It Is Raining Cats...

I mean, in my mailbox. I do not know why, but cats have kept appearing recently...

Envelope made by Phillip (USA), with a page of a calendar. The stamp matches perfectly, don't you think so?

Gossip
Blue Cats by Rina Zeniuk
Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)

Postcrossing postcard from Japan.
Actually, the picture was taken in Greece...

A Bit of Shakespeare

Macbeth

The Great Bed of Ware 
England, 1590-1600
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

The Great Bed of Ware has long been famous for its size: twice the size of a modern double bed. As early as 1601, Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Nights described a sheet as 'big enough for the bed of Ware'. Over three metres wide, it regularly slept four couples but probably not 'twenty-six butchers and their wives' as sometimes claimed. The bed has long been part of local -and museum- folklore.

Postcards sent by Laura (UK), added to my Shakespeare album.

Women on Stamps | J for Juchacz

Marie Juchacz (1879-1956) was a German political reformer. She became, in 1919, the first female Reichstag member to address a German parliament.

In 2003, she was also honoured by Deutsche Post in its Women in German history series of postage stamps. Another stamp (that I don't have) had been issued in 1969:

(Taken from here)

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For the current round of Sunday Stamps A-Z I am showing stamps dedicated to women. You can see here all the Women on Stamps featured on this blog.

Go to Sunday Stamps to enjoy more J-stamps.

HitM | Smash Mallow

An original house sent by Phillip (the USA) for the Houses in the Mail project. It is a plastic bag, that originally contained smashmallow. I can certify that, because the letter inside smelled of mint and chocolate. Actually, all my mail that arrived together with this green house smelled of mint and chocolate :)

By the way, I think this is the first totally resealable letter I have ever received...

Wild Postcards

The Yellow Springs, Ohio, the USA
Sent by Phillip

Indiana Wildflowers, the USA
Sent by Nellie 

Kenting National Park in Taiwan
Sent by Chiu

Sent by Wilma

I don't know where in Taiwan this picture was taken...

... But I love this back, anyway

Good Days Start...

What a good day starts with? With mail, of course! But, as the sender of the postcards below wrote, mail can also be good for finishing a day. What is more nice that arrive home after a busy day and find some hellos on your mailbox?

By the way... it seems that am growing a nice and tasty collection of stroopwafels!

Mail sent by Laura (the UK), Heleen (the Netherlands) and Mary-Ann (the Netherlands).

Bright Lighthouses

Envelope sent by John (the UK). It was inside a parcel, so he could include lighthouse stamps from different countries. The whole... it made my day!

Australia

Canada

France

Germany

Jersey

Netherlands

Taiwan

The United Kingdom

The USA

Stop & Smell the Roses

 

Japanese roses sent by Maria.

English roses sent by Laura. Painting by Junko Iwata.

Letter #5 of Posted Letter (received long ago). To see the whole contents, go here.

Pizza Menu Letter

 I like the letters that Bryon (USA) writes on menus... Have you ever sent one of these?

Women on Stamps | I for Imaginary Women

I am afraid that imaginary, or fictional women are far more likely to appear on stamps that real ones...

You can see above one of the latest Harry Potter stamps, issued on 16 October 2018. It features the actress Emma Watson as one of the main characters: Hermione Granger (If you are familiar with the Potterian universe, you will recognise also the time turner, at the corner.)

Morgan Le Fay, a character from the Arthurian legend, appeared on this stamp from the set Magical Realms (9 March 2011).

The stamp above features a portrait of Leda, the queen of Sparta, from the ancient Greek mythology.

The stamp below shows a woman in a landscape who Royal Mail says about: 

The most plausible explanation is that this is the maiden Matelda gathering flowers, as she appears to Dante on the far side of a stream in Purgatory, the second book of his Divine Comedy. However, the purpose of the drawing is unknown.

Both stamps belong to the issue Leonardo Da Vinci (13 February 2019). You can read more about this issue here. I have received, so far, three more stamps from this set:

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For the current round of Sunday Stamps A-Z I am showing stamps dedicated to women. You can see here all the Women on Stamps featured on this blog.

Go to Sunday Stamps to enjoy more I-stamps.

Happy Easter!

I sent a couple of Easter-themed letters, with envelopes made of pages of magazines. The following day, I found one of them in my mailbox. There were no postmarks, but some marks that showed that the letter has passed through the postal machines (?!). I resent it... I hope it arrives!

Postcard sent by Fabienne (France). Last year!

A bunny that appears and disappears, on a letter sent by Phillip (the USA): Each of the three identical stamps on the sheet features an effect that mimics a classical illusion. By rotating each stamp, you can see a white rabbit popping out of a black top hat. It is quite difficult to take a proper picture! (And these complete my collection of magic stamps...).

And two more random bunnies, from Belarus and Japan:

Green Alphabet

Envelope made by Phillip (the USA), with some cardboard packaging. It was not easy, at first, to open and read the letter inside!

HitM | Different Colours

Two very different houses (at least, in their colours) sent by Fabienne (France) for the Houses in the Mail project.

House with drying laundry, 1917
By Egon Schiele (1890-1918)