30 April 2021

The Most Perfect Match Ever


Bryon (the USA) sent me this postcard with the most perfect matching stamps. See and tell me if you agree!


29 April 2021

Current Mood


Postcard sent by Laura (the UK).

28 April 2021

How They Dare...?!?


These two letters, sent a month apart, arrived together.

The big one bears a stamp belonging to the set The Legend of King Arthur, issued on 16 March 2021. But... how they dare to penstrike the Holy Grail?!?

Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail

More stamps from this beautiful set I have got:

Knights of the Round Table

Sir Lancelot defeats the dragon

Arthur battles Mordred

The death of King Arthur

27 April 2021

Fijne Koningsdag

Envelopes from Konningsdag 2020:



Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). There is also a Sant Jordi rose on this one...



Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).

26 April 2021

25 April 2021

Sunday Stamps | Soccer

Two small 1972 stamps for today's theme on Sunday Stamps: Sport. They belong to a very large series. I got those by snail mail, but inside an envelope.

Hurdling

Soccer

Although I do not like soccer, I end up getting a lot of soccer stamps...





24 April 2021

A Room Without Books...

A room without books is like a body...

... without a soul
(Marcus Tulius Cicero)

Envelope sent by Phillip (the USA), made of a calendar. 

23 April 2021

23 April: Stop and Smell the Roses

23 April is Sant Jordi ('Saint George’s Day'), and also the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, when love and literature are celebrated massively throughout the Catalan countries and, more and more, in many other places around the world. The exchange of books and roses (#BooksAndRoses) is turning into a worldwide phenomenon.

I got last week a couple of Sant Jordi-related stamps (unintentionally?):

Letter from Alan (the UK)
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton. The stamp belongs to a set issuet on 22 October 2001.





This is the decorated back of a big postcard sent by John (the UK). The miniature sheet was issued on 6 May 2010, under the title Celebrating the Accession of King George V for London 2010 Festival of Stamps



And a letter from Fabienne (France) wore a stamp I was really happy to get. Issued on 12 April this year, it celebrates the 75 anniversary of Le Petit Prince ('The Little Prince').

If you have read the book, or know the story, you can see a rose in the Little Prince's hands... And you realise that the stamp on the left is a perfect match!


Oh, and I sent some dragons & roses, too!

22 April 2021

Happy Earth Day (2): Mermaids Hate Plastic

 


This is one of the stamps the United Nations issued for Earth Day 2020. It shows the work of Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong. All he used for creating this fascinating work of art was 10,000 plastic bottles and a mermaid. You can read the story here.

"No water, no life.
No blue, no green."

On the postcard, the marine biologist, explorer and aquanaut Sylvia Earle, drawn by Rachel Ignotofsky. 

21 April 2021

Happy Earth Day (1)

Marjory Stoneman Douglas
(By Rachel Ignotofsky)

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries.


Earth Day 2020 was the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Celebrations in the USA included the issue of a stamp, a pictorial First Day postmark and special cancellations. Usually, these cancellations are blurry:



But I managed to get finally to get a clear one:

Just because it was on the back of an envelope... arrived on 29 June!

And three stamps with the Energy Awareness Month cancellation:

Mail sent by Phillip, Bryon and Dee (the USA).

20 April 2021

Reading!







Postcards sent by Bryon (the USA), Anne (Germany), Laura (the UK) and Fabienne (France).

19 April 2021

All About Trees


I sent this envelope to Heleen (the Netherlands), containing a letter about trees (among other matters). It was made out of a page of a calendar, and shows an old olive tree.

This was Heleen's reply:

I cannot decide if I love more the tree stamps or Heleen's drawing...


... or the trees inside!

18 April 2021

Sunday Stamps | Fontaine Saint-Michel, Paris


Today's theme in Sunday Stamps is Statues, Memorials. I have recently got this stamp from France. It was issued on 18 March 2019. 

It features the Saint-Michel fountain, placed in the 6th arrondissement of Paris (France). It was built in 1860 by architect Gabriel Davioud. It includes a bronze group sculpted by Francisque Duret (1804-1865), inspired by the painting by Raphael in the Louvre, representing Saint Michael slaying the demon. The two dragons were sculpted by Henri-Alfred Jacquemart.