Sound Advice

Drink tea. Read books. Be happy

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK).

Lost Stamps

One trend on my recent mail from the USA has been that the third stamp doesn't make it. One of these fell at home, so I could retrieve it. But the rest never reached me. Sometimes, postal machines are ruthless with vintage stamps!

What Can You Do with All Those Machin Stamps?

The colours and combinations of Machin stamps on envelopes seem infinite, and they produce always gorgeous envelopes, like this letter sent by Alan.

You can even use those for mail art (not postage). It would had never occurred to me to stick the stamps in the way John did:

Sunday Stamps | Oriental Illustrations

Today's theme at Sunday Stamps is Eastern Hemisphere. Just sharing some intricate illustrations on Chinese and Japanese stamps, for the eyes' pleasure.

Messages Outside

Sometimes, messages arrive outside the envelopes as well as inside...

Fight Covid

Thank you, NHS / Thank you, Postie!
Be Bold, Be Brave, Be You / Stay Strong
Snail Mail / Happy Mail
...

Open Me

Rainbow Birds

Letters sent to Phillip (the USA) and Heleen (the Netherlands).

(Template from here)

Would You Try?

Summer tomatoes

I don't need any recipe to use tomatoes...

But, sometimes, I get recipes on postcards. When you do...Do you try it?

Some recipes seem quite easy. Although the perfect level can be hard to achieve, of course!

Anatomy of a (perfect) grilled cheese sandwich

Sometimes, they look very nice on postcards, but too sweet in real life!

Piña colada

And sometimes, the ingredients are just impossible to find. Reindeer meat?!?

Postcards sent by Bryon (the USA), Ksenia (Belarus) and Anne (Finland).

Sunday Stamps | Bikes

Today's theme is Sunday Stamps is Motion. I don't know why, but I thought immediately of bikes.

Postal bikes, as in this series from the UK:

The post is delivered by bike all around the world: Hungary, Mexico...

But bikes aren't only for postal workers. It is for all kind of people: the milkman (I mean, when there were milkmen...), students, elegant couples, shoppers, athletes...

Bikes are for all kind of people! Even for... other people:

Had you realised how often bikes appear on stamps?!?

Scooby-Doo & Friends

I got this aerogram from Phillip (the USA). It travelled perfectly!

Time to show more dog stamps I have been getting lately. But none of them is watering the flower pots, so Scooby-Doo is the winner here.

Scooby-Doo, an American Great Dane

Zeusz, an Hungarian wire-haired Fox Terrier,

was an explosive detection dog

(More about this stamp)

Irish Sheepdog

A Maltese Chow-Chow

Russian Bullmastiff

Dutch Shepherd and Belgian Malinois, from the USA

But remember: Don't let your dog attack the post deliverer!

DOG Awareness Week 2020

 6-12 July 2020

(This is a bit blurry. You can see clearer examples here.)

I Just Wrote to Say Hello

Postcard sent by Teemu (Finland), through the Postcrossing site.

(Actually, this stamp arrived on the back of a different postcard. But I think if fits here!)

Pineapples

Mood: sending out pineapples to the world (the UK and the USA).

The Group of Seven | And Varley!

Early Morning. Sphinx Mountain, c. 1928

The artworks by Frederick Varley (1881-1969) have been the last step of the Group of Seven postal experiment. 

Stormy Weather. Georgian Bay (1921)

All the postcards have landed, and in a reasonable amount of time (It has taken me a bit longer to publish all). Plus, all had been hand-cancelled. 

You can see here the set of stamps, issued by Canadian post on 7 May.

A wonderful postal experiment carried out by Bryon, with the help of some Canadian postal workers. The result, as you can see on the pictures, is just gorgeous.

-------
The Group of Seven:
-MacDonald
-Jackson
-Carmichael & Lismer
-Johnston
-Harris