Nature

 

Heart in Nature (Designer Jenny Burman)

The colours of nature

2003: New Zealand Landscapes

on land

and sea

1984: Flower

A  pink Mexican Creeper with its heart shaped leaves, also known as the Bee Bush 

1991 and 1988: Native Birds

Rock Wren - a songbird of the mountains where it stays even in winter. A kingfisher bringing colour to rivers and watery places.

Sunday Stamps A-Z today N for Nature, New Zealand and Nicaragua - See It On A Postcard 

Ocean View

 

1993: Christmas

I've always loved the calligraphy and sentiment on this FDC. The quote is from "End of the Golden Summer" a coming of age drama set in one long New Zealand summer by the playwright Bruce Mason which he toured as a solo performer all over New Zealand. It would become a ensemble play and later a film. The play is set on the fictional beach of Te Parenga but was actually written at Takapuna where it is now performed every Christmas Day. 

1993: Christmas (Designer - Kristine Cotton)

The stamps show a view of a New Zealand Christmas when the weather is warm, the schools and universities are out for the longest holiday of the year and it is time to head for the beach. The stamps show Christmas baubles, presents, sailing-boards and yes a Christmas tradition the British settlers brought with them steamed Christmas Plum Pudding, just what you need on a baking hot day!

1964: Health Stamps

 
New Zealand have issued many bird stamps, a tradition starting in 1988 with an emu. These are the only two I have that feature a beach where of course there will be gulls, these are Red Billed Gulls. Like their Herring Gull cousins I suspect they will not pass up the chance of a piece of Christmas pudding, or anything else vaguely edible. The Little or Fairy Penguin on the other hand is on a more healthy seafood diet.

Sunday Stamps asks for - A Favourite - See It On A Postcard

South to North

 

1992: 500th Anniversary of Discovery of America

Time to set sail and

1992: Olympic Games, Barcelona

then take the road

1989: 200th Anniversary of the French Revolution

to Paris and experience the peak of our summer of sport

1984: Olympic Games, Los Angeles

Watch pure speed

1996: Olympic Games, Atlanta

and the killer shot

1964: Olympic Games, Tokyo

or two

Paris's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has swum in the Seine this week to reassure the open water swimmers it is safe, only time will tell. The triathlon event starts from a floating platoon.  The river on Friday will host the opening ceremony, the parade of boats starting at the Austerlitz Bridge.  It promises to be spectacular and this image got me rather excited.  Some of Team GB got on the train to Paris today and my stamp countries will also be on the way...

 Burundi will be sending a team of 7 (Athletics, Judo and Swimming)

Sao Tome et Principe has 3 (Athletics, Judo and Canoe/kayak sprint) 

Tanzania will be sending 7 (Athletics, Judo and Swimming)

New Zealand has a team of 215 with a wide variety of sports.

Check who is going in your own country here

Sunday Stamps this week is in the southern hemisphere - See It On A Postcard

Black Birds

 

1985: Native Birds

A conservation success, in 1980 the Black Robin had the smallest population of any bird species due to non-native predators. Today there is a stable population of about 300 on two New Zealand islands.

1998|: |Pro Juventute

No such problems with the Great Crested Grebe, estimated to have a global population of over a million.

1970: Birds

Common Black Hawk, also known as the Crab Hawk for its food choices are -  crabs, crayfish and amphibians. It hunts low along streams and sometimes wading in the water.

St Vincent have Queen Elizabeth on their bank notes and stamps so like us will be seeing many changes. 

1987: 40th Anniv of Wedding of Queen Elizabeth and 150th Anniv of Queen Victoria's Accession

The Queen and the christening of Prince Charles, we will have to get used to calling him King Charles. Weird to hear the national anthem as God Save the King at her Remembrance service in St Paul's Cathedral this week  She had a unique relationship to St Vincent as in all her duties  relating to the islands she spoke an acted as their constitutional monarch - Queen of St Vincent and the Grenadines and not as Queen of the UK.

