Christmas

 Christmas in 1964

and in 2021

I hope an angel brought some joy to your Christmas Day. We had rain instead of snow this year and the sun stayed hidden all day, making it a little dreary. 

for Sunday Stamps - Christmas

snow

 

Caribou, ermine, snowshoe hare, lemming, and an arctic fox hide easily in the snow with their winter coats.

 

These sheep have their heavy woolly coats to keep them warm as they eat on the snow covered field

The branches of these trees are able to withstand the heavy snow

for Sunday Stamps - winter

I wish everyone a safe and healthy - and happy - Christmas

ranges

 

The Tatra National Park showing the High Tatras along the border of Slovakia and Poland.

and a few hours to the west, we come to the Emmental mountains in the western Alps.

 

Both of these ranges are relatively low in elevation with the Tatras slightly beating out the Emmental with a highest peak of 2,655 m to 2,350 m.

For Sunday Stamps - mountains

moonwalker

 

The Lunokhod, a Soviet rover, and the first roving remote controlled robot to land on the moon.

An extraterrestrial escape from earth

for Sunday Stamps - your choice

editorial content

 

The editorial cartoon is the first thing I look for when reading the paper. Sometimes I like to try to guess which story of the day they choose to illustrate. They can be humorous, thought provoking, poignant, or simply a reflection of the time. After a few years, without context they can sometimes be difficult to understand. 

This set, issued in October 2021, features some well known editorial cartoonists from Canadian newspapers.

Here we have a beaver (our national animal) sitting in a ubiquitous Muskoka chair drinking a beer; another in honour of a hockey game between Russia and Canada in 1972; the relationship between US and Canada; a slightly resentful feeling of Quebecers to the rest of Canada after the 1995 referendum; and finally, a tribute to the hockey players of fatal bush crash in Humboldt.

 

For Sunday Stamps - cartoons or illustrations

tall and wide

two elongated trees from British Honduras (1972) a quamwood tree and a mammee apple tree

Back in the British Isles (1973) we have the mighty oak, which can grow more wide than tall

 

and on to the continental US (1978) - a giant sequoia, white pine, white oak and a gray birch

for Sunday Stamps - trees

folk songs

 stamps with images, lyrics and music

Les Raftsmen from Quebec  followed by The Alberta Homesteader

A Mohawk lullaby called The Bear Will Dance  and finally, from Newfoundland and Labrador, a dance ditty I'se the B'y that Builds the Boat

Some Japanese folk songs with an autumn theme

Autumn Leaves and Home

 

for Sunday Stamps - music

crossing point

 

from 1973 a bridge to Abu Dhabi. Before the Al-Maqta bridge was built in 1968 the only way to get in or out of the city was to wait for low tide and walk by foot or camel. Al Maqta means crossing point.

and from 1985, the oldest bridge in Berlin - Jungfern. It is a bascule bridge, originally built sometime around 1701 with some  remodelling and changes made in 1798 and again in the 20th century which ultimately made the moving parts of the drawbridge inoperable. Ever since, it has been a pedestrian bridge.

for Sunday Stamps - roads, train tracks, or bridges

haunted

 

“Gastown, Vancouver, B.C. — haunted history: Legend has it the Waterfront Station and several bars and restaurants in the neighbourhood are all haunted - making it home to more dearly departed but persistently present spirits than any neighbourhood in Canada.

“Red River Valley, Man. — the ox cart: In 1903, soldiers at Red River Valley’s Fort Garry claimed to have seen phantoms driving a cart pulled by a team of oxen pass through their post at night.

“Levis, Que. — Marie-Josephte Corriveau: In 1763, she was executed on charges of murder. Her soul was said to walk the road at night, approaching travelers and grabbing anyone passing by with her claw-like hands as she opened her blood-red eyes.

“Carcross, Yukon — Caribou Hotel: Built in the town of Bennett in 1898 at the start of the Klondike Gold Rush, the hotel is rumoured to be haunted by late hotel co-owner Bessie Gideon's ghost. She was supposedly buried in Carcross but a cemetery survey did not locate her grave.

“Halifax, N.S. — the Grey Lady: Legend has it that the spirit of the ‘Grey Lady’ wanders the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, mourning her lost love, strolling the second floor at night, smelling of roses and wearing a 19th-century dress.”

For Sunday Stamps - halloween, witches, or just plain scary

cats

a pair of cats enjoying a lazy Sunday in 2004 for stamp collecting month.

and this little cutie not necessarily wanting any more siblings, or future kittens

for Sunday Stamps - felines

wolves

 2003

The gray wolf is the largest wild canine in the world while the timber wolf is considered a sub-species.

1990

for Sunday Stamps - canines

autumnal

walking a yellow leafed road in a forest in Germany

to finding seasonal fruits and berries and nuts in Britain

from 1993, designed by Charlotte Knox

pear, rowan, hazel, blackberry, horse chestnut

apricots and peaches 

from San Marino

for Sunday Stamps - autumn, harvest, food

endeavour

 

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the sailing of the Endeavour. First up is a chart showing the 'discoveries' made by Captain Cook. Second is the ship beached at Endeavour River after damaging it on the Endeavour Reef in 1770.

for Sunday Stamps - celebrating historical events

water

Conservation of water (2002) and a special stamp use for greeting cards (2013).  Bamboo is especially good at conserving water. Once it is established it can get all the water it needs from the ground and can help with soil erosion.

