elegance of brown

Brown is the least preferred colour of autumn, and yet that was expected to be the more predominant one this year due to our very dry, hot summer.  So, here is a more elegant Brown.

The Brown Palace Hotel located in the heart of downtown Denver has been offering old world elegance to travelers, business people and celebrities since 1892.

It boasts one of the first atrium style lobbies which rises eight stories with balconies of cast iron railings and ornate grillwork.  

Afternoon Tea in the Grand lobby is a cherished tradition that continues to this day ($65 and up)

received on Postcrossing

east wing

 he said it wouldn't be touched...

The East Wing as it once was and will be no more after Trump's demolition crew set to demolishing it for the abomination of a ballroom.

time for shelter

 An old water tower pump clock tower in Norfolk

Originally built 1862 as a water reservoir. The clock was presented to the town in 1901 by Mary Pimm in honour of her late husband.  After the war, the town clock was converted to its present use as a rest shelter.

The structure was originally built in 1862 as a water reservoir for the town. In 1901 Mary Pimm presented the clock to the town in memory of her late husband and after the war the town clock was converted to its present use as rest shelter.

louis

Celebrating French history.  Designed by Albert Decarie

The 'Sun King' with the  Palace of Versailles in the background, into which he moved the court and government in 1682 making it the de facto capital of France.  He reigned for an astounding 72 years and 110 days.  born 1638, died 1715 

An older Louis - Louis Hébert, born 1575 in Paris, died 1627 in Quebec City - was the first French apothecary in the New World.  The stamp, designed by Clermont Malenfant, shows Louis surrounded by objects of his trade, including a mortar and pestle as well as a sprig of balsam fir and silverweed, both useful as herbal medicines.

tea party

 

CATURDAY

a touch of red

 

known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can 

received on Postcrossing

swing bridge

 a popular tourist attraction

I would love to see this bridge in operation.  It connects the Sundestrand (the only south facing beach in Germany)  with the southern part of Wilhelmshaven

thanksgiving spoon

 

May your Thanksgiving bill o' fare

Have spoonfuls of happiness there 

kangaroos and koalas

Koalas are sometimes called koala bears, which is wrong, no matter how cuddly teddy bear-ish they look.  They are marsupials, which bears are certainly not.  Kangaroos however, are, so koalas and kangaroos are related.

There are four species of kangaroos - Eastern Grey, Western Grey, Red, and Antilopine.

The Antilopine kangaroos are found primarily in the north. The Reds are the largest.  There are way more Eastern Greys than Western Greys.  Both of these stamps feature Eastern Greys.

one large cat

 

CATURDAY

a wash in yellow

 wash day

"and I helped"

justice

The French Palais de Justice is a much grander name than the English utilitarian sounding Courthouse

unfortunately, the Monaco Palais de Justice is not open to the public, unlike this 1921 court house in Yorkton

 

marmalade

 

CATURDAY

a taste of orange

 simply mouthwatering

received on Postcrossing

books

 

of mystery

how many have you read or are familiar with? 

received from Postcrossing 

gaspé

This map is pre 1990s - the province abbreviation changed from P.Q (Province de Quebec) to  the 2 letter Qc in 1991.

indigenous

This set came out last year (Eva has already introduced us to Christi Belcourt for 'B'). Grandmother Josephine Mandamin was a water rights activist and co-founder of Mother Earth Water Walk

Elisapie Isaac is an Inuk musician, actress, broadcaster, filmmaker, and activist.  In the background is a landscape view of Nunavik where she was born and raised.  An Inuktitut version of the Fleetwood Mac song Dreams

eyes wide open

 

CATURDAY

great wall

 The Ten-Thousand Mile Long Wall*

Other names used in Chinese medieval records are 'ramparts', 'frontiers', 'barriers', 'fortresses', 'border wall'.

Built between the 3rd century B.C.  and 17th century A.D. -  so it took more than 2,000 years - as a series of fortifications.  Which makes me wonder if anyone ever thought of the 'historical' significance of what they were building and if it might last anywhere as long as it has.  Or they may have been too concerned with surviving the ordeal.