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

The Locals

 

1920: Victory

The 'Victory' set of stamps were designed and printed in London in 1919 and were available there for sale 3 months before the issue was released in New Zealand. Philatelists in New Zealand received their stamps from UK dealers before they were available for sale from New Zealand's post offices. The stamp shows a Maori Chief wearing the tail feathers of the now extinct Huia and a Whakai or ear pendant made from shark teeth.

1946: Local Motives

The Tikar  people are known as great artisans, artists and story tellers and by the looks of this stamp, hair stylists.

1914-1933: Market

The long running issue from Senegal of food being prepared at a market.

1966: 100th Anniversary of the Naprstek's Ethnographic Museum, Prague

The Naprstek Museum specialises in collections of Asian, African and American culture and was founded by Vojtech Naprsek who converted his family brewery into a museum and library, after WW2 the museum has focused on non European culture.

And lastly I couldn't resist including this happy person - Kachima a 'good spirit' of the Hopi tribe.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - indigenous people - meet them at See It On A Postcard


 

Nesting

 

1966: Animals (Design Maurice Fievet)

The intricate nests of the Village Weaver, these gregarious birds like to live in large colonies in towns and villages but also are seen in semi open habitats or woodlands near rivers.

1964: Health Stamps

Another gregarious bird but  Little Blue Penguins live in burrows or rock crevices.  Their Maori name, Korora, is on the stamp.  Australians call them Little Fairy Penguins due to their small size.

1988: Native Birds

In contrast the Banded Dotterel is a solitary bird who nests in shallow scrapes usually lined with small stones.

1978: Australian Birds

Another dotteral but this time the Hooded Dotterel.  Related to the plover it is fascinating that the name dotterel has traveled to the antipodes for it is a 15th Century English word for a person who is foolish or easily duped and the bird itself tends to have a tame and unsuspecting nature. In summer dotterel are found in the Scottish Highlands where the old Gaelic name for them translates as 'fool of the moors', a foolishness to be cherished.

Heading to the water where Little Grebes nest on floating platforms, its feet have evolved towards the back of its body which help it swim underwater but makes it very clumsy on land.

1979: Australian Birds

The Eastern Yellow Robin likes to nest near water and and damp places in heaths, scrub and woodland. This little bird has a neat cup nest which it disguises with moss, bark or leaves.  The striking Crimson Finch is mainly distributed across Northern Australia in areas of tall, dense grass.  Typically they reside near wetlands with pandanus trees  where they nest at the base or within hollow tree limbs.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - N -  so I chose nesting birds - More L at See It On A Postcard

 

Lion and Lambs

1989: Animals

Well March has certainly entered like a lion with Storm Jorge and snow on the hills so I am hoping it lives up the idiom and leaves like a lamb

2013: Mischievous Animal Babies (Design: Gustaf  Öhrnell; Engraver: Piotr Naszarkowski)

and we see mischievous little lambs in sunshine.

2005: Farmyard Animals (Design - Samuel Sakaria)

Meanwhile in New Zealand lambing time is months in the future.  This stamp was issued as part of the Year of the Rooster set with a farmyard theme which can be seen here.

Oh a little lamb has wandered out of the field and on to a FDC.

2006: 100th Anniversary of Sheepbreeding (Design: Naja Abelsen)

Famously the Vikings took sheep to Greenland in 985 but both people and livestock vanished from history 500 years later and no-one knows why.  It wasn't until 1906 when 12 sheep were brought in from the Faroe Islands by the Reverend Jens Chemnitz and some years later sheep were imported from Iceland.  The flocks today are their descendants.  Sheep in Greenland have to be kept indoors during winter and today they number about 20,000, there is enough pasture land for more but that is required for producing winter fodder and why the postmark features harvest time.  This inspired idea is from the artist Naja Abelsen whose Greenland stamps can be seen here
   

Feeding the Lambs at Old Hall Farm in April 2019

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Lions or Lambs - See It On A Postcard

Christmas Greetings

2018: Christmas (Designer - Andrew Davidson)

Our Christmas stamps this year featured postboxes and as the George V boxes are among my favourites I show the stamp featuring one of the GR lamp boxes often seen in rural locations. The church lights shine out through the gloom with the energetic chorister running down the path to catch the post. The artist, Andrew Davidson's, local postbox in Gloucestershire is an Edward VIII and from this he got the idea of featuring one from each monarchs reign on the stamps (the full set can be seen here).

