Malaysian Bantams

Colourful malaysian fowl, two of the set of three issued in 2001.  For the Animal Group in the RR, suggested by little me :) Thanks Nurul!

Animals Of Czech Republic

Gorgeous cover with animals for Nice Cover Circuit RR from Radim, thank you!! :))

On the right is a section from miniature sheet  Biosphere Reserve Lower Morava, issued in 2010. It shows the Old World Swallowtail butterfly, the Wallcreeper bird  and the Common Kestrel. The stamp on the left shows the Tau Emperor moth and the red deer - a part of the miniature sheet of 4 stamps and 4 coupons featuring the diversity of the night-time forest beauty of the Křivoklátsko biosphere reserve. But it cannot by any standards be a MINIature sheet heh - look at all its beauty here:

Nordic Maritime 2012, Finland

A miniature sheet of two stamps Nordic Maritime 2012, sent by Heidi, thank you :)
Very nice Helsinki cancellation :D

Hong Kong Festivals

Thank you Yuen for the lovely festivals set, I like it how you put them on a bit differently :)

They are three of the set of five special stamps to portray five traditional festivals and the way people celebrate them; Tin Hau Festival (worshipping the goddess of the sea), Buddha's Birthday (held on the 8th day of the 4th month in the Chinese lunar calendar) and Kwun Yum Festival (celebrating Guanyin, the bodhisattva associated with compassion).

Rosslare-Fishguard Miniature Sheet, Ireland

This great mini-sheet from Ireland celebrates the centenary of the Rosslare-Fishguard Ferry Service in 2006. Its a shame that An Post doesn't practice cancelling the stamps all that often..! Thank you Fabio for my 1st cover from Éire :)

Sovereign Military Order Of Malta

With the full name: The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta or Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta in Italian, where the cover has been sent from :) It is the world's oldest surviving order of chivalry, is headquartered in Rome and widely considered a sovereign subject of international law.

Today the order has about 13,000 members; 80,000 permanent volunteers and 20,000 medical personnel including doctors, nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics in more than 120 countries. The goal is to assist the elderly, handicapped, refugeed, children, homeless, those with terminal illness and leprosy in five continents of the world, without distinction of race or religion. Through its worldwide relief corps - Malteser International - the Order is also engaged to aid victims of natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts.

My first thought is: the world needs more such orders! I will admit my ignorance, I wasn't aware of its sovereignity esp in postal terms. The funny thing is, it was mentioned to me one day on the forum - and the very next day i've received this FANTASTIC surprise from Luca! The curious coincidences of life eh? :))) The stamp is issued in 2011 and celebrates 200th birthday of this great composer and pianist. Thanks so much Luca!

Cyprus and TRNC

I received wonderful surprises from Luca last week - Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus covers :)))
The first cover shows Cape Greco lighthouse; its one of the two lighthouse stamps in a set, issued in 2011.

The second is this year's European football championship issue of Northern Cyprus.Actually there is a third cover from Luca, which is so fantastic i'll leave it for next time when i have more time to write about it xD Thank you thank you thank you!!

EUROPA 2012 - Macedonia

This year macedonian post issued three europa stamps - as far as i know their worth is ridiculously high for everyday usage, which makes it that much more precious to have this cover in my collection!

Hvala bossita :)

P.S. - as it turns out the third stamp was covered with the sticker??!! Blimey. Why would anyone do that...