On the Green

Post Box IP17 4671 at The Green, Snape

Not fairies, but a post box at the bottom of this garden in Suffolk 

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...

 

Coastal Clocks

An entry to Sepia Saturday "Using old images for new reflections"

"The Floral Clock, Southsea Castle Gardens"

I was surprised when I noticed how many clocks appear in small parts of my postcards but here is one which takes centre stage, a wonderful floral clock.  This was a card sent to my mother from Margaret who used to work for her when she ran a wool shop. My mother was a keen gardener and had a wonderful eye for shapes and colour so no wonder she kept this card. It is obligatory to mention the weather on postcards and Margaret did not disappoint saying it was very hot and crowded in Southsea. It was neither when I visited a few years ago, torrential rain and a gale blowing off the channel so a cosy coffee shop with the windows steaming up was our destination rather than a floral clock, if they still plant it. We were just marking time while waiting to go into Portsmouth to board the ferry to France so my next view of Southsea was from the sea as we arrived back in English waters and the sun was shining and the crowds were out

Southsea Seafront

as in this card of Southsea.  Today there is a small funfair but it looks as though the only ride c1905 is the one on the cannon. The Victorian seafront still consists of a long promenade, open green spaces and a shingle beach so ideal for a constitution walk so beloved of the Victorians whatever the weather.

"Ramsden Square & Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness"

Heading north is the town of  Barrow in Furness which is where I set off from when travelling the 330 miles down to Portsmouth/Southsea.  The tower in the distance houses the town hall clock which chimes across the town.  The view as shown has not altered much over the years, apart from the introduction of zebra crossings, the floral display on the roundabout is bigger and brighter, and it would be unlikely there was not a car in sight. It looks rather peaceful there. The card was produced by Millar and Lang of Glasgow who published from 1903-1941 and in latter years hand coloured their black and white photographs like this. The senders (Ethel and Bob) sent the card from the seaside resort of Blackpool to the Ellis family in Nelson in Lancashire saying "Pleased to get your letter and that you enjoyed your holiday. Well we shall be pleased to see you both on Wednesday hope the weather keeps up".  The puzzle is that the card was sent in 1966, bears no relation to Blackpool (apart from the fact on a exceptionally clear day we may be able to see Blackpool Tower from Barrow which is on the other side of the bay).  Perhaps Ethel just used an old card she possessed, like a homing pigeon, it has now arrived back at the place it portrays.

I could not resist showing the postmark because by coincidence this weekend is  Blackpool illuminations big switch on (6 miles of lights) and the people who will be pulling the switch are 6 of Team GB's Olympic medal winners .

"Town Hall, Barrow in Furness"

The Town Hall tower complete with clock glimpsed hazily in the previous card takes centre stage in this card published around 1900.  Barrow's first library, on the left, was in what was described as an iron building, to me it looks more  like a tin shed.  The Town Hall itself is built of red sandstone but during the build in February 1885, with the tower three feet short of being finished,  disaster, there was subsidence and cracks in the masonry. The Borough Surveyor hoped it was no more than "natural settling" but he was too optimistic.  The builders had cut corners to save money, their tender to build had been the  lowest but the council had insisted on the local, and more expensive, red sandstone be used .  The tower had to be rebuilt (after many stormy council meetings and enquiries) but to reduce the weight it was built 13 feet shorter and came in at 164 feet, despite the delay it still retains its 1885 date stone.  When it was finished, for the second time, it dominated the centre of Barrow its only rivals being the shipyard cranes. From the top of its 156 steps a panorama of the town appears with views taking in (on that exceptionally clear day), Wales, the Isle of Man, the Lake District hills and of course Blackpool Tower, which was opened seven years after Barrow's, and is considerably more famous,

Photo Stephen Middlemiss - Creative Commons

but it does not have a clock on it.  This is the view never shown on postcards and is always referred to locally as the back, but is actually the front. 

Useful Objects

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best but who would have thought that there is controversy on who invented this useful object.  The Norwegians claim it on this stamp of the 1999 set 'Norwegian Inventions' and during the second world war it was their symbol of resistance to the Nazis. The (more interesting than you would think) story of the paper clip here    But lets go to a room where there are no paper clips

1983 Women "At Home"

 although then again you may use them to clip some recipes together.  Is this a cooking lesson or breakfast?  I don't know but there is a full table, coffee, milk, egg, preserves, grapes, flowers and a kilner jar.  I wonder if there is a stamp somewhere celebrating the kilner jar, they always take me back to my childhood and my mother bottling fruits.  But for other household utensils travel to Romania whose strong folk traditions

1982 "Household Utensils"

mean that each rural area has its own characteristic. Wood and ceramics become both beautiful and practical. Left is a jug and plate from Vama-Maramurs, and wooden churn and pail from North Moldavia.

