Orange

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is celebrating the colours of Autumn, this week -Orange

 

one of the colours of the Irish flag.

Welcome to the 2012 London Olympics - Cycling - London Eye

Sunsets

Valentine's Flower Series No. 16

and coreopsis, which with its postcard companion, scabious, are known for their long bloom time, continuing flowering into autumn.

Island Butterflies

 

1993: Butterflies - 21st Anniversary of the Manx Conservation Trust (Artist - Collen Corlett

Butterflies who have found their home on the Isle of Man. The cover features Small Tortoiseshells 

The stamps top - Peacock, Dark Green Fritillary and Painted Lady. Below are the Holly Blue and Red Admiral. The Red Admiral, unusually for a butterfly, sometimes flies at night.

2021: 70th Anniversary of the Manx National Trust

when the Garden Tiger Moth will be flying. The moth's striking black caterpillars are covered in long black and ginger hairs so referred to as 'woolly bears'.  The small island of the Calf of Man is a nature reserve and Bird Observatory.

1985: Flora and Fauna (Artist - Ian Loe)

Hopping over from the Isle of Man to the larger island of Ireland and a Marsh Fritillary, once widespread across Britain and Ireland but has declined in number and now mostly restricted to the west coasts of Britain and Ireland where it is sure to find its preference for wet meadows and boggy places.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - I for Isle of Man, Ireland and Insects - See It On A Postcard 

Scenes from History

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

Der Rütlischwur (The Rütli Oath) - by Ernst Stuckelberg

One of the murals in William Tell's Chapel by Lake Lucerene tells the story of the Rutli Oath which was taken at the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy by the three founding cantons. It is named after the site of the oath, the Rütli, a meadow above the lake. 

The Greek War of Independence from Ottoman rule. The city of Missolonghi was one of the first to rise against the Turks in 1821. Trying to get the city back the sultan sent troops to suppress the revolution, which failed. He sent a larger force in 1825 and a siege of the city began, lasting a year. The Greeks could not get food through the Turkish encirclement and people started dying. Eventually the citizens decided to secretly leave the city on the night of 10th April 1826 but their plan was betrayed and when they opened the gates in the middle of the night the Turks attacked killing all the women and children and most of the soldiers.   (The stamp is  a painting entitled 'Flight from Missolonghi' from the 1982 Europa theme of Historic Events)

A view that spans the centuries in Rome, not a chariot in sight but there are some cute 20th century cars. The Pyramid of Cestius, built outside the city walls in 18-12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius stands between two ancient roads.  The entrance at that time was named Porta Osttiensis after one  of the roads.  The famous entrance shown on the card was built in the 3rd Century and is known as Porta San Paulo This is the gate the Ostrogoth entered breaking the Siege of Rome 549-50 and sacking the city. They were let in by hungry and disillusioned guards who believed the promises of the Ostrogoth that they would not be harmed. 

Hot Air Balloons

 

1997: For Us Children

The ultimate air mail arriving by the power of hot air.

1983: Bicentenary of Manned Flight

Left: - In 1859 John Wise carried 123 letters in his hot air balloon 'Jupiter', the first official airmail delivery for the US Post Office. Right: - The pioneering flights of  balloons during the Siege of Paris of which the The Neptune was the first to take off in 1870. Weight was of great importance because every balloon had to reach the altitude of at least 3,300 ft (1000m) in order to be beyond the range of the Prussian rifles. Neptune took off from the hill at Montmartre with three bags of mail weighing a total of 125g, and eventually landed in the grounds of Castle Cracouille at Evreux, 104 miles NW of Paris.

1983: Bicentenary of Manned Flight

  

Hungarian Hot Air Balloons for leisure. The captive observation balloon at the Budapest Exhibition in 1896 and the 1904 Balloon Chase Race. Balloon racing became quite popular at this time unfortunately I could only find a passing reference to Hungarian races but this paragraph of British events in 1904 gives the gist of the pursuit.

1989: International Young Inventors Exhibition, Plovdiv

 

Bright young minds travelling to Plovdiv, the tiger arrives by hot air balloon.

Sunday Stamps A-Z, this week it is H for Hungary and Hot Air Balloons - See It On A Postcard

National Parks

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - enjoying the National Parks

2021: National Parks

From the heights of Crib Goch Ridge leading to Snowden, from which the National Park takes its name - Snowdonia

to the lows of the watery Broads National Park, the UK's smallest National Park,. The card shows the 19th Century Berney Arms Mill In Norfolk. The stamp features Herringfleet Mill in Suffolk.

Just a reminder that as the days shorten "winter is coming" to the Lake District National Park

Geese

 

A century ago Snow Geese were rare in Greenland today there are between 200 and 2000 individuals coming in on the Atlantic flyway from Canada, numbers are hazy because of the fragmented nature of their distribution in Greenland.

1990: Birds IV (Design - Jens Rosing)

One of the 130 stamps Jens Rosing (1925-2008) produced for Greenland, he also designed their coat of arms.

1985: Protected Animals (Design - Andrea Soest)

Red-breasted Geese, another arctic goose but this one winters in eastern Europe.

1991: Postal Buildings

 Budingen post station where the stagecoach and horse riders travelled to and from Frankfurt.  Today it is a hotel and restaurant.  I wonder if the geese are going to market or just passing with their young herder.

1977: The Twelve Days of Christmas (Design - David Gentleman)

 

"Six geese a-laying"

Sunday Stamps A-Z ; G for Geese,, Greenland, Germany GDR and GB - See It On A Postcard 

Famous

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Famous People

'Magic of the Movies Series'

"They had a date with fate in Casablanca". I've lost count of how many times I have watched Casablanca. Most of the witty and often quoted dialogue was actually written day to day with none of the actors knowing until the final day of shooting how it was  going to end. The film was premiered in NY November 1942 (just after the Allies landed in North Africa ) with theatrical releases in January 1943. (Behind the Fog 10 surprising film facts)

A young Charles Dickens painted by his lifelong friend Daniel Maclise in 1839 when Dickens would have been 27. Pickwick Papers had been published in 1836 and in 1839 he had two monthly serializations running concurrently of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. Many of Maclise's paintings were based on literary sources both ancient and modern. He also worked as an illustrator for Frasers Magazine and illustrated works by Dickens and Tennyson among others. The two friends would both die in the same year (1870), Dickens worn out with work and travel at 57 and Maclise of acute pneumonia. Maclise was born in Ireland (Cork) so lets visit his homeland with a royal couple 

'Queen Elizabeth II ad Prince Philip on their historic State Visit to the Republic of Ireland 2011'

being shown the art of pouring a perfect pint of Guinness although both declined the opportunity to drink it, there may have been some Irish banter at this point.