Moveable Bridges

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is watching moveable bridges

opening up in Saint Petersburg 

Closed down in Oudewater.The town has both a rope and a witch weighing house museum. Witches were supposed to be very light to be able to fly, they wouldn't have needed to use bridges unless they were travelling incognito.

One of my snaps showing a Dutch bridge open, the traffic lights are at green.

 

Bridges Over Water

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Bridges spanning water

Japanaiserie - Bridge Under Rain (after Hiroshige) by Vincent van Gogh (Paris 1887)

 Copied from a woodcut by Utagawa Hiroshige Vincent van Gogh's 'Bridge in the Rain' added more colour than the original and because the shape of woodcuts would not fit directly on square canvases he added a colourful border. Vincent and his brother Theo had had collected many Japanese prints and woodcuts in their time together in Paris. Hiroshige's original, called 'Sudden Evening Shower on the Great Bridge near Atake', was part of his series - One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Under clear skies at the mouth of the River Morar, on the road to the Isles, near Mallaig.  The river is the shortest in Scotland, it drain from Loch Morar so is really more of an estuary among rocks. There are a series of waterfalls known as the Falls of Morar on its short run to the sea.

Calm waters on the Leicestershire Ring, also known as the East Midlands Ring. There are many bridges over its 154 miles which consists of a mixture of rivers (Soar and Trent) and canals. The bridge top middle is at Hartshill Basin, bottom left Hawkesbury Junction, both are over he Coventry Canal. Bottom right - Braunston where the Grand Union and Oxford Canals meet, the cast iron bridge is the Horesley Iron Works Bridge. I think that is the marina seen through the arch.

Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and Piglet

For pure bucolic bridge delight what could pass the time better on a sunny day than a game of  Poohsticks with friends.

 “Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Fine Food

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Food (or plants)

A visit to the delicatessen

Russian Cuisine - Margarita Tkachenko  

Something for the cooler months. The postcard was sent from Tomsk, Siberia whose 'weather changes very quickly". The writer said she regularly cooks borsch which "combines perfectly with fresh onions, garlic and sour cream", as the card confirms.

 The highly sought after cloudberry, sometimes referred to as Arctic Gold.

 

Strawberries - Wijnand Warendorf (2012)

 

Another delicious summer berry by the realist painter Wijnand Warendorf. 

Animals Illustrated

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Illustrated Animals

One of Dick Bruna's alphabet cards and of course M is for Miffy

Frog by Matsumoto Hoji

Matsumoto Hoji was active in the late 18th Century. Little is known about him but must have been well known in the past as his frogs appeared in the 'Meika Gafu', a compendium of famous artworks and artists published in 1814.

Illustration - Jackie Morris from The Lost Words book

A frog almost hidden by a Lady Fern on what looks like a misty morning by the pond. From frog

to a dog in summertime. 

Inter City Bridges

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt in search of iron and rail...

Loco 57311 'Parker' hauls a Glasgow to Euston Pendolino service through Settle station

This cast iron bridge makes a perfect frame for an inter-city passenger train travelling south.  Settle is a busy market town in the Yorkshire Dales.  Although the bridge looks as though it has been here since the 19th Century its originally location was at  Drem Station in Scotland being moved and rebuilt at Settle station in 1993 when the Scottish line was electrified. Before the bridge passengers accessed the station platform over the lines, a so called 'barrow crossing', still used by people in wheelchairs.

Electric loco NS 1600 series inter-city, Moerdijkbrug

In flatter Dutch terrain an inter city train crosses one of the Moerdijk Bridges connecting Dordrecht with the province of North Brabant across the Hollands Diep rivers and estuary. Apparently this area was formed in the floods of 1421 when the dykes failed and altered the geography of the area for ever. It looks very watery

Now I've shown a diesel and an electric train its time for

steam. Alas the Bela Viaduct is no more, a victim of short term thinking and the road lobby in the 1960s when a lot of  branch lines were closed and in this case the viaduct was also demolished. When steam power was eventually removed from the lines all the locos were sent to the scrapyard but some were rescued by enthusiasts and included the  Black Five class shown on the postcard.  Today six of them are certificated for main line running and if lucky one or two of them can sometimes be spotted on the Settle to Carlisle line featured in my first postcard. 

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.

Here Comes the Sun

 

1996: Child Welfare Week (Design - Takashi Yanase)

A smiling sun arrives, lets jump for joy

1983: Children's Paintings

 

Bu Hua enjoys a sunny day, she calls her painting  "The sun, birds, flowers and Me" 

 

1996: Tourism

 

The golden glow of the sun sparkling on water, time to jump the waves

1980: Nature Conservation (Design - Heinz Schillinger)

 

and feel the warmth of the sun.

Sunday Stamps theme - Sun and Sunny Days - See It On A Postcard

In Sunshine and in Rain

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt  this week is - Formal or Fancy Dress

Wimbledon 1967 by Tony Ray-Jones

Here is a card that never fails to amuse me.  Tony Ray-Jones (1944-1972) had the idea to survey the English at leisure for a book that was eventually published posthumously after his untimely death.  This photo is also one that later appeared in a 2014  exhibition 'Only in England' featuring work by two influential photographers Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr and where I picked up the postcard.

