Tree Time

2011: Europa - The Forest (Design - Alan Johnston)

 Time to take a walk in the woods

1990: Forests (Design - Malcom Waddell, foliage illustration Jan Waddell)

and look at the leaves

2007: 100th Anniversary of Reforestation (Design - O Petursson)

A birch branch and

Sorbus aucuparia

the leaves of the Rowan or Mountain ash, in folklore known as a tree of protection

1979: Forest Fruits and Nuts

Any time of year there is always something to entrance

40: Larch, and its pink 'larch rose' 50: Hazel with its tasty nuts 60: Chestnut, irresistible to pick up their nuts from the ground 90: Blackthorn, its spring blossom is one to look for in the hedgerows as it shows where to find sloes in the autumn, essential knowledge if wanting to make sloe gin.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Trees and Leaves - See It On A Postcard

Bridges

2018; Europa - Bridges (Design - Vitaliu Pogolsa)

A wooden bridge spanning the Raut River, a tributary of the more famous Dniester River. I liked the description of it as a 'wooden flying bridge' and it seems to be inviting us to take the first step and walk across. 

Just get out of the way on this bridge as the train thunders towards us. This is the Eiffel Bridge at Ungheni, a strategic railway bridge over the River Prut, on the border between Moldova and Romania.  The bridge was completed in 1877 just before the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-88 broke out in the region.  Gustave Eiffel's metal construction company built bridges all over the world but it is said his  favourite creations were railway bridges.  The stamp shows the bridge to dramatic effect but I must admit that the actual bridge looks rather more low key

unlike Ungheni Railway Station which is a beauty.  For the railway enthusiasts it is where narrow and broad gauge meet.

2018: Europa - Bridges (Design - Sergio Ruggeri)

Another railway bridge but the colours and the jaunty blue and white train puts me in a holiday mood. This is the Valdragone Railway Bridge with the towers of San Marino in the background. The electric train used to run from Rimini to San Marino city centre from 1933 to 1944 but today there is no operational railway.

1984: Europa

The 1984 Europa stamp was a return of the common design to celebrate 25 years of CEPT and this bridge design will be familiar to us all.  Happily for something different it is on a Maximum Card showing the Luxembourg Viaduct, known locally as simply The Paserelle or sometimes The Old Bridge and runs south of the city centre.  The viaduct was built between 1859-61 to link the city's railway station but located away from the centre so as not to detract from the defensive capabilities of the city's fortress.

2018: Europa - Bridges

Next we have a bridge in the mist, clouds and snow of Norway.  The Commemorative sheet shows Hardanger Bridge and the construction workers on the walkway of the bridge suspension cables. Faintly in the background of the sheet can be seen the construction drawings.  This photograph gave rise to an alternative name on social media of the Sky Bridge.   It is the largest suspension bridge in Norway (1,380m or 4527ft).  The towers are 200 meters above sea level and the main span is the longest suspension span in the world, longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.  From the middle of the bridge shown on the stamp I learn there are great photographs to be had of the fjord.   

1976: Australian Scenes (Design - O Borchert)

Lastly something I always enjoy, a bridge reflected in water. The Richmond Bridge in Tasmania is the oldest span bridge in Australia (1823) and is on their Nation Heritage listing and can be found on the B51 - the "Convict Trail", which as the name implies was built by convict labour.  Here it is featured at the blog 'On the Convict Trail'.

Cattawade Bridge, Suffolk

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Bridges - for more cross over to See It On A Postcard.  

