Barbary Squirrel, Algeria FDC

The stamp on this cover from Algeria is a depiction of a Barbary ground squirrel. These small stripped squirrels live in the Atlas mountain region between between the Western Sahara and Algeria.

Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain

Ciudad Rodrigo is a small walled city in the Spanish province of Salamanca. I would think the image in the postmark is that of the cathedral of Santa Maria but I can't say for certain. The stamp is from a series commemorating popular traditions in Spain and the subject of this 2023 stamp is the annual Carnival in Ciudad Rodrigo: a five-day bull fighting festival. Muito obrigado Pedro!

AAT Mawson and Davis Stations

These were both in my mailbox on the same day. I sent them back in September of 2023. The station postmarks were updated slightly a few years ago and these are the first examples from these stations that I have received. The Mawson cover looks good. And the Davis cover is ok  but the inkpad must have been dry in places or partly frozen or something. The slogan on the back of that one says "Davis Station. Riviera of the South"

I actually received two covers from Davis. I had learned that mail to India's Bharati station passes through Davis so I sent a cover to Bharati to be returned to me via Davis. It came back pretty much like the one pictured here with no additional markings on it. No indication that it actually went to Bharati despite the fact that I addressed it to that base and in the request letter asked if they could add any base-related stamps they might have. Guess none were available.

Unconventional Food Plants from Brazil

Three stamps from a 2024 set of six featuring unconventional food plants. Plantas alimentícias não convencionais (PANC) is a Brazilian movement that promotes propagating and foraging for unconventional food plants. Unconventional in this case meaning local (to Brazil) and not mainstream. These are plants you are more likely to find in a backyard garden, a market or a forest and not in a large grocery store. The examples on these stamps are mangarito (a tuber), Barbados gooseberry and malabar spinach.

Christmas in Germany

A Christmas card that came to me with postmarks from the Deutsche Post philatelic center in Weiden in der Oberpfalz. This year will be the 45th anniversary of the Weiden philatelic center: the only philatelic center in Germany. 

Despite the December 6th postmark, in a normal year I would have received this on or before the 25th. So I think we're still feeling the effects of last years postal strike. However I've also received mail this month from Canadian senders that only took a few days to get to me. Maybe this was in a storage box somewhere and it just took them a while to get around to it.

Critically Endangered Flora of Singapore

Three stamps from Singapore are from a 2024 set of four that depict flora of the Lowland Dipterocarp Forest. Dipterocarp forests are dominated by trees from the dipterocarp family. These tall dense hardwood forests promote a extreme floral diversity. At one time Singapore was covered by such a forest but now only small pockets remain. And with the destruction of these forests also went much of the biodiversity. Obviously. But what remains is protected and cared for. Some of the critically endangered plants in the remaining forests are represented on these stamps.

Brazil and the Solar System

More 2020 solar system stamps from Brazil. From left to right: the sun, Venus and Jupiter.

The All-Red Line, Bamfield BC, Canada

Bamfield is a small coastal community on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It was home to a telegraph station along what was known as the All-Red Line: a network of telegraph cables that circled the globe, connecting the British empire.  An undersea telegraph cable connected Bamfield to Fanning Island in the Pacific (Kiribati). 

Philately Week 2024 from Tokyo's Toshima City

The stamps in this part of the 2024 phliatelic week sheet depict the 17th century Edo period screen "Weavers and Dryers". The postmark commemorates the Nadeshiko Stamp Club Exhibition held at the Toshima stamp museum on November 30, 2024.

Iconic Irish Voices

The stamps on this cover are from a set of four that feature famous Irish musicians who passed away in 2024. On the left is Ireland's greatest accoridan player Séamus Begley. And on the right is Christy Dignam, lead singer for the Irish rock band Aslan.

Dungeons and Dragons, USA FDCs

First day postmarked in Indiana. They came to me on the same day and would have been held up by the Canadian postal strike. The USPS is still not accepting new mail bound for Canada until the backlog is cleared. These four Dungeons and Dragons stamps were from a set of 10 stamps issued on 1 August 2024 in a sheet of 20 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the game.