Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:34:39 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (5) Montreal cityscape: On the far left is St-Joseph Oratory; on the far right is the Olympic Stadium.  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:37:42 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (6) Montreal International Jazz Festival  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:38:38 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (7) Canadian Grand Prix  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:40:17 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (8) Grey Cup -- for Canadian football.  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:42:16 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (9) Royal wedding of William and Kate in 2011. I am not sure if it's Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica that is pictured here.  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Nov 23, 2023 19:43:59 GMT
One of the 10 pictorial postmarks available at BP Montreal B that is located in downtown Montreal. (10) Royal Tour of Canada in 2011 undertaken by William and Kate. Again, I am not sure if it's Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica that is pictured here.  The last two cancels are total surprises to me, as I would never expect anything royalist being offered in the province of Quebec! :joy: |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Nov 24, 2023 21:46:27 GMT
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on Nov 24, 2023 21:55:29 GMT
The staff at BP Montreal Westmount call these '2' cancels -- one in English, one in French. In fact, most of the textual elements are inscribed in both languages in both cancels, but the notation denoting the date is different. Since November's French spelling Novembre only differs from the English at the very end, I don't know what language 'NOV' is meant to be  (I should have asked to see other months instead!) This cancel seems to depicts an old post office in the Westmount neighbourhood of Montreal.   |
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sudbury12000
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What I collect: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, World Pre 1925
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Post by sudbury12000 on Dec 4, 2023 0:44:49 GMT
these Belleville ones are listed in my auctions, if anyone is interested.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Dec 20, 2023 21:15:55 GMT
The current and 3rd version of the pictorial cancel available at the Eastend Post Office in Saskatchewan showing Scotty the T-Rex:   The postmaster was super kind to include a sheet showing all the regular and pictorial cancels they have -- including 3 iterations of Scotty!  The inscription on the first version of Scotty isn't perfectly readable, the second and third versions are better. I believe you can request all of them so long as you specify which one you want to get. Maybe include an image showing the cancel you want to help the postmaster. |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Jan 31, 2024 14:17:58 GMT
The pictorial cancel and the regular cancel available at Churchill, MB. The town is known for polar bear watching.  These are the biggest circular cancel I have seen in Canada. The pictorial one measures 4.8 cm in diameter, whereas the regular one measures 4.2 cm. It takes quite a long time for my mail to reach there, about a week within Canada. I sent out my postmarking request on 15 Jan from Montreal. It’s postmarked on 22 Jan. And I received the result back in Montreal on 30 Jan. |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Feb 9, 2024 21:38:44 GMT
I started yesterday making a map of Canadian pictorial cancels (not first-day-cancellation) that are offered in post offices across the country. Here is the map. I realised that unlike Japanese people’s adherence to strict rules and regulations, Canada Post didn’t set that much rules about postmark design and collecting. This results in a situation where pictorial cancels can be of different dimensions and different shapes. Many online resources – as excellent as this one though they are – don’t provide cancel specification. When preparing the items, we are often confused about how much space needs to be left on what side of the stamp(s). Hence, my contribution to this part of the philatelic world would be to attempt at providing the information regarding cancel dimensions. Currently, the dots marked by colour red denote the post offices whose cancels I have measured with a physical ruler, while those marked by colour blue denote those that I haven’t measured. Right now, I have only finished incorporating information found on Canada Post’s online repository, which is far from being complete. I have written to a blog owner to ask his/her permission to use images found on his/her blog. Also, I realised that the ‘run date’ doesn’t really apply to a large number of cancels. Often than not, a specific cancel can be replaced by a newer one, in the sense that it’s kept in the back instead of sitting on the counter and being used everyday. Nevertheless, we can still request those old cancels by making clear what we want to ask. A good example is Eastend Post Office: They in fact offer 3 variations of Scotty cancel, and another one for scouts, all of which can be requested. Another example:  In Montreal, some cancels were created for specific events with specific dates. Although the dates have passed, these cancels are still being preserved and we can still request them. (It’s just impossible to change the date on the cancel). My current ambition is that once I finish mapping the cancels I can find online, I will associate each of them with tags and make a little website where people can view and search a group of cancels by tags. I don’t know how this is going to work with free website builders (I have used WordPress and Wix). If anyone has the experience in this domain, I would love to hear what you think about it. Feel free to post information regarding Canadian pictorial cancels that are currently missing on my map. And please give me the permission to use your images. Thank you in advance! P.S. My map is under Creative-Commons. It will never become for-profit. |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Feb 10, 2024 18:52:47 GMT
I made a little website for this project: canadacancel.wordpress.com/To navigate it, you may click on the 3-line icon at the top right corner to access the menu. You can browse by provinces or tags (keywords), you can also use the search function to look for specific cancel(s). By default, the homepage of the site shows all the cancels that have been posted. What I wish to improve: (a) I wish the image squares on the homepage can be adjusted; I feel it's too huge for something like postmarks that are not necessarily of high resolution. (b) When using the search function, only 5 results are shown on one page. Users need to go to the next page to see other results. I wish I can adjust the number of results (to a higher number) or that the showing is done in the scrolling style -- meaning that the users simply scroll down the page and more results will be loaded. No need to click on a button. (c) I wish the sidebar menu doesn't need to be hidden. It's not very intuitive for first-time users to find where the menu is.
