Unto Us a Child is Born

 

1993: Christmas - Carvings from Alter Triptych (Design - Antonia Graschberger)

 

The Birth of Christ with lots of teeny tiny angels, I think you can never have enough angels and the wood carvers thought so too.  The stamp is more restrained.

2010: Christmas (Design - Bruce Goold)

The shepherds (and sheep) not only got the 'Angel of the Lord' but they heard a multitude of the heavenly host.

The Wise Men had no angelic guide and followed a star and eventually ended up at the right place.

So much excitement in one day time for rest but not for long

1988: Christmas - Flight into Egypt - 15th Century Book of Hours

 

when an angel warns Joseph in a dream to take his family and flee to Egypt. The other figure is Salome the midwife or nurse who accompanied them, according to the apocrypha.  She is often depicted in art with a satchel and a pole.

Happy Christmas

Sunday Stamps theme this week - Religious Christmas - See It On A Postcard

Christmas Activity

 

2014: Christmas (Illustrations - Andrew Bannecker)

Cards posted time to relax 

2012: Christmas (Illustration - Axel Scheffer)

A little robin has come along to help

with Santa's Christmas Tree. Illustrations by Axel Scheffer, the illustrator of the much loved Julia Donaldson books such as  the Gruffalo and Room on the Broom.

2016: Christmas - Barn Gnomes

In the cold Swedish winter the tomtar or tomten are busy. They live solitary lives on farms staying out of sight of the farmer but taking care of the animals and buildings

and protecting  the household from accidents and disasters but will play tricks on you if you annoy them

 

 

The only sight of them might be their footsteps in the snow.  They only demand respect and

a bowl of porridge with butter on Christmas Eve to be left in the barn. If the bowl is empty in the morning then all will be well for another year. 

The illustrations are by Eva Wilsson based on the the originals by Harald Wiberg (1908-1986) who illustrated Astrid Lindgren's books such as The Tomten and The Tomten and the Fox.

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

Toys

 

2000: Toys (Design - Lasse Aberg; Engraver - Martin Morck)

L to R:  Tea Party; 'Springtime is Here',  time to get outdoors; Life in the Countryside

L to R: Life in the City; At the Railway Station; Today's Favourites, which would definitely include

2015: Europa - Old Toys (design - Jakob Monefeldt)

Lego or perhaps and old favourite

1990: Greetings - Smiles

the teddy bear, unless it happens to have gone

1981: Christmas

sledging.  We have had the first snow of the winter in the UK this week but not enough for a sleigh ride.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Toys or Entertainment - play along at See It On A Postcard

Bridges

 

1991: Bridges

This wooden bridge is classed as a site of national significance, the Neubrugg or New Bridge built in 1534/5 crosses the River Aare in the canton of Bern.

and in contrast the Ganter concrete bridge, Simplon Pass, built from Summer 1976 to December 1980, it is the longest spanning bridge in Switzerland.

1949: Landscapes

The Railway Viaduct over the River Sitter near St Gallen, built 1908-1910

And as I love viaducts (and this issue) here is another viaduct Landwasser, a big tourist attraction for the railway enthusiast.

1962: Laval Castle (Designed and Engraved - Charles Mazelin)

Lets downsize. The castle of Laval with a bridge over the Mayenne River in the Loire region. Nice 'on the nose stamp cancel' for Valence which is on the left bank of the Rhone in SE France.

1957: Tourism Publicity (Designer and Engraver - Jean Pheulpin)

Le Quesnoy (Nord department), I think this bridge may possibly cross a moat for Quesnoy is a fortified walled city, the tower is the Town Hall.

1956: Views of Beijing

I started with an old bridge so finish with another, the Yong An Bridge in Beihai Park, one of the oldest, largest and best preserved ancient imperial gardens in China with a 1000 year history.  The park covers 175 acres, half of which is taken up by the lake. Probably why it is also called the Northern Sea Park.  In the middle of the lake lies the Jade Flower Islet on which stands the White Dogoba (a stupa) which can be seen in the background of the stamp.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Bridges - walk over to See It On A Postcard

D is for Denmark

 

2013: Rock Music (Design - Kasper Eistrup)

I thought at first the DK was for Denmark however this is possibly not the full story. The guitar belongs to Kasper Eistrop who is also the lead singer of the Indie Alt Rock band Kashmir and the designer of the stamp. For all those David Bowie fans out there he performed a duet with Eistrop on one of their albums.

1998: Post and Tele Museum (Design L Skovbo Carlsen)

Maybe one could listen to music while waiting for a postal delivery. What was the Post and Telecommunications Museum holds thousands of portraits of postal employees and this is a postman from 1922.  The museum also holds Denmark's largest stamp collection. Don't head there yet because there has been a relocation and rebranding to become 'Enigma - Museum of Communication' and it will reopen in February 2023.  Seems a certain lack of stamps on their website.

1989\: Centenary of the Danish FA (Design - M Sturup)

Dansk Boldspil-Union (DBU) the Danish Football Association will be willing their country on in the World Cup but things are not going to plan

1994: Save Water and Energy (Design - T Skov)

No need to save water here on the west coast as we have had weeks of Atlantic weather systems rolling in with days of rain. Good weather for ducks. Not completely all gloom for between the storms, like weather punctuation marks, have been, a day at a time, amazingly clear blue skies.

