Tall Tales

 

2002: Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories  - Centenary of Publication (Artist - Izhar Cohen)

 

How the Camel Got His Hump - How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin. 

The Beginning of the Armadillos - The Crab That Played With the Sea

Kipling was a prolific writer and poet and one could spend some time on the Kipling Society website where all his short stories appear both by theme and date.

1979: International Year of the Child (Design - Kass Janos)

Tom Thumb, no bigger than a thumb, seems to spend his adventurous life being swallowed by various animals, here he has encountered the hungry wolf.  But Tom has a plan and talks to the wolf from its stomach and tricks him to take him home,  All is well in the end.

The Fisher and the Goldfish but this fish is not golden in Hungary's colour scheme but is provided with a golden crown. Alexander Pushkin told the story in verse.

Sunday Stamps theme - Stories, Folk Tales - See It On A Postcard 

Japan

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt  for A place you would like to visit

Kyoto

so I have chosen Japan, a country with a culture both ancient and modern

Cat looking at fields of Asakusa by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)

and maybe I will stay in a house that overlooks the rice fields of Asakusa  that comes with a resident cat, although will have to travel back in time as the closest rice fields to Tokyo today are at Chiba. In the present times the area of Asukusa with its waterfront and temple complex is a popular tourist destination. The woodblock print is from '100 Views of Edo'. It depends on weather conditions and urban haze if a view of Mt Fuji 62 miles (100k) away can be seen from Tokyo.  As I have travelled back in time why not travel in imagination to

Moominland. It looks as though it is Moomintroll's birthday although he has yet to arrive.  Moomin Day is in August (as is my birthday).  We don't know how old Moomintroll is, and Tove Jansson did not say, but wrote in her notebook "He is of that particular age when summers are long, the water warm and new things are constantly happening" Jansson's home in summer was on an island in the Gulf of Finland. I would head further into the Baltic Sea from there to the Åland Islands. I remember reading of an artist who would go there every summer because of the amazing light. Water, light, islands and ferry rides, a true summer delight.

"Visit Aland"

Postcard of the same image Åland issued for the Europa stamp theme of 'Visit' in 2012

Summer Fun

 

1994: Centenary of Picture Postcards

Bathing at Blackpool, tales of the unexpected

Stay on the sands and enjoy a game

of Beach Volleyball as illustrated by Catharina Nygard

1988: Operation Raleigh (Design - Victor Ambrus)

Head to the Great Barrier Reef where the water temperature at the moment is 24℃ (an average temperature for July), not bad for the beginning of winter in Australia!

2006: Summer at the Lake (Illustrator - Irina Gebuhr)

Summer fun by the lake picnicking, fishing, swimming (the dog is not tempted) and enjoying the warmth and calm of a long summer evening.

2016: Lake Constance

 Time to relax after all that fun and watch the world go by.

Sunday Stamps is enjoying Summer Fun at See It On A Postcard 

Home Again

 See It On  A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt theme of Travel, it all starts from home

where I am in Cumbria. I live on the coast and look north to see the fells of the Lake District. The card shows five of its Lakes along with Napes Needle in Wasdale (the valley's lake, Wastwater, can be seen on the left)  This is the birthplace of modern rock climbing in the UK, the ascent by Walter Parry Hesketh Smith of the Needle in 1886 is often cited as a key moment, with the Wasdale Inn at the top of the valley becoming a meeting point for enthusiasts.  There are two Herdwick sheep (three with the one by Crummock Water), a hardy ancient breed originating in the Lakes which live on the fells.  There are more sheep than people in Cumbria. A red squirrel and La'l Ratty the miniature Ravenglass Railway in Eskdale, a valley that has no lake in an area sometimes referred to as Lakeless Lakeland but don't worry there is plenty of water in rivers, streams and waterfalls.

A quiet and hidden corner of Cumbria, the Lyth Valley, famous for its damsons  The trees and orchards turn a frothy white in spring. Damson Day is celebrated in mid-April. The valley is sheltered by limestone hills so has its own micro-climate hence the sweetness of the damsons. The name Lyth is Old Norse (derived from hlith) meaning slope or hillside.

This card shows a Rough Fell sheep so I can guess it is somewhere in the North of England or Scotland, a hardy sheep like the Herdwick. The post box shows the plain cypher of George V which for some reason I always find pleasing, maybe it is the calming contrast to the other busy royal cyphers.

Souvenirs

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for Tchotchkes or touristy items

A souvenir card from the Hanke Cafe and Restaurant at the foot of the Krimmler Falls in Austria.  It boasts a quick service and an extensive souvenir shop. What more could you ask for.! There is a 4k trail by the waterfall but I think you have to pay to access it, not uncommon in the world of tall waterfalls.

The Jackfield Tile Museum in a former factory celebrates the world of decorative tiles from elaborate friezes of figurative tiles to geometric shapes and all things in-between . One of those manufacturers, Craven Dunnill (founded in 1872), is still manufactured ceramic wall and floor tiles in Jackfield.  All I can remember of the museum shop are tiles, whether one wished to buy just one or hundreds.  Obviously they sold postcards but somehow I have a clearer memory of the cafe rather than the shop.

Illustration from 'The Animal Kingdom' by Georges Cuvier (1834)

What child has not taken home a sea shell or two from the beach as a holiday memento.  A spiral shell like this (once the home of a sea snail) would be a great prize but one would have to be on holiday in tropical waters or alternatively find a seaside shop selling exotic shells.

From the Sea

 

1991: For A Better Environment

The Mediterranean coastline and its wildlife

2006: Norwegian Marine Life IV

Meanwhile in the Atlantic - a sea urchin with a name that seems to use a good portion of the alphabet Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, Green Sea Urchin (found in northern waters around the world).

1980: Animals

Ocean perch

1981: Painting

'Hauling the Line' by Gunnlaugur Scheving who painted life in Iceland, many of whose works featured the sea, as can be seen here

A seal hauling out from the sea at low tide. Our local haul out has a seal cam so one can take an interest in the seal and pup numbers when it is the winter breeding season from the comfort of a couch.

Sunday Stamps theme - From the Sea - See It On A Postcard

 

Faces

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

John Hegley, performance poet, comedian, musician (plays the mandolin) and songwriter. T|here will always be audience participation.  This was a postcard promoting his 2004 tour  based on John's visit to Nice in 2001 to paint a scene originally depicted by his French father, Rene, in 1931. "In the show he muses upon the trip, painting generally, throat sweets and blancmange".  A book was published also called The Sound of Paint Drying with poems, sketches, songs, stories and diary entries.

B.B. London Series No 2402

A vintage card from Birn Brothers, untitled.

A modern card, also untitled, by the artist Francis R Martin

I leave you with a racoon.