Windmill Sunsets

As the sun sets a farmer rests on his scythe and is now ready to winnow and grind the grain into flour.  Every year Åland Post attends about 16 international stamp exhibitions and celebrates the fact with stamps and cards on a common theme.  This one is from the Lapoex National Stamp Exhibition in Lahtis, Finland.  It shows a Post Mill which was operated by a group of farmers or in remote areas owned and operated by one farmer. They date back to the late 18th Century but the ones that survive in the country are from the 19th Century.

Windmill technology originally came into Finland from Sweden so it is appropriate the next card is from there

and the Nordic Philatelic and Postcard Exhibition in Täby north of Stockholm.  This one looks a bigger affair altogether and seems to have a miller in place.  Is it early morning or evening? I will let you decide.

I leave the Nordic countries to journey to Germany and an even more sturdy windmill not made of wood

but brick or stone.  This we call a smock mill which gets its name from the shape of smocks that were once worn by farmers.  In German it is a Galerieholänder which I think translates as a Gallery Dutchman.  (Unfortunately Åland Post did not attend any Dutch stamp exhibitions so no paintings from the home of the windmill)   It looks as though a couple are taking an evening walk and admiring the windmill as the birds fly home and the windmill custodian appears at the side. This is from the International Stamp Exhibition in Sindelfingen a town near Stuttgart.  Take a trip from here up to Lower Saxony and a whole range of windmills can be enjoyed at the International Wind and Watermill Museum. 

The postcards and stamps are by the Swedish illustrator and writer Tord Nygren (b1936) and the full set are little vignettes of windmill life from Scandinavia, Europe and Asia, the old to the modern set in landscapes with changing skies. 

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Sunrise or Sunset - sail away for more skies at See It On A Postcard