Not Here

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is asking what place you would not like to visit

I have been to Russia and enjoyed it but a country I would avoid today, I would not wish to support a war criminal. The card is of Uljanousk located on the Volga River. The birthplace of Lenin

Mortar Platoon

The Middle East is off my list too, not only for their treatment of women but who knows when one might be bombed by Israel. The card shows the British 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Border Regiment in Jordan, October 2001. The Middle East is also in the mess it is with the meddling of too many countries in the past from outside the region. Jordan from the outside seems to be one of the more progressive and stable countries and I would like to see the rose red city of Petra so might make an exception for visiting.

I have never felt the urge to visit the seaside resort of  Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast in summer.  Looks like standing room only.

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 

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

 

Golden Hour

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

Dog Walk on a Wet Beach (2014) - Mark A Pearce

Printmaker and landscape artist Mark Pearce lives in Ravenglass so this will be the estuary on his doorstep where three rivers, the Esk, Irt and Mite, reach the sea.

St Petersburg. View at the Kunstkammer

The Neva reflecting the sky by the Kunstkammer (Museum of Anthropology and Enthnography)

Islands in the Sun

 

2007: Island Jewels

Head for the sunny beaches of Rottnest Island.  It is also the place to see lots of cute quokka.

Maria Island, Tasmania, not only long sandy beaches, mountains and wildlife it is a World Heritage Australian Convict Site. Deported as punishment and wake up in paradise, eventually. Kangaroo Island off the south coast of Australia, I wonder what we will find there😀

Green Island a coral cay at the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.

1980: International Conference for Tourism, Manila

The subtropical island of Madeira, "the pearl of the Atlantic", as the card suggests it has an abundance and variety of fruit, something it shares in common with

1955: Landscapes

the Caribbean island of Martinique. This island however has an active volcano, it and the surrounding forests are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Heading away from the islands to France where the 'Race to the Sun'  begins today, a classic cycling stage race from Paris through France's mountainous centre and which will eventually arrive on to the sunlit riviera of Nice on the 16th March.

2015: Extreme Sports

A cooling activity for the heat of high summer in Portugal, white water rafting.

Sunday Stamps theme - Warm Location Vacations - soak up the sun at  See It On A Postcard

Orange Glow

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for 'orange moments'... 

Its a lovely sunny day here and this cyclist is about to head out of the card and onto the road

A Good Start, Newmarket 1957 by Sir Alfred Munnings

Alfred Munnings was never happier than when he was painting horses, riding them, watching them or at the races. His lovely house in Dedham is now a museum and not only is there a large collection of his work but his collection of jockey silks. He considered Newmarket "the most beautiful course in the world" and was fascinated by how the weather and light effected the scene.  He said ‘Orange satin, cerise-and-white, blue-and-yellow, emerald green – a large field waiting, waiting, regrouping. At each start, determining to retain the picture in my mind, too often an incident, something a horse is doing distracts, and once again my purpose is thwarted. This is the best picture I have ever seen – why can’t I paint it?’ (Munnings quoted in S. Booth, Sir Alfred Munnings 1878-1959)

The Esplanade, Weymouth, Dorset

A nice block planting of colour leading one away from the beach. Helpfully the original buyer of this card holidaying on the south coast has dated it with their visit 23rd Sept 1986.  The crowds are on the sands here but I looked today at the webcam and all the sand is in full view with a handful of well wrapped walkers on the beach, shoppers on the esplanade and of course the obligatory dog walker and a person (male) in shorts.

Docks

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for - harbour and port views...

Sailing ship being towed by Edwin Beattie (1845-1917)

Preston Docks, painted in 1894 with a tug boat towing a three masted sailing ship into port. Preston Docks were located on the banks of the River Ribble 15 miles from the Irish Sea. It closed in 1981 and the whole area was redeveloped so little remains. Today there is a marina here and the heritage Ribble Steam Railway still uses the dockside tracks.

The port of Brest is very much still in business however in 1941 the Germans based their formidable fleet of ships and submarines here so it was almost entirely destroyed when liberated in  1944. Only photos remain of the past.  The Richelieu battleship shown was commissioned just days before the Germans won the Battle of France, it fled to French West Africa and would eventually be part of the force that liberated Singapore. You might think the yacht or schooner Notre-Dame d'Etel was from simpler times but despite being built in 1913 she ended up being a patrol boat for the Free French Naval Forces.

South Bay, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Time to head to the peaceful harbour of the seaside town of Scarborough for a summer walk along the harbour walls or a laze on the beach.  It is a beautifully sunny day today but one would need to wrap up warm for these two activities especially on the North Sea coast.

