A soldier's prayer - Peace to the world

Might be armed, with mission to protect against threats to the nation, I would like to pray earnestly at the same time for prevailing peace in the world too; battlefield is the last place I wish to step into to play my role....

Malaysia maxicard - Grand Knight of Valour, armed forces (31.07.2010)

高处不胜寒 - It's lonely at the top

高处不胜寒? It's lonely at the top? But as I see, these people are not quite lonely here.....

Australia maxicard - Kokoda joint issue ( 20.04.2010)

My question - Any relevant postmark for Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Australian pavilion postcard

A friend in China sent me a postcard depicting the Australian pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, which was also a subject featured in a newly issued Australian stamp commemorating the event. This postcard arrived very timely and I thought I could realize it as a maxicard. The question is,  "Where is the place of concordance to postmark this card?". It couldn't be Shanghai definitely; so I "sadly" dropped the idea.....

              

"When the postage stamp commemorates an event or shows a landscape or a monument of another country, the realization of maximum cards is impossible as there is a total lack of concordance of place." FIP

But I am still wondering since FIP also mentions: 

"the concordance of place requires a connection between the name of the place or the locality written on the postmark and the subject of the stamp.", would it be possible to :

i) postmark it at Melbourne taking the connection to be this pavilion was designed in Melbourne (by an architectural firm, Wood Marsh)?

ii) postmark it at Canberra taking the connection to be this pavilion represents Australia in this World Expo? 

Is it qualified to be a maxicard in these two cases? What do you think?

Salute!

I salute the postal staff who've postmarked this maxicard for me! Why? Look at the cancellation - it JUST touches the perforations of the stamp! Frankly, with my shivering hand, I can never realize a maxicard with such a "clean" stamp myself.

 

Australia maxicard - Queen's Birthday (06.04.2010)

Australian Commonwealth Coinage 1910-2010

This stamp shows the profile of King Edward VII on the obverse of the coin, designed by George William de Saules. King Edward VII died just two months after the first shipment of florins and shillings reached Australia. His image was replaced by that of his successor, George V, on the 1911 coins.

Australia Maxicard - Australia Commonwealth Coinage 1910-2010, 

King Edward VII ( 23.02.2010)

The picture is large enough, but........

No doubt this postcard was fine for maxicard as its picture was large enough to emphasize the subject in the stamp; however, taking a closer look, you might be curious to ask, " Why was the stamp affixed on such an awkward place?". Well, I had no choice as that part of the petal was "bruised" slightly when I attempted to clean off some blemishes on it.....

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, allamanda ( 01.07.2010)

"......, the larger the picture is, the better the quality of the maximum card is considered to be." FIP

Real "COOL" ....

"This is the coolest thing ever, I think my mum will be buying truck loads of them so she can use it for forever." said the Winter Gold Medallist, Lassila, featured in this beautiful stamp. If my children were to appear on stamp, I think I will do the same thing too.....

Australia maxicard - 2010 Olympic Winter Gold Medallist, Lydia Lassila

Electricity - "Transmission line"

Electricity is transmitted through transmission lines at very high voltage (as high as 500kV) so as to reduce energy loss over long distance transmission due to resistance. At the substations, the voltage is stepped down by transformers to a lower level (115V-230V) before being distributed to the users.

"Transmission line" - Danger! Beware!

Malaysia maxicard - Engineering excellence in nation Building (20.04.09)

Silhouette - Walking in the dark....

Though the journey begins in the dark...

It's joy to see dim light gradually appearing along the way.... 

Australia maxicard - Kokoda joint issue ( 20.04.2010)

I felt restricted - only one postage stamp is allowed....

For this postcard, I was a bit tempted to affix on it two stamps i.e, the bougainvillea stamp and the allamanda stamp, when I was realizing it as a maxicard. This card might look nice with the two stamps which are concordant with its picture. However, I won't be "allowed" to call it a maxicard anymore; unless the rule is changed or I am able to go back in time to before 1978!

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, allamanda ( 01.07.2010)

"Only one postage stamp should be affixed on the view side of the picture postcard. Before 1978, when "International statute of Maximaphily" was approved, maximum cards showing several postage stamps are tolerated if one or more of those are concordant with the picture on the postcard." FIP

*Who knows one of these days more than one stamp might be allowed on a maxicard!?

（sample only）

Nightmares....

I can't be dreaming and dreaming anymore ..... ! Nightmares have just begun - marine pollution, fishing nets, turtling, egg harvesting and habitats destructions....

May I pray for God's mercy to let us live in peace.