For more water, here is one from the Beautiful China series (2013) showing Xing Hua Duo Tian Agrosystem and the islands of rapeseed flowers (for canola oil). This is a unique land water use where raised cultivated fields surrounded by irrigation canals are made from the sludge. 

and, because this is apple season...

for Sunday Stamps - Asia

on the waterfront

 

I love how the Clyde Auditorium (on the banks of the River Clyde) is now known by the nickname given to it by the people of Glasgow. It opened in 1997 and the name was officially changed in 2017.  It has an auditorium that seats over 3,000 people.

In Oslo, the new Opera House (opened in 2008 and winner of Culture Building of the Year in 2009 ) was photographed by PETTER KARLSTRØM. Built on the banks of the Oslofjord, it is Norway's first purpose built opera house and is the largest cultural building constructed in Norway since 1300.

for Sunday Stamps - post war architecture

watercolours

 

Lake Pukaki, painted by New Zealand landscape artist John Gully in 1862. It's hard to see, but Mt Cook is in the distance. For LOTR fans, this was the location of Lake-town.

Up at the other end of the globe in the far north west of Scotland is Ben Arkle, painted by Prince Charles.

I'm not sure either of these paintings would make me want to visit - though, in truth, I have been to both and found them spectacular in real life.

For Sunday Stamps - art/painting

big work

New Zealand is Butterland according to an article I read on the beloved food. It seems this tiny country has a high consumption rate compared to other butter eating countries. It was a dietary staple by the mid twentieth century as this stamp from 1960 can attest (just look at the size!)

    

From an old growth forest tree (1967)             

 

to pulp and paper (1956)

For Sunday Stamps - work, industry

fast and furious

 

A Newfoundland Marten, a Blotched Tiger Salamander, a Blue Racer Snake, and a Swift Fox from 2006

The marten was once trapped for its fur.

The salamander is one of the largest in North America and likes ponds and wetlands that don't have any fish.

The blue snake, while not venomous, is aggressive and will chase you.

The swift fox now only occupies about 1/3 of its historic range.

For Sunday Stamps - endangered species

jewel

Because I don't collect creepy crawlies (and I am praying that no one posts any spiders - shudder) and I forgot I had no photos anymore (cry). So I was frantically searching through my Malaysia and Taiwan postcards thinking that's where most of the bugs stamps would be...

Then I remembered these stamps from Australia which a friend picked up for me when he was travelling. These beetles only live for between one day and two weeks. Apparently they also never lose their brilliant colours even after death, so anyone is able to see them in all their beauty in the Natural History section of Museum Victoria.

These jewel beetles were illustrated by Owen Bell. The one on the left can be found in Western Australia and the one on the right is found in Victoria and New South Wales. Each one grows to 15 - 20 mm (or in old school terms slightly less than 1") As far as I am concerned that is huge.

for Sunday Stamps - bugs and creepy crawlies

I am still working on a few 'bugs' on my new desktop, and  perhaps the most annoying one is the font size. I can increased the size on the posts as I'm typing, but once it is published it goes back to point 8. On my screen it is tiny, so tiny!

How does it look on your screens?

mysterious

 Mysterious Island

From Monaco for the 150th anniversary of Jules Verne in 1975 

To a 1961 mongoose lemur from Madagascar

For Sunday Stamps - the letter 'M'

movement

 Cycling in Munich 1972

Cross Country Skiing in Sarajevo 1984

Figure Skating in Nagano 1998

I wonder how many countries issued stamps for Tokyo 2020?

I'm going to miss watching sports that I never think about except every four years. But, we get to do it all again in 7 months for the winter games, which seems insane. But, of course it's not all over as there's still the Paralympics in  a couple of weeks. I have no stamps for those.

For Sunday Stamps - Olympics or Japan

finicky

I have missed you all! Apologies for last week.

My computer finally crashed and it took a little while getting a new one and even longer getting it up and running with transferred files.  It has been picked up today (Saturday) and I am still trying to figure it all out... the changes are at once small and great. some things have not been improved and I much prefer the old  version. but all those coders must keep on creating, I guess.

Also, I lost many of my photos in the process so have to start over with inputting my stamps and postcards.

I have chosen lacemaking as my theme this week, which is about as finicky a craft as I can think of. This example from 1976 shows the perfect posture of the artisan and the perfect mess of the bobbins she uses to create her masterpiece.

I also have this set from 1987

for Sunday Stamps - your choice

inside, outside

It would have been around 1978, when this stamp came out, that I first joined a quilting bee. It did not go well. I so admire the work these quilters can create. And the patience they have to get it done!

In 1965, Alexei Leonov became the first person to do a spacewalk. The map of earth behind him is interesting, and probably not at all as he saw it.

for Sunday Stamps - stamps from the 1900s