Fashion

 

1953: National Industries

Haute couture and the Place Vendome square in the heart of Paris, home of jewelers and luxury fashion houses. A dress for a red carpet walk

1981: Europa - Folklore

A dress to dance in by the sea in Northern Germany with, I presume, a merry mariner.

2007: Swedish Fashion

Fashion from Katja of Sweden and fashion and costume designer Behnaz Aram

Rohdi Heintz and Nakkna 

An entry to the Sunday Stamp theme - Fashion - See It On A Postcard 

Darkness

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Halloween, Black or Orange

Winter Sea (1925-1937) - Paul Nash (1889-1946)

 

What sinister thing journeys across the water when light turns into darkness

Danjuro VII as Warrior Monk, Benkel 1852 - Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864)

 

Who will protect us?

 

Wizard of Oz Cover Illustration - Temujin Doran

 

Or maybe it is all an illusion and just the perfect time of year to tell eerie tales of witches, ghosts and goblins. Happy Halloween.

Island Maps

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at - Maps

Large island.

On the correspondence half of this card. printed in small letters at the bottom, is "PS If you don't get this post card, let me know".

Viking Britain

Archipelago

Norse settlement remains at Jarlshof, in Shetland, the northernmost region of the UK.

Lithou, one of the Bailiwick of Guernsey islands.

Tiny Island

Lithou is situated just off Guernsey's west coast and is only accessible via a winding, cobbled causeway at low tide.There are notices at each end of the causeway with the tide times. Miss that window of opportunity to return and no ice cream will be eaten on Guernsey. Dogs are not allowed on the island as there are lots of ground nesting birds. The Venus Pool shown on the map is a deep natural rock pool for wild swimming at low tide. The tractor and trailer shown is the island's resident warden's transport.

   

Red in Nature

 

2026: Waterfalls

The Pistyll Rhaeadr (Spring of the Waterfall) in mid-Wales, it was reduced to a trickle in July when a drought was declared in Wales, nobody had seen the falls so low.  It started to rain in September so maybe it looks like this now.

2025: Mushrooms

Nice damp weather for the fungi, such as the Scarlet Elf Cup, it is said the wood elves drink morning dew from the cups. The Fly Algaric is home to fairies.

1992: Edible Berries

Autumn of course is a time for foraging for berries and fruits. The kinnikinnick, is an Algonquin name for 'smoking mixture'; they were only interested in the leaves of this shrubby plant but bears and small mammals prefer the berries.

2008: Wishes

Swimming into view, two fish in love

2003: Roses in Norway

The deep velvety red of a 'Grand Prix' rose, the flower of love

2009: Meteorology

Natures 'goodnight' extravaganza with reds and yellows and pink

An entry to Sunday Stamps theme - Red - See It On A Postcard 

Illustrated

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Illustrations

1985: Theatre (Design - Paul Flora; Engraver - Wolfgang Seidel)

Opera buffa (Italian comic opera) usually in two acts often using the lower male voices. The basso buffo is a comic bass (or baritone) specialising in lighthearted, absurd or blustering characters. It demands comic timing and very fast singing with clear diction for the word play. The illustration shows a typical costume and a random owl.

One thing will not make an appearance is

Wood Engraving by Robin Dower

a Northumberland Small Pipe. It says on the back of the card that they can be heard playing at Wallington Clock Tower. The history behind this statement belongs to  Patricia Travelyn who was part of the family that owned the Wallington Hall estate before donating it to the National Trust. She regularly played the small pipes in the courtyard to entertain visitors to the Clock Tower Cafe. To honor her memory traditional music groups and pipers still gather at Wallington Hall in the summer months. If you want to see how it all works the Northumberland piper Kathryn Tickell explains here in a short video. I don't think I could manage all the co-ordination!

As it says on the card they are designed for playing indoors

Building A House, 1949. (Illustration by Richard Leacroft

but they will have to finish the house first. Helen and Richard Leacroft wrote and illustrated several architectural books for Puffin which included churches and even pyramids. These children's books were first published by Penguin in 1940 despite the challenges of severe paper rationing during World War II. The idea was a success as it expanded into all types of literature, at one time there was a Puffin Magazine and Puffin Club, with badges! The strapline is "There's nuffin like a puffin!"

World Food

 

2016: Food from Sweden

The 'Food from Sweden' booklet stamps feature food eaten in Sweden from other countries. These two stamps are of course from Italy and Japan.

The coil stamp from this issue has traditional Swedish food, crisp bread.cheese, hard boiled egg. potato, chives and herring. This would make an excellent picnic although I might need something more substantial than crisp bread. I happened on a blog whose main interest is all things philatelic concerning food and cuisine. It shows the maxi cards of this set, I lusted after these for a moment..

2002: Swedish Gastronomy

What we need now is a recipe book and Dr Charles Emil Hagdahl provided one called 'Cooking As a Science and Art' in 1879 which contained 3000 recipes. It also included how the housewife should handle servants and what he considered good qualities for a housewife.  Marit Huldt was an influential food writer using the pen name 'Hiram'. She wrote almost exclusively for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, becoming their food editor in 1955 after winning a cooking competition and remained with the paper for 25 years. During her time there she illustrated her articles and recipes, introducing characters like Fru Bratton (Mrs Hurry) who would also appear in her cookbooks.

1975: Fruits

 No need of recipes here, just pick these off the trees. There is a warning with the one on the left, achras zapota known as Sapodilla among other names. These must never be eaten unripe not only would it be very bitter but astringent to tongue and throat. The black seeds come with a warning too as they have hooks on them which can damage the throat. All said they are sweet when ripe, one of their other names is Marmalade Plum so maybe that is a hint of their flavour, I've never eaten them (or seen them in UK shops) but they look very juicy and their large black oblong seeds are disposed of before eating. Lastly something very familiar and delicious, also best eaten ripe, peaches.

Sunday Stamps theme - Food - feast at See It On A Postcard 

Water and Air

 An entry to See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Sculptures or Statues

Cormorant sculptures on Morecambe Promenade near the Stone Jetty. The real ones can make an appearance too but do not join their inanimate simulacra. The sculptures were part of the TERN Project which installed seabirds on sea-railings and roundabout representing the rich bird life of the Morecambe Bay.

On a much larger scale (9 meters) in Songkhla, Thailand is the head of the Naga, a mythical sea serpent whose three part triptych of head, middle, and tail are split across the city. The stream of water from the Naga's mouth spills out into the estuary of Songkhla Lake. The city's container port can be seen in the background.