1982: Christmas Stamps II (Design - TT Trygvason)

A line of  Christmas music composed by Sigvaldi Kaldalon (1881-1946). He wrote about 350 songs mostly for solo voice and piano and it is said some have become part of Iceland's soul. The one on the stamp is a Christmas Carol called "It Was A Blessed Night" for which he put the poet Eimar Sigurdsson (1538-1626) words to music.

1982: Christmas Carols (Designer - Martin Newton)

A carol more familiar to me is 'While Shepherds Watched' and to whom "the angel of the lord appeared"

2010: Christmas (Design - Jenny Leibundgut)

This stamp has the sparkliest star ever but my scanner couldn't cope rendering it blue so I have pinched an illustration from the web which at least gives it some depth but no glitter. The difference between reality and representation struck me as appropriate when I noticed that earlier in 2010 Swiss Post issued a couple of  dazzling optical illusions stamps.  It may be easy for this angel to deliver good tidings

1992: Christmas Post (Design - Otto Moe)

but for tiny elves sometimes there are difficulties, but with a bit of teamwork all things are possible.

 Both the FDC and stamps were designed by the appropriately named Lotta Frost

1986: Christmas Post (Design - Lotta Frost; Engraver - Lars Sjööblom)

The Swedish Post Office celebrated its 350th Anniversary in 1986 and the Christmas stamps of that year featured four motifs forming a small town with its people and post.

2009: Christmas (Design - Stephen Fuller)

Of course the Three Wise Men had a lot longer distance to travel with their gifts

2003: Christmas (Design - Olwyn Whelan)

although perhaps this is the greatest gift of all.  The full set of stamps can be seen here.

A Happy Christmas to you all.

This week Sunday Stamps II is celebrating Christmas - come and See It On A Postcard

Christmas Time

1999: Pingu

The last posting day for Christmas has passed, time for little Pingu to take a rest and get ready to open his own presents under the Christmas Tree. Does a tree fit into an igloo?

1986: Christmas (Design - Margaret Halcrow-Cross}

And how does one wrap "a partridge in a pear tree"?  The counting song 12 days of Christmas is a popular subject for stamps and New Zealand Post issued three stamps each showing one of the first three gifts sent by "my true love"

2017: Christmas (Design - Catherine Rowe)

The Isle of Man went a step further and issued all 12 days in a set this year, easy to sing along with these in front of you. I show the partridge in the pear tree because I think it is so interesting to see how different artists interpret the same subject.

1992: Christmas (Design - Frances Poskitt)

A beautiful starry night in Ireland unfortunately not one we are going to have here this year in these islands. Its been unremitting gloom - mist and rain - for ages, we are promised sunshine on Wednesday!  The artist is Frances Poskitt, best known for her botanical paintings so you get a lovely holly bush on the stamp. We have been to church through stamps so it is now time to sit down for Christmas dinner

1982: Christmas (Design - Lynette Hemmant)

the party hats are on so the crackers have been pulled

2011: Christmas (Illustrator Andrew Hopgood/Design Jennifer Scalzo)

and Santa Claus is enjoying the day off on Christmas Island.  I wonder what he is going to eat?

2017: Christmas (Gingerbread Houses)

It would be a shame to cut into this little Gingerbread House. The gingerbread makers name appears on each of this two stamp set and this one is a gingerbread farmhouse by Miceal de Haas (story here).

Åland Post wished me a Merry Christmas with this Maximum Card. What a perfect Christmas greeting.  It looks an idyllic place to spend the holidays. 

 Sunday Stamps II is celebrating Christmas on stamps - See It On A Postcard 

Wishing you all A Very Merry Christmas