Nature

 

Heart in Nature (Designer Jenny Burman)

The colours of nature

2003: New Zealand Landscapes

on land

and sea

1984: Flower

A  pink Mexican Creeper with its heart shaped leaves, also known as the Bee Bush 

1991 and 1988: Native Birds

Rock Wren - a songbird of the mountains where it stays even in winter. A kingfisher bringing colour to rivers and watery places.

Sunday Stamps A-Z today N for Nature, New Zealand and Nicaragua - 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.

Sunrise Sunset

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is book-ending the day with Sunrise and Sunset

The "rosy fingered dawn" and a lone moose, all is peaceful

The buzz of the city at sunset. My sender says "The Point, where you see the fountain, is a great summer escape in my city. Sometimes there are free concerts out there"  Part of the card description says "Seen here, the Golden Triangle and its waterway periphery glow in the Pittsburgh evening sky"  Water and sunsets are always a delight

especially if there is a setting sun melting into the sea.

Swiss Alps

 

2013: 150 Years of the Swiss Alpine Club (Design - Fredy Trumpi)

A great choice of stamp shapes on this mini sheet  to enjoy the mountains vertically or horizontally.  The little black and white corners are old photographs from the Swiss Alpine Club Museum.  From their inception the Swiss Alpine Club set about improving the mapping of the Alps and building mountain huts. Shelters in the Alps have been around for centuries but the network of mountain huts started to be built in 1863, today there are 153 of them. They have also installed panorama maps and observation towers for climbers, walkers and those who just like to look and know.  Protecting the landscape is another of their founding principles

and these three se-tenant stamp celebrate another anniversary, that of the  Swiss National Parks who in 2014 marked their 100 years with this view of a mountain landscape and pine trees. The sender has also included a definitive stamp of Lac de Taney (described as a miniature paradise and declared a national natural heritage site in the 1960s) with the twin peaks of Les Jumelles. The lake is surrounded by wild flowers meadows and forests.  It is also known for its many amphibians so I hope it also has Emperor dragonflies too (issued as part of the 2002 Insects set).

Sunday Stamps this week is in the mountains, take a hike to See It On A Postcard

Gardens

 My contribution to Thursday's Postcard Hunt, and it will be a hunt for my postcards, although not numerous, are in a state of disorder but to bring a sense of calm to my mind

time to gaze upon Triton Lake in the Powerscourt Gardens, Country Wicklow as autumn approaches; open all year (apart from Christmas and Boxing Day) so all the seasons can enjoyed here. 

In the 1000 acres of the Powerscourt Estate there are 47 acres of gardens and Ireland's highest waterfall.

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

E to Europe

 

2001: Fabulous Hats - Butterfly Hat by Dai Rees

Although Royal Mail have for many years used non value indicators (NVI) for internal mail they had a brief experiment using E for European postage which I think started in 2001 and ran for a few years. Post to Europe was 36 pence in 2001 but as the stamp is valued for a task not a price it can still be used today when the cost is £1.85

2003: Extreme Endeavors (Design - Howard Brown)

Freya Stark in a more practical 'hat' takes you to to Europe and beyond  in her wonderful books.

2004: Royal Horticultural Society

Climbing rather than travelling - Clamatis 'Arabella'

2021: Calf of Man 70th Anniversary Manx National Trust

The Isle of Man use EU for their European postage but not all sets are NVI some are priced.

2017: Bailiwick Lighthouses

 

Guernsey NVIs only appear on their machine stamps. Going one letter further - EUR

The exception - Since the issue last year of barcoded definitive stamps, or what Royal Mail call 'everyday stamps' to the general public, they were going to be invalid to use at the end of January.  After pressure they have extended the cut off date now for another 6 months and you can still put them on your post until July or use  their swap out scheme and exchange old stamps for new.

Happily my stash of stamps for postage are all commemorative

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

Shape Shifting

 

2012: Clouds (Design - Satu Lusa)

 

Its a lovely day with fluffy white clouds lazily floating across the sky

2013: Moomin Favourites (Design - Satu Lusa)

 

All is quiet in Moominland.

2016: Animail (Design - Andrew Ross)

 

and all that can be heard is the tapping and rapping of a woodpecker and the rustle of a snake in the grass.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Shaped - here on See It On A Postcard

Black and White

2013: Butterflies (Design - Richard Lewington)

The Mabled White butterfly has a preference for purple flowers but this stamp is pure black and white.  Poets have long written of the wonder of butterflies and

2020: Romantic Poets (Design - The Chase; Illustrator - Linda Farquarson)

John Clare wrote at least two about the "Queen of insects" but for the stamp we have two lines that probably sum Clare up "For every thing I felt a love/ The weeds below the birds above".  He also came up with one of my favourite quotes "I found the poems in the field and only wrote them down".   The other stamp features  one of the Lakes poets - Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his Frost at Midnight.  Apart from his renown as a poet he is also famous for being the first 'outsider'  to climb England's highest mountain Scafell Pike and it turned out to be quite a hairy experience. 

