Longyearbyen, Norway

Longyearbyen is the administrative capital of the Svalbard archipelago. It lies about half way between the north coast of Norway and the North Pole.

Hammerfest, Norway

Hammerfest is a town in Northern Norway with a population of around 10,000. It claims to be the Northernmost city in the world; a title that is disputed by Honningsvåg Norway which is further North but does not have the population required to be classified as a city. In the summer months, Hammerfest is invaded by migrating reindeer.

Delta Junction, Alaska

This city of 1000 sits at the north end of the Alaska Highway, 100 miles south of Fairbanks. This envelope was hand cancelled in Delta Junction and machine cancelled in Fairbanks.

Teslin, Yukon

Teslin is a small community in the Yukon along the Alaska Highway (historical mile 804 to be exact). The nearby Nisutlin Bay Bridge is the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway.

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Barrow, Alaska

Barrow is the Northern most city in the US: over 500km North of the Arctic Circle. The 4000 people that call Barrow home have no roads connecting them with the rest of Alaska. Air transport is the main way in or out.

Squidfest

Squidfest is held in Holyrood Newfoundland during the last week of July. I should have sent this to the postmaster there a little later and maybe have had it cancelled while the festival was on.

AAT MacQuarie Island Cover

Clam Festival

I enjoyed the recent Canadian Marine Life stamps so much I though I'd send some out on a few covers. This one if from Economy, Nova Scotia. Apparently they used to hold a Clam Festival there. Not sure if they do any more. Sea Otters like clams so it seemed like a good stamp to have under a Clam Festival cancel. My compliments to the postmaster there for a nicely cancelled cover.

Hacked Website

I discovered that a "change" was made to a number of my websites (but not this blog) on June 6 that I have just learned about. It appears this change would have attempted to convince viewers of my sites to download a malicious pdf file but I'm really not sure what it looked like. My virus scanner caught it for me every time. I hope nobody was affected by this attack. I've removed the offending code and contacted my service provider. I'm going to have to keep a closer watch over things for a while - hate it when this stuff happens.

Centenary of Akira Kurosawa's Birth

This stamp commemorating the birth of Akira Kurosawa was issued by Monaco on 24 February 2010. I assume the issue had to do with Monaco having hosted an exhibition in May of 2010 dedicated to Kurosawa's work. Being a fan of Kurosawa and samurai movies, I had to add this stamp to my collection.

TAAF Cover - Iles Glorieuses

TAAF Cover - Juan de Nova

After a couple of months, received this cover back from the island of Juan de Nova. Juan de Nova is part of the "Iles Eparses" which is administrated by TAAF. Wish I had left more room on the front for the cachet that was placed on the back but I wanted to get that particular grouping of stamps together on a cover. Made sense to get the 2010 Juan de Nova stamp on a 2010 Juan de Nova cover.





Of course, the real question is, was the cover actually cancelled on the island? The cancels are dated May 18 which was only 16 days ago. That's quick delivery from such a remote location.