The European Pine Marten (Martes martes) - WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from Ireland

"The European Pine Marten (Martes martes), known most commonly as the pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as Pineten, baum marten, or sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. 

It is about the size of a domestic cat. Its body is up to 53 cm in length (21 inches), and its bushy tail can be 25 cm (10 inches). 

Males are slightly larger than females; on average a marten weighs around 1.5 kg (3.5 lb). 

Their fur is usually light to dark brown and grows longer and silkier during the winter months. 

They have a cream to yellow colored "bib" marking on their throats."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Marten

Our highly-intelligent relatives, the dolphins. WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/dorincards about Montserrat, showing 4 different species of dolphins!

"(UL=Upper Left) The Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella frontalis) is a dolphin found in the Gulf Stream of the North Atlantic Ocean. Older members of the species have a very distinctive spotted coloration all over their body. 

* (UR) The Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which they spin longitudinally along their axis as they leap through the air. 

* (LL) The short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is a species of common dolphin. It has a larger range than the long-beaked common dolphin (D. capensis), occurring throughout warm-temperate and tropical oceans, with the possible exception of the Indian Ocean.[4] There are more short-beaked common dolphins than any other dolphin species in the warm-temperate portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.[5] It is also found in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. 

* (LR) The Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is an extensively studied dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphins

"Montserrat (pronounced /mɒntsəˈræt/) is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It measures approximately 16 km (10 miles) long and 11 km (7 miles) wide, giving 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline.^[3] Christopher Columbus gave Montserrat its name on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after Montserrat mountain located in Catalonia. Montserrat is nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish descent of its inhabitants.

Montserrat has an active volcano, which is monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. The volcano began showing signs of erupting in the early 1990s; now considered active, it is closely watched. Montserrat's Georgian era historic capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island's population were forced to flee abroad by an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on April 26, 1995.^[4] The eruption continues today on a much reduced scale, the damage being confined to the areas around Plymouth, including its docking facilities and the former W.H. Bramble Airport, the remnants of which were buried by flows from volcanic activity on February 11, 2010."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montserrat

==========================================

Happy Blue Monday!

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

"From Antarctica, with love!" - rare, circulated Antarctic cover (autographed by Father Coleman) from USAF McMurdo, Antarctica to Steven McLachlan, in Christchurch, New Zealand. The cachet and pictorial postmark depict The Chapel of the Snows, Antarctica - the southernmost religious building in the world!

Thank you, Scotty, my friend! 

I think that you really are the world's foremost authority in hands-on polar philately, after handcancelling, with various pictorial postmarks, over 10,000 philatelic items for collectors from around the world, while working many summers and winters, until 2008, in Antarctica as official USA Mail Clerk/Postmaster.

"Chapel of the Snows is a non-denominational Christian church located at the United States McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica. The chapel is the southernmost religious building in the world and has regular Catholic and Protestant services. During the Austral Summer, the chapel is staffed by rotational chaplains. The U.S. Air National Guard supplies Protestant Chaplains and the Archdiocese of New Zealand supplies Catholic Priests. The chapel is also host to services and meetings for other faith groups such as Latter Day Saints, Baha'i, and Buddhism and non-religious groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_the_snows