Sunday Stamps II - 15

2012, this stamp was part of the Tourism issue of stamps for the Olympics. The souvenir sheet conveniently had explanation notes of each of the destinations in several languages - English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Russian.
designed by O. Ivanova

Founded by  Sergey Hudekov in 1892 and designed by Kark Langau, the arboretum is located in Sochi National Park and at 60ha is the largest subtropical garden in Russia. The original plans for the garden had sections with trees and plants from the Caucasus and Mediterranean regions, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and more has been added over the years. In the 1930s a main thoroughfare was built which divided the park into two with an upper part on the hillside and the lower part near the Black Sea. There is a tunnel under the Kurotny Prospekt connecting the two parts and a funicular to get to the top of the hill.

for woodlands, forests, parks, or gardens
(my apologies for the delayed link.....)

Sunday Stamps II - 14

1961, Madagascar  (known as Malagasy 1960-1975)
Fourth largest island in the world
Showing a Ruffed Lemur. They are considered critically endangered (since 2008) having declined in population by 80% over the last 30 years mostly due to the fact that as much as 90% of the original island forest has been decimated.

St Paddy's Day

unsent, 1908
Blarney Castle

sunny Wales

unsent

Sunday Stamps II -13

First Day Cover 1962 for 5th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4th 1957. 

The space age began with the Soviet Union having the first man made object in space and the first satellite to orbit the earth. Sputnik was a metal sphere, 23" in diameter with four external radio antennae and weighing 184lbs. Each orbit took 96 minutes and the signal went on for 21 days until the batteries ran out.

for next week's theme of islands, let's make it a bit more challenging by saying that Great Britain does not count.

for time of exploration: space

birthday greetings

sent Jul 8th, 1911
Rochester, NY to Albany NY

cable car

received 2015
Chongqing cable car across Yangtze River with Dongshuimen Bridge (opened 2014)

Niagara Falls in Winter

sent Oct 20th, 1905 (undivided back) from Aunt Sophia
postmarked from N.Y. N.Y.  at 2pm
arrived New Haven Conn 6:30pm

Sunday Stamps II - 12

unsent, 1991
Bophuthatswana, was a self-governing homeland within the 'old' South Africa of the Tswana people. Never officially recognized by any other country, these homelands were reincorporated into South Africa in 1994. Bophuthatswana was a vast territory stretching across the Transvaal to the Western Cape and bordering with Botswana (the country i originally confused this name with)

a steam locomotive, Class 6A, from the pre-union era, first run in 1896.


for riding the rails: trains and trams

violets

unsent, early 1900s

Violets are the birth flower for February and symbolizes faithfulness, modesty.
They are also associated with death and resurrection, so are often seen as Easter flowers.
I couldn't not post something for this week's theme, could I?!

SepiaSaturday

Mountie on running horse

sent
1960s RCMP

puppies and kittens

sent, 2014
A Ladybird book cover from 1960

ships on the seaway

unsent, 1970's
a John Hinde Original

1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada - New York, U.S.A. : in April 1959, traffic began using the St Lawrence Seaway. The seaway, in the broadest sense, is a huge waterway extending 2,300 miles from the Atlantic ocean to the head of the Great Lakes in the heart of North America. Here in the heart of a vacationers paradise is an aerial view of the 1000 islands section o0f the St Lawrence Seaway showing a 'Laker' and a 'Saltie' passing.

Canada map

reproduction of a 1950's map card
that omits Yukon, which became its own territory in 1898 and Newfoundland & Labrador which joined the confederation in 1949

Sunday Stamps II - 11

Brazil issued 2000
celebrating 25 years of diplomatic relations with China (joint issue)

faces of a different sort ...
showing Carnival mask and Monkey King puppet