Map the World

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt on this month's theme - Illustrations;  Week 1 - Maps

Moominland Midwinter

Sensibly the Moomins sleep through the winter but one year Moomintroll wakes up and cannot get back to sleep, goes outside, and does not recognise this world of white which seems empty and feels lonely and frightening, but it is not long before someone appears. The Moominland Midwinter book, was published in 1957 with map and illustrations. Tove Jansen dedicated it to her mother. The perfect book for the winter season.

Welcome to Andalusia

Time to head for the sun and sea of Spain for a map one could use for exploring the real world.

Australia Day

 A is for Australia Day -

1990: Australia Day (Illustrator - Celia Rosser)

The Golden Wattle acacia was pronounced Australia's floral emblem in 1988. The adoption of the wattle dates back to 1899 and indeed there is a National Wattle Day on the 1st September when acacia of all species are in flower. Australia Day on the other hand is celebrated on the 17th January.

1982: Australia Day (Design and Engraving - Brian Clinton)

Brian Clinton has been a prolific designer of Australian stamps since 1977 but has a passion for portrait painting so he would have enjoyed this postage stamp commission.

1966: Famous Navigators (Design - Walter Jardine)

Adventurers - Two famous seafarers exploring the southern oceans, Captain James Cook and Abel Tasman. The cancel extols the virtues of  Australian food products - "Australian Food Produces Champions".

1953: Food Production (Design - George Lissenden)

Agriculture - Australia's biggest grain crop is Wheat.

1982: Reptiles and Frogs (Design - Beverley Bruen)

Amphibians - Corroboree Frog found in New South Wales. Pretty but poisonous. The poison is secreted from their skin to protect against predators, useful as they are ground dwelling

2003: Nature of Australia - Rainforests (Design - Wayne Rankin)

 

Sometimes it is safer in a tree. The orange-thighed tree frog in the wet tropical rainforest of North Queensland - Daintree National Park

1982: Tourism - Surf Boat

Aerogrammes -  One can fit a lot of correspondence, indeed a whole life, in this inexpensive, thin, lightweight folded piece of postal paper. The UK discontinued their use in 2012 but having checked on the Australia Post site they still issue them. The current one features flora and fauna of Australia.

Sunday Stamps is starting on a journey through the alphabet - See It On A Postcard 

Happy

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in A Happy Place - here are some of mine...

Many of my happy times have been on the fells and

in the valleys. Seeing sheep also always makes me happy, silly things.

Wild flower meadows, although I can be just as happy meandering on a footpath through arable fields

Sunrise, East Anglia

A beach of any kind, rocky, sandy, shingle, a calm morning or

a windy day with a  mesmerising sea swell.

Quentin Blake on the roof of  the Harris (2004) as imagined by himself

For indoors enjoyment, the cornucopia of a museum and art gallery combination. This one also has a library which contains the anticipated happiness of a good read. The Harris has been closed since 2022 for refurbishment and reopens in September, hopefully. Always a moment of trepidation visiting a revamp.  On the up side it opens with local boy made good Nick Park's special exhibition "Wallace and Gromit. A Case At The Museum" a celebration of Aardman's animated duo. I'm sure Shaun the Sheep will make an appearance too. Happy Days.

Xmas in July

 

1981: Europa - Folklore (Design - Fritz Wegner)

Mummers' plays were performed seasonally usually at Christmas, Easter or Plough Monday and could be described as early pantomime with rhyming couplets. A popular play in England would be George and the Dragon with a twist that George is also eventually killed by a knight called Slasher but George is brought back to life by The Doctor and his magic potion. The plays are stories of birth and re-birth, good over evil enacted by masked or disguised actors. Modern mummers don't often wear elaborate masks.  I imagine the mummers glory years were the Middle Ages.