*It is actually more than 13,000 miles 

the golden state

 

my first Loupaper card

nature park

 

The Palatinate Forest is one of the largest contiguous forest areas in Germany.  It is a low mountain region in the southwest with it's highest elevation at 672.6 m

not always h

 

With four official languages in Switzerland, trying to fit Schweiz, Suisse, Svizerra, and the Romansch Svizra would take up most of the room on a stamp, so they settled on the Latin name 'Helvetia' (official name Confederatio Helvetica- why the CH as the international country code).  Interestingly, in Irish Gaelic and Romanian, the name for Switzerland is closer to Helvetia than variations of Swiss.

'Croatia', on the other hand, is from the Latin name for the country. Hrvatska is derived from the Slavic name, which is used by the people themselves.  The international country code is HR instead of CR because it was already taken by Costa Rica.  I admit, I often initially mistake HR for Hungary

another country with a non English name on their stamp (we'll get to that one with 'M')

I found an interesting article explaining how Croatia/Hrvatska came to be. The original Slavic name was Horvatska, later into Hrvatska.  Latin does not really pronounce the letter 'h', and starting the name with just an 'r' wasn't quite right, so they made it a 'ch' which became just a 'c'.  A 'v' after an 'r' is easy for Slavic speakers but not Latin, so it was transformed into a vowel 'o'.  So now we have a Slavic 'Horvat'  which became Hrvat, which became a Latin 'Croat' with the usual Latin ending for Slavic countries 'ia'

comfort

 

CATURDAY

where twines the path

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (est 2002)

 

"The Trossachs were Scotlands first National Park.  A place where the lowlands and highlands meet, with varied scenery of rolling lowland landscapes, tranquil lochs and rugged mountains in the north"

Loch Lomond is perhaps the better known of the 22 lochs

but Loch Katrine is lovely to walk around

gabon

 

Gabon, on the west coast of Africa on the equator

stamp shows a colourful, but toxic, "sunset moth"  their bright colours are a warning to predators 

overwhelmed

 

CATURDAY

famous

 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - even his name sounds musical - (1756-1791) 

 

Ava Gabor (1919-1995) here portraying Lisa Douglas with Arnold the pig, from the 1960s tv show Green Acres

croaking

 

The Rana pretiosa - Oregon spotted frog - is the most endangered frog in Canada. There's only a couple hundred of them found in the lower section of British Columbia

The Anaxyrus fowleri - Fowler's toad- is an east coaster from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, but is only found in Canada in a small section of southwestern Ontario.

In both cases, habitat loss from development and pollution are contributors to their decline.

A frog and a toad - at least he's a Fowler's toad - for stamps with an F

friends

 

CATURDAY

reading

I love this one of the little polar bear reading, illustrated by Hans de Beer

Ot en Sien,  illustrated by Cornelis Jetses

hopelessly old fashioned, and no longer read in schools, but I still have  the books I collected to learn Dutch when I was living there.

I've not actually read this book, (illustrations by Quentin Blake)  but I love the movie and will watch it every time it's on tv. 

It may surprise some people, but for someone who is terrified of spiders, this was one of my favourite stories.  illustrated by Garth Williams

some children's stories for the first week back to school for Thursday Postcard Hunt

kyusu

 

egret

 

These don't look so 'little' to me, but the translation is "little egret" which weighs about 310 g, or almost 11 oz.  I rather like the rhyming scientific name.  Above is  the Reddish Egret (700-850 g or 25-30 oz), which is far better displayed on a souvenir sheet than just the stamp.  The $5 in Eastern Caribbean Dollars is equal to 1.58 euros, 1.38 pound sterling, 1.85 USD, and 2.54 CAD

Audubon's depiction of these egrets was made 1827-38.  

suspicious

 

CATURDAY

from japan

 

WATERLILIES AND PERSIMMONS

3 - D

Not really a castle, Schloss Drachenburg was built between 1882-84 (two years!) as a private villa.  It took almost two decades for the restoration when the state took over in 1989

their website generously offers a virtual tour

I once knew someone with this name.  Not surprisingly, she was always having to correct people - no, not Delia - and then having to spell it and it didn't help that she spelt it Daliah

I was never very good with a hula hoop, and that was only one hoop.  So watching these guys with multiple ones all over their body is quite mesmerising.  This is actually nothing like hula dancing.  An Anishnaabe folktale says that once there was boy who didn't like to hunt or fish and spent hours watching the animals in the wild and began copying their movements.  Eventually, he added hoops and created dances that he taught to others, with the hoops representing animals, symbols, and designs.