Coastal Flowers

 

1999: Coastal Flowers (Design - Wayne Rankin; Cover Design - Melinda Coombs)

 

A day for the seaside here, warm with blue skies but I travel by stamps to the sandy coasts of Australia where flowers play a role in the forming and stabilising the dunes while looking beautiful.

The flowers are clockwise - Fuchsia;  the yellow trailing Guinea flower; Australian Bluebells which occur throughout southeastern Australia and Beach Morning Glory.

2021: The Calf of Man - 70th Anniversary of the Manx National Trust

One of a set of stamps celebrating the Calf of Man, a small island just off the southwest coast of the Isle of Man, a nature reserve and bird observatory, the flower they chose for the stamp set was Thrift or Sea Pink, a familiar plant of wild coasts, although people grow it in their gardens too, a very accommodating plant. 

1997: 19th Century Flower Paintings

 

Some more garden flowers captured in art - Blue Gentian

This painting is of a flower grown from a Brazilian bulb in a London hot house - Hippeastrum rutilum, one of the many species of Amaryllis from South America.

Fuchsia and a tulip

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Flowers - in boom at See It On A Postcard

Birds

2012: Poultry (Design - T Lindstrom)

 Agricultural Shows are still in full swing and they always include various competitions for poultry. There is a mind blowing number of classes for hard and soft feather varieties and it is all for glory as the prize money is minuscule.  These Swedish cockerels and hens look fine enough to show.

Top - Heather Hen, very hardy with a dense downy plumage and thick undercoat; Old Swedish Dwarf Hen 

Bottom - Swedish Flower hen an endangered breed; Painted Hen

2016: Birds - White-tailed Eagle

Any one of them would make a nice snack for this fellow, Sweden's largest bird of prey.

1995: Wild Birds

Nothing for them to fear here in the forest with the beautiful red-billed streamertail.

1998: Endangered Birds

Some more pretty birds - Aquatic Warblers; Ferruginous Ducks and Hen Harriers

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - birds - fly over to See It On A Postcard

Trees

 

2000: The Forest (Design - Ingalill Axelsson)

A forest of silver birch, beautiful and resilient. The other stamp is a very important subject in the 'Right of Public Access' and to be able to enjoy a  shady walk in summer anywhere

1970: Tourist Publicity (Design - Claude Durrens)

or dream of relaxing under palm trees on a tropical island.

Preferring something cooler?

2017: Green Mann (Design - Nicola Dixon)

Aren't trees wonderful.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Trees - more to admire on  See It On A Postcard

Cool

 

1979: Landscapes

One may travel to Greece for the sun, which is what I would like to do now. The weather here at the moment is best described as changeable, however a heatwave from the south is promised for the week ahead. Meanwhile for those of you in hotter places here is a cooling view, I start with the snow on Parnassus.

1989: Swedish Polar Research - 250th Anniversary of the Royal Academy of Science

Always reliably cool in the polar regions.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Snow/Winter Themes - keep cool at See It On A Postcard

Urban Views

 

1995: Trams

A photo of a tram in Stockholm on the day the country switched from driving on the left to the right in 1967.  If I had been there on that day I think I would have walked or taken the train...

1976: Views of Copenhagen

Time to take a journey from Copenhagen Central Station to Germany.  Where to go?

1993: 1000 Years of Potsdam

Perhaps Potsdam and go to a concert in St Nicholas Church, their site also promises a 'lively church service'.

2007: 1000 Years of  Fürth

Or Fürth which seems like a place small enough to amble around and enjoy the serendipity of travel. 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Urban Scenes - visit  See It On A Postcard

Heads of State

 

1980: 200th Anniversary of the Death of Empress Maria Theresa

Empress Maria Theresa, only female monarch in Hapsburg history, pragmatic ruler in the 'Age of Enlightened Absolutism'. She brought peace to Austria, well after the little matter of the War of the Austrian Succession'. No-one was expecting a woman to rule. The stamp set show her in her youth (missing from my collection 😞), in middle age when she had had 16 children and maybe quite a few of a Hapsburg favourite, Meringue Cake (three layers of meringue filled with fruit preserve) and in her later years as a widow. Unusually for the age despite being betrothed to her future husband as a child it was a love match. After her death they found a scrap of paper in her prayer book where she had calculated the total number of years, months, days and hours they had been together.

1947-1948 Sun Yat-sen)

Jumping forward in time here is the China's 'Father of the Nation', and first president, a position he quickly resigned from. This stamp with plum blossom was issued long after his death.

1972: 90th Birthday of King Gustaf VI Adolf

This set of booklet stamps was issued with 1 kr going to the King Gustaf VI Adolf Birthday Fund for Swedish Culture. It shows some of his interests as a collector of books and graphic works, Chinese objects from his collection, reading a speech from the Swedish throne, two Greek objects d'art and the King in the garden of Solliden Castle.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Heads of State - See It On A Postcard 

This Year in Stamps

 

2022: Migratory Birds

The yellow wagtails usually arrive from Africa in April and May although they are on decline and on the red list.

2022: Cats

No red list for cats, there are millions of them, no wonder Royal Mail thought it was time to issue of set of stamps. Here we have a Siamese grooming, Ginger cat playing and a tabby doing what they do - stalking and lastly what cats do best sleeping, a British Shorthair snoozing.

2022: Pride (Design: Sophie Birkin)

Its summer so there will be a Pride event somewhere in cities and towns. The stamps mark 50 years since the Trafalgar Square march for gay rights.

2022: Seagull Mischief (Design: James Colmer)

And of course nothing better on a summer's day than an ice cream, at least that is what the seagull is thinking. It probably has its eye on the flake, so easy to swoop in and take.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - 2022 Issues - travel to  See It On A Postcard