Legends

2013: Tour de France 100th edition

The 100th edition of the Tour de France was celebrated by Luxembourg with this commemorative sheet by the Belgian graphic designer and Luxembourg resident Jean-Philippe Janus. He has chosen two images for the stamp which sports fans always look forward to, the mountains of the Pyrenees and the finish in Paris after all those long grueling kilometres using the international shorthand for Paris - the Arch de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.  The portraits of the riders are constructed from the letters of their names.  They are, from left to right - Francois Faber (1887-1915) who was the first foreign winner of the tour in 1909 although really he was a dual national as his father was a Luxembourger and his mother French. As you might guess from his dates he died fighting for France in World War One at Arras.  Our next winner had a much longer life, Nicolas Frantz (1899-1985), who was one of the elite band who have worn the yellow jersey from the first to last day which he achieved in 1928 despite his bike frame breaking at one point and having to borrow a woman's small bike. Next is Charly Gaul (1932-2005) called 'the angel of the mountains' who was at his best riding in cold wet weather. Lastly we come to the modern era with Andy Schleck whose win was bitter sweet as he was awarded it retrospectively after Contador was disqualified for doping so did not get his day on the podium in 2010. He had to retire in 2014 due to a knee problem and now runs a bike shop in a renovated barn in in Itzig, just outside Luxembourg City.

1927: Definitive provisional stamp

Another legend but this time of a tree, the Cedar of Lebanon, which I will show from different eras, mainly because I only have four stamps in total from Lebanon. The stamps of the Ottoman Empire were used in Lebanon and then after the war French stamps but this is one of the provisional independent stamps of Lebanon overprinted with 'Republic Libernaise' and with the 'Grand Liban' crossed out.

1937: Definitive

 The cedar is of course Lebanon's symbol and appears on their flag so it occurs a lot on the stamps too but I especially like this one.

1961: Definitive

Lastly here is a whole grove of trees, 'Les Cedres'  which look quite idyllic. In the 1940s Lebanon reverted back to the French word for the country (Liban) on their stamps.

At this point I was running out of country Ls but as a last resort turned to my father's old 'Everyland Postage Stamp Album' from his youth, yes that is where I inherited my stamp addition from.

1919: Liberation of Courland

Here we have a warrior fighting a legendary beast, a dragon.  Latvia was much fought over in World War 1 and after the conflict Courland or Kurzeme became one of the five provinces of the newly formed country of Latvia.  The country's infrastructure and resources were mostly destroyed so paper to print stamps was in short supply however they came up with an inventive solution.  They did have lots of maps and occupation currency left behind by the German army so that is what they used. Some stamps have the maps on the reverse however this particular set of stamps were issued on woven paper in December 1919 but it exhausted the supply.  The story of "The Money Stamps" can be found here

Sunday Stamps II prompt is the Letter L - here for Luxembourg, Lebanon, Latvia, Legends and Liberation - leap to See It On A Postcard for more.

Gardens and Forests

2016: Landscape Gardens

In 2016 Royal Mail celebrated the 300th anniversary of Lancelet 'Capability' Brown's birth with some of the significant landscape gardens he created.  Nicknamed Capability Brown because he used to say to those wishing to employ him that their garden or land had "great capability for improvement".  He completely changed the gardens in the 18th Century from the formal French style into the artifice of what looked like a natural landscape.

He worked as Head Gardner at Stowe (bottom left stamp above) and created the Grecian Valley for Lord Cobham and from there everyone wanted to employ him on their estates. Creating lakes, serpentine rivers, bridges, woods and hills on country estates something triggered in the English psyche and we continue to love them.   

150 of  the 250 sites he designed survive today and the National Trust highlight some of them here

2011: Europa - Forests

 But lets head into the woodland of Luxembourg.  The stamps were created by the artist and naturalist Alan Johnston and painted outdoors to "capture the climatic, ecological and geological characteristics of the environment".

2016: Visiting Card From Finland

I love the misty landscape of woods and water on this FDC, it is almost as if one were a bird flying over it.

The 'visiting card' title of this duo  is of course because these are the stamps used on international postcards. The one on the left is  Nuuksio National Park in Southern Finland ("a hikers paradise") and the other is the fresh green leaves of a birch tree in sunlight.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II them - Gardens or Forests - wander and wonder at  See It On A Postcard