Sunday Stamps | Red Iron Lighthouses

Sunday Stamps is today dedicated to my favourite theme on stamps: Lighthouses.

Campen Lighthouse is an active lighthouse in the village of Campen, by the Ems estuary, in the East Frisia region, state of Lower Saxony, Germany. At a height of  65 m, it is the tallest lighthouse in  Germany.  The lighthouse was built in 1889 and went in service two years later. The stampwas issued in 2019.

The Stavoren Lighthouse is a lighthouse near Stavoren on the IJsselmeer, in the Netherlands. It was built in 1885, and restored in 2001. These are personalized stamps from 2016.

And this is the Lightship 12 Noord Hinder, currently a museum ship located in the harbour of Hellevoetsluis.

Postbox Saturday | Horta de Sant Joan

Visiting Horta de Sant Joan, I spotted two post boxes: one in the bus stop, and another one (below) in the main square. I guess there is a post office somewhere, as well.

The Graceful Envelope Contest: Mapping the World's Cities

Karen Burgess (one of the 2023 winners)

The world’s great cities have distinctive landmarks, cultures, histories, cuisines, or geography that are said to put each town “on the map.” There is even a tradition of depicting such characteristics on actual maps. Your challenge is to pick a city and consider what contributes to its unique character. For example, what makes New York bustling, Paris romantic, Tokyo energetic, and Sydney beautiful? Then—using artistry, lettering and the integration of postage stamps—create some sort of map on your Graceful Envelope that captures the spirit of the city of your choice. Artistically address your envelope to:

The Graceful Envelope Contest, P.O. Box 3688, Merrifield, VA 22116

(Read here all the details of the contest)

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Summer in Mallorca Island

Thursday Postcard Hunt's topic is Summer. Some favourite places from the beloved Mallorca island to remember happy summers (years!) there.

Es Pontàs - Santanyí

Port d'Andratx

Colònia Sant Jordi - Es Trenc

Porto Colom

Formentor

Postcards sent by Lluïsa and R.

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Thursday Postcard Hunt

October theme: SEASONS

• Week 1 - Autumn
• Week 2 - Summer
• Week 3 - Spring
• Week 4 - Winter

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Yellow Collage

Front and back of an envelope decorated by Laura (the UK) in Autumn colours.

Alphabet 2023 | S Is for Sacramento

Another letter for the Alphabet 2023 project! It is time for an intricate S, with a beautiful array of matching stamps on the back:

Skylab

Sylvester

Sea Cucumber

San Francisco garter snake

Seeing for me
(German shepherd)

The last one did not survived the postal machines, alas. Below there is an image I found on the net:

Happy World Post Day!

Sunday Stamps | Exotic Food

Some exotic (from my point of view, of course!) food that has arrived on stamps from Thailand, for today's Sunday Stamps.

Above, Joint issue Thailand-Maldives from 2019, featuring coconut and durian.

Below, 2020 New Year stamps, featuring traditional desserts: somechun and lotchon (coconut & litchi).

But you need to buy something before cooking. So, some Australian stamps from 2007 issued under the theme Market Feast: Vegetable stall in Adelaide Central Market and Sydey Fish Market.

Postbox Saturday | Calaceite

This is the post office in Calaceite (Teruel, Spain). It has very restricted opening hours, like most post offices in the area. But I like the fact they write the current rates on the box itself (on the white label). So that no one sends a letter with the wrong stamp.

As a bonus, a pillar box from the same village. The pictures were taken in August 2023. It was really hot.

World of the Letters

World of Letters is a German multi-year series of illustrated stamps that started in 2022. I have got some of these designs (see here and here). I would not mind to get the rest of the collection!

Thanks to the Postcrossing forum, I have just learned that the stamps make a collage (a bit spoiled by the Matrix code):

Thursday Postcards Hunt | Autumn Trees

Some (re-posted) Autumn trees for Thursday Postcard Hunt. Share your Autumn postcards!

Sierra de Atapuerca Promenade
Burgos (Spain)

The Japanese Garden in Autumn
Butchart Gardens (Victoria, Canada)

The Culinary Institute of America
California Campus

Sent by Laura (Spain), John (the UK), Simone (Germany) and Bryon (USA & Canada).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt

October theme: SEASONS

• Week 1 - Autumn
• Week 2 - Summer
• Week 3 - Spring
• Week 4 - Winter

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Maritime Mail

Olympic Mountains and Ferry, Washington State (USA)

Aniva Lighthouse

Sent by Bryon (the USA), Catherine (France) and Eduard (Russia).

Good Job & Bad Job

The sender (Rosemary, Canada) made a good job preparing this envelope, full of details I love.

The postal workers, however, decided it was a good idea to ruin the stamps with a sharpie...

If Life Gives You Lemons

Postcrossing postcards sent by Doki and Amani (the USA). Nice additions to my Citrus album!

Sunday Stamps | First Nations People

Geronimo or Goyaałé (1829 – 1909) was a leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. The stamp was issued in 1994, and it belongs to the USPS' series Legends of the West.

Standing Bear or Maⁿchú-Naⁿzhíⁿ (c. 1829–1908) was a Ponca chief and Native American civil rights leader who successfully argued in US District Court in 1879 in Omaha that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" and have the right of habeas corpus, thus becoming the first Native American judicially granted civil rights under American law. The stamp was issued by USPS on 12 May 2023.

This stamp (a favourite of mine!) belongs to the Truth and Reconciliation set, issued by Canada Post on 29 September 2022, in connection with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September. The designer of this one is Inuit artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, and this are her words explaining the artwork (taken from this article, where you can read more about this issue):

I believe each group within Canada has a different responsibility for reconciliation. For Indigenous People, our responsibility is to ourselves and to others within our communities: learning or passing on our language and culture that was attacked only one generation ago. I created a woman lighting a qulliq (QUL-liq), the traditional Inuit stone lamp used for heat and light to signify caretaking. This woman is carrying on in her culture as she has always done, taking care of herself and others and healing.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps.