Women on Postcards | A Is for Aksinia

Aksinia and Grigory are the main characters of And Quiet Flows the Don or The Silent Don (Тихий Дон), a novel in four volumes by Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov, who on the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965.

The postcard was sent by Eduard, and includes stamps of the author of the Nobel and other Nobel laureates from Russia in literature.

Mikhail Sholokhov 
(1905-1984)

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
(1890-1960)

Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin
(1870-1953)

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

Women on Postcards | O Is for Oz

It has been a while since the last time I received mail from Oz! 

Postcard sent by Marina (USA).

Dorothy, 2015
Janelle Dimmett

Not a postcard, but Dorothy and her friends also appear on this handmade envelope (from a calendar sheet), with the greenest stamps:

Both pieces of mail were sent by Phillip (the USA).

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

Snail Mail Alert!

An entire letter was written on the back of these postcards, a paragraph on each one. There were posted around 1st October (World Postcard Day), in two batches on different days. The amazing part is that they arrived all together a month later. This time, the snails did their job!

250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and I have been celebrating throughout the year. Apart from re-reading some Austen's books... getting and sending Austen-related mail, of course!

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them."
Mansfield Park

I guess I can add a Brönte-related postcard: the earliest know image of Haworth Parsonage.

All sent by Laura (the UK).

It Is Cold Out There

"Sky-scrappers" at St Martin Quarter
Cuenca, Spain

"When it rains, it's a whole different scene. Or when there's a blizzard, it's the best time, told the filmmakers of Bill Cunningham New York, the 2011 documentary."

 

Postcards sent by Bryon (USA & Canada), and Bruno (Spain).

Bishop's Rock Real Photograph

The Bishop Rock Lighthouse is located in the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly. The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's smallest island with a building on it.

The original iron lighthouse was begun in 1847 but was washed away before it could be completed. The present building was completed in 1858 and was first lit on 1 September that year. Before the installation of the helipad, visitors to the lighthouse would rappel from the base (with winches installed at the lamp level and at the base) to boats waiting away from the lighthouse.

On the back of these black and white postcards you can read: "Guaranteed real photograph".

Postcards sent by Alan and John (the UK).

Sunday Stamps | I Is for Isabella II

The first Spanish stamps reproduce the image of Isabella II, queen o Spain from 1833 until 1868. The same stamp was issued in different colours and face values. 

Spain was the tenth country to adopt the innovative system ot the stamps, and the first Spanish stamps were issued on 1st January 1850. Until 1865, stamps were presented without perforation, with a separation between stamps of one mil·límetre, and had to be separated by scissors. 

6.227.090 of these black stamps were sold during 1850. However, only five envelopes bearing it have survived.

On 7 January 2025, this self-adhesive stamp was issued to commemorate the 175th anniversary.

(This is the I-post for A-Z Sunday Stamps.)

Sunday Stamps | F is for Feminist

Simonne Monet-Chartrand (1919 – 1993) was a Canadian labor activist, feminist writer, and pacifist.

The stamp were issued in 2023, along with two more stamps featuring Léa Roback and Madeleine Parent. All three women were born in Montréal and were lifelong advocates for women’s and workers’ rights and other causes. You can read more about them in the Canada Post online magazine.

This is my F entry for the A-Z Sunday Stamps.

Summer Mail - XIII

Holidaymakers in Thanet (UK)... some years ago.

Postcard sent by Laura (UK).

Fishing Season in My Mailbox (II)

The Whitefishes, 2007
Gregory Lee Blackstock (1946-2003)

Sent by Bryon. See also here and here.

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Slowly

On the back:

From an original postcard of Miss Blossom E. Stevens, who worked as a postwoman during the First World War at Ashmore Post Office in Dorset, where her uncle was the Postmaster. The photograph was handed down to his great-niece, by whose permission is it reproduced.

 

And not so slowly, but still...

Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway. The steam train was an original mode of transportation up Pikes Peak, by pushing a passenger car up and then pulling it down. There are 4 stops along the trip where they would get water. The steam train went out of service in 1958, but one is still in working condition today and makes an occasional trip each year. 

-----------------------------------------------

Thursday Postcard Hunt
July theme: TRAVEL

• Week 1 - Your Own Country
• Week 2 - A place you'd like to visit (but haven't)
• Week 3 - A place you would not like to visit (for whatever reason)
• Week 4 - Getting around (train, bus, plane, stations, airports)
• Week 5 - Your happy place (beach, mountains, parks, cities, islands...)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Ansel Adams

Ansel Easton Adams (1902– 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. 

These stamps commemorating his impact in art were issued in 2024.

I think I have got all of them by now. They look wonderful on letters!