Festivals

 

1955: Publicity Issues

Alpine Herdsman and Costume Festival, Interlaken where of course there are Alpenhorn blowers aplenty.

1996: Publicity Issues

Enter a brass band at the 30th Federal Music Festival considered the largest wind music and brass band competition in the world. It is held every five years in various regions of Switzerland.

2013: Town Festivals (Designer - Linda Olafsdottir)

The Smelter Music Festival held in the remote village of Borgafjorour Estri in Iceland. The concerts are held an old fish reduction and herring factory which the locals convert into a concert hall once a year.

Entry to Sunday Stamps theme - Celebrations/Festivals - See It On A Postcard 

Breezy Days

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt, this month is watching the weather, today - Blue Skies

Ravenglass is one of the coastal villages of West Cumbria, the gulls are flying on the breeze. The painting is by the watercolour artist Alfred Heaton Cooper(1863-1929) known for his paintings of the Lake District and the Norwegian fjords.  The scene is a  reprinting of one of the early railway companies (Furness Railway) postcards showing the view from Gull Island of the village and a steam train crossing the viaduct heading south.

'A Sudden Gust of Wind' (after Hokusai) by the Canadian photographer Jeff Wall. The original is a photographic transparency which is in an illuminated display case. The Hokkusai can be seen on Wikipedia's Jeff Wall page.

 For contrast here is an idyllic still summer day in the Koli National Park, Finland. Lake Pielinan seen from the top of Ukko-Koli, a hill named after the God of the Sky (and weather), Ukko 

Fashion

 

1953: National Industries

Haute couture and the Place Vendome square in the heart of Paris, home of jewelers and luxury fashion houses. A dress for a red carpet walk

1981: Europa - Folklore

A dress to dance in by the sea in Northern Germany with, I presume, a merry mariner.

2007: Swedish Fashion

Fashion from Katja of Sweden and fashion and costume designer Behnaz Aram

Rohdi Heintz and Nakkna 

An entry to the Sunday Stamp theme - Fashion - See It On A Postcard 

Darkness

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Halloween, Black or Orange

Winter Sea (1925-1937) - Paul Nash (1889-1946)

 

What sinister thing journeys across the water when light turns into darkness

Danjuro VII as Warrior Monk, Benkel 1852 - Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864)

 

Who will protect us?

 

Wizard of Oz Cover Illustration - Temujin Doran

 

Or maybe it is all an illusion and just the perfect time of year to tell eerie tales of witches, ghosts and goblins. Happy Halloween.

Island Maps

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at - Maps

Large island.

On the correspondence half of this card. printed in small letters at the bottom, is "PS If you don't get this post card, let me know".

Viking Britain

Archipelago

Norse settlement remains at Jarlshof, in Shetland, the northernmost region of the UK.

Lithou, one of the Bailiwick of Guernsey islands.

Tiny Island

Lithou is situated just off Guernsey's west coast and is only accessible via a winding, cobbled causeway at low tide.There are notices at each end of the causeway with the tide times. Miss that window of opportunity to return and no ice cream will be eaten on Guernsey. Dogs are not allowed on the island as there are lots of ground nesting birds. The Venus Pool shown on the map is a deep natural rock pool for wild swimming at low tide. The tractor and trailer shown is the island's resident warden's transport.

   

Red in Nature

 

2026: Waterfalls

The Pistyll Rhaeadr (Spring of the Waterfall) in mid-Wales, it was reduced to a trickle in July when a drought was declared in Wales, nobody had seen the falls so low.  It started to rain in September so maybe it looks like this now.

2025: Mushrooms

Nice damp weather for the fungi, such as the Scarlet Elf Cup, it is said the wood elves drink morning dew from the cups. The Fly Algaric is home to fairies.

1992: Edible Berries

Autumn of course is a time for foraging for berries and fruits. The kinnikinnick, is an Algonquin name for 'smoking mixture'; they were only interested in the leaves of this shrubby plant but bears and small mammals prefer the berries.

2008: Wishes

Swimming into view, two fish in love

2003: Roses in Norway

The deep velvety red of a 'Grand Prix' rose, the flower of love

2009: Meteorology

Natures 'goodnight' extravaganza with reds and yellows and pink

An entry to Sunday Stamps theme - Red - See It On A Postcard 

Illustrated

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Illustrations

1985: Theatre (Design - Paul Flora; Engraver - Wolfgang Seidel)

Opera buffa (Italian comic opera) usually in two acts often using the lower male voices. The basso buffo is a comic bass (or baritone) specialising in lighthearted, absurd or blustering characters. It demands comic timing and very fast singing with clear diction for the word play. The illustration shows a typical costume and a random owl.

One thing will not make an appearance is

Wood Engraving by Robin Dower

a Northumberland Small Pipe. It says on the back of the card that they can be heard playing at Wallington Clock Tower. The history behind this statement belongs to  Patricia Travelyn who was part of the family that owned the Wallington Hall estate before donating it to the National Trust. She regularly played the small pipes in the courtyard to entertain visitors to the Clock Tower Cafe. To honor her memory traditional music groups and pipers still gather at Wallington Hall in the summer months. If you want to see how it all works the Northumberland piper Kathryn Tickell explains here in a short video. I don't think I could manage all the co-ordination!

As it says on the card they are designed for playing indoors

Building A House, 1949. (Illustration by Richard Leacroft

but they will have to finish the house first. Helen and Richard Leacroft wrote and illustrated several architectural books for Puffin which included churches and even pyramids. These children's books were first published by Penguin in 1940 despite the challenges of severe paper rationing during World War II. The idea was a success as it expanded into all types of literature, at one time there was a Puffin Magazine and Puffin Club, with badges! The strapline is "There's nuffin like a puffin!"