Fifteen Years

Can you believe this blog is 15 years old?

Woman on Postcards | J is for Janneke

Fiep Westendorp is a  (favourite!) Dutch illustrator who became popular due to her long collaboration with writer Annie M.G. Schmidt with their creation of Jip and Janneke. 

Postcard sent by by Romina (The Netherlands). Actually, it is the second time I receive it (which I don't mind, of course).

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

How Is Your Summer? - I

From the book Otje, by Fiep Westendorp. Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Sunday Stamps | Going to School

This week, Sunday Stamps is dedicated to Education. Right now, schools and universities in my country are enjoying their holidays. But they will be soon back to school...

Lessons can be hard...

... But definitely better if you find good teachers!

Robert Panara

Mary McLeod Bethune

Hairdresser

 

Believe it or not, I found this postcard (sent by Heleen from the Netherlands) in the mailbox, and the stamp below, among others, on the back of a postcard sent by Bryon (the USA)... when I arrived home after a visit to the hairdresser, one month ago.

First Day of Summer!

Fiep Westendorp, 1991
From: Jip en Janneke,
written by Annie M. G. Schmidt

Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)... last year!

Book Store Day

I didn't know there were a Book Store Day until Heleen (the Netherlands) sent this postcard. 

Se send also a couple of postcards featuring Fiep Westendorp's character celebrating the day... Reading, of course!

Reading Women on Postcards

Ellen Dhub photograph, 1976
Sent by John (the UK)

I like the book she is reading...

Sent by John (the UK)

Mr Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading 
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926)
Sent by Bryon (the USA)

Sent by Phillip (France)

Can you spot her?

Sent by Heleen (The Netherlands)

Girl in Red (1926), by Alice Ruggles Sohier (1880-1969)
Sent by Bryon (the USA)

Have you noticed the Christmas postmark?

Jip en Janneke characters, by Fiep Westendorp
Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)

Although she is not exactly reading letters...

Welsh vintage ladies
Sent by John (the UK)

One reading, one doing the laundry (?!)

Smoking Writers?

This postcard featuring James Joyce was sent by Laura (the UK). It is an oil by Jacques-Emile Blanche (1935).

I like to receive postcards portraying writers. But I have just realised that, even in my little collection, some of them appear smoking. It seems to be a writer-portrait thing...

Annie M. G. Schmidt

Sigmund Freud

(This was my small contribution too the celebrating of Bloomsday!)

#AtoZChallenge | L is for Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is a character I love. I had not seen this version by Fiep Westendorp until Heleen (the Netherlands) sent it to me in the shape of a postcard. The same illustration appears on the selvage of this wonderful (wonderful, wonderful!) sheet of stamps issued last year. Can you spot her?

And there is another version on the following postcard, also sent by Heleen:

But, besides Little Red Riding Hood, the Fairy Tale Wood, by Molly Brett (1902-1990) includes A LOT of fairy tales characters on one single illustration:

Puss in Boots

Hansel & Grethel

Cinderella

Snow White

The Twelve Swans

The Three Piglets

The Ugly Duckling

The Red Shoes

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Petter Rabbit 

The Chinese Nightingale (Thanks, Heleen! Again)

Sleeping Beauty (Thanks, Donna!)

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs (Thanks, Phillip!)

The Golden Bird (Thanks, Eva!)

Dick Whittington and His Cat (Thanks, Anne!)

Saint George (Thanks, Anne!)

...

Are other characters on the postcard that I have missed?

#AtoZChallenge | F is for Flags

The UK

Postcard sent by John (the UK). Illustration by Martin Wiscombe.

The Netherlands

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). This is the Friesland flag, and it arrived with a matched stamp on the back. By the way, the red hearts are not so, but leaves of a water lily, the symbol of the region.

I like the series of Dutch stamps that show the flags and important things (or people!) of every region. Heleen has sent me also the stamps of Zeeland and Flevoland (and maybe more, but I am not able to find them right now...). The background is made of poems, but you need a magnifying glass to read them (and some knowledge of Dutch to understand them!).

The USA

Postcard sent by Bryon (the USA). As it say on the back: "Postal flag made entirely from stamps and envelopes. The stars feature postmarks from each state in the order that they were inducted to the Union. Created by a U.S. Army Quatermaster during World War II.". This is an amazing artwork. Have a closer look!

And the latest stamps I have got with the USA flag:

I am amazed by the different stamps that the USPS issues every year with different design around the flag. Does your country issue stamps with flags? What would you like to see more on stamps?

Happy New Year

From Catherine (France).

From Heleen (the Netherlands). An illustration by Fiep Westendorp.

From Mélissa (Canada).

From France