1993: 150th Anniversary of A Christmas Carol (Design - Quentin Blake)

Whatever the time of year everyone needs a jovial Mr and Mrs Fezzywig who Dickens portrays as symbols of joy and community, kindness and generosity and not only for Christmas. What else is not only for Christmas?  Well there is

2004: Christmas (Illustrator - Bjorn Berg)

receiving and sending mail and

2024: Christmas (Artist - Judy Joel)

churches, or this case cathedrals. Not forgetting the well known plea that when buying puppies as presents

 

1991: Dogs - Paintings by George Stubbs

"Dogs are not only for Christmas'. 

Sunday Stamps theme - Christmas in July - See It On A Postcard 

City Break

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt theme of Travel - Getting Around

One Hour To Departure by Wiktor Najbor

Boarding for take off, maybe they are off for a city break, or maybe not, one passenger has a life belt and  another a spade. The crew seem to be doing some running repairs and just the small matter of a wheel needing to be attached.

The Lure of the Underground by Alfred Leete (1927)

It is probably quicker by underground than bus in London although the open top buses are a popular option for sightseers.  In the early 1900s buses with no roofs were the norm rather than a tourist attraction.

 If visiting Lisbon it is said a tram ride is a must and the nostalgic traveller wanting to see 'old Lisbon' from their windows should board one of the historic 'Remodelado' that travel through the cities narrow streets and up steep inclines.  The modern trams carry more people but are confined to the flat sections of the city.

Millennium Blue

1999: Millennium - The Traveller's Tale (Design - George Hardie)

 Into the blue with Millennium stamps - Jetting around the world

2000: Millennium - Water and Coast

Take the maritime route at Portsmouth Harbour

2000: Millennium - People and Place

Cross over the Gateshead Millennium Bridge spanning the River Tyne

2000: Millennium - Art and Crafts

Visit Tate Modern, 20th Century art and beyond, housed in what was the Bankside Power Station

1999: Millennium - The Patient's Tale (Design - Susan Macfarlane)

Sometimes unexpected things happen, lets hope it does not involve nurses and stretchers.

2002: Peter Pan (Illustrator - Colin Shearing)

or pirates.

Sunday Stamps theme - Blue - See It On A Postcard 

Not Here

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is asking what place you would not like to visit

I have been to Russia and enjoyed it but a country I would avoid today, I would not wish to support a war criminal. The card is of Uljanousk located on the Volga River. The birthplace of Lenin

Mortar Platoon

The Middle East is off my list too, not only for their treatment of women but who knows when one might be bombed by Israel. The card shows the British 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Border Regiment in Jordan, October 2001. The Middle East is also in the mess it is with the meddling of too many countries in the past from outside the region. Jordan from the outside seems to be one of the more progressive and stable countries and I would like to see the rose red city of Petra so might make an exception for visiting.

I have never felt the urge to visit the seaside resort of  Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast in summer.  Looks like standing room only.

Tall Tales

 

2002: Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories  - Centenary of Publication (Artist - Izhar Cohen)

 

How the Camel Got His Hump - How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin. 

The Beginning of the Armadillos - The Crab That Played With the Sea

Kipling was a prolific writer and poet and one could spend some time on the Kipling Society website where all his short stories appear both by theme and date.

1979: International Year of the Child (Design - Kass Janos)

Tom Thumb, no bigger than a thumb, seems to spend his adventurous life being swallowed by various animals, here he has encountered the hungry wolf.  But Tom has a plan and talks to the wolf from its stomach and tricks him to take him home,  All is well in the end.

The Fisher and the Goldfish but this fish is not golden in Hungary's colour scheme but is provided with a golden crown. Alexander Pushkin told the story in verse.

Sunday Stamps theme - Stories, Folk Tales - See It On A Postcard 

Japan

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt  for A place you would like to visit

Kyoto

so I have chosen Japan, a country with a culture both ancient and modern

Cat looking at fields of Asakusa by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)

and maybe I will stay in a house that overlooks the rice fields of Asakusa  that comes with a resident cat, although will have to travel back in time as the closest rice fields to Tokyo today are at Chiba. In the present times the area of Asukusa with its waterfront and temple complex is a popular tourist destination. The woodblock print is from '100 Views of Edo'. It depends on weather conditions and urban haze if a view of Mt Fuji 62 miles (100k) away can be seen from Tokyo.  As I have travelled back in time why not travel in imagination to

Moominland. It looks as though it is Moomintroll's birthday although he has yet to arrive.  Moomin Day is in August (as is my birthday).  We don't know how old Moomintroll is, and Tove Jansson did not say, but wrote in her notebook "He is of that particular age when summers are long, the water warm and new things are constantly happening" Jansson's home in summer was on an island in the Gulf of Finland. I would head further into the Baltic Sea from there to the Åland Islands. I remember reading of an artist who would go there every summer because of the amazing light. Water, light, islands and ferry rides, a true summer delight.

