Sun Light

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt starting the year with Light and sunshine

"Sun with Huge Prominence"

The star that gives life (if you are on a planet 93 million miles away), a sphere of hot plasma. This ultraviolet photograph of the sun was taken on the 19th December 1973 during NASA's  third Skylab mission.

"Birches" - Hannu Hautala

Meanwhile on Earth in the depths of a Finnish winter when daylight is brief it gives us this magical image.

"The Tower and the Fountain" Robert Fouseau

Pisa, where the sun is warmer and the photographer does not suffer as much for his art to capture the sun's rays.

"Dove Cottage", Grasmere, Lake District

Sunlight and dappled shade. Once the home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. When William married Mary his family would expand even more which meant that eventually they all had to move to larger lodgings and leave their sojourn of "plain living but high thinking" behind. Today it is  museum.

Étel River

 On a tiny islet of Nichtarguer on the Ria d'Etel is a much photographed little house bathed in sunshine.

Veil

 

1977: Veil Tailed Goldfish

The unique Celestial Goldfish whose eyes rotate vertically to look upwards. Their Vietnamese name translates as 'sky gazing'. 

1990: Goldfish

A veil tailed goldfish living up to its name

1988: Snakes (Pope's Pit Viper)

A vibrant green viper in its verdant habitat.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - Viet Nam, Veil and Viper - See It On A Postcard 

Happy Christmas

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt, what else could it be today but.... Christmas

2022: Christmas (Artist - Sami Saramaki)

 

The gift givers arrive

 

taking a break with the robin.

Madonna of the Rose Garden by Stefano da Verona (c1377-c1438)

 

Gift to the world

 

Christmas for U

 

1965: Christmas

The divine messenger, the angel Gabriel, announces the coming of Christmas

1974: Centenary of the Universal Postal Union

Peak postal time. The stamp quote is the opening line of one of John Donne's poems "more than kisses, letters mingle souls". As Dean of St Paul's Cathedral Donne would have been busy at this time of year writing his sermons. He was the rock star of church sermons, great crowds gathered to hear them. On Christmas Eve 1624 he would weave the seasons into his homily

There would be no sign of a Christmas tree back then (unless one was in Germany) but lots of evergreens such as holly were used for decoration. Here is a ginormous tree

1995: Christmas (1st Issue) Victorian Postcard Design

and a tiny one

2002: Christmas (2nd Issue)

Santa's tree comes with presents.

1980: Christmas - Antique Toys 

He has left a bigger drum at this house. I wonder if there is a snowy scene outside this window? Not here in the UK.  There is only a 5% chance of  snow which will be a good news for those travelling at Christmas and the forecast of high pressure will bring good weather for a winter walk.

1967: Expo 67 - World Fair, Montreal 

Meanwhile here is somewhere that is more than likely to have a white Christmas. Issued in Canadian currency from the UN World Fair Pavilion in Montreal. 

 

 

Stamps with something the world could do with in these turbulent times. 

Peace be with you at Christmastide

Sunday Stamps A-Z for USA, UN and the UPU - See It On A Postcard

 

Decorate

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is decorating  Christmas Trees

After their fun in the forest last Thursday the tree has arrived indoors and the aunties have been fruitfully engaged decorating it.

1981: Christmas in Your Community (Artist - Alan Copp)

Parcels and baubles predominate on this Christmas Tree in  Royal Square St Helier. The scene is ornamented with a Christmas Rose. A flower that is linked to the Nativity by a legend of a poor shepherdess who had no gift for Jesus and wept. Her tears fell into the snow but an angel, taking pity on her, touched the ground where her tears had fallen and a plant bloomed with white flowers (symbolising purity and hope). The little shepherdess was then able to present this miraculous gift to the Christ Child.

This was Jersey's first issue of stamps for Christmas, designed by one of Jersey Post's favourite illustrators, Alan R Copp.

T for Transport

 

The RMS St Helena was a cargo/passenger ship that served the remote South Atlantic islands of St Helena and Tristan da Cunha from 1990-2018.  It was one of the last Royal Mail Ships. Today this "rugged little vessel"  has been repurposed for polar exploration. Wondering about that air mail sticker? The ship's routine journey was from Cape Town, SA where it would pick up the mail destined for Tristan da Cunha and St Helena. The St Helena airport opened in 2016,  however Tristan da Cuhna is 1900 km south of St Helena so no wonder its famous sign says "Welcome to the Remotest Island'. Mail is delivered by infrequent cargo and fishing vessels making mail a highly anticipated event. I think I get excited when post  drops through my letterbox but this must but on another level of excitement for the islanders!

The 10p stamp shows another, older, Royal Mail Ship the 'Rangitata' which operated from New Zealand. Part of the 1994 'Ships' issue. The 45p stamp shows a scooter and a Yamaha motorcycle, one of the 1995 Local Transport issue.

The stamps used on this cover were for Thailand's 1967 International Letter Writing Week. The cover was carried aboard Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) plane for the first Trans-Asian Express air route connecting Copenhagen and Denmark to Bangkok and Singapore via a technical stop in Tashkent then part of the USSR (today Uzbekistan's capital). Called the great circle route it was a one stop flight to Asia flown by a DC8, all very exciting and a great event at the time.

Here is the cover being returned with the additional cancels to Henry Jensen from the 'circle route'

1977: Centenary of Local Transport

Keeping it local. Right - A horse drawn tram, Malmo, Electric Tram,Gothenburg

Left Ferry Boat to Djurgarden, Stockholm, Articulated bus, Gothenburg and the Underground train, Stockholm.

Sunday Stamps A-Z

T for Tristan da Cunha, Thailand, Transport, train and trams - See It On A Postcard

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Cut and Collect

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Christmas Trees

Picking the perfect tree.  The Finns have many descriptive words for pine trees, a Petäjä is a tall straight pine and would be one to search out for Christmas. Pines are also considered rather human like as Inge Löök shows.

Lots of trees to choose from at Christmas time in a Finnish forest.

50% are pine and a third spruce the rest are deciduous trees, especially birch. Meanwhile away from this snowy landscape 

50%

2018: Christmas PHQ Card (Illustrator - Andrew Davidson)

 in a city far away a shopping trip has included a tree.