This is a picture puzzle stamp saying 'Save Water'  but of course in Danish so - 'Spara på vand' . Two clues  - Duck in Danish is 'And' so + V would make water. What we call the club card is 'Spar' in Danish 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - The Letter D - See It On A Postcard

Photographs

1991: 150 Years of Photography in Australia

 Gears for the Mining Industry, Vickers Ruwolt, Melbourne. The photograph is credited to Wolfgang Sievers and dates to 1967, a print version and Sievers thoughts on it can be seen here   From the factory floor

to the beach.  Bondi' by Max Dupain   From black and white to

2001: Outback Services

colour and a long way from the beach in the Australian outback, but not the postal service, I think the mail in there must get very hot.  The card shows emptiness but

not the stamp.  The colours of card and stamp reminds me of this verse from the Australian poem -

My Country by Dorothea Mackellar

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

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

Armed Forces

 

2022: Royal Marines

The Royal Marines, amphibious troops of the Royal Navy, taking part in special operations in extreme climates. At this time of year some

will be in Scotland training in the mountains ready for their annual deployment to

the Arctic, usually inside Norway's Arctic Circle.

2022: Queen's Platinum Jubilee

The Queen of course was Head of the Armed Forces. King Charles III like his father and grandfather this year became Ceremonial Head of the Royal Marines, a regiment that traces its origin to 1664 when Charles II was on the throne.

1939: Royal Visit (Design - Herman Herbert Schwatz; Engraver - Joseph Keller)

One of his grandfather George VI first official visits as monarch was to Canada and he and his Queen made an extensive tour of the country covering every Canadian province and what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland. Arriving by ship in Quebec they travelled to Ontario where the King dedicated the country's National War Memorial in Ottawa, seen on the stamp. A new king and war in Europe - plus ça change plus c'est la même chose

Sunday Stamps theme this week is -  Military or Remembrance Day - See It On A Postcard  

Children

 

1959: 1st Anniversary of People's Communes

In a Chinese Nursery a child is watering flowers

2007: Fishing Happiness

Meanwhile in Sweden the kids are on the lake seeing what can be caught with a net. I think more than a net is needed to be able to kiss a fish. A 'Duel Happiness' and 'Fishing with a friend'

This is called in the catalogue  'angle for worms' although maskmete on the stamp can also mean angling with worms, one word can make all the difference. Whatever the pastime it looks totally engrossing. 

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

 

The Witching Hour

 

2022: Europa: Stories and Myths - Guernsey Witches (Design - Keith Robinson)

On the 52p stamp Guernsey witches convene after dark on the headland at Le Catioroc for 'Le Sabbat des Sociers'

then they fly home, but not a broomsticks in sight, for in Guernsey they have invisible wings. Most convenient. They stop for a rest on the way home and conveniently the old houses in the west of the island have a bit of granite sticking out from their chimneys known as 'witches seats'

The bottom row of stamps depict £1.10 'Witch in the Hedge' who flew too low and was discovered at daybreak by a farmer's wife. The witch warned her not to tell a living soul but she could not keep the secret and told her husband and was immediately struck deaf. Next is the story of 'Jean Falla and the Witches'. The local fisherman had unwittingly offended on of the sisterhood and got caught in a storm at sea. In the howling wind he heard unearthly laughter and saw a group of women flying overhead, including one he recognised. After reaching home safely he treated all women from then on with respect. Lastly in the 16th and 17th Century 103 people were found guilty of witchcraft in Guernsey and burnt alive. It is said they still haunt the street steps of the island's capital.

So not a broomstick or black cat in sight. I will have to remedy that...

2020: SEPAC - National Gallery Artwork (Catskin by Frances Lemmon)

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Scary/Halloween - spooky times are at  See It On A Postcard

Island Lighthouses

 

2011: Lighthouses (Design - Melanie Efstathiadou)

Cyprus's tallest lighthouse built in 1888, not seen on the stamp is its ancient companion a 2nd century amphitheatre

Four of Guernsey's lighthouses,  the Alderney light appears on the FDC and the 11p stamp, it warns of the Alderney Race, a turbulent strait of water between Alderney and Cap de la Hague in France, the strongest tidal stream in Europe.

Lots of rocks to founder on around the coast 

6p - Les Casquets, part of an underwater sandstone ridge, Victor Hugo wrote "to be wrecked on the Casquets is to be cut into ribbons..."; 4p - Les Hanois marks the shoals and reefs off Guernsey and gives a position fix for ships entering the Channel Traffic Separation System; 13p - Sark Lighthouse on Point Robert was designated a 'rock station' so lighthouse keepers got extra pay but unlike the usual isolated postings they could visit the tiny island's pub, The Mermaid Tavern.

2007: Island Jewels

A lighthouse with a sandy beach, now that is definitely heavenly and one of the local residents may be smiling at you on Rottnest Island, the cute quokka

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Lighthouses of Towers - See It On A Postcard

 

Colourful

 

2022: Commonwealth Games (Illustrator - Charis Tsevis)

Royal Mail has issued a number of colourful stamp sets in 1922 and because it is and has been a very full sporting calendar this year I choose these Commonwealth Games stamps for the Sunday Stamps theme. The full set can be seen here.  I especially like the mountain biking stamp.

1975: Sailing (Design: Andrew Restall)

Sailing is one of the optional sports of the Commonwealth Games but not chosen by landlocked Birmingham but there is always a sailing race going on somewhere in the world. Keeping ones feet firmly on dry land the football World Cup starts on the 20th November.

2014: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

but Zlatan (one of the select group of super star footballers always referred to by just their first name) won't be at the World Cup because Sweden did not qualify. At 41, when most footballers have hung up their boots, it is a thing a wonder that he is still playing at a high level.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Bright Colours - brighten up the day at  See It On A Postcard