"Visit Aland"

Postcard of the same image Åland issued for the Europa stamp theme of 'Visit' in 2012

Summer Fun

 

1994: Centenary of Picture Postcards

Bathing at Blackpool, tales of the unexpected

Stay on the sands and enjoy a game

of Beach Volleyball as illustrated by Catharina Nygard

1988: Operation Raleigh (Design - Victor Ambrus)

Head to the Great Barrier Reef where the water temperature at the moment is 24℃ (an average temperature for July), not bad for the beginning of winter in Australia!

2006: Summer at the Lake (Illustrator - Irina Gebuhr)

Summer fun by the lake picnicking, fishing, swimming (the dog is not tempted) and enjoying the warmth and calm of a long summer evening.

2016: Lake Constance

 Time to relax after all that fun and watch the world go by.

Sunday Stamps is enjoying Summer Fun at See It On A Postcard 

Home Again

 See It On  A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt theme of Travel, it all starts from home

where I am in Cumbria. I live on the coast and look north to see the fells of the Lake District. The card shows five of its Lakes along with Napes Needle in Wasdale (the valley's lake, Wastwater, can be seen on the left)  This is the birthplace of modern rock climbing in the UK, the ascent by Walter Parry Hesketh Smith of the Needle in 1886 is often cited as a key moment, with the Wasdale Inn at the top of the valley becoming a meeting point for enthusiasts.  There are two Herdwick sheep (three with the one by Crummock Water), a hardy ancient breed originating in the Lakes which live on the fells.  There are more sheep than people in Cumbria. A red squirrel and La'l Ratty the miniature Ravenglass Railway in Eskdale, a valley that has no lake in an area sometimes referred to as Lakeless Lakeland but don't worry there is plenty of water in rivers, streams and waterfalls.

A quiet and hidden corner of Cumbria, the Lyth Valley, famous for its damsons  The trees and orchards turn a frothy white in spring. Damson Day is celebrated in mid-April. The valley is sheltered by limestone hills so has its own micro-climate hence the sweetness of the damsons. The name Lyth is Old Norse (derived from hlith) meaning slope or hillside.

This card shows a Rough Fell sheep so I can guess it is somewhere in the North of England or Scotland, a hardy sheep like the Herdwick. The post box shows the plain cypher of George V which for some reason I always find pleasing, maybe it is the calming contrast to the other busy royal cyphers.

Souvenirs

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for Tchotchkes or touristy items

A souvenir card from the Hanke Cafe and Restaurant at the foot of the Krimmler Falls in Austria.  It boasts a quick service and an extensive souvenir shop. What more could you ask for.! There is a 4k trail by the waterfall but I think you have to pay to access it, not uncommon in the world of tall waterfalls.

The Jackfield Tile Museum in a former factory celebrates the world of decorative tiles from elaborate friezes of figurative tiles to geometric shapes and all things in-between . One of those manufacturers, Craven Dunnill (founded in 1872), is still manufactured ceramic wall and floor tiles in Jackfield.  All I can remember of the museum shop are tiles, whether one wished to buy just one or hundreds.  Obviously they sold postcards but somehow I have a clearer memory of the cafe rather than the shop.

Illustration from 'The Animal Kingdom' by Georges Cuvier (1834)

What child has not taken home a sea shell or two from the beach as a holiday memento.  A spiral shell like this (once the home of a sea snail) would be a great prize but one would have to be on holiday in tropical waters or alternatively find a seaside shop selling exotic shells.