For the stamp subject the design company The Chase were given a list of poets and the two lines to use on the stamps. They turned to print maker Linda Farquarson for the black and white linocut illustrations which she made the actual size of the stamp using traditional letter-pressing.  The type is Caslon Old Style invented by the 18th Century British engraver William Caslon which would have been a style used in the poetry books of the day.

1976 William Caxton - 500th Anniversary of British Printing (Design - Richard Gay)

One of the first books William Caxton published in 1477 was Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and he went on to to publish more of Chaucer's collections of poetry.  The Canterbury Tales is featured on one of the other stamps in the set but the stamp above is the only one that is black and white and is a woodcut from 'The Game and Playe of Chesse'. Few things are more black and white than chess.

Coleridge and Scafell on  'Romantic Poets' FDC

 

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Black and White -  at See It On A Postcard.

   

Summer on the Allotment

2005: At Our Summer Houses (Design - Inga-Karin Eriksson)

The gardening tools are out (as well as the tulips) so time to start digging

2005: At the Allotment (Design - Inga-Karin Eriksson)

Look at those perfect rows of vegetables.  Time to take a break and enjoying a coffee.

The fruits of labour and a full basket to be both used and shared. Then we come to high summer and the garden hose brought into action.   I love a lavender walkway.

It seems to understate their description as garden sheds for they are more like tiny house so perhaps I'll use the term garden house.  In Sweden they are Kolonilotter which translates as 'colony of lots' or simply allotments. Some, as you can see, are more elaborate than others and are often close to the city so two stamps show high rises in the background.  Wherever they are I imagine they are little plots of heaven for the lucky owners (like all allotments there are long waiting lists for a plot). Don't you just want to walk through the little gate below.
  

Stamp booklet cover - Allotments

Sunday Stamps II this week is "Your Choice" so I have  a  celebration of Summer in Sweden - more choices at See It On A Postcard   

United Nations

1991: ECE - For a Better Environment (United Nations - Vienna)

A trip to the seaside with this stamp set although I suspect that the FDC envelope illustration is the same one used for the New York headquarters stamp which featured an alpine lake. The blue water looks inviting although it would be rather more chilly

Mediterranean Coastline and Wildlife

than the balmy Mediterranean in summer featured on the UN Vienna stamps.  The perfect vacation destination.  Unfortunately I don't know who the artist is but the 

postmark deserves a feature of its own.  More fauna

1993: Endangered Species (1st series)

on the first of United Nations stamps series on endangered species, although we do not seem to be running out of species to feature on this ongoing stamp issue. The 2019 theme is "below the water" another environment in trouble.

1993: Endangered Species (Design - Steve Brennan)

But lets take a moment just to enjoy the animals - Grevy's Zebra, the largest of its species sometimes called the Imperial Zebra which can be found in Eastern Africa.  A pair of Humboldt penguins come next who can be seen along the coast of Chile and Peru, their rocky habitat has made them into excellent climbers and they jump with both legs using their flippers for balance.  News recently that London is projected to become as hot as Barcelona prompted a discussion of the best animal to be reincarnated as to cope with earth's rising temperature, maybe this one, the Desert Monitor, they are good swimmers so rising water levels would be no problem either.  Lastly we have of course a wolf gazing over its territory.

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter U - here for United Nations and as I am about to go on vacation there is a - V for Vienna - for next week too - See It On A Postcard  

Incredible Iceland

1989: Landscapes III (Design - Þ Magnússon)

Land of fire and ice with lava fields, mountains and glaciers Iceland provides some spectacular views which I show through stamps.  Helpfully the cancel shows the outline of the country (two thirds of the population live in the south west).  The stamp on the left is Mount Skeggi at Amarfjord the highest peak in the area with views from the peak of the surrounding mountains, glaciers and the capital city Reykjavik. Perhaps after one has climbed up and down this mountain a good place to ease those hard working feet is in the geothermal pool at Narmaskaro.

1986: Europa - Protection of Nature (Design - Þ Magnússon)

 Now we journey to south east Iceland and the icy tops of  Skaftafell (a hikers paradise) and the impressive glacial river canyon of Joekulságljúfur. The area also has a famous, large and powerful waterfall Dettifoss which is seen in the opening sequence of Ridley Scott's Alien prequel Prometheus.  Sadly I only have two stamps from the set that featured Dettifoss but one is a waterfall that combines beauty and power.

1956: Power Stations and Waterfalls (Design - S Jónsson)

I love this stamp especially the little dot of the horse rider putting the Skógafoss waterfall's 60m drop into perspective.  One can walk right up to the waterfall. or if feeling like some exercise climb up the 527 steps on the fellside to the viewing platform,  There is also a legend of a treasure chest hidden behind the waterfall. See the rainbows and and waterfall pictures here 

December 1948: Hekla (Design - H Pétursson)

No views of the natural wonders of Iceland would be complete without a volcano and here is a plume from the vent of the volcano Hekla.  It has erupted more than twenty times between 1104-2000 and this stamp set shows the most famous eruption in the modern era which lasted for 13 months from March 1947 to April 1948. Lava flows from the long fissure active along its entire length which contribute to its elongated shape

seen here from the sea. No wonder in the middle ages it was thought of as the Gateway to Hell.

Postbox in Reykjavik

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter I - for Iceland - See It On A Postcard