Lakes

 The Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at lakes so I'll start in my home county and

I've found another person painting by water this week but rather than a spouse she has a dog.  Windermere is England's largest lake and is the Lake District's most popular tourist destination.  If our artist wanted a change of view then there are lots more lakes to choose from

Top - Buttermere and Crummock Water where one can walk around both lakes; the self contained Grasmere, cream teas and the Wordsworth Museum and cottage in the village  Bottom - Windermere with a view of the two peaks of the Langdale Pikes and lastly Derwent Water, a relaxing ride available on the  Keswick Launch for a different perspective.

"Beautiful Mt Hood as seen from Trillium Lake"

For both the artist and photographer a calm still day is a perfect vision.  My correspondent says she has "only seen Mt Hood from the highway and it is lovely" but continues "I come from Colorado though and we basically are nothing but mountains" but Oregon has its compensation for she now lives a 3 minute drive from the sea (and coincidentally the next Thursday Postcard Hunt's theme)

Lake Kivu Islands, Karongi (Kibuye)

Lake Kivu on the border between Congo and Rwanda looking beautifully calm however there is methane trapped at the bottom so it is potentially an exploding lake although everyone hopes that won't happen.

Keep on Running

1960s Definitive

On your marks

1964: Olympic Games Tokyo (Design - Oscar Bonnevalle)

Get Set

1940: 2nd All Union Physical Culture Festival

Go...  Above is a relay race at the Physical Culture Festival one of the other stamps of the set features grenade throwing, something that doesn't seem to have caught on at the Olympic Games

1978: 22nd Olympic Games - Water Sports (Design: N Litvinov)

 where one might enjoy something more peaceful like rowing shown on this commemorative sheet produced in anticipation of the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow.  The designer Nikolni Litvinov and his fellow artist Ivan Sushchenko designed a whole series of stamps representing all the Olympic sports.

I wonder how we are going to get to the games?  My choice would be by rail

EA and ME Cherepanov and their Locomotive, 1833

so lets travel through time with the 1978 'History of Russian Locomotives' series designed by Nicolai Kolesnikov.  The Cherepanovs were a father and son who built the first Russian steam locomotive.

Series D Locomotives 1845 and Series V Locomotives (first passenger train 1845)

  I'd love to know what the background images are but one thing is sure, Russia has some spectacular railway stations.

Series Gv Locomotive 1863-67 and Series Bv Locomotive 1863-67

After the trip on the rails lets journey to Romania 

1985: 50th Anniversary of Retezat National Park (Design - Mihai Vamasescu)

and head for the hills in an area where the sure footed chamois roam in the Retezat National Park an area called a "hikers dreamland" with its high peaks and glacial lakes.

1993: Mammals

Apart from seeing the chamois or to give it its latin name, Rupicapra Rupicapra, maybe there will be a red squirrel scampering up a tree.

1967: Birds of Rwanda

But for a bird watching delight then Rwanda with over 600 species would be a stunning destination. Here the Belgian artist Jean Van Noten (1903-1982) blesses us with a Red Bishop, a weaver bird.

The Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is R - for Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Running, Rowing, Railway, Retezat, Rupricapra and Red rush over for more See It on A Postcard.  

Butterflies

2013: British Butterflies

The previous time Royal Mail issued a butterfly set was way back in 1981 but then they treated us to ten stamps in 2013.  They chose the  artist Richard Lewington, who specialises in insects, to illustrate and he talks about it here on his website.  His initial submissions to Royal Mail persuaded them not to use photographs but they stipulated that they must appear on a white background as if the butterflies were in flight.  The species chosen were a mix of the common and rare which are, clockwise from the left:
1) the Comma (Polygonia c-album) whose numbers crashed in the mid 1800s but by the 1960s they had resumed high numbers once again, sometimes described for identification purposes rather unkindly as a tatty tortoiseshell.  2) Orange Tip (Anthocharisc cardamines) of which I saw my first one of the year last week so I know the season is well on the way now. 3) Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) 4) Swallowtail (Papillo machaon) the largest and rarest British native butterfly who can be seen in the fens of the Norfolk Broad with their plant of choice the Milk Parsley 5) Chalkhill Blue (Lysandra coridon) found on chalk downlands and sometimes on limestone in the south of England. The inclusion of ants on the cancel above is because the larvae and pupae make secretions which attract ants and the presence of ants on bare ground gives the pupae protection at this vulnerable stage of their life cycle.

The other five of the set clockwise from the left:
1) Purple Emperor (Apatura iris) only present in southern England and always called 'His Majesty' by butterfly enthusiasts who are dazzled by its shimmering colours in sunlight. 2) Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) who as the name implies like a bit of damp under wing.  Their numbers can crash for no apparent reason and then recover again. 3) Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), one of the few species that hibernate as an adult, the females are a paler whitish green than the buttery yellow male.

Its angular shape and veining means when it roosts it can resemble a leaf but in postal life can disappear beneath anything but a light cancel.
4) Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) whose checkered black and white can be seen in chalk and limestone grassland
5) Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) arrive from the Mediterranean in spring or summer.  I imagine with this year's mild winter some may even have joined the very small number that  hibernate here.  


Our butterflies in the UK are small in the number of species but  now travel to a different continent and they are in abundance 

1965: Rwanda Butterflies

and although I'm envious of that fact Africa has other insects I'm rather glad aren't around here.  The designer, J Van Nolen, has shown a group of butterflies fluttering in the air which always brings to mind summer days. These are Colotis aurigineus, the African Golden Arab. Next is the Hesperus or Emperor Swallowtail (Papillo hesperus)

On the left is the Broadly Green-Banded Swallowtail (Papillo bromius Chrapkowskii).  Despite this set being called Rwanda Butterflies a day flying moth has sneaked in and happily and unexpectedly I can fully tick both boxes of this week's theme of Butterflies or Moths. This is the Amphicallia pactolicus moth, I haven't been able to find its common name.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Butterflies or Moths - flutter by See It On A Postcard for more 

Where Music Dwells

1969: "Paintings and Music"

I was going to cover the continents with Viridian Postcard's  Sunday Stamps theme of 'Art, Music and Dance' but alas too many gaps so I'll go to the other end of the spectrum and feature just one country - Rwanda.  The first stamp is the Van Eyck's "Musical Angels",  which could covers all three themes if  including the medieval theological question of how many angels could dance on a pin head. This painting is only a fraction of the whole Ghent Altarpiece also known as 'Adoration of the Mystic Lamb' considered one of the world's greatest paintings. If only I had known that it still resides in Ghent when I visited briefly earlier this year, doh.  Happily during recent restoration of the work the Getty Foundation photographed every inch and  turned it into a "100 billion pixels" and launched its own website to the world.

1973: "Musical Instruments"

The wonders of the internet did not however lead me to any description, or sound, of this arched harp which is described as a Longombe but Africa possesses an amazing variety of of stringed instruments. 

1970: African National Costumes

Here I think are griots (praise singers, storytellers, poets and musicians) from Niger, one playing a flute.

1967 World Fair (Africa Place)

 At last here are some dancers on their way to the Montreal Expo of 1967 the site of which remained open as a theme park until 1981.    

166 UNESCO 20th Anniversary (Cultural Emblems)

Rwanda jointed UNESCO in 1962 and this year was awarded a prize for its adult literacy programme. The  Intore "Dance of Heroes" is I think the one portrayed on the Expo stamp and is traditionally a dance that all three ethnic groups, Hutu, Tutsi and Twa danced together.  The UNESCO constitution says "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed".  So lets dance...