Sunrise Sunset

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is book-ending the day with Sunrise and Sunset

The "rosy fingered dawn" and a lone moose, all is peaceful

The buzz of the city at sunset. My sender says "The Point, where you see the fountain, is a great summer escape in my city. Sometimes there are free concerts out there"  Part of the card description says "Seen here, the Golden Triangle and its waterway periphery glow in the Pittsburgh evening sky"  Water and sunsets are always a delight

especially if there is a setting sun melting into the sea.

On the Beach

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is on the search for Oceans and Beaches...

so grab the bucket and spade and head on down to the shore, in this case somewhere in the Netherlands but a scene that could be recreated anywhere.

Bondi Beach photographed by Frank Hurley (1885-1962)

although sometimes with a lot more people

2007: Nostalgic Tourism

somewhere to retreat from the heat

Kardamili, Mani Peninsula, Peloponnese

like a Greek taverna and gaze at the sea or later watch the sunset.  The famous travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor lived in a hamlet near here which is mentioned in a guide to Kardamili

Lots of sandy beaches here on Sylt the largest of the North Frisean islands but the people in this postcard are not in search of sand but wind and waves.  This is a card for the Sylt windsurfing World Cup (even the postmarks are skimming along on the waves).

and the back gives us a map the 1994 world cup mark all topped off with Westerland frank on the stamp and then the incoming Carnforth cancel as is arrives in England. I can't remember but I must have picked up this card at the Second Hand Bookshop in Carnforth, an Aladdin's cave for the book and card enthusiast.

Fun for Kids

 Thursday's Postcard Hunt theme of 'Fun for Kids' takes us to the seaside in the North East of England

and a ride on a miniature railway at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire.  I think this must be Cat Nab Station near the beach. The railway, run by enthusiasts since 1947, is only open at the  weekends (weather permitting) and this website suggests other things to do while visiting Saltburn.

Coastal Choice

 

1994: Tourism (Design - Colleen Corlett)

A sunny start to the day but a chill in the air  so what will it be - the beach or

2006: Bids (Design - Jeremy Paul) - Peregrine Falcon

a cliff top walk?

1983: Seabirds (Design - J H Nicholson)

Dip in the sea

Manx Shearwater

or bird watching.

1954: Views (Design Albert Decaris; Engraving Pierre Munier)

Atlantic coast or dream of the warmth of Spring in the Mediterranean. 17°C in Ajaccio today. 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Beaches of Coast -Sea  See It On A Postcard

UNESCO

 

1932:Airmail

The Great Wall of China built to defend the countries historic northern borders

2020: Roman Britain

and its tiny cousin Hadrian's Wall, the northernmost part of the Roman Empire.

1961: Tourism - Landscapes and Monuments

The monasteries of Meteora took a different approach and built on top of immense natural rock pillars 

2004: Bauhaus

But for more relaxed living the model homes for the Masters at the Bauhaus School in Dessau were a vision for modern living, the large windows creating a link between exterior and interior.

2004: Wattenmeer National Park

Head for the Wadden Sea National Park  and breath the fresh sea air.  The largest national park in Germany, 68% of it is underwater the rest is mainly salt marshes Its UNESCO designation is for its undisturbed inter-tidal ecosystem and unique biodiversity.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is  -UNESCO World Heritage Sites -visit  See It On A Postcard 

Stamps of 2021

 

2021: National Parks

 

I share some of this year's GB stamps and start with the first stamp issue in January celebrating 50 years of National Parks.  Here is Wild Dartmoor, inspiration for Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, and an early morning mist in the New Forest

with a sunset in Scotland.

March 2021: The Legend of King Arthur

I thought the colour palette was too dark for the size of stamps but the FDC gives a light and misty view of Glastonbury Tor and King Arthur's sword.

For every child that read The Beano comic Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Menace made an appearance on the miniature sheet to go with the 'Dennis and Gnasher' set. Dundee is the home of DC Thompson, publisher of The Beano and many other comics, hence the postmark that tells one everything one wants to know about these two characters.

 

July 2021: Wild Coasts

Never far from the coast in the UK

August 2021: Industrial Revolutions

where cables to and from the world run. Many more have been laid since 1858 and even this year a transatlantic cable came ashore  here

September 2021: DC Collection

There have been heroes aplenty this year working for good

 

and alas villains too, but at  least some kept to the pages of comics and films.

I wish you all A Happy New Year

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - New/Recent Stamps - keep up to date at  See It On A Postcard