Southport for a Holiday in Wintertime by Fortunino Matania c1935

A flurry of snow in the seaside resort of Southport.  I collect postcards featuring the golden age of railway travel posters and this painting is one that was used in the 1930s to encourage travelers to take a winter break in Southport. The original oil painting is held by the Atkinson Art Gallery and Theatre in Southport.

Amsterdam Central Station c1935 by Willem L Bouwmeester

Also in 1935 Willem Bouwmeester painted this scene. of  a well dressed crowd waiting for the arrival of their train in the rain.  A painter of landscapes he was also fascinated by trains and railways. The Railway Museum in Utrecht hold a small collection of Bouwmeester 's drawings and paintings

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,

Summer

 Thursday's Postcard Hunt on the theme of the Seasons takes up residence in Summer,

Stranddistel by Annemarie Bethke

in a house with a blaze of summer colour in the garden.  The house is called 'Stranddistel', Dutch for Beach Thistle. In the UK we call this seaside plant Sea Holly (Enyngium maritmum) but both names tell you its spiky. We had our first overnight frost today so how pleasant to dream of summer in this house by the coast.

Education for All

1999: Millennium - The Citizens' Tale

The Right to Learn

1953: People's Education Plan

brought into law

1955: Five Year Plan

and maybe a five year plan.  Books required and

1936: Tercentenary of Utrecht University

knowledge will be gained.  Here is Athene, personification of wisdom, and how appropriate that all these years later than the stamp Utrecht University today run a digital data portal to encourage interdisciplinary research into biodiversity called ATHENE. It is open to everyone both academic and citizen scientists.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Education - learn more at See It On A Postcard

Cartoons

 

1998: Sports

Here is the hapless FC Knudde goalkeeper saving the boot but not the ball. From John Le Noble's comic strip 'Jaap and Joop' recording the ups and downs of FC Knudde which has been published since 1973.

2011: Animated Films by Loriot

If you don't like football how-about a day at the races.  The 4 stamps of the set are of  Lariot's most famous short cartoons.

1999: Erich Kastner - Birth Centenary

On his way to Berlin Emil has his money sewn in his pocket but when he arrived it is stolen. Emil and the detectives are following the robber on the stamp. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner was published in 1931 and has never been out of print. The illustrations were by Walter Trier.

2012: Comics

Lastly here is Desperate Dan, the world's strongest man with a beard so tough he shaves with a blowtorch. He appeared in the first issue of the Dandy in 1937. The print addition ran for 75 years.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Comics or Illustrations - See It On A Postcard

Children

1964: Child Welfare (Design - RDE 'Ootje' Oxenaar)

A young artist gets to work with his paintbrush

Meanwhile down the corridor a girl is playing a recorder

while toy-making is in progress at the work shop. 

2002: Astrid Lindgren 1907-2002

Well away from school these children are having adventures while Astrid Lindgren looks benignly on. Starting from the top left and going clockwise we have - Pippi Longstocking; Karlsson on the Roof; Emil of Lonneberga, Madicken,  Lotta on Troublemaker Street and lastly The Brothers Lionheart 

Weirdly before I had chosen my stamps for this week I read how the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award graphics had been redesigned, the result was inspired by her stories and her shorthand notebooks. I knew nothing about her unique shorthand, of which little has been deciphered. There is now a Swedish project called the Astrid Lindgren Code to decode the manuscripts.  The Design Week article is here

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Children - go play at See It On A Postcard

Signs of Spring

2006: Seasons (Design - Graf)

Frothy spring blossom is always a delight

2014: British Flora - Spring (Design - Kate Stephens)

but the humble celandine also brings joy and receives the name of  'spring messenger' for the traditional belief that it flowered on 21st February.  Wordsworth may be famous for his 'Daffodils' poem but he wrote three poems about the celandine.  A lover of damp places it will have enjoyed the recent weather although this week we have had a glorious run of sunny days showing spring in perfection.

2005: Signs of Spring (Design -Kerstin Olsson-Gronvik)

Sweden chose as their 'Signs of Spring' flowers - the pretty Lily of the Valley, the Yellow Star of Bethlehem and a Pasque Flower (sometimes called the Anemone of Passiontide).  Lastly is one of my favourites, the Wood Anemone which carpet the ground in ancient woodlands.

1973: Tulip Exports

Spring brings the joy of flowers but also

2017: Song Birds (Artist - Frederico Gemma; Design - Osborn Ross)

of bird song and I enjoyed my first skylark song of the season last week. My favourite time is the nesting season when they shoot up in the air and sing to distract but in fact enchant.  As a bonus I include the Goldcrest for the rather nice postmark.  Their notes are so high that sometimes older birders loose the ability to hear it but maybe they will be alerted to it by those in the spring of their lives.

Hedgerow Daffodils

Sunday Stamps II theme this week - Signs of Spring - enjoy more at See It On A Postcard