I tried both WordPress and Wix platforms, and found (1) Wix's free plan doesn't seem to include showing tag cloud; it seems to be a premium feature. (2) Neither's free plan can import / synchronise keywords / tags from a database (such as Lightroom on my computer, or Flickr, or Instagram with hashtags). There may be 3rd-party solution but it's likely a paid feature. (3) Even though they can synchronise photos from connected accounts (Google Photo, Instamgram, etc.), for the images to show up on the site, a file still needs to be stored on the site, which consume storage. (4) Again, even though they can syncrhonise photos, but since tags / keywords don't automatically carry onto the website builder, for the tagging to work on the site, individual blog post associated with tags has to be created for every cancel. This is time-consuming. Wix is particularly disadvantaged due to #1 and #3, so I eventually opted for WordPress which offers 3 GB of free storage (Wix only offers 500 MB). Overall, my ideal No.1 solution would be that Google Map can search keywords in the description field, and that it allows tagging and generates tag cloud, so that users can navigate through keywords. Then every information can be embedded in one map. No.2 would be for website builder platforms to supports synchronising (hash)tags / keywords with Instagram / Flickr (or any other photo hosting platform that supports tagging), so there is no more need to create individual blog post with tags in the website builder.
Lastly, what do you think about my logo design?  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:48:55 GMT
Some updates: - Now 10 search results cane be shown on one page. Still not a lot, but is an upgrade from the previous limit of 5. - Changed the font on the logo. What do you think about this one?  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:52:18 GMT
My postmarking request sent to the Great White North finally came back yesterday, after travelling more than 3 weeks. Carcross in Yukon now offers in total 6 pictorial cancels. There are older ones that they didn't give me; I suppose they have been disposed and are no longer available to request. (1) 'First Mail Run by Dog Team / Carcross to Atlin, B.C. / 1897'; sled dog team.  |
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Linda
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:53:10 GMT
(2) Sled dog (presumably Siberian Husky), snowflakes.  |
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Linda
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:54:13 GMT
(3) 'CARIBOU CROSSING'; a caribou crossing a river.  |
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Linda
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:55:14 GMT
(4) 'Home of the Caribou Hotel': human skeleton and haunted house (?).  |
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:55:42 GMT
(5) House.  |
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Linda
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Post by Linda on Feb 16, 2024 17:56:13 GMT
(6) 'Carcross Post Office / 1905 - 2005'; post office.  |
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Linda
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:06:48 GMT
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:39:24 GMT
Springhills PO68 Main St, Springhill NS B0M 1X0  ‘Hometown of / Ville natale de / Anne Murray’; Anne Murray, musical notes.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:41:50 GMT
London STN BRCA – 387 Wellington Rd, London ON N6C 5Y0  ‘ROYAL CANADIANS’, ‘BIRTH PLACE OF GUY LOMBARDO’; maple leaf shape, logo of Guy Lombardo’s band Royal Canadians. There is another version of the Lombardo cancel available at this London post office: 
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:44:34 GMT
London STN BRCA – 387 Wellington Rd, London ON N6C 5Y0  ‘London / CANADA’; logo of the city of London.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:46:37 GMT
Haines Junction PO178 Lucania St, Haines Junction YT Y0B 1L0  ‘KLUANE NATIONAL PARK’; mountains. The older one is no longer available.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:48:28 GMT
Haines Junction PO178 Lucania St, Haines Junction YT Y0B 1L0  House. This house cancel is being used by at least 4 towns in Yukon: Carcross, Dawson City, Haines Junction, and Teslin.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:49:22 GMT
Teslin PO804 Alaska Hwy, Teslin YT Y0A 1B0 
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:50:26 GMT
Dawson City PO1054 Third Ave, Dawson City YT Y0B 1G0  All of Dawson City's cancels are imprinted in blue ink -- interesting!
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:51:20 GMT
Dawson City PO
1054 Third Ave, Dawson City YT Y0B 1G0  ‘HEART OF THE KLONDIKE’; Cancan dancers.
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Linda
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Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
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Post by Linda on Mar 3, 2024 10:52:12 GMT
Dawson City PO1054 Third Ave, Dawson City YT Y0B 1G0  ‘Heart of the Klondike’; Cancan dancer.
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(I should have asked to see other months instead!)