Malaysia maxicard - Threatened habitats, the green turtle (15.07.2010)

Paradise.....in my mind

This must be the hidden paradise that I am dreaming of ! It's so peaceful here....

Malaysia maxicard - Threatened habitats, the green turtle (15.07.2010)

My Shangri-La

"Shangri-la" - in the "Lost Horizon" and that of the "Story of the peach blossom valley(桃花源记)", are both equally beautiful and mysterious to me. Wonder if I could find them?

Malaysia maxicard - Threatened habitats, the green turtle (15.07.2010)

I am lost - The poor Green turtle

What'd happened?

Nothing is left at all...

It's like "no man's land"!

Oh No! Am I..., am I...., am I...., 

...the last Green turtle on earth?

Malaysia maxicard - Threatened habitats, the green sea turtle ( 15.07.2010)

Survive and Thrive - The Tapir

With your love, care and support...

I will survive and thrive...

Thanks to you.....

Malaysia maxicard - Threatened habitats, the Tapir ( 15.07.2010)

The music - in "maximaphily"

It's not an easy piece of music....

I'm learning to play it right....

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, morning glory ( 01.07.2010)

The "paper flower"( 纸花) - Bougainvillea

Because of it's papery bracts, it's commonly known as "paper flower"(纸花). This multi-colour woody vine, flowers all year round, adding beautiful colours to the garden. And when it comes to watering, this high drought tolerance plant really saves you a lot of effort.

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, bougainvillea (01.07.2010)

Our yellow "celebration flower" ( Bunga Raya Kuning )

The red hibiscus, Bunga Raya, is our national flower. "Bunga" means flower and "Raya" means celebration in Bahasa Malaysia. So this yellow hibiscus here is "translated" to be - "yellow celebration flower" which sounds not too bad (to me).

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, yellow hibiscus (01.07.2010)

Actually I have affixed the stamp on this maxicard upside down without knowing. Good thing it's not too obvious.

I learned a lesson

When I googled for lotus images, some "lotus images" popped out to be similar to my ad card of "lotus" in my earlier post. One of my "lotus" postcards (below), was also misleading as my ad card looked "more lotus" than the "lotus" shown on it. I was confused....

I should have wikipedia'd  and checked further to confirm. A good lesson to learn indeed. Sharing with you here another ad card on lotus (already confirmed by Sifu - Mr. Ye Choh San).

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, lotus (01.07.2010)

The canna lily

Canna lily is a beautiful flowering plant for the garden provided you don't mind its thick rhizomes. 

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, canna lily (01.07.2010)

The evergreen bougainvillea

This thorny, woody evergreen plant is found everywhere in Malaysia and it's one of the most popular flowering plant in our local gardens.

Malaysia maxicards - Garden flowers, bougainvillea (01.07.2010)

Emphasizing the subject

Malaysian maxicard - garden flowers, yellow hibiscus (01.07.2010)

When I first looked at this postcard, I had no intention to use it for realizing maxicard. But on second look, the stamp was not totally out of place on the postcard though it barely satisfied the FIP rules, in emphasizing the subject. It's more important that I do like it. 

" The picture of the postcard must emphasize the subject of the postage stamp." FIP

The yellow hibiscus

How I wish the hibiscus on this stamp is red as I have various postcards depicting red hibiscus. But then yellow hibiscus postcards being less common actually give a more unique feel.

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, yellow hibiscus ( 01.07.2010)

The beautiful amaryllis

Amaryllis is a bulbous plant grown easily in flower pot. It is my favourite garden flower because it's really beautiful and more importantly it does not require regular trimming that I am too lazy and busy to do, especially after getting myself more involved in realizing maxicards.

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, amaryllis ( 01.07.2010)

Place of Concordance

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, lotus ( 01.07.2010)

As concordance of place is one of the three requirements in maximaphily, it's also part of the routine for every new issue, to determine where are the suitable places to postmark the maxicards. My simple criteria is to look for a connection between the subject of the stamp and the place for cancellation. Sometimes there might be a few choices available and to have your maxicards cancelled at the most suitable place would definitely bring you greater satisfaction.

" The pictorial design of the cancellation and/or text, as well as the place of cancellation(name of the post office) should have a connection with the postage stamp and of the postcard, or with the purpose of issue(event, charitable activity, theme of the series." FIP

Malaysia maxicards - Garden flowers - New Tariff ( National Definitive Series), 01.07.10

With the release of this new issue of National definitive series of garden flowers on 01.07.2010, there is a significant increase (doubled) in the local postal rate which means my budget in realizing maxicards would increase also from now on as new stamps issued will be of higher denomination.....

So to begin with, I am using a free ad card......

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers , lotus ( 01.07.2010)