This map is pre 1990s - the province abbreviation changed from P.Q (Province de Quebec) to the 2 letter Qc in 1991.
vintage and contemporary postcards and stamps from around the world
29 September 2025
28 September 2025
indigenous
27 September 2025
25 September 2025
great wall
The Ten-Thousand Mile Long Wall*
Other names used in Chinese medieval records are 'ramparts', 'frontiers', 'barriers', 'fortresses', 'border wall'.
Built between the 3rd century B.C. and 17th century A.D. - so it took more than 2,000 years - as a series of fortifications. Which makes me wonder if anyone ever thought of the 'historical' significance of what they were building and if it might last anywhere as long as it has. Or they may have been too concerned with surviving the ordeal.
*It is actually more than 13,000 miles
24 September 2025
22 September 2025
nature park
21 September 2025
not always h
With four official languages in Switzerland, trying to fit Schweiz, Suisse, Svizerra, and the Romansch Svizra would take up most of the room on a stamp, so they settled on the Latin name 'Helvetia' (official name Confederatio Helvetica- why the CH as the international country code). Interestingly, in Irish Gaelic and Romanian, the name for Switzerland is closer to Helvetia than variations of Swiss.
'Croatia', on the other hand, is from the Latin name for the country. Hrvatska is derived from the Slavic name, which is used by the people themselves. The international country code is HR instead of CR because it was already taken by Costa Rica. I admit, I often initially mistake HR for Hungary
another country with a non English name on their stamp (we'll get to that one with 'M')
I found an interesting article explaining how Croatia/Hrvatska came to be. The original Slavic name was Horvatska, later into Hrvatska. Latin does not really pronounce the letter 'h', and starting the name with just an 'r' wasn't quite right, so they made it a 'ch' which became just a 'c'. A 'v' after an 'r' is easy for Slavic speakers but not Latin, so it was transformed into a vowel 'o'. So now we have a Slavic 'Horvat' which became Hrvat, which became a Latin 'Croat' with the usual Latin ending for Slavic countries 'ia'
20 September 2025
18 September 2025
where twines the path
Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (est 2002)

14 September 2025
gabon
Gabon, on the west coast of Africa on the equator
stamp shows a colourful, but toxic, "sunset moth" their bright colours are a warning to predators
13 September 2025
11 September 2025
famous
Ava Gabor (1919-1995) here portraying Lisa Douglas with Arnold the pig, from the 1960s tv show Green Acres
07 September 2025
croaking
The Rana pretiosa - Oregon spotted frog - is the most endangered frog in Canada. There's only a couple hundred of them found in the lower section of British Columbia
The Anaxyrus fowleri - Fowler's toad- is an east coaster from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, but is only found in Canada in a small section of southwestern Ontario.
In both cases, habitat loss from development and pollution are contributors to their decline.
A frog and a toad - at least he's a Fowler's toad - for stamps with an F
06 September 2025
04 September 2025
reading

Ot en Sien, illustrated by Cornelis Jetses
hopelessly old fashioned, and no longer read in schools, but I still have the books I collected to learn Dutch when I was living there.