The Weight of Friendship

«Letters, especially those bearing too many stamps, carried the weight of friendship.»

Yiyun Li, Dear Friend, from My Life, I Write to You in Your Life

La Libération - De Bevrijding

Stamp issued by Belgium in 2018. More about this issue.

Mail Call from Hungary

Dear fellow mail artists,

I invite you to participate at Mail a smile’s newest challenge. I know this is a difficult period for everyone, but I believe creating art can bring us a tiny bit of peace. I am planning to organize an exhibition of all the mail that arrives, because I am confident your wonderful artwork will bring smiles to all the visitors.
(Location: Győr, Hungary. More details of the exhibition will be shared later.)

Topic: my home
Deadline: July 31st

Please, send your work to this address:
Pálma Puskás
Győrzámoly
Pf.9.
9172
Hungary

(More info: mailasmile.org)      

Sunday Stamps | Labourers

Postcard sent by Bryon (the USA)

Today's theme is Sunday Stamps is Labourers. This stamp of 2018 commemorates the centenary of the first Ukranian currency, and features a worker with a hammer.

Other stamps showing some of the most important jobs in the world...

Farmers

Doctors

Frefighters

Scientists

Educators

Lots of Stamps

I love envelopes with a lot of stamps. The one above was sent by Matthew (the USA), and contained a gift of stamps. The one below was sent by Rosemary (Canada). Notice that all the stamps are unmarked: any cancellation, which is not unusual on Canadian mail.

More vintage stamps on the card inside...

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!

Current Mood

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK).

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

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).

A Little Penguin Crossed the Atlantic

 Letter sent to Phillip (the USA).

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...

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: 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!

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. 

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).