Temple and church

 See It On a Postcard' Thursday Postcard Hunt for Temples and Churches - for all things spiritual...

Prasat Angkor Wat Temple

starting with the famous12th Century Buddhist temple complex Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Notre-Dame de Paris

and an ethereal view of Notre-Dame. The spire once again rises after the fire in 2019 having been recently erected last year topped with cross and cockerel. All this was very much in the future when this card was sent in September 1931.

Holy Trinity Church, Howgill, Cumbria

In contrast to these world renowned buildings  hunkered down among the Howgill Fell is this sturdy little church built in the 19th century.  I can never resist a card with sheep and in this context as the Bible verse says "I know my sheep and my sheep know me..."

Comic Strips

 

1982: 150th Anniversary Birth of Wilhelm Busch

The Maxi Card features a character from poet, illustrator, painter and satirist Wilhelm Busch's illustrated story in verse called Die Fromme Helene (The Good Helen or The Pious Helen) which satirises religious hypocrisy and dubious morality.  The card quotes and illustrates from  Chapter 5 - The Love Letter.  Busch published pictorial broadsheets (Bilderbogen) that "can be considered precursors of the comic strip" which has led him being called 'the forefather of comics'

 

The reverse of the card shows his self portrait.  Having shown the past here is how it

2021: DC Collection

looks now.

2012: Comics

In contrast Bunty's "The Four Marys"  had adventures and solved mysteries at a boarding school. Midnight feasts always featured at some point. The strip ran for 40 years and resulted in generations of girls dreaming of being sent away to boarding school, the reality may have been rather different.

Bunty is no longer published but the science fiction comic 2000AD is still in print with its most famous creation Judge Dredd.  No dystopian futures for

2020: Centenary of Rupert Bear - Stamps above from the story ''Rupert and the Mares Nest"

Rupert Bear, a comic strip which first appeared in the Daily Express newspaper in 1920. The Rupert annuals started to be published in 1936 and are still published today with a cult following.   The full set of stamps can be seen here 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Illustrated - See It On A Postcard

 

Houses by Water

 The See It On A Postcard Thursday Postcard Hunt is on the theme Houses. Here are some near water...

En rivière d'Étel

A peaceful retreat on a river at the eastern edge of Quiberon Bay estuary. It seems this land between water  and sandbar is more commonly referred to as a ria, a long salty inlet

On the Suffolk coast Southwold Lighthouse sits among houses handy for the popular Sole Bay Inn where one can sit inside or outside depending on the weather although as East Anglia is the driest part of the UK there is every chance of sunshine.

Heading north and inland to Thornton Beck which meanders through the village of Thornton-le-Dale in North Yorkshire and the much photographed 17th Century thatched cottage 'Beck Isle'

Into the Blue

1960 to ? Definitive  - Postal History - (17th Century Messenger of Freiburg)

The letter deliverer can come from any direction. The tourism cancel features Hermetschwil Monastery (founded in 1082). The Wanderlust blog takes you on a walk through the complex and countryside (in German but the walk is told through photos).

1982:Airmail

Send letters by airmail

1984: Air

although possibly not in a Farman F60 Goliath which was built as a bomber for World War 1 however it was still going through testing when the war ended. Not fazed Farman converted it into a passenger plane which could carry 12 to 14 people and it became a a popular aircraft for travel. From war to

1995: Europa - Peace and Freedom

peace.

2017: Butterflies (Design - Carina Lank)

 

A summers day with butterflies is to be at peace in the world. A Mazarine Blue, the Swedes call it Klaverblauwtje - Clover Blue (it feeds on red clover) although only the males are blue. In the air from May to August.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - The Colour Blue - you won't feel blue visiting See It On A Postcard

Public Access

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for public buildings starts with...

Stadhuis, Grote Markt, Antwerp

Antwerp's magnificent Town Hall, built in the 16th Century when the city was one of the most prosperous cities in Northern Europe. The interior and exterior have recently been renovated so the exterior looks a little different in colour to this postcard as can be seen here.

Belgium of course is famous for its beer

and like the Belgians we enjoy our beer too in the UK, other drinks available. The artist, Bernie Carroll, invites you to a 'heritage pub crawl' to the public houses of Lancaster.  The oldest pub is The Three Mariners dating back to the 15th Century.  Pubs have had a tough time since Covid with many closing but I think all these are still trading maybe because Lancaster is a university town and you know how thirsty students are.

Bernie provides you with tick boxes on the postcard's reverse to add to any messages.

Calligraphy

 

1981: Inscription by Chou En-lai

Chinese calligraphy is an art however some ancient scripts are difficult to read for modern Chinese people which is why I think this is regular scrip (Kai shu) for it is a message to be read with ease.  It says - "To deliver mail for 10 thousand li has bearing on arteries and veins of the country". (A li has altered in measurement over the centuries as it was orignally based on the size of a field or village but in modern times has been standardised to half a kilometre),

 

2017: 200th Anniversary of Balzers Post Office/Letter Collection Point

Mail coaches could also have taken up that mantra of delivering mail. This posthorn is surrounded by some attractive calligraphy on both stamp and cancel

When this postman, Franz Frick (1907-1975), started his career in Balzers it was an age of fine penmanship

seen on the postcards and envelopes of the era.

Sunday Stamps this week is on the theme - Calligraphy - See It On A Postcard

Windmills

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of Windmills so where to start...

 
of course it has to be the Netherlands and the Kinderdijk with its 19 windmills.

2017: PHQ Card series - Windmills and Watermills

 

Head over the channel to Kent and Woodchurch windmill which has a view over Walland Marsh, land that was reclaimed into farmland many centuries ago.

Aland Exhibition Card for Taipei 2015 (30th Asian Int Stamp Exhibition)

Taiwan has huge offshore windfarms but it seems also a traditional windmill.  I like the light in this card, it reminds me of Greece.   The artist Tord Nygren painted an attractive set of Exhibition Cards around the theme of windmills for Aland Post, here is another one under rather stormier skies,

Harbour Lights

 

1968: Centenary of Esbjerg Harbour (Design - M Stage; Engraver - Cz Slania)

This harbour light has seen many changes in 100 years, Esbjerg was once home to 600 fishing vessels but in contrast today it is one of the world's largest shipping ports for wind turbines.

1987: Views

Sailing in Havelet Bay, I think the harbour light in the background is the approach into St Peter Port

2003: Europa: Six Decades of Tourism Poster Art

which could be this one which featured on a 2002 poster when Guernsey Tourism's theme was 'Naturally Guernsey'

1986: Tourism Series

The cancel hides the attractiveness of Calella Lighthouse (inaugurated in 1859) which can be seen here, although one of our number will know this already.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Lighthouses - See It On A Postcard

Lighthouses

See It On a Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt is on the watch for Lighthouses...

Le phare de la Vieille et la pointe du Raz

One mile west of the Pointe du Raz is possibly France's most photographed and famous lighthouse in the turbulent seas off Finistere, France's westernmost point.  It takes it name from the rock it stands on La Vieille and there are a lot of rocks unseen under the water adding to the danger of this stretch of water.. The lighthouse has been operational since 1887 and replaced the one seen in the distance in the photograph

Christmas at Walney Lighthouse

.A lighthouse you don't need a boat to get to on Walney Island (there is a bridge).  This is my local lighthouse and its claim to fame is that was the last one in England to be automated (2003) and was home to the only female Principal Keeper of a lighthouse in the country.

"Lost at Walney Lighthouse" Artist - John Duffin

 Here is an artist view. I always try and pick up John Duffin's postcards when he has a local exhibition but last time discovered I had more versions than were on sale😄