Ceramic Plates from Leheceni-Crisana

Ceramic bowl and pot from Marginea-Suceava

Wooden tubs from Hunedoora, Transylvania and Suceava in Moldavia.

Lastly objects that cross from merely practical to be art, the Rio Grande blankets featured on

2005 - Rio Grande blankets

the 5th of the aptly named American Treasures series.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of "Useful or Practical Things"

Wedding Days

An entry to Sepia Saturday. "Using old images as prompts for new reflections"

Wedding of William Swindlehurst and Isabelle Hewitt

 The bride and groom are making a run for it in this photo, no gently floating confetti like at today's weddings but some serious rice throwing, no wonder William is fending it off with his bowler hat.  I have the man by the bush with the large moustache to the left down as the thrower. He looks to be enjoying the moment.  The children are all gathered at the far left.  At this point as was going to show a postcard of of the church path entrance but it is hiding somewhere in my collection so I will resort to a photograph

Beetham Church photo by Anne Bowker

of the floral archway of Beetham Church. The old postcard I have shows the archway much more luxuriant and completely covered by growth but this is what it looks like at the beginning of the 21st century rather than the 20th.  Getting back to my wedding postcards; the happy couple do not travel far for the wedding breakfast

William and Isabelle Swindlehurst

and pose in a more traditional and formal way at Hazelslack Tower Farm and like the church arch there are climbing roses.  I never met Aunt Bell but my Grandmother must have been fond of her because she had a lot of photos of her in her collection. Lastly another slightly informal portrait

The Hewitts

 of Isabelle with her brother whose name I do not know but I find it a charming photo, both with white gloves, her hand on his shoulder and his around her.  Meanwhile half seen in the doorway is the flat capped boy from the church photo.   

Visit Åland

I'll be paddling in the north sea for the next couple of weeks on holiday on the coast of Suffolk but this postcard person is paddling in the Baltic Sea.  Maybe one year I will do this too.  For this year's Europa theme of "Visit" the Åland Islands issued this picture as their stamp.  The photo was shot at the old Kobba klintar pilot station, the island is by the inlet of the western harbour of Mariehamn. It is considered one of the most beautiful places of Åland and if the flag is flying then the cafe is open and you can look at the views with coffee and cake.  There may be a cruise ship or ferry sailing past out of the harbour.

My postcrossing friend Eeva sent the card with a first day cancel of Mariehamn and the logo of Visit Åland which is the Åland flag.

Thank you Eeva, wishing you warm Summer paddling.   

Just Wondering

Each stamp tells a story of the country, its dominant ideology, culture and national identity but sometimes you get stamps that as this week's Sunday Stamps theme says "leaves you wondering what it is" and what it is saying so lets discover.

I can see it is some sort of needlework but happily this stamp gives lots of other clues, although one at first may wonder where Hrvatska is as most people know it as Croatia.  It also gives its date of issue (2010) so a visit to the Universal Postal Union site says it is a set of 4 Croatian Ethnographic Heritage set but nothing else. Looking for that title to tell me more, zilch,  I do discover on the first search page that there have been new Ethnographic Museums opened in Dubrovnik and Split, appropriate for a country just a independent republic in 1991.  But that still did not help me know what Dubrovacko Primorje was but you always know on the internet there will be an enthusiast on a blog somewhere. I wasn't disappointed because Lina's Land had been taking some embroidery lessons on the stitches of the national costume of this area north west of Dubrovnik and shows some of the beautiful embroidered scarves here.

Well that is one mystery partially solved but there is another that will be for every unknown. The stamp came in a bundle of used stamps on paper from all over the world but this one had been on a postcard, of which now only the small corner with the stamps on remained. Nooooo

 A glimpse of an unknown Croatian town

I recognised the word Orphiuchus on this stamp as years ago I'd read a book called The Ophiuchi Hotline whose title for some unknown reason had stuck in my mind so I knew it was a star system, but what I didn't know was what this stamp was. The stamp of course is a lot smaller than this scan and only when I discovered that the constellation is represented by a man grasping a snake did I go oh yes I see that. Neither did I know it was the 13th sign of the zodiac in an alternative 14th Zodiac system in Astrology. Don't panic if you are born between Nov 29-Dec 17 most still  go for the well known 12.  I discovered however that Sri Lanka  issued 16 constellations in their 2007 definitive set.

Lastly an old stamp I don't have a clue about. An alphabet I am not familiar with but think the stamp is Bulgaria but beyond that, nada. The significance of the date 1915 and 1917 in the banner and in the corners, nope not that either.  I wonder who she is.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamp theme of "stamps that leave you wondering"