Viking Voyage

 

2014: Tourism - Oslo Viking Museum (Design - Kristin Granli)

 A Viking ship setting sail

1990: Viking Life (Design - Svenolov Ehren)

Out to Sea

2002: Viking Voyages of the Atlantic (Design - Martin Morck)

 

and navigating.  Our Viking is using a sunboard. In the middle of the day the ship's course was corrected by measuring the height of the sun. If the angle of the sun had got bigger the ship had traveled too far south, less and it was sailing too far north. Thank goodness for GPS.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - At Sea - set sail at See It On A Postcard

Europa Nature

 

1977: Europa - Landscapes

The 1977 Europa theme was 'Landscapes' and Sweden chose a snowy forest view and the Rapadalen valley in Sarek, the largest national park in Sweden consisting of mountains, bogs and flowering valleys, a remnant of untouched wilderness. 

 

In a contrast of scale Guernsey Post took us to the countryside and featured views from the Talbot Valley in the middle of the island

which is a popular area for strolls through woodlands and pasture.

1986: Europa - Nature Conservation (Artist - Hans Erni; Engraving - Karl Bickel Jr

Hans Erni portrayed a woman and a man for the 1986 theme of Nature Conservation. I'm guessing that they must be the personification of earth and water.

1986: Europa: Pollution of the Sea

I'm not left guessing with this message although was intrigued that it was described as 'dumping of radioactive and other waste in the sea and its danger to the fauna' then checked and saw that prohibition of disposal of radiation waste at sea didn't come into force until 1994.  The NE Atlantic was a popular place for dumping nuclear waste for 7 countries so one can understand the Faroe Islanders concerns, and me, as I live down the coast from a nuclear facility.

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

Sport

 

1988: Sports Organisations (Design - J Sutton)

We are at a cusp today by saying goodbye to Wimbledon but looking forward to the Women's World Cup starting on Thursday

Meanwhile the Tour de France riders are going to tackle seven mountain climbs today, they will deserve their rest day on Monday

2017: UCI Road Championships (Design - Ragnar Aalbu)

but will be a long way from any beach huts

 

2014: Swedish Sports Classics (Design - Henrik Karlsson)

Here is a bike race for the enthusiast, the Vätternrundan, the world's largest recreational bike race 300km round Lake Vättern.  Prefer something a little more relaxing?

2003: Regions of France (Provence)

 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - At Play/Sports - See It On A Postcard

Children's Art

 

1979: International Year of the Child

The traditional dress of the Faroe Islands

 

a man fishing, although the fish wisely are not being tempted by the line. Two friends; does the blue face indicate it was a cold day? I didn't realise the engraver of these children's paintings was Czeslaw Slania until I scanned them. He did lots of stamps for the Faroes including the first ones they issued as a independent postal administration in 1975. This must have been one of his most whimsical assignments in his long career.

2022: Heroes of the Covid Pandemic

Children from 4-14 from across the UK were invited to enter the competition to design the Covid Heroes postage stamps, 606,049 took part and eventually 8 were chosen for the stamps. I'll always remember all the rainbow children's drawings that appeared in house windows at the time, guess there were even more of those.

1988: Christmas

An unseasonable but cheery Koala Father Christmas

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

Flying In

 

2016: Endangered Species (Design - Petteri Mattila)

A hot summer's day and all is right with the world when these two pygmy damselflies fly in. A species that likes swamps and freshwater marshes but is very sensitive to the slightest change in the environment so is a species under threat.

1994: Flora and Fauna

Unlike the Blue-tailed damselfly which only requires ponds or still water and is prolific, no summer passes without seeing lots of these.

Meanwhile a male and female Common Blue butterfly flutter around a Pyramidal orchid

1963: Butterflies (Design - Liu Shuoren)

Something more exotic, the swallowtail Great Jay and a Hainan violet beak. The island of Hainan is sometimes called the Kingdom of Butterflies for the large number of species found there (approx 650)

1957: Insects (Design - HansFischer)

I'll finish with The Magpie moth, those crazy Victorians used to breed it to obtain pattern and colour variations.  The artist has portrayed it with a gooseberry in the background for the Magpie caterpillar likes to feed on gooseberry and current bushes, I'm partial to those  too.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Dragonflies and Butterflies - fly to See It On A Postcard