Art and Crafts

 

1966: Cuban Handicrafts

Afro-Cuban doll and it looks like the doll is a drummer.  The four main African groups uprooted to Cuba were the Yoruba, Bantu, Calabar and the Dahomey. The most numerous were the Yoruba and Bantu and they had the most influence on Cuban folklore and music. Perhaps this doll is of Bantu origin for that is where the Bongo drums originate.  The other stamp features a colourful sombrero to protect from the heat while working under the sun. They are made from yarey, a palm endemic to Cuba.

1961: Professions

I imagine the Dahomey took their pot making skills to Cuba but here they are on home ground.

1972: Plains Indians

'Fancy Dancer', a work by Gerald Tailfeathers of Alberta and the Blackfoot Nation showing the ceremonial costume a man might wear during the sun dance, a grueling physical and spiritual test for the benefit of a dancer's family and tribe

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Indigenous art, crafts and clothing - See It On A Postcard

In Store

 Thursday's Post Card Hunt and I choose a museum and visit Debden in Essex and what the Postal Museum call their "off site large objects store"

A cornucopia for the all things postal including Roland Hill's desk and 200 postboxes, here is a taster.  They did guided tours but think they might have paused them at the moment.  Happily the Postal Museum in London is definitely open.  The van in the front is a Morris Eight hybrid of 1938 built to Post Office specifications and driven by both postal workers and Post Office Telephone engineers.  Like all museums there is more in store than ever on display.

Insects

 

2020: Brilliant Bugs (Illustrator - Richard Lewington

They are all around us, brilliant bugs.  The stamps are designed by Richard Lewington, illustrator of many insect guides, never wonder what that bug might be with a field guide to hand.

1953: Beetles

Although as my eyesight is not what  it was so something that sits still on a leaf, branch or on the ground is good. A nice shiny Jewel Bug like this would be perfect. 

2018: Flora and Fauna (Design - Stiina Hovi)

The flash of red on a stem and time to count the spots on a ladybird before she flies away.

1997: Insects (Design - A Ysttri)

The full 7 spots can be seen here - Coccinella septempunctate, our most familiar ladybird, welcomed by gardeners and organic farmers for their voracious appetite for aphids. Even better the 7 spotted ladybird is considered lucky, although not for the aphid.

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

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.

Architecture

 

2016: Definitive - Swiss Railway Stations (Design - Marc Weller)

When the old (1896) Lucerne Railway Station burned down in 1971 temporary structures were put in place. The Swiss decided rather than just rebuild the station to redevelop the whole area. As part of the project in 1980 Swiss Railways, Swiss Post (PTT) and the Canton of Lucerne joined forces to launch an architectural competition for the station complex. The winning design was eventually built and inaugurated in 1991

1987: Europa: Modern Architecture (Design H Larson; Engraving Cz Slania)

I didn't guess that this was a library but always a good thing to celebrate. Part of the interior of the central library of Gentofte, north of Copenhagen and completed in 1985. I wondered what the library looked like from the outside so here it is in its green setting.

The other stamp of the set is the senior school in Tåstrup with its jolly awning.

1987: Europa - British Architects in Europe

Lastly details of one of Richard Rodger's  'inside out buildings', the Pompidou Centre, Paris.  Sadly Richard Roger's is no longer with us but leaves behind his vision which was never bland unlike so many modern buildings.

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

   

Towers of Rohan

 For the Thursday's Postcard Hunt of palaces/castles lets travel to Brittany

and the sturdy Josselin Castle by the River Oust.  Since the 11th Century it has had a long history. The castle was substantially built on by Olivier V de Classon in the 14th Century when he had acquired the land as part of a dowry on his marriage to Margaret of Rohan.  In 1629 during the religious wars Cardinal Richelieu destroyed the keep and four of the towers saying to the Duke   "My lord, into your game of skittles I have just thrown a good ball!"  Today the castle has two sides the riverside fortress and the renaissance buildings and gardens on the other.  

Postcards of course also have two sides and this one comes with a bonus,

a nice tourism cancel

Take the High Road

 

1956: Opening of Sichuan-Tibet and Chinghai-Tibet Highways

Take a spectacular drive though the mountains, canyons and valleys of China and Tibet. This is the most precipitous road in China which opened in 1954. A truck convoy makes its way slowly to its destination.

1949: Landscapes

Not a lot of leeway for this truck coming out of a tunnel on the Val d'Anniviers Alpine road (considered one of the most beautiful valleys in Switzerland).  The road initially runs parallel to the mountains before starting to climb, winding along cliffs and passing through avalanche tunnels dug into the rock.  In the distance is a bus which perhaps is one of the yellow Swiss post buses.  A cyclist commented on the road "Thrills are guaranteed as you scale your way up the first hairpin bends from the valley and on the road cut into the rock at Niouc"

1937: Opening of Col de L'Iseran Road

The high mountain pass of Col de L'Iseran is Europe's highest paved road, 2764m (9068ft) and opened in 1937.  An irresistible opportunity to the Tour de France organisers as they made it part of the tour in 1938. It has been part of the Le Tour eight times, most recently in 2019 when thing did not go to plan.  Egan Bernal crested the top Of Col d'Iseran first but on the descent freak weather conditions of snow and hailstorms and news of a landslide blocking the route further on meant the rest of the stage was cancelled.

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