvertently) compiled a mini-collection of cancelled stamps from Great Britain— from envelopes sent to me with South African stamps inside.
Here are stamps from an envelope that arrived today.
Sunday/ Coquimbe, Chile 🇨🇱
We arrived at the port city of Coquimbo this morning.
Our excursion today was a bus ride along the shoreline into the neighboring town of La Serena, followed by a drive inland to the commune of Vicuña (pop. 25,000).
Friday/ Arica, Chile 🇨🇱
Our self-directed excursion into Arica this morning took us up the steep path to the top of the hill called Morro Arrica.
At the top there is an enormous Chilean flag, a museum and a statue called Christ of the Peace (a reference to the Treaty of Lima in 1929 that settled lingering territorial disputes between Peru and Chile).
Tuesday/ Lima, Peru 🇵🇪
Today’s excursion into Lima took us to Lima Main Square (Plaza de Armas) with the Lima Cathedral just adjacent to it.
We also stopped by the Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo.
On the way back to Callao and the cruise terminal, we stopped at the Parque Domodossola in Miraflores for a look at the Pacific Ocean and the playas (beaches) below.
Monday/ treasures at the museum 🏺
We arrived in Lima* this morning, and for our excursion we visited two museums. (We will go and see the city tomorrow).
Museo Oro del Peru, a private collection assembled by Miguel Mujica Gallo, contains a wide assortment of pre-Columbian gold handicraft, weapons, ceremonial objects, jewelry and gold from both the Incas and pre-Inca civilizations.
The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru.
*Technically we arrived in Callao. Lima right next to Callao is a sprawling city of 11 million people with 43 districts.
Sunday/ Salaverry & Trujillo, Peru 🇵🇪
The Norwegian Sun made it into the port town of Salaverry at seven this morning (first picture).
There was a shuttle bus out to the main plaza in Salaverry (third picture), and from there my party of three were left to our own devices to find transport to the city of Trujillo (pop. about 1 million).
This whole area nearby is the site of the great prehistoric Moche and Chimu cultures before the Inca conquest and subsequent expansion.
We solicited a taxi for the 25-minute drive into Trujillo and all went well until we paid the driver in US dollars. Best we could tell that he was not happy with the quality of the $20 and two $5 dollar bills. The US dollars have to be changed into Peruvian Sol by moneychangers for him. Anyway, we gave him the newest dollar bills we had, and that solved the problem.
We used Uber to get back. That was cheaper and worked a lot better: no exchange of paper money needed.
Look for the Plaza de Armas of Trujillo in the pictures below, with the Freedom Monument and the Cathedral of Trujillo nearby.
The beautiful building of UNT Archeology Museum and pictures of just a few of the displays inside, follow after that.
Monday/ Cartagena, Colombia 🇨🇴
Cartagena (pop. 914,500 in 2020) is a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. By the sea is the walled Old Town, founded in the 16th century, with squares, cobblestone streets and colorful colonial buildings. With a tropical climate, the city is also a popular beach destination.
– Google
We spent some three hours in the Old Town of Cartagena this morning, and came away with a good impression.
Just be prepared to say no gracias many times, to the street vendors selling t-shirts, hats, bottled water and soda, souvenirs and cubanos (cigars).
The day temperature rose rapidly through the morning, and it was already 90 °F (32 °C) when our taxi driver